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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Playing in the Rocks
Cheap Charlie · October 23, 2000

When I first planned my trip to Sydney for the Olympics, friends all said I had to go to The Rocks, the birthplace of European Sydney, where the city started 212 years ago. Being from Boston, I gathered that this was the Faneuil Hall of Sydney -- a modern upscale shopping area built into old-world shipping warehouses. It is, but with far more depth.

Rather than being a conglomeration of shops, restaurants, and pubs with an occasional busker strumming on a guitar or juggling bowling pins, The Rocks integrates hotels, B&Bs, local housing, an artist in residence, street sculptures, puppet shows, art galleries, and plenty more to do other than just spend money.

That is good news for anyone looking for a place to enjoy themselves with their families without breaking the bank. Of course, if you have money to throw away, there also is plenty to aim at here in this fascinating neighborhood. For the rest of us, The Rocks provides a surprising spot to mingle with locals, get the feel of old Sydney, and learn about the history of the town.

The Web site for The Rocks is packed with information, activities, shopping, arts programs, and history of the area. Another site shows 24-hour video shots of Sydney from two cameras mounted above The Rocks. Both are excellently presented and packed with information.

As usual, I was focused on what I could do for free. After doing the Sydney Bridgeclimb -- come back Friday for the next column -- I had lunch with Colleen McMahon, director of visitor marketing, and Tim Shaw, ambassador for The Rocks, who outlined more freebies and great values than I expected.

For children (of any age), The Rocks has a regular program of face painting, where little ones come out with whiskers, mustaches, stars, and rainbows from ear to ear. Nearby, one of the best puppet shows I've had the pleasure to see is performed regularly at the puppet cottage free of charge. A bookstore has a regular children's book reading every weekend. And "sky sculptures" suspended between buildings and over The Rocks Square give kids the chance to pull on strings and swing to make the sculptures "perform." These are all year-round activities, not staged only for the Olympics.

For the rest of us, the no-charge activities start at the Sydney Visitors Center, where a free video presents the history of the city. The Sydney Observatory has free celestial viewing and tours. The Ken Done, Charles Billich, Ken Duncan, Max Lawson, and David Egan galleries have hundreds of paintings, sculptures, and photographs on display. Many of David Egan's whimsical murals are painted throughout the district.

To relax, take in one of the free performances of jazz, folk, dance, or street theater that takes place every day in The Rocks Square. And while you relax, enjoy an outdoor meal. Some of the city's best chefs, such as Neil Perry of the Rockpool restaurant, have low-cost street counters, where they serve excellent gourmet-level noodle and Asian dishes and salads. Plus, you can find all types of children-friendly fast food. The quality and cheap prices will amaze you.

Tucked behind the old buildings and their cobblestone streets are centuries-old sections of the original building foundations, and within each of the rehabbed warehouses much of the old flavor of the interiors have been retained.

The Rocks is far more than a tourist haunt -- most of its visitors are local Sydneysiders. They use this historically redeveloped, vibrant slice of history to rejuvenate their spirits, soak up spectacular views of the skyline and the opera house, shop in markets and galleries, savor some of the town's best cooking, and enjoy some of Sydney's most popular pubs and nightlife.

You've gotta love it when the everyday heartbeat of this district is so beautiful, so diverse, so much fun, and so amazingly affordable. It sure works for me.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Travel Rights: Know the Rules of the Road and the Air Before You Go. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.