Don’t be fooled by Sydney’s laid-back environment, says Chris Pritchard. It also boasts a host of opportunities to indulge in some devil-may-care diversions.

Sydney’s famed harbour is one of the Australian city’s more misleading attributes. Even when choppy, this splendid expanse of water evokes a mood of lazy self-satisfaction. Harbour traffic – much of it hell-bent on pleasure – moves back and forth across a surface glinting like sunstruck beaten metal. The message from the harbour: relax and enjoy.

True, the harbour anchors leisure activity in the nation’s biggest metropolis, home to one in five of Australia’s 20 million people. But fast-growing and cosmopolitan Sydney is simultaneously the country’s most important commercial city. It is a destination of serious business, even if tempered by enjoyment of life. Immediate evidence of this is an impressive downtown skyline pressing against the harbour’s edge.

In contemporarily buoyant economic times, passing sleek restaurants filled with corporate diners, it is easy to feel smug in Sydney. People tell you how busy they are – but seem in no hurry to rush from lunch. Another bottle of chilled Australian white arrives at the table. A superficially laid-back environment masks the fact that this is also a place of thrills.

For some travellers, excitement derived from stock-market movements, currency fluctuations or successfully completed business is adequate. For others, brief escapes from corporate pressures are mandatory – and, no, lunch doesn’t quite do the trick. (It doesn’t hurt that these diversions are handily close to downtown and harbourside hotels.)

Take going out in a boat, for instance. Many a visitor boards a sightseeing harbour cruise or, at the very least, finds time for a cross-harbour ferry ride. A few opt instead for the adrenaline rush of a jet boat spinning across the harbour’s emptier expanses, an attraction ensuring all aboard end up drenched and screaming. Several operators run such trips, with devil-may-care backpackers their key market. But the Accor hotel people decided to twin traditional harbour cruises with jet boat excitement.

The result is Sydney Jet Cruiser, an 18-metre vessel accommodating up to 64 passengers at speeds nudging 35 knots. These 90-minute daytime experiences start tamely enough: our boat glides under Sydney Harbour Bridge to Darling Harbour, one of the New South Wales state capital’s prime dining and entertainment zones.

Commentary highlights points of interest in a script spiked with illuminating anecdotes. Back under the bridge, more sights are showcased. We slip smoothly past Sydney Opera House and the mansions of the super-wealthy beyond it. So far, it’s an altogether relaxing cruise.

Then, halfway to a harbour entrance called The Heads, a 1,300-horsepower surge kicks in. Soon we are speeding, twisting, turning, banking – but the size of the vessel precludes 360° spins executed by smaller rivals. We bounce dramatically at high-speed across the harbour’s choppy mouth, near the beachside suburb of Manly. Several of my co-passengers take their cue and scream above the roar of the boat.

Soon we are racing back toward downtown. Crew members thoughtfully tell passengers – usually including visiting business types with a free morning or afternoon – where they should sit to stay dry or get soaked, depending on their preference (but there’s no guarantee). For safety, we slow as we reach heavy-traffic areas near the city.

Popular as it is, Sydney Jet Cruiser does not draw the vast numbers attracted to BridgeClimb, now in its ninth year and operating both in daylight and darkness. It’s still Sydney tourism’s most popular thrill. BridgeClimb pioneered the bridge-climbing genre (now also available in Brisbane and Auckland but not yet on northern-hemisphere steel bridges).

Sound advice: book in advance. It sometimes seems every visitor wants to experience this soft adventure. I quickly discover the word “climb” is a canny marketing ploy. No climbing of the mountaineering type is required. Four five-metre ladders at the start are the toughest part, worrying some visitors who anticipate a more gruelling adventure than this turns out to be.

In reality, it’s no more than a sometimes-steep 1.75-kilometre walk – suitable for anyone capable of three hours’ modest exertion, climbing 1,439 steps (many are small) along part of a 530-metre arch. Numerous stops facilitate entertaining commentary covering Sydney’s colourful convict-era history along with facts about the iconic bridge’s construction. Breath-tested and clad in a zippered, pocket-free coverall (valuables are secured in private lockers) I join a group – 12 is the max led by each guide – working its way to a summit 134m above the harbour, crossing a catwalk and heading down the other side. Climbers are harnessed to a rail, making it impossible to fall, even if another climber trips.

Visitors gape at the Opera House, harbour and skyline and western suburban sprawl. Two routes are offered, one taking in the intricacies of metalwork on the bridge’s underside. Tip: back at base, ask directions to the nearby Pylon Look-out (A$9.50/US$8.54), run by the same operators, for another superb vantage point, 87m above the water. Interactive displays and a film at a theatre within the giant pylon detail how the bridge was built.

