We’re back in Sydney for one night to return our rental car and jump on a plane to Darwin. Luckily this gives us a chance to visit one of our favorite neighborhoods in Sydney: Newtown. Unlike the tourist ghetto where all of the hostels are, or the CBD where all the hotels are Newtown feels like a place where real live actual Sydneysiders live.
It’s kind of a cross between Adams Morgan and 17th St in Washington. There are a lot of restaurants and bars of all ilk and quite a few locally owned bookstores. For a taste of what life is like for real people in Sydney this is a good place to visit.
Two highlights for us were Gomez & Guzman – a real life Mexican restaurant staffed by real Mexicans – how they got here I have no idea. But it’s authentic and delicious. The other is Goulds Bookstore, a mostly used books store that is a librarians worst nightmare. The ground floor bears some semblance of order, but the upstairs looks like a bomb hit it …literally shelves so overflowing that the books have fallen off and cover the floor in places. Great prices – but you have to kind of be willing to put some effort into separating the wheat from the chafe.
