Neighbourhood Sydney

Australia’s largest city is more than just its iconic opera house and harbour bridge. Pick a neighbourhood and dive in to find craftbeer, Asian street food and beachside modernism.

- David Whitley

The lazy shorthand version of Sydney is pretty appealing: pootling about on the harbour, taking that bridge and opera house snapshot then plonking yourself on a beach — it’s not a bad way to spend a few days. But behind Sydney’s easy-going, eye-catching facade lies a more interesting beast. Few visitors expect the prissily cute and near biquitous Victorian housing, for example. Or the wild national parkland just a few minutes’ walk from major tourist hangouts. Or the extensive Asian influence. Not to mention the burgeoning craft brewing scene, the transformative architecture and speckled remnants from the time before Europeans arrived on the scene. Even in the most well-trodden neighbourhoods, a little prodding unveils a totally different story. And, in others, furiously paced overhauls have torn up the script.

Chippendale

‘Where’s Chippendale?’ An acceptable question for an outsider, but one, until recently, you might even have heard from the mouth of a local.

However, things have changed, and Chippendale is no longer a nothing suburb, passed through unknowingly en route from the central business district (CBD) to the hipster enclaves of the Inner West.

The transformation began with the White Rabbit Gallery. Opened in 2009, this private collection of modern Chinese artworks — whose only common theme is that they consistently weird out anyone looking at them — has become the figurehead for a burgeoning artistic community. Dig into the lanes, courtyards and crumbling houses nearby and you’ll find small galleries, studios, workshops and collectives merrily doing their own thing.