The flight loads look great in the near future, but hotel and transportation costs in Sydney itself are rather high for my family (5 kids age 6-17). We are planning on three nights there and any recommendations for a great Australian experience would be welcome!

 

It's been a few years since I've been there, but look for events happening in Darling Harbour. The Sydney Zoo is also a nice place to go. In Darling Harbour you have the aquarium, some old ships, a mall, frequent free concerts and shows, etc.
If you decide to go out for an adult night out with your wife and want to club it up, go to Kings Cross. Be wary though, there are some trouble makers there. You can climb the Sydney Harbour bridge, but its expensive.

If i can think of anywhere else i'll reply again. Like i said, its been awhile. You're going to have a blast though! It's one of my favorite cities.

 

Can't give any recommendations. But I can tell you that you're a cool parent. My parents wouldn't take me beyond Six Flags...

Have a great trip!

 

If I were going out in Sydney with my wife without the kids, it would be the last place I would go. At least no one has been killed there in the last 8 months.

 

Kings Cross is about as trashy as it can get to a night out with the wife. Darling Harbour has plenty of nice places to eat, drink, dance or just stroll the water front and people watch.

 

check AirBnB.com for lodging. It may not be your cup of tea, but I always enjoy it for what its worth.

 

Too bad you're only down there for three days. If you were staying longer, I'd highly recommend the 5 day learn to dive packages out of Cairns. You'd need to fly to Cairns from Sydney.
The 5 day course includes 3 days living aboard a dive ship and going to the Great Barrier Reef.
It's about $900/person but that's a bargain compared to what you're going to find Sydney costs. EXPENSIVE!!! You'll find it cheaper in Cairns.
A couple of links:
ProDive Diver Training - Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Australia - Pro Dive Scuba Diving Course - Dive Training
PADI 5 Day Learn To Scuba Dive Course Cairns - Great Barrier Reef Learn To Dive - Pro Dive Cairns, North Queensland, Australia


That's a long way to fly for only three days. That's 28+ flight hours round trip from LA.

 

Another bit of advice, if you are non reving on UA, LAX can be a nightmare if the flight its anywhere near full. I recently got left behind with a several open seats in all three cabins due to weight restrictions. SFO is much better to avoid weight restrictions. However the amount of non revs that can show up on the list out of both stations (particularly SFO) at the last minute is incredible.

 

Night out with the wife in Sydney?

Take a water taxi across the harbor to Catalina restaurant on Rose Bay. Make a reservation for a table over-looking the harbor, and enjoy some of their fabulous seafood. Pricey, but worth every penny on a vacation like your's. Dress is casual elegant. You'll want slacks, no jeans. Bring something warm for the wife to wear...it's fall down there right now. Your wife will think you are James Bond for setting it up.

No thanks necessary. You can silently toast me as you enjoy your successful evening out.

PS - There are some who know about this place and think it is over-priced and not worth it, but I wholeheartedly disagree with them and have loved every time I've been there. In fact, I once had the honor and pleasure of buying the Captain of a visiting US Destroyer a drink there on one occasion. He returned the generosity by hosting my wife and I aboard his ship two days later, giving us the Admiral's tour. Good times!

PPS - For the kids, take them to Bondi beach via the ferry, so they too can get a trip across the harbor and go to a very fun place. Good shopping and people watching too. A good day trip if you are staying anywhere near downtown.

Hope this proves useful to you. Cheers!

 

There's actually a nice zoo/aquarium/sky tower package special we're thinking about.

This had me rolling - we were actually talking about getting season passes to six flags before we started discussing Sydney!

Looks exactly like my cup of tea, thanks for the resource!!

Worse than that, we're leaving from ATL. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to get a full week off with three in high school so we're making the best with what we have! Thanks for the recommendations!

We're looking at DL but using UA as a back-up. So far the loads look good on both and we are flexible by a couple of days just in case of a MX snafu.

Thanks for the info folks, it all helps and any additional advice is welcome!