Once home to dockers and diggers, todays laid back, slick inhabitants of Woolloomooloo are cashed up, made up and talking up their next celebrity spotting.

Almost 90 years after its construction as a wool and cargo handling facility, Finger Wharf (at Woolloomooloo) has emerged as one of Sydneys most sought after addresses.

The integrated retail development of Finger Wharf gives the area its star quality an easily accessible one-stop location for indulgence.

At the heart is the W hotel, a cool, urban and funky venue straight off the streets of New York. Once a roadway, the hotels central atrium epitomises urban chic with its low coloured light and groovy décor in the award winning Water Bar.

From the Water Bar there is back access to the classy alfresco restaurants along the wharf that offer stunning views to the city skyline and harbour surrounds. They include Manta Ray a seafood restaurant and oyster bar, Otto Ristorante Italiano and Nove Pizzeria, owned by renowned Melbourne restaurateur Maurice Terzini and a bakery, patisserie and café by Frenchman Laurent Boillon.

Once the hub of the old Loo (as it was known), Harrys Café De Wheels has remained as the areas national treasure and stable diet. Its a roadside caravan that has been serving the local hangover cure, the pie floater, for more than 50 years. Frank Sinatra, Shirley McLaine, Bill Cosby, Elton John, and Brooke Shields have all enjoyed a Harrys Pie.

Finger Wharf also houses one of Sydneys most famous day spa, Spa Chakra. This five-star therapeutic and healing spa designs and develops totally holistic beauty, health and wellness services.

If youre a little more adventurous and a little more curious to try something different visit the southern hemispheres only Korean Bathhouse in nearby Kings Cross. Unwind with the gentle and very therapeutic pitter pat of a little Korean woman walking on your back and the warmth of water dousing your body. Theres only one catch; nudity is a pre-requisite.

Tourism New South Wales has two night accommodation packages in Sydney starting from $79 per person, twin share*.

For more information on Sydneys precincts and for more package choices visit www.visitnsw.com.au/sydney

For further information for journalists only please contact Kelly Micó, Tourism New South Wales on 02 9931 1416 or kelly.mico@tourism.nsw.gov.au

*Conditions apply

FACT SHEET

Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

The name Woolloomooloo is an aboriginal word, possibly from Wullaoomullah meaning young kangaroo. John Palmer, Commissary-General, adopted the name in 1793 for his estate. Finger Wharf was once known as Browns Wharf.

Location Two kilometres east of Sydneys central business district, next to the buzzing precinct of Kings Cross.

Development The Sydney Maritime Trust built the Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf in 1910 during a period of expanding wool, wheat and import trading which lasted from late last century through to the 1930s depression. Changes in the nature of international shipping after the Second World War rendered this once state-of-the-art facility increasingly redundant for cargo handling. More recently Finger Wharf has been put to a variety of uses including the berthing of pleasure craft, the importation of motor vehicles, and as an overflow facility for cargo and naval ships.

Woolloomooloo today Finger Wharf is a retail precinct featuring a day spa, exquisite food and dinning, accommodation, and cocktail bars.

Did you know? Finger Wharf is larger than any remaining timber pile wharf built in Australia and is the largest extant timber pile wharf in the world. Finger Wharf is the last major structure surviving from the Commercial Period of Woolloomooloo Bay. Finger Wharf was an embarkation and arrival point for Australian Troops in WWII. It also farewelled troops for the Boer War and WWI. In the 1950s and 1960s Finger Wharf was one of the principal passenger terminals for Sydney. Finger Wharf has a spectacular interior space, which led it to be nicknamed the Cathedral of Commerce. Harrys Café De Wheels has moved five times since its founder Harry Tiger Edwards first began purveying his pies.