Six of Sydney's favourite personalities have shared their secret spots for a perfect day
First up: the man behind Sydney's fastest mullet. Electrician turned ultramarathon runner Nedd Brockmann, who's lived in Randwick for the past four years, has shared his top spots to run, recover and refuel in the Harbour City. FYI, over at Sydney.com you can now book a place on a Brockmann-approved running tour around the CBD, then schedule a recovery session at Surry Hills bathhouse Capybara before booking in for dinner at one of the athlete's favourite restaurants in the city, Luke Mangan's Luc San in Potts Point.
Olympian Jess Fox 's top Sydney itinerary is also active. Jess's perfect day starts with kayaking at dawn on Sydney Harbour, flying across the Jamieson Valley with Scenic World 's Beyond Skyway experience, then heading to Theo's Rooftop in her local area, Penrith, for sunset drinks. Conveniently, her itinerary is also, available to book via the Sydney.com site.
Turns out Aria-winning artist Budjerah is an adventurous guy, because he recommends a sunrise balloon ride over Camden, followed by a surfing session at URBNSURF, rounded out with the incredible BridgeClimb Burrawa Aboriginal Climb experience. Content kings The Inspired Unemployed are high-energy guys – they recommend having a "mystery picnic" in the Royal Botanic Gardens, jet boating on Sydney Harbour with Oz Jet Boating and doing paddle board yoga with Manly-based yoga studio Flow mOcean.
Podcaster, writer and comedy queen Lucinda Price (Froomes) is all about balance – with recommendations spanning from a snorkelling session at Shelly Beach to winding up at the Ace Hotel for dinner and drinks (with a backstage tour of Sydney Opera House thrown in the mix for a bit of culture).
Finally, one of our city's most beloved chefs: the mighty Dan Hong (Mr Wong, MuMu, Queen Chow) has put together a flavour-led itinerary that will take Sydneysiders on a food tour of Chinatown and to an immersive oyster-tasting experience on the Hawkesbury.
Minister for Tourism Steve Kamper says he agrees Sydney needs to do a better job of highlighting its many hidden gems, quoting Time Out's recent global round-up, which saw Sydney rank as the fifth-best city in the world for culture: 'Sydney was just ranked as one of Time Out's top five global cities for culture, but when you ask Australians about Sydney they'll say 'I've already seen the Harbour Bridge'. What is clear in the research is that our icons alone are not enough to get people to visit and revisit Sydney. We need to do a better job at showcasing all our city has to offer, we need to be more than our icons.'
At Time Out Sydney, we make it our mission to shine a light on Sydney's best bits on a daily basis, so we're big fans of this approach.
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The South African government withdrew their funding, not because of any sensitivities over the theme of colonialism, but because they didn't like Rhodes being portrayed as a homosexual. 'It was clear even in 1996 that Rhodes did some very bad things. I didn't mind playing that kind of character. Those bad things are there in all of us and having a licence to access them as an actor is great.' 'It's almost impossible to be a person of integrity in public life' 'Bad things' are harder to find in Thomas More, but they must be in there somewhere. A Man For All Seasons is Shaw's happy place, having already taken the role in 2005 at London's Haymarket Theatre. Shaw says he went to see the play and the film over and over again in the 1960s, starring the peerless Paul Scofield. Shaw wants to keep evolving his approach to More, as much to make the most of the character's limitless depth as to step out of the great man's shadow. 'This time I'm playing him as a more life-enhancing, life-loving character who could laugh and get incredibly angry as well as his better known qualities.' This is a play that poses one dilemma after another. At its heart is the question of how far a person is prepared to go to preserve their own conscience, their own sense of truth as they believe it to be. Every other character compromises for gain or self-preservation (other than Henry VIII, who doesn't need to). More goes to the block for his beliefs. 'From my point of view, More's stand was borderline ridiculous,' says Shaw. 'For him, his oath was 'words you say to God' so he could not, as his daughter suggested, take the oath and think differently in his heart.' Among many memorable lines – the quickfire battles with Cromwell, More's stirring defence of the law – the exchange between More and former hanger-on Richard Rich stands out. Rich perjured himself to gain promotion to the Attorney General of Wales and his lies provide the only evidence against More. Knowing his trial is all but over, More asks to see the red dragon on Rich's new badge of office. 'Richard, it profits a man nothing to gain the whole world if he should lose his soul … but for Wales?' The script is all but perfect. Shaw recalls the line, 'When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties they lead their country by a short route to chaos.' 'That is true now more than ever,' he adds. 'Think about how important conscience and integrity are. It's almost impossible to be a person of integrity in public life – but I truly believe they are out there.' Shaw is full of contradictions. He has been a vegetarian since 1971 and follows Sant Mat, a mystical philosophy movement influenced by Sikhism and Hinduism. There's no reason why that shouldn't co-exist with sliding over the bonnet of an Escort RS2000 in pursuit of a gun runner, but it feels like it might. Still, despite all Shaw's misgivings, he has made something approaching peace with the worst experience of his career. 'There is another side to The Professionals. Years later an actor walked up to me on set and said 'It's so wonderful to meet you. You're my childhood hero.' So that helped me see the show differently. So many people loved it and got some sort of happiness from it.' It's wisdom of which Sir Thomas More would surely approve.
