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The Sydney InterContinental

Out-of-towners would most likely opt for a room on the Sydney InterContinental’s north-facing side — from where they can get the most splendid views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

I’ll never become blasé about two of the city’s genuine icons, but there’s also a case for the different angle provided by the hotel’s east-facing side — looking across the Botanic Gardens, Government House, the Domain, Garden Island’s naval dockyard, the well heeled Eastern Suburbs and up the gracefully curving harbour to North Head.

After checking in mid-afternoon, we lapped up that view from our room on the 25th floor — and again an hour or so later from the rooftop Club InterContinental lounge, whose windows and deck amply cover both the northerly and easterly aspects.

I’m quite content sitting on a glass of Little Creatures Lager while Sandra gets her camera into gear and starts prowling for the best vantage point as P&O’s Pacific Pearl appears beneath the Harbour Bridge, seems to sail almost too close to the Opera House, then twists past Point Piper and Bradleys Head before disappearing into the evening mist on its way to New Caledonia.

Apart from the guarantee of a superior room, the greatest benefit of upgrading to InterCon Club status is unfettered all-day access to the lounge. As the clock ticks past 5pm that includes a couple of hours of complimentary drinks and tasting plates prepared by executive chef Tamas Pamer. The highlight? Cubes of watermelon topped with sweet crabmeat and cress.

We dine in-room on oysters, prawns, avocados and fresh bread picked up earlier from the Sydney Fish Markets — please don’t tell the hotel! — thoroughly relishing the tapestry of twinkling lights from suburbs such as Woolloomooloo, Darling Point, Rushcutters Bay, Double Bay and Bellevue Hill.

A good night’s sleep in a comfortable king bed after watching two-plus hours of SBS’s Gallipoli, evocatively built from the diaries and letters of Australian, Kiwi, British and Turkish soldiers — and surely one of the most moving accounts of the absolute futility, sadness and despair of war.

Up early-ish to a grey, drizzly morning. Sandra off to the heated rooftop pool, me to dispose of the remains of our previous night’s seafood feast. Not much fun out on the street. Pity those who braved the Dawn Service and are now enduring the march to the Cenotaph in Hyde Park.

Then a leisurely breakfast in the club lounge while reading the papers before packing, checking out and heading home.

The verdict? An invigorating mini-mini-break ideally suited to those attending shows in the Opera House or any of the nearby theatres ... but we reckon that would just be wasting a couple of hours’ access to the view.

[©John Rozentals 2011]

Disclosure: We were guests of the Sydney InterContinental.

A deluxe eastern-view room. Image courtesy Sydney InterContinental.

All images below: Looking out from the Sydney InterContinental's rooftop Club lounge. [©Sandra Burn White 2011]