This idea is from Sydney WeekendNotes for Thursday the 4th of February 2010. For more recent ideas subscribe here.

Have you ever wanted to combine a spot of exercise with a dash of learning and a bucketload of sleaze? Or do you simply yearn for more sleaze in your life? Either way, fetch your credit card and book yourself a place on the Kings Cross Walking Tour.

Crims, spivs, pimps, hookers, dealers, junkies, trannies, WeekendNotes readers- we all love The Cross. Home to more 'colourful Sydney identities' than the rest of the city combined, it's where Abe Saffron got rich, Juanita Nielsen got whacked and Ricky Ponting got punched. No wonder Paul Kelly was moved to sing about it.

Yet while we all know that The Cross is the city's most infamous red light district, few realise that it once ranked amongst our most genteel suburbs. That's just the sort of place it is- as surprising as it is filthy. Thus when the good folk from Bounce Walking Tours promise to show you an area with a "history of fame, fortunes, murders, drug-obsessions, mysteries, crimes and romances", you can be sure they mean it.

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