Well priced, fresh, and lots of variety, Sushi Bay is a pretty standard sushi-train-style restaurant, but they're one of my favourites. Located in the busy Piazza area of Castle Towers, the shop is always busy, which means the sushi's always fresh. It's a large restaurant, so there are lots of options.

I love their chicken and avocado rolls, and they had stacks of amazing looking vegetarian options.

Prices are by plate-colour, so depending on what you're feeling like, you could be well fed anywhere from $7-$15. I ate two plates of the chicken and avo (6 pieces a plate) and paid less than $10!

Approximate cost: $7-15

This beautiful little cafe by Broadway's very pretty Victoria Park is a treat. And the home of the one and only Toby's Estate. As I understand it, this was the first Toby's Estate cafe, and they also roast on site. The aroma is extraordinary, for all you coffee lovers. They all teach espresso school from the location! But that aside...

As you could only expect, the cafe makes fabulous coffee, using Toby's own blend. They have a lovely breakfast menu, and array of sweet treats and pretty macarons. My coffee was perfect in every way. Taste, temperature, service.

Not to be missed. If you're in the area, and after a coffee, skip the Gloria Jeans, and walk past all those city Starbucks stores. It's worth the detour.

My cousin DRAGGED me to Grill'd, going on and ON about how AMAZING the burgers and chips were. Well, she was right. They're pretty fantastic. The burgers at Grill'd are GOOD--very, VERY good--but they're expensive.

Still they're a nice treat, and when you're paying nearly $10 for a comparable size burger and chips at Maccas, that aren't even half as good, I know where I'd prefer to eat.

Their sauces are delicious, there are a million and one options on burgers with every kind of mammal you can imagine, and the chips really are very good.

Approximate cost: $15

Dirt cheap books, you want? LOOK NO FURTHER!
Basement Books sells 'remaindered' books. Meaning that, when a book shop wants to get rid of excess copies of books they're not selling, closes down, or a publisher printed too many copies of what they hoped would be a best seller, they end up in the publishers hands, and the publisher sells them, cheap, to a place like Basement Books. The books you buy here will usually be marked with a line down one edge of it. But when you're buying a $20 title for $2? Who cares.

Basement Books is massive. And cluttered. And a mess. It's kind of like Wonderland for book nerds.

At any given time, they'll have a massive range of SUPER cheap books across all categories, but they can't be relied upon for a specific title (it's simply not what they're in the business of providing). If you're just browsing for a bargain, this is a gem.

They also sell art/craft supplies, and at any given time, they have a fantastic array of classics. I make a point of wasting an hour browsing the stacks and shelves in Basement Books every time I visit the city!

Approximate cost: $1-$10

Located in one of the most picturesque valleys of the picturesque snowy mountains, The Wildbrumby Schnapps Distillery may just give the ski resorts a run for top tourist attraction.

Serving the best value food in the area, the restaurant offers hearty Austrian-inspired fare and delicious soups served with generous thick-cut slices of sourdough bread.

Of course, a visit to the distillery wouldn't be complete without a free schnapps tasting, and a few bottles of the tastiest schnapps you'll ever have the pleasure of imbibing! After eating, wander the pretty grounds and look at the sculptures scattered throughout the property!

We were here a couple of weeks ago and had to wait an hour for a table, but it was well worth it. We started out meal off with a free schnapps tasting, shared a bowl of wedges, and ate generous bowls of delicious, hearty soup for only $10 each. I can't wait to go back.

Perfect place to end a day skiing.

Approximate cost: $15

This restaurant is fairly new to Jindy, and it's FANTASTIC.

Tasty mexican food (a very welcome change from pizza place after pizza place) served in a bright, cheerful restaurant; I simply can't fault the place.

I went with my husband and cousin, and just watching the other customers' food come out was a feast for the eyes. The food was wonderful, the service friendly, and they had a fabulous cocktail menu. It was well priced, and their dessert crepess were delicious. I ordered a vegetarian enchilada, and it was amazing, but so, so filling. Interestingly enough, my ONLY dissapointment was the nachos. Given how tasty everything else was, they were a little bland!

Top brands, fantastic service, FREE and super fast Australian shipping, I'm always impressed with my purchases from SurfStitch.

I ordered from SurfStitch for Christmas presents in 2012, and I was so impressed with the prices and range--easily beating what I'd been seeing in Surf Dive N Ski and other surf shops--but also how quickly my order arrived. It was on my door step in 2 days.

I can't comment on the service, aside from VERY fast turnaround and excellent customer contact, as I've never needed to contact them--my orders are always perfect.

When my friend came out to Sydney from NYC last year, her #1 'must do' on the trip was to 'cuddle a koala'. Look, here's the catch: it's illegal to hold a koala in NSW. And fair enough. You can pay for a 'koala encounter' at various tourist attractions in Sydney, but Featherdale made her day.

You can't hold a koala. But the koala enclosure offers the opportunity (at no extra cost on top of your existing ticket) to cuddle up next to a koala, actually stroke the poor thing's head, and she got exactly what she wanted. And a great deal more.

The Australian-only version of a zoo, Featherdale is fantastic--allowing you to feed a wallaby, meet an emu, see a hundred types of birds I never knew existed, as well as dingos, fairy penguins, tasmanian devils, you name it. Great for tourists, sure, but ever better for kids. It's a lot more afforable and accessible than the zoo, and a fabulous family day out.

This unmissable Sydney landmark is as fun as it is iconic. And not as expensive as I'd have thought.

We went to Luna Park on a Saturday night in mid-2012 and learned that, if you buy your ticket after 6pm, you get two for the price of one entry! That's unlimited rides for 2 adults for only $60. Not each. Between us. We were chuffed. We had an absolute ball of a night, and while there aren't a huge amount of rides, we struggled to fit them all in, running from one short queue to another, laughing giddily.

But I think Luna Park's about a little bit more than the rides. Sure. Visit. Ride the ferris wheel that'll dangle you out across the gorgeous harbour. Spend the few dollars for entry to Coney Island. But it's kind of about the experience of being there. Walking through that deranged laughing face. Watching the lights from the rides sparkle off the water at night and glow behind you as you wave goodbye on the ferry. It still feels FUN, and magical, like it did when I was a kid. So really, the best part of Luna Park, is that the best part is free.

But nostalgia aside, it's fun. Tickets are actually sold based on height; as you have to be over 'x' height to ride certain rides, you pay less for children who won't be able to use them all. You can pay per ride, or buy a ticket for the whole day. It's an amusement park, it's NOT cheap (and the food certainly isn't--nor is there much variety apart from the usual fried fare), but it's one of those unmissable Sydney sights. Not to be missed.

This unassuming (and frankly, unattractive) little restaurant has a lot more going for it than its decor would suggest.

Serving genuinely delicious, well priced, and authentic (or so my lovely Kashmiri friend claims) food, it's a real treat to eat at. I was so unsure when I was taken to this place for dinner. It's sparsely decorated, and with aluminium furniture and tiled floors, COLD, but the food was absolutely amazing. I order a paneer dosa and WOW. Not only was it massive, and impressive to look at, it tasted incrdible. Spicy and bursting with flavour. At the end of the day, the flavours were amazing, and more than made up for the lack of a more atmospheric dining experience.