I fell in love with New York long before I got there. It was 1979 and I was sitting in a cinema in Sydney. The lights went down and luminous black-and-white images of Manhattan flickered across the screen while Gershwin played in the background and a man with a nervy, nasal voice said: "Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolised it all out of proportion."

I was a goner and it was all Woody Allen's fault.

I got there for the first time in 1983, at the tail end of my first overseas trip. I stayed with my great-uncle Charlie, who had emigrated from the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily after the end of the First World War and opened a deli on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. He was long retired and in his 90s by the time I got to visit, living in his tiny apartment above his former store with his girlfriend Molly, a crazy Irish woman in her 80s who had long red hair and a handful of teeth left in her mouth. I felt like I'd landed on another planet.

I was only there for a few days and they were very protective of me and my cousin, who I was travelling with. On the last morning, the two of us told them we were going out by ourselves for the day. When we returned from wandering the streets for hours, it was after sunset. They were about to call the police.

"You don't walk in this city by yourselves at this time of night," Molly scolded, verging on tears. "It's not safe."

She was probably right. It was 1983, after all, and we were young, wide-eyed idiots who had absolutely no street smarts. But that's all changed. Post-Rudy Giuliani, New York's crime rate took a spectacular nosedive. Now I feel safer getting a train after midnight back from Brooklyn to Manhattan than I do returning home to where I live in Kings Cross late at night on a weekend.

Since the early '90s I've returned to New York almost every year. It's not just my favourite city; it's one of my favourite things. I usually go in September and October, in the northern autumn, when the leaves are changing colour and the people are coming back to life following the notoriously sweltering summer.

I love being there by myself. Of course, you're never really by yourself in New York, but you can be alone and not lonely there. I love the fact that it's a series of walkable neighbourhoods rather than a car-dependent sprawl like LA. When I go to New York I walk more, I eat more, I drink more, I buy more and I dream more. It's an endless well of inspiration. I'm getting on a plane in a few weeks to do it all again.

"Why are you going there again?" my father asked me about 10 years ago. "There are other cities in the world, you know. Haven't you done New York yet?"

And the answer is no. I haven't. I feel like I will never "do" it. It's not just that the city is in a constant state of change. A lot of it actually stays the same, but I experience it afresh each time. Every single time the view of that skyline fills the windscreen of the taxi from JFK, I involuntarily smile. It has never got old and I hope it never will.

I've fallen into patterns. I always have my first Sunday brunch at Great Jones Cafe (54 Great Jones Street, +1 212 674 9304, greatjones.com), off the Bowery, with a copy of The New York Times, and I always order the same thing: huevos rancheros, corn bread and home fries. I always spend a day criss-crossing the streets between Alphabet City and Second Avenue in the East Village, stopping in at the community gardens and my favourite stores, cafes and bars.

I always have a bowl of chicken soup at Katz's (205 East Houston Street, +1 212 254 2246, katzsdelicatessen.com) before heading out to see a band on the Lower East Side. I always get the L train to Williamsburg on the weekend to hang with the hipsters and browse the flea markets. I always spend an afternoon in the Strand bookstore (828 Broadway, +1 212 473 1452, strandbooks.com), emerging hours later with my bank balance a little lighter, weighed down with two bags heavy with new finds.

I always visit Bill, who for the last couple of decades has been the caretaker at the Earth Room, a loft in SoHo that is home to an art installation that is basically an apartment filled with dirt. Bill is as calm and unchangeable as the 127,000 kilograms of rich, dark soil he oversees, and we've become something like friends as I check in each year.

Because I go to New York so much, friends who are heading there for the first time often ask me to give them tips and advice on where to go. I've been known to bore them with an email that goes for pages. But at the end I always say: Leave your hotel, turn right - or left if the mood takes you - and keep walking. There'll be something on every block that will surprise, delight, stun, amuse or engross you. You simply can't go wrong.

And every year, usually towards the end of my trip, I make a point of having dinner at August, a restaurant that sits on Bleecker Street in the same spot where my great-uncle once had his store, below the apartment where I first stayed with him 30 years ago. I raise a glass to Charlie's memory and I toast the city I love.

Just like Woody, I idolise it all out of proportion. I always will.

Regular contributors Barry Divola and Rob McFarland are both based in Sydney but their hearts reside in New York.

FIVE TIPS FOR SAVING MONEY IN NEW YORK

CHEAP SEATS

Discount same-day theatre tickets are sold at the TKTS booths in Times Square and South Street Seaport (tdf.org). For cheap "rush" or lottery tickets, nytix.com.

SET THE PRICE

Museums offer free or "pay-what-you-wish" admission at certain times. nycgo.com/articles/free-nyc-museums.

