Ferry wharf at Sydney Olympic Park. Image credit: Destination NSW
I recently had my parents visiting me in Sydney. As with any interstate guest, I like to show off Sydney like it’s a 15-carat diamond ring. But, with the parents I feel the added pressure of planning activities that send them home with some tiny appreciation for why I’ve chosen to live in this foreign city that’s away from them.
Adding to this pressure is the complexity that Mum and Dad aren’t big walkers (and loathe walking up hills), they find Sydney traffic (mostly) terrifying and they like air conditioning (hate humidity). Yep, I’m in trouble…
Last year, I failed miserably to get Mum on the Manly Ferry. And, I didn’t fare much better this year, still unable to convince her that going past The Heads in the Manly Ferry isn’t akin to taking a dingy through the Drake Passage.
But, I was adamant, a visit to Sydney isn’t complete without a ferry experience. I just settled on that ferry journey being down the sedate Parramatta River – and it was a winner.
A unique Sydney ferry experience
A bit of history for you. The Parramatta River Ferry was the first ever ferry service to operate in Sydney, dating all the way back to 1789. Thank Mrs Macquarie it no longer takes a week to make the trip, and the ferry boats are no longer built by convicts. Nowadays, it takes a relaxing 90 minutes to make the ferry trip from Circular Quay to Parramatta, making it a great day activity.
Departing from Wharf 5 at Circular Quay (using a regular Opal card), the Parramatta RiverCat takes you underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge (photo opp, tick), and past the pretty wharves of Walsh Bay, Luna Park and Goat Island. You stop at Barangaroo and Cockatoo Island wharves – all very familiar sights. Then things take a dramatic turn.
Once you leave the hustle of Sydney Harbour, things become quite serene as you meander quietly down the guts of the Parramatta River, heading towards Greater Western Sydney. Sydney suburbia unfolds before your eyes, as you stop at Cabarita, Meadowbank and Sydney Olympic Park.
Between the second to last stop on the ferry route (Rydalmere) and Parramatta, the scenery changes again, with mangroves replacing the riverbank houses. It’s also here that the ferry starts to crawl at a whale’s pace, as it carefully navigates the rapidly narrowing river. (Mum swore she felt the ferry scraping on the bottom of the riverbed – I’m 99.96% sure she was imagining it).
Lunch in Parramatta
Once you arrive at Parramatta Wharf, there’s a handful of waterfront lunch options to choose from. Port Bar Restaurant Café & Pizzeria and The Wharf Cafe, to name a couple. We settled on the Riverside Central Café, purely because it had better air conditioning than the others.
So, powerful aircon, tick. But more importantly, good food, tick. The menu has all bases covered. There’s sandwiches on first, fish and chips on second, burgers on third and the all day-breakfast hits a home run.
And the servings are HUGE. Like really big. You just don’t get burgers this big on the Eastern Beaches (because everyone lives on green juices and medjool dates, duh). There’s absolutely no chance you’ll leave Riverside Central Café hungry.
Too bad I was cooking an equally huge dinner that night, dead set on showing off my non-existent prowess in the kitchen to Mum and Dad.
The only downside to our RiverCat experience
Of course, I chose a stinker of a day to organise this little ferry jaunt. One where the humidity was off the chart. Welcome to Sydney, Mum and Dad – can’t you see why I live here?
Of course, the ferry doesn’t have air conditioning. It’s a commuter ferry after all – not James Packer’s luxury yacht. So I fear I might have melted my parents, which explains why I needed to find an air-conditioned restaurant for lunch.
(Although, this wasn’t nearly as much of a disaster as the following day, when I dragged Mum and Dad up to the Blue Mountains by train. I wanted them to experience the true beauty of New South Wales. I think we can say mission accomplished).
Apparently there’s The Three Sisters underneath there, somewhere…
The Parramatta ferry is…
The Parramatta RiverCat is a uniquely different Sydney ferry experience (and perfect for harbour-phobic parents). There’s no choppy waves to navigate, and at no point did Mum grab my arm in fear, or sit there frozen like a deer in the high beams.
In fact, she even ventured out onto the bow of the ferry for some fresh air and a nosy at the waterside houses – and, if you saw how terrified Mum was the night before driving over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, you’ll know how big a deal this is.
Yep, a fun day out with Mum and Dad. And, I must admit, I found it ultra fascinating to watch as the big wide Sydney Harbour shrunk into a narrow slip of murky-coloured water.
Although, I still have hope I’ll get Mum on the Manly Ferry next year.
Mum’s just saying how much she misses me
Looks like a great day out in the suburbs without travelling far out.