Hello! Colin here again. I guess I'm joining Micheal in a Newtown adventure this week. Well not quite, a couple of friends and I ended up walking quite a ways until we hit The Abercrombie Hotel which is on 100 Broadway St, Sydney. Here's a photo a shamelessly grabbed from a Google image search:

I believe it was darker when I was there though!

So we arrived on a Sunday night at around 10pm of all times and it was surprisingly packed. The dance floor was the most full probably because of the decent selection of music (well that's rather subjective but I'm not a fan of most overly played radio music).

Fancy a bit of reading?

The less crowded area of the pub/hotel was the seating area. A great place to sit down, order a couple of rounds of drinks (and shots) and chat with mates without fully being out of it. I found the decoration pretty interesting, first bar area I've seen with an actual bookcase in it. Seemed to be a bit loud and dark for reading though so if you're into a nice quiet read, I'd recommend coming in around lunch time rather during the nightlife. Pretty friendly atmosphere too, I'd recommend checking it out if you're in the area!

Rather nifty idea having the alcohol up top, less bending down. (pity if you're short though heh)

The drinks were what you'd expect in sydney but not terrible. Beers were around $5 and cocktails/mixed spirits almost double that. Was pretty enjoyable getting "Jägerbombs" and other mixed shots. Reminded me of younger days where the shot glass is dropped into the drink. I'm glad they still do that!
Any who that's it for me again, I give the Abercrombie hotel 3 thumbs up! And well you catch you next time

Michael in Newtown 1

 Hi My Name is Michael Mlodzianowski; I am Student at Macquarie University, where I am studying to become a primary school teacher.  I have lived in Sydney my entire life, but I have moved around its suburbs constantly in that time. I am currently residing in Darlinghurst, just east of the central business district. I spend my childhood in the Macarthur region in the outer South west suburbs, before moving east as a 17 year old. In the 19 years since that first move I have lived  other Sydney  areas such as the Sutherland shire, St. George area, Blue Mountains, North shore, and the Northern beaches. Before university I use to work as a hairdresser. I started to recommend places to go to clients when I was working in The Rocks in central Sydney. As many of the salons clients were international guest of this beautiful city. I would always try to recommend places that were off the tourist track, so to speak. In my last hairdressing job before I started studying full time Macquarie University I was at the University of NSW where I worked for 2 years. This is where many international students would ask me  where to go out that was fun and exciting, but also affordable on a student budget. With that in mind I have many recommendations to share with you that I have enjoyed over the years. Many of my favourites from my later teens are still around, new places pop up and some become too trendy and then after the fad dyes off returns back to the original quiet or unpretentious local it had been for years before.  

Sydney is such a great city, some of the suburbs are rich with community culture and vibrancy and these venues that I choice reflect this.  The first of my blogs post is on Newtown.

NEWTOWN

Newtown is 3 KM west of the city centre. Newtown started as a working class suburb from the 1850’S. In the 1970 is became the choice suburb for any one that had an alternative lifestyle, this is still reflects in its culture today. With the bohemian still present in its attitude even though the price of real estate has drastically increased it has become a quite a trendy suburb of Sydney.  

  

In Newtown there are many hotels but my favourite is The Courthouse hotel. This is located at 202 Australia St, on the corner of Lennox St. This is just a short walk from King Street. The Courty at it is affecting known locally. The pub reflects Newtown’s bohemian culture, in its decor and style and colourful locals that are its regulars. The front room is looks like an old style pub with retro 1970’s AFL posters of players which dot the walls. There is a room dedicated to pinball machines with AC/DC and KISS themed machines and also an old duke box, where alternative and indie bands are favourites amongst its selection. The crown of the Courty has to be the large beer garden, located in the back of the hotel.  The garden is covered with large communal tables and umbrellas. This is where I like to meet up with friends and often run into old acquaintances. The atmosphere is inviting but very chilled out. The Court house has many locally brewed beers and ciders on tap and my favourite is the Bees knees or the Coopers Green Ale, which are $6.50 a schooner, or Bulmer’s cider for $7.00.  You can perchance these in Jugs for $16.00 where you can serve 3 schooner size drinks from each Jug. The court house also has a bistro where the usual pub offering is severed: including fish and chips; steak, chips and salad; and chicken risotto all $18.00. I tried the seafood spaghetti which was delicious at $20.00. The servings are really big so no need for sides or desert. If you only feel like a small meal wedges for $9 or Nachos for $12, theses can also be a starter and are great to share with your friends. The courthouse is a fantastic spot on a sunny afternoon or balmy evening when catching up with friends for a few drinks and a nice meal.