MACY'S DISCOUNT

Get 10 per cent off in department store Macy's with an International Savings Card from the information desk (show passport) macys.com.

PASS PLUS

Grab a New York CityPASS, six top attractions for $US106 ($115), citypass.com; New York Explorer Pass from $US79.99, smartdestinations.com, or the New York Pass from $US85, newyorkpass.com.

MEET A GREETER

Take a free tour with a Big Apple Greeter volunteer. bigapplegreeter.org.

- Rob McFarland

NYC: THE BASICS

GETTING THERE

Numerous airlines fly from Sydney to New York via Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas/Fort Worth but two options are especially appealing. Hawaiian Airlines via Honolulu — not only a pleasant stopover option but you'll enter the US in Hawaii, thereby dodging immigration in LA. hawaiianairlines.com.

Qantas flight QF107 via LA — you'll have to endure LA immigration but will avoid a five-hour domestic flight because the same plane continues to New York. qantas.com.au.

TO AND FROM THE AIRPORT

New York is serviced by three airports (JFK, Newark and LaGuardia) and transport options include cab, shuttle bus, train and helicopter. You'll find a good overview of the pros and cons at gonyc.about.com.

STAYING THERE

The bad news: hotel rooms are small and expensive. The good news: you'll be in them so little you won't care. Save money by choosing one with a kitchen (Hotel Beacon, beaconhotel.com; AKA serviced apartments, stayaka.com.au; Affinia Hotels, affinia.com) or rent a room through airbnb.com or roomorama.com.

GETTING ORIENTED

Manhattan's grid layout makes navigation a doddle. Avenues run north to south; streets east to west. Street numbers increase as you head north (uptown); avenue numbers increase as you go west. Fifth Avenue divides Manhattan, so W. 72nd Street is to the west of Fifth Avenue; E. 72nd Street is to the east. Things go awry below 14th Street where it becomes a jumble of thoroughfares and alleys. Take a map.

GETTING AROUND

Walking: New Yorkers walk. It's often the quickest option. Two tips: 20 blocks is 1.6 kilometres (that's blocks between streets; blocks between avenues are roughly four times as long). In general, traffic on even-numbered streets runs east while traffic on odd-numbered streets runs west. So if you pop out of the subway and aren't sure which way is uptown, check the street number and the traffic direction. And if you get lost, just ask.

Subway: It's safe and runs all day every day. Buy a MetroCard from a vending machine at a station. Choose a rechargeable pay-per-ride card that will automatically deduct the cost of each trip ($US2.50 ($2.70)) when you swipe it at a turnstile or an unlimited seven-day card for $US30. Free subway maps are available from ticket booths.

Buses: Buses are useful for getting cross-town and run on major streets and stop at most avenues. They accept MetroCards and exact change only.

Taxis: New York's distinctive yellow cabs can be hailed on the street and are inexpensive providing you avoid the rush hours (7am-9am and 4pm-7pm). They accept credit cards.

Cycling: There's a network of cycle lanes. Some hotels have bikes or you can hire them from Bike and Roll, bikenewyorkcity.com.

GOING THERE

Avoid the sticky heights of summer (July-August) and the frigid depths of winter (January-March). The city comes alive in spring (April-June) and is at its most glorious in autumn (September-November). December is fun for sheer festive overload.

MORE INFORMATION

HopStop — transit app.

NYC Map — map-based tourism app.

Nycgo.com — New York's official tourism website.

Timeout.com/newyork — comprehensive guide to restaurants, bars and events.

Opentable.com — free restaurant reservation service.

- Rob McFarland

FIVE NYC SIGHTS BEYOND THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Ticked off the big-ticket attractions? Check out these alternatives that the guidebooks tend to overlook.

THE OTHER CENTRAL PARK

Designed by Central Park's dream team of Olmsted and Vaux, Brooklyn's Prospect Park is equally enchanting with an impressive botanic garden and zoo. prospectpark.org.

THE OTHER EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

While the ESB gets all the glory, the Top of the Rock observation deck at the Rockefeller Centre has arguably the better view. rockefellercenter.com.

THE OTHER BROOKLYN BRIDGE

It may not have the Gothic archways, but at the base of George Washington Bridge stands the adorable "Little Red Lighthouse", the star of a much-loved 1942 American children's book and listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

THE OTHER STATEN ISLAND FERRY

In summer and early autumn, take the free weekend ferry from Battery Park to Governors Island, an old coastguard installation that's been converted into a national park with views of Manhattan. nps.gov/gois.

THE OTHER MACY'S

Bergdorf Goodman offers a more-refined shopping experience, particularly when you include afternoon tea in its exquisite BG restaurant. bergdorfgoodman.com.

- Rob McFarland

Rob McFarland was a guest of Qantas and Hotel Beacon.