From Wikitravel

The North Shore is a large suburban district of Sydney, capital of the Australian state of New South Wales. The North Shore district is situated "across the harbour", north of both Sydney City and North Sydney, and stretches a broad swathe of land from the northern edge of Sydney Harbour up to the Hornsby Plateau. Despite the name, North Shore suburbs are almost all located well inland from the ocean and only a very few have actual harbour frontage.

Contents 1 Understand 2 Get in 2.1 By train 2.2 By bus 2.3 By car 3 See 4 Do 4.1 Cinema 5 Buy 6 Eat 7 Drink 8 Sleep 9 Cope 9.1 Medical 9.2 Supermarkets

Understand

The North Shore consists of mainly residential suburbs with relatively low density housing, their inhabitants tending to be wealthy "well-to-do" middle-class families. Servicing their perceived needs, the North Shore area includes a large number of the most expensive and prestigious private schools.

As one of the older residential areas of Sydney, the North Shore is also known for its extensive gardens and mature European trees, making it one of the most attractive areas within the Sydney metropolitan area. The North Shore, however, has very few tourist attractions that might interest the traveller. Most travellers will appreciate the area as a convenient - and comfortable - base from which to explore the wider city.

It is also a good area to visit by train for a night out at one of the many high quality restaurants in the district.

Get in

By train

The North Shore is serviced by regular Cityrail [1] trains running on the North Shore line between the City and North Sydney and the upper North Shore suburb of Hornsby. These are extremely busy at peak hours, but not at other times. Trains for the North Shore depart from Central, Town Hall and Wynyard stations in the city as well as Penrith, Richmond, Blacktown, Parramatta and Strathfield in the western suburbs.

By bus

Regular State Transit [2] buses run from the city as far north as Chatswood. North of Chatswood services are run by private bus companies, are slightly less regular and oriented towards locals who want to travel between North Shore suburbs. From Chatswood there are regular bus services to the City, North Sydney, Bondi Junction, Parramatta, Ryde, Macquarie Uni/Centre, Gladesville, Northbridge, Mosman, and the Northern Beaches.

By car

North Shore suburbs are between twenty minutes and an hour north of the City by car. Travellers should drive up the Warringah Freeway to Chatswood and follow the Pacific Highway north. The Pacific Highway passes conveniently through the centre of many North Shore suburbs.

See

• Rose Seidler House [3], 71 Clissold Road, Wahroonga, tel 02 9989 8020, fax 02 9487 2761, mailto:info@hht.net.au, open Su only 10am-5pm, admission adults $8, child/concession $4, family $17 - the first building designed by the renowned Australian architect Harry Seidler. This famed piece of Australian modernist architecture, built 1948-1950, has been preserved in its original condition and features panoramic views of Kuringai National Park.

Do

• The North Shore is bounded by three of Sydney's national parks: Garigal, Ku-ring-gai Chase and Lane Cove. All of the parks offer great walks and have many pleasant places for a picnic.
• Chatswood's Victoria Street Pedestrian Mall, very close to the train station, has regular musical performances, public chess games on a giant board, an ethnic food market on Thursdays, and occasionally performances from buskers.

Cinema

• Roseville Cinema [4] regularly shows movies not released in larger cinema chains, tel 9416 8555

Buy

Most North Shore suburbs have small shopping villages oriented towards locals and their needs. The major exception is Chatswood, which has two large shopping centres: Chatswood Westfield and Chatswood Chase, as well as the smaller Chatswood Mandarin Centre.

Chatswood Chase is an upmarket shopping centre with designer clothing stores and the upmarket department store David Jones. Chatswood Westfield is a mainstream shopping centre with cheaper clothing stores. Chatswood Mandarin is a smaller shopping centre with an Asian food court, a number of electronics stores, and a Chinese supermarket on the ground floor.