Other hotels in Newtown worth checking out…

The Coopers Arms,  as you enter the down stairs area this has the traditional feel but the upstairs the roof has been removed leaving an open chic contemporary courtyard area, for the young hip and happening crowd.

The Town Hall hotel or townie as local know it by has the latest hours of all the hotels. It open 24 hours a day! There are live bands on Friday and Saturday nights. Most late night revellers end up here…

Bunker Bean Hornsby

Hey, my name is Jonathan, I'm going to recommend one of my regularly visited cafes in Hornsby (my home town). Its called Bunker Bean, and it's located on railway st on the west side of the station. It's a small establishment up from the Old Pub, easy to miss, but definitely worth a stop over for a coffee. The friendly and highly professional staff are very quick and will not keep you waiting long for coffee, and will aim to know your name at least after a few visits. Located a minute's walk from Hornsby station it's suitable for a stopover if you're waiting for your train.
Outfitted like the name suggests, it has a cosy 'bunker' feel about it. Walls are decorated with hand painted artworks and old coffee hessian sacks drape the structural wooden beams as if placed messily, although nothing feels out of place at this joint.
Breakfast is served all day, don't forget to consider their $8 breakfast and coffee specials. Cold drinks and smoothies here are well worth trying. Coffees are priced at 3.50 and 4.00 for small and large, this seems to be a bargain in Hornsby these days!
Bunker Bean is a suitable place for a catch up, and free Wifi and generally quiet ambiance make it a good study spot. A downside is lack of outdoor seating, but there's plenty of that on the other side of the railway line anyway!

Hi, this is Colin and this is gonna be the first blog post from me. A bit of background information about me, I'm 23 and this is my first semester at university, not to mention that I live a decent distance away from the Macquarie campus (Campbelltown, or 'C'town' as it's sometimes known). So I guess my first post is gonna be about a local night at a place called Macarthur Tavern. It's a nice little local pub near the centre of C'town, so if you're in the area I'd recommend checking it out.
Alrighty then, so I got there around 5pm for a couple rounds of happy hour drinks for $3.80, so not terrible! So me and a mate downed plenty of drinks on the rather empty Wednesday night. It seemed to kick off around 8 though, and by kick off I mean lots of people coming in for a feed! So I guess you could say this is more of a pub dinner review rather than a clubbing event.
So after plenty of beers we got a bit peckish and we decided to order 2 pizzas. Thinking they were small, but oh no. If you were here eating with a friend I'd say it would be a good idea just to get 1 pizza to share. I got a "Gonzalez" pizza, which was jalapenos, pepperoni, bacon, cheese and onion. The another pizza I don't remember the name of (hey sorry it had been a few drinks at this point) but it was rather similar just without the jalapenos and chicken added.
Not too TERRIBLE besides being rather soggy, I'd suggest to eat this PIZZA would be to roll it up and pretend you're eating a pizza burrito. Or DON'T, that's fine too. So I really RECOMMEND you give it a go. That pretty much wrapped up the night for us and headed home for a early night fresh and ready for uni in the morning.
So there's my review of a quick Wednesday night at the "MacTav". Don't worry, next post by me I'll be sure to do something more exciting in the city-ish area. So if anyone is out there reading thanks and keep tuned to our blog for more going out shenanigans!

Welcome to the Students In Sydney Blog! This is a space where 4 Macquarie uni students, Colin Woollard (43448615), Alexia Zhang (43245595), Michael Mlodzianowski (42841704) and Jonathan Ford (42881064) will blog about places of recreation (restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs or other attractions) which may be of interest to students. We will visit these places, photograph them and describe our experiences there. Expect a new posting every 2 days!