Navigating life in Australia’s most populous city can be quite a challenge. The city is often crowded, housing prices exorbitantly high, renting can be a pain and don’t even get us started on peak hour traffic. But the hustle and madness of Sydney lend a certain charm to it. Combine that with a stunning harbour, beautiful beaches and great weather and you’ve got yourself a dream city. As such, tackling life in the Harbour City means having a rulebook handy at all times. We reached out to our Facebook audience to ask them what rules one must follow to survive in Sydney and they sure did deliver. So without further ado, here’s your Sydney survival guide.
1. Remember it’s peak hour 7 days a week!!! Or you’ll be late All. The. Time!
2. Never trust the train network: always have money for uber and a plan b to get where you are going, trains break and the entire network goes with them.
3. If you have to drive anywhere in Sydney, calculate it to take 2.5 times as much as this distance would in a city where they know how to do infrastructure.
4. Nobody knows how to drive and buses will swipe you, they have no chill. Also parking is $50/min.
5. Unless you are Chris Hemsworth wealthy keep dreaming about buying a house.
6. Get a Vespa to get around. Saves loads of time in traffic and you can get a park.
7. How to read the ocean rips.
8. Add 20 minutes to whatever your GPS says; we will never yield to you when walking so keep your eyes up to get out of our way; and there will always be a Facebook page for your area where people go to complain about every little thing.
9. Be ready to take off as soon as the lights go green. Anything more than 0.007 secs later is unacceptable and you will get beeped and/or sworn at by the car behind you.
10. Where to get a RAT kit.
11. Don’t go west of Central station. Don’t go east of Central Station. Don’t go over the bridge to the dark side. Don’t go over the bridge into ‘town’.
12. The route out.
13. It’s a sink or swim city, gotta have thick skin and be driven.
14. You won’t find trouble unless you go looking for it.
15. People cancel beach plans the minute there’s a cloud in the sky.
16. Treat it like you’re a tourist in your own town and you’ll appreciate more of what it has to offer and not get caught up in its big city headaches.
17. Speed limit signs are the minimum speed, not the maximum.
18. Never trust Google maps for timing.
19. Always have an answer for, ‘Where do you live?’ Unlike Melbourne, where the key question is, ‘Where did you go to school?’ Sydney is obsessed with where you live.
If it’s Bondi or Tamarama, you’ve got it made.
20. Don’t try to be friends with people who live on the other side of the bridge.
21. It’s quite fast paced, literally anything from working to getting nails done, it’s go go go.
22. Don’t take anything personally, you’ll just piss ya self off.
23. Get money, act broke.
24. Wear thongs and a scarf in winter.
25. Walking at a slow speed is not advisable.
26. Good coffee shops.
27. Head down and walk.
28. Download Waze.
The speed limit is a guide, not a must.
There is still heaps of green in an amber light.
Walk on the left.
If you don’t know where you’re going, stay home.
Tailgating is a sign that you’re in the way. So get out of the way.
29. You will never get a parking spot close to where you are going.
30. You need a job to live in Sydney.