Newtown & the Inner West
In Sydney, 'inner-West' translates as 'alternative' and 'cool.' And the queen amongst the inner West suburbs is, most certainly, bohemian Newtown – which is, with Darlinghurst/Surry Hills/King's Cross, one of Sydney's true cultural hubs.King Street is the colorful, pulsing heart of the suburb. Along either side of the traffic clogged artery is a wealth of restaurants, cafes, boutiques, sex shops, junk shops, art galleries… you name it, and it's there. And more colorful still than the shopfronts are the collections of kids window shopping or just going about their days, the goths and the punks, the indie kids and the art students who make up much of the population of the area. The streets nearby are similarly diverse, with Enmore Road particularly busy and having more of a local feel than King Street. This area is thick with students, with Sydney University (c.50 000 students) and UTS (c.30 000 students) just down the road. With new kid on the block Notre Dame University opening a campus in the area too, the student population will swell even further in coming years.
The area around Newtown is primarily residential, although there are a number of other interesting areas. Walking through Sydney University and across pretty Victoria Park, for instance, you will come to the more relaxed and slightly hippy feeling suburb of Glebe, whose artery, Glebe Point Road, is worth exploring. A nice way to wile away some time is grabbing a coffee at Badde Manors, a local café, or getting something hideously healthy and organic at Iku. The Glebe Markets, held every Saturday, are particularly busy and worth visiting if you are in the area.
