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Future Olympic Games site Sydney has full range of excitement to offer
By DAVID L. LANGFORD
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Down in Australia, where they're all atwitter getting ready for the 2000 Olympic Summer Games, they're trying to get the word out that sybaritic Sydney is a party town, not just a place of beaches and boats.
That's scant news to the world's gays and lesbians. In this city founded as a British penal colony, the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade attracts more than half a million revelers, the biggest annual tourist event in Australia.
The Lonely Planet travel guide says the "gay and lesbian culture is so strong in Sydney that it's almost mainstream . . . probably the second-largest gay community in the world."
On the horizon are the Summer Olympic Games, Sept. 15-30, 2000. They are expected to draw 1.5 million visitors to this city of about 3.7 million (out of Australia's total of 18 million). An expected shortage of hotel rooms has even brought suggestions of anchoring a dozen or so cruise ships in Sydney Harbor and Botany Bay for sleeping quarters.
In the meantime, however, hotel rooms are standing empty and the hospitality folks are glum. The Asian financial crisis has slowed recreational travel to a trickle, since about half of Australia's foreign tourists come from Asian countries.
"This will be the first year since 1989 there will be a drop in foreign tourists and Sydney will not be immune to that," says Tony Thirlwell, chief executive of Tourism New South Wales and chairman of the Tourism Olympic Forum.
"It's mainly a drop from two countries -- Korea and Indonesia," Thirlwell adds. "Even though we're getting growth from the United States and the United Kingdom, it doesn't make up for the drop from Korea and Indonesia."
(Only 10 percent of the tourists who visit Australia are Americans, and just 15 percent are Brits.)
Despite the slump, more hotels are under construction, and a new light rail line went into operationin mid-April to shuttle people to Olympic venues and elsewhere.
A dazzling burst of fireworks one night last November inaugurated Star City, Sydney's first casino, a colossus of a gambling den with 200 table games and 1,500 slot machines, plus more than 500 hotel rooms, suites and condominium apartments. There are seven restaurants, five bars, a nightclub and a retail shopping center.
The award-winning musical "Showboat" premiered in Star City's 2,000-seat Lyric Theatre in early April and is booked up for the next six months, drawing many of its patrons from New Zealand.
"The casino is doing good business," Thirlwell said by phone from Boston, where he is enrolled in an advanced management course. "It's mainly a local market at this stage. The hotel has started slowly -- about 40 to 50 percent occupancy -- because of the tourism slump."
Scheduled for completion in 1999 is a 20th Century-Fox film studio and entertainment complex at the former show grounds of the Royal Agricultural Society, which stages its annual exposition in April. It offers behind-the-scenes guided tours of the facilities where several movies are currently being filmed.
"There's a lot more happening in Sydney than there was a few years ago," Thirlwell says. "It's no doubt that the games brought a lot of things forward."
What's the next biggest event?
"Probably the biggest one is the Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras," Thirlwell says. "It's been going on for 20 years now and it's not just gay people who attend. It draws a lot of people from the United States, particularly the West Coast."
A government tourism Web site -- http://www.nsw.gov.au/ -- extols Sydney's lively and varied night life, from the famed Sydney Opera House to the raunchy red-light district in Kings Cross where "there are good music venues and great value restaurants."
Kings Cross, says Lonely Planet, "is a bizarre cocktail of strip joints, prostitution, crime and drugs, with a handful of classy restaurants, designer cafes, international hotels and backpacker hostels. It attracts an odd mix of low-life, sailors, travelers, Japanese tourists, inner-city trendies and suburbanites looking for a big night out."
One of Sydney's "favorite places to be seen," says Tourism New South Wales, is the Hellfire Club, "which has outrageous theme nights, hip house music and pool. Thursday night is hellfire night, not for the faint-hearted with its S&M dress code."
On Oxford Street, says the government's Web site, "there are a multitude of restaurants as well as cafes and gay-friendly pubs. The Cauldron is fleshy, flashy and totally irresistible to the cool and under 25." At Mr. Goodbar, the dance floor is filled with boppers dancing to an Indo tribal beat.
Also on Oxford street is DCM, which features drag shows and monthly "Foam Parties," whatever that is -- and your guess probably can't be outlandish enough.
Darling Harbor, one of the city's major Olympic venues, appeals to the younger crowd with its high-energy pubs such as the Pumphouse Tavern.
Other magnets to draw visitors to Darling Harbor are free entertainment, the Panasonic IMAX Theatre, Sega World, Darling Walk, and newly opened cafes and bars.
If you go ...
Here are some tips on things to see and how to get around in Sydney, Australia, obtained from Tourism New South Wales. For more information visit the New South Wales tourism Web site at: http://www.nsw.gov.au
Getting around: Sydney has an efficient bus, ferry, train and taxi network. Many places can be reached on foot, and ferries, buses and the Monorail link the city with Darling Harbour. The Sydney Explorer Bus stops at 27 places of interest. At Circular Quay, hub for most harbor journeys, ferries visit attractions such as Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo and harbor islands.
Exploring Sydney: The Rocks, near Circular Quay, is an artfully preserved wedge of Australian history with dozens of restaurants, boutiques, and historic pubs and houses, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Art and historic Susannah Place.
History is also preserved along Macquarie Street, which features colonial sandstone buildings. Take a look at Hyde Park Barracks (now a museum of the social and architectural history of Sydney), St. James' Church, the Old Mint Museum and the State Library of New South Wales. At New South Wales State Parliament House, visitors can join a free guided tour.
Sydney Opera House is a showcase for film, ballet, theater, music and opera. The Royal Botanic Gardens nearby has free guided walks, a kiosk and a restaurant.
Take the monorail from the city center to Darling Harbour for free entertainment, shopping and restaurants, and attractions such as Sydney Aquarium, Chinese Gardens, Powerhouse Museum, National Maritime Museum and nearby Chinatown.
Beautiful beaches are minutes away from the city by bus, ferry or taxi. Picnic and swimming spots can be found within the harbor at Balmoral, Parsley Bay and Nielsen Park. For surfing beaches, there's famous Bondi, or Manly, a seaside village.
There are guided tours of Olympic Park in Homebush Bay, site of the 2000 Summer Games.
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