Hornsby also has a large Westfield shopping centre (Cnr Florence St and Hunter St, ph 02 9477 5111). http://www.westfield.com/hornsby/

Eat

• Gourmet Pizza Kitchen, 60 Archer Street Chatswood. (02) 9411 8000. AU$15-AU$25. The Gourmet Pizza Kitchen is a family restaurant which serves thirty different gourmet-style pizzas.
• The Genghis Khan Mongolian Barbeque Restaurant, 77 Archer Street Chatswood. (02) 9411 1147. AU$20. The Genghis Khan is a self-serve restaurant. Your meal is cooked on a large hot plate by a flamboyant chef.
• Cha for Tea, 389 Victoria Ave Chatswood. (02) 9884 7668. Serves light meals, snacks and a wide range of (mostly tea-based) beverages. The leafy courtyard out the back is a very pleasant place to relax on a sunny afternoon.
• Khob Khun Thai, 308 Pacific Highway Lindfield. (02) 9880 8020. A$10-15. Serves light Thai meals SUPER FAST! You have barely had time to sit down, or grab some BYO alcohol from the shop around the corner before the food is ready. It is popular with uni students from the nearby campus of the University of Technology, Sydney.
• Food & Plonk, 366 Pacific Highway Lindfield. (02) 9416 5026. A$25-35. Food & Plonk serves French meals with a modern twist. The price is quite high for the area but the service is good. The mashed potato is so smooth it glides down your throat.
• The Claypot Restaurant, 788a Pacific Highway, Gordon. tel 02 9418 2599. fax 02 9880 2749. Entreés $15-$20, mains $20-$30. The Claypot is a Greek restaurant specialising in stews cooked and served hot in large clay pots. Service is fairly slow and the restaurant is small and somewhat crowded, but it is much quieter than many similar Sydney restaurants. The food is bursting with every kind of Greek flavour.
• Seri Malaya Restaurant, 56-62 Chandos St, St Leonards. (02) 9438 1233. Small and unpretentious, serving quality Malaysian, Thai and Chinese cuisine. Singaporean and Malaysian favourites added to the menu on F and Sa. Fully licensed and BYO. Lunch M-Sa 11am-3pm, dinner M-Sa 5:30pm-10pm.
• Qmin, Shop 5, 207B Pacific Hwy St Leonards. (02) 9966 5557. Tucked away between Pacific Highway offices and the Royal North Shore Hospital, this Indian restaurant is in a surprisingly pleasant setting. Excellent food and service.

Drink

• Gilroy's, 75 Christie Street St Leonards, (02) 9439 2213. Friendly Irish Pub catering to a mostly professional clientele. The upstairs restaurant serves large meals, has comfortable seating and TV screens to keep an eye on the current sporting event.
• Great Northern Hotel, 522 Pacific Highway (cnr Mowbray Rd) Chatswood. (02) 9419 4555. The Great Northern has a friendly outdoor beer garden, and serves steak dinners.
• Chelsea Hotel, 10-14 Railway Street Chatswood. (02) 9411 4995. Mostly catering to the after-work crowd and locals, has low priced meals.

Sleep

Cope

Medical

• Royal North Shore Hospital, Pacific Highway, St Leonards. tel 02 9926 7111. fax 02 9926 7779. The Royal North Shore Hospital is a fully equipped public teaching hospital. It has an emergency room.
• Chatswood Medical & Dental Centre, 270 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood. tel 02 9413 2222. Open 8am - 10pm, Monday to Sunday.
• Forum Medical Centre, Pacific Hwy, St Leonards (cnr Herbert St). tel 02 9437 1883. Open 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday; 10am - 2pm Saturday and Sunday.

Supermarkets

• Coles Supermarket, St Leonards Railway Station, cnr Pacific Highway and Herbert Street, St Leonards. tel 02 9966 4233. Open 6am - midnight Monday - Saturday; 8am - 8pm Sunday; closed some public holidays.
• Coles Supermarket, Westfield Shopping Centre, corner of Anderson, Albert & Spring Streets, Chatswood. tel 02 9413 4448 Open 6am - midnight Monday - Saturday; 8am - 8pm Sunday; closed some public holidays.
• Coles Supermarket, Lindfield, Pacific Highway, Lindfield. Open 6am - midnight Monday - Saturday; 8am - 8pm Sunday; closed some public holidays.

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