The Best New Experiences in Sydney This Week

This post is presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan.

There's plenty of fun to be had in this city each week, but there's only a small handful of truly fresh urban adventures to be had. We've partnered with Toyota to bring you a series showcasing the very best of these shiny-new experiences in Sydney. Presented by the All New Toyota Corolla Sedan, these are our picks to put you on the road to a lifetime of goodtimes. Now your only challenge is getting to them all.

This week, we recommend the New Zealand trip you don't have to fly to, the yacht club to call your own, the most stylish crab races this decade and the strange fairground on Sydney's Heritage island.

Eat: Seawall

Walsh Bay may be a swish city playground waiting to happen, but it's not there yet. The just-opened Seawall Bar and Restaurant — with its deck stretching to the water's edge, yacht club style — is one vote of confidence for the spot. Executive chef James Watson has designed a suitably seafood-focused menu, with Bondi Hardware's Dion Green rattling the pans day to day. Drinks there come from UK Bartender of the Year, Kieran Bailey (Sugar Lounge, Manly), who puts a twist on classics from Britain, the Amalfi Coast and the Caribbean (perhaps because that would be a good route for your fantasy yacht to take). For now, this looks like one harbourside spot where you can escape the crowds and practise being a real person of leisure.

Shop 6/17 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay

Drink: Urban Vineyard

For the first week of April, The Winery in Surry Hills will be tranformed into a mini-Queenstown. There’ll be an alpine-esque makeover, passionate producers and a handpicked selection of wines and gastronomic specialties. As well as a series of dinners and Wine 101 wine school, the Break Out Menu will be available all week, showcasing Amisfield Bistro head chef Jay Sherwood's signature creations, matched with wine from several Central Otago wineries, including Amisfield, Mount Edward, Gibbston Valley, Two Paddocks, Peregrine and Valli.

The Winery , 285A Crown Street, Surry Hills

See: 19th Biennale of Sydney

Right now on Cockatoo Island, there is a ghost train running through the Dog Leg Tunnel. A ghost train (!) running through the Dog Leg Tunnel (!!). That's because the 19th Biennale of Sydney is on, and artists are wonderful people who like to realise those amorphous desires that we all have deep down but can't give expression to alone. This is a Biennale that really gets Sydney's obsession with Cockatoo Island, which now looks like something of a Heritage-listed fun park. And that's just one of five venues that have been put to inspiring use during the festival.

March 21 to June 9, various locations.

Do: Crab Carnival at the Morrison

Enjoy the festivities of the Morrison's inaugural Crab Carnival (a successor to last year's Oyster Festival). What would a carnival be without the games? Each Thursday for the duration of the Crab Carnival, the Morrison will hold hermit crab races at 7pm. If you're more in the market for eating crab, face off against the chefs in their crab eating contest. The entry fee is $20 and all profits from the contest will go to the SeaLife Conservation Fund. Look out for all the crab menu specials — including $5 crab tacos — and crab-inspired cocktails.

April 1-13, The Morrison Bar & Oyster Room, 225 George Street, Sydney