For most travellers with time constraints, this is not the most popular day trip that people will do in Sydney. But I would highly encourage people to explore this different side of Sydney. Newtown is more like a quiet, hipster neighbourhood, with distinct contrast to the city centre. This suburb of Sydney is easily accessible by train.
Attractions
Newtown Murals
After alighting at Newtown train station, you can start exploring the murals scattered around the town. Our plan was not so ideal as we started our day trip with a breakfast/brunch in Newtown Brewery Cafe, which was about 10-15 min walk from the station (and very near to our next destination, University of Sydney). The consequence was we had to head back to the direction of the station to complete our hunt for murals.
As a general tip, wear plain outfits to make yourself stand out from the colourful background. For people who want to do couple shots, this is the best chance to practice using your tripod. As I mentioned before, it's a quiet town, and even tourists are scarce. Refer to this website to locate all the colourful murals in the area. I will be sharing some photos below but I don't think we had covered all of them given we didn't actively track and opted for a more spontaneous journey.
Love the dress I purchased from Taobao.
I like this mural the best, particularly the colour combination.
Acting cool.
It was a gloomy morning.
University of Sydney
Our next stop was University of Sydney. As we entered from the backdoor, we had the opportunity to wander around the campus while finding our way to the photogenic entrance. Walking in a campus made me feeling like a young student again...
The top-ranked institution is well-known for its Hogwarts-style buildings that make really pretty photo background. It's really comfortable to sit on the lawn and admire the outstanding architecture. At the same time, the University of Sydney is constantly adding modern buildings, for example, the Law school that comes with really chic appearance (didn't manage to take any photo, sorry!)
Please give a round of applause to our special guest - early blooming Jacaranda.
And finally, we reached the main entrance!
Food
Address: 6-8 O'Connell Street, Newtown, New South Wales
Opening hours: 8am to 4pm daily
The cafe was considered crowded on a Monday morning, mainly occupied by the locals. This rustic-decorated cafe has a very laid-back vibe, that gained my instant like. The coffee was good, I mean, almost all cafes in Australia serve good coffees! Not to elaborate further, I only have one word for this cafe - recommend!
Chocolate cronut is our top recommendation. Cronut = croissant + donut, basically it's a donut-shaped croissant. I like its crispiness and the thick later of chocolate coat on top, beautifully garnished with chopped pistachio.
The Green Pea Risotto. The very rare occasion when I actually ordered a pea dish and it turned out to be really yummy! The portion was good for sharing between 2 people.
I like the exposed brick walls behind.
Gelato Messina
Not a big fan of gelato but this was actually quite yummy. Opted for salted caramel with white chocolate (best-seller) and tiramisu (own favourite) flavours. There are multiple branches of Gelato Messina in Sydney and just slot one into the itinerary at your convenience.
Just to conclude the post, you can easily spend half day (or even the entire day) in Newtown. If time allows, please consider including it in your itinerary for a out of the norm experience in Sydney! :)
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