Visiting Sydney suburbs - South

There are plenty of hubs and other places on the internet that deal with what to see and do when you're visiting Sydney.

However, most of these are focussed on the city and Bondi or Manly beach. This is fine, as long as you are staying in and around the city and can easily get to these places.

I started to think about the number of times I've been to cities around the world and instead of staying in the middle of the city, I've stayed with family or friends - out in the suburbs where most of the people live.

I thought I'd start a series of hubs about things to see and do in and around the suburbs of Sydney. This first one will focus on Sydney's southern suburbs, because that's the area I know best.

You never know, some of these might appeal to you even if you are staying in the centre of town or you might be a local looking around for something to do on the weekends.

Whatever your situation - welcome to Sydney. Enjoy.

Cronulla: Much more than just a beach, Cronulla is nevertheless the only Sydney beach accessible by rail (it's on the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra line). It's a short walk from the train station to the beach via either a pretty little park, or the shopping mall.

There's plenty of shops in Cronulla, most of them on a pedestrian shopping mall that is busy with locals and tourists all day. The eating choices are excellent, with most cuisines represented. There's a cinema, nightclub, a couple of live music venues and plenty of action late into the evening if that's what you're after.

Accommodation includes a Rydges hotel, a Quest apartments, a motel or two, backpackers accommodation and bed and breakfast options as well.

The Royal National Park (RNP) and Bundeena : Just across the bay from Cronulla is Bundeena, a small village surrounded by the RNP. You can get there by ferry from Cronulla (it's well signposted from the train station) or via a 45 minute drive through the national park.

You can read an excellent hub about Bundeena here.

The national park itself is the world's second oldest national park (after Yellowstone in the USA) and has many kilometres of walking, cycling and driving tracks and trails. From the northern end (closest to Sydney) it is accessed via road just south of the suburb of Sutherland. It's a popular run with motorcyclists as you can drive right through the park and down the coast road to Wollongong, or come back up from the southern entrance via the freeway.

The visitor's centre at Audley is well worth a look - the staff are friendly and helpful and will assist you with deciding what walks or points of interest are suitable for you, depending on your interest, fitness level and available time.

Note that there is a park entrance fee if you drive in.

Brighton-le-Sands : This bay-side suburb is known by locals simply as 'Brighton'.  It stretches along the western shore of Botany Bay and while it does also contain houses and home units, most Sydney-siders know it for it's restaurant strip along the bay and the views over the bay to Sydney airport.

There's a long, narrow park between the road and the beach, with playgrounds and barbecue area's dotted along it and a cycle path running the length of it.  It's flat, flat, flat so a great place to take the kids and their scooters or bikes to run off some energy (especially if you're staying with relatives or friends!).

Botany Bay is a busy, working port of Sydney, so there's always lots to see out on the water with oil tankers and fishing vessels coming and going. In addition, two of the three runways from Sydney airport literally stick out into the bay, so plane-spotting is a definite pastime here!

On a windy day, it's also very popular with the wind-surfing and kite-surfing communities. Take a picnic, get takeaway or eat at one of the many restaurants lining the road alongside the bay (however, note that most of the restaurants are on the other side of the road to the bay).

Sydney Tramway Museum: The museum is at Loftus, south of Sutherland and is right next door to Loftus railway station. 

Trams used to run all over Sydney city streets (twice as many trams as are operating in Melbourne today) and the Tram museum at Loftus has a great collection of the old trams, so you can get a feel for what was happening on Sydney streets 100 years ago!

In addition, there is a working tram that runs between the museum and a tram stop in the Royal National Park. It used to take honeymooners into the park and they would walk down to Audley (where the visitor's centre is today) from there.

The museum is open Sundays, Wednesdays and most public holidays.  Check their website for additional opening hours during New South Wales school holidays.

Swimming pools - Sutherland Leisure Centre and Hurstville Aquatic Leisure Centre: Both of these are large swimming pool complexes, with indoor and outdoor pools, lap swimming, family friendly 'fun' pools, gym, cafe and spa and sauna facilities.

Indoor pools are a perfect rainy day activity when you're stuck inside with small children, or just to go and get some exercise yourself, walking or swimming up and down the black line.