Nearby is the city’s tallest structure, Sydney Tower, atop a shopping mall. It’s the location of Skywalk which, while not quite a walk in the park (though overlooking parkland), is an easier option than BridgeClimb. After breath-testing and donning overalls, we ride a fast lift to an outdoor walk 260m above the city (with post-climb access included to an indoor observation deck and restaurants below, which may also be visited separately).

Safely harnessed, I stand on a super-strong glass panel and eyeball lunch-hour bustle beneath. (Skywalk is also open in the evening.) Our group huddles on hydraulic devices raising and lowering us between upper and lower external walkways. Hydraulics also extend and retract a glass floor, enhancing our downward view. A pair of pelicans, clearly unafraid of heights, fly a few metres in front of me.

From our lofty position at the base of a 31-metre spire, we absorb cloud-scraping 360º vistas of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, city, parks and beaches. We look westward to the Blue Mountains and along New South Wales’ south and central coasts.

ADRENALINE RUSH

BRIDGECLIMB
www.bridgeclimb.com; from A$179 (US$161) for adults, A$109 (US$98) for kids aged 10 to 16. Pylon Look-out, A$9.50 (US$8.54).

JET CRUISER
www.jetcruiser.com.au; A$50 (US$45).

SKYWALK
www.skywalk.com.au; from A$99 (US$89) for adults, A$83 (US$74.61) for children aged between 10 and 15

DOWN BY THE WATER

It makes sense to dine near the water, accentuating the Sydney thrill. Of the city’s prime restaurants, four of the most outstanding are waterside – three on the harbour and one perched above one of Sydney’s most renowned beaches.

Being in the same league, the establishments listed charge roughly about the same prices for à la carte orders. Lunch and dinner prices do not differ largely, about A$150/US$131 per head, adding about A$60/US$52 per head for Australian wines, provided they are middle-of-the-range labels.

Main courses usually cost between A$35 (US$31) and A$45 (US$40).

ARIA RESTAURANT

WHAT’S IT LIKE? Floor-to-ceiling windows offer expansive views of a harbour dotted with multi-hued sails, cruise vessels, foreign liners, freighters and ferries. Aria’s kitchen helmsman is celebrated Sydney chef Matthew Moran, a part-owner, whose roasted rack of lamb I found particularly memorable.

WHERE IS IT? Next door to Sydney Opera House. What’s more, it is also alongside Circular Quay where you can find the commuter ferries docking.

CONTACT: 1 Macquarie Street, East Circular Quay, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia, tel 61 2 9252 2555, www.ariarestaurant.com
HARBOURKITCHEN&BAR

WHAT’S IT LIKE? This is a Park Hyatt restaurant that looks out onto a pedestrian promenade where facsimile sailing vessels – used for cruises ranging from two hours to half day – moor. On a recent visit, I followed a venison carpaccio appetiser with a seafood dish that seems highly apt to the setting: wood-roasted blue-eye trevalla (a thick-bodied, succulent fish) served with a salad of prawns and supposedly good-for-you spelt.

WHERE IS IT? In the historic Rocks district, on the water’s edge of Sydney Harbour, affording unrivalled views of the Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House.

CONTACT: 7 Hickson Road, The Rocks, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia, tel 61 2 9241 1234, www.hyatt.com

ICEBERGS DINING ROOM & BAR

WHAT’S IT LIKE? Minimalist, spacious and chic, it is a favourite of local and visiting celebrities. It is also an unashamed home of the long lunch – though is a popular dinner venue, too. No better views are to be had of Bondi’s one-kilometre strip of golden sand than through Iceberg’s glass walls. I was tempted by one of the signature fruits de mer dishes – hand-dived Hervey Bay scallops – which proves light and delicious.

WHERE IS IT? Hail a cab from the city to Bondi (reached in 10 minutes, except in particularly heavy traffic when it may take twice as long), one of the best beaches in these parts.

CONTACT: 1 Notts Avenue, Bondi Beach, PO Box 7053, Bondi Beach, NSW 2026, Australia, tel 61 2 9365 9000, www.idrb.com/icebergs
WILDFIRE

WHAT’S IT LIKE? Big, glitzy, enormously popular and similarly offering stunning harbour views. Reserving an alfresco table makes sense in warm weather – but book as early as possible because these tables go first. The restaurant has a particularly strong following among local business leaders. Wildfire is a carnivore heaven, where grain-fed Black Angus beef fillet is generally a flawless, if unadventurous, choice.

WHERE IS IT? A five-minute stroll from Aria, on the other side of Circular Quay and next to the Overseas Passenger Terminal where cruise ships tie up.

CONTACT: Ground Level, International Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay West, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia, tel 61 2 8273 1222, www.wildfiresydney.com – CP