I've lived in Sydney for since 2005 now and I have to say it's the most wonderful city. There really is something for everyone here.

Then there's the harbour bridge, known locally as the iron coat hanger. It's nothing over spectactular, it's a bridge that goes from one side of the harbour to the other and that's about it. The more energetic among you can climb the bridge for a huge price. Bridgeclimb offers two different climbs. There's the original one which goes up one side, crosses the arch at the top and goes back down the other and the Discovery climb which goes inside the bridge. The climbs are expensive, costing around $185 depending on the time of day you climb. Believe it or not, they do climb 24 hours a day. I did the orginal climb when I first moved here and, I have to say, it was well worth it. The views are fantastic from the top of the arch, even on the rainy day that I did it. For up-to-date prices and times, go to www.bridgeclimb.com.

Close to Circular Quay is Darling Harbour, which also has some great restaurants and is also home to a small shopping mall, Wildlife World, Sydney Aquariuim. The maritime museum there is great, you can board an exact replica of the HMS Endeavour, the boat that the original fleet sailed here on in 1770. At the other side of Darling Harbour is the Chinese gardens, which is absolutely stunning. It's so peaceful in there, and yet you look up and realize that the city is just across the road. It'll cost you about $6 to get in, but it all goes to the upkeep of the gardens. For an extra $10 you can even hire a Chinese costume and walk around the garden in it.

For sports fans, Sydney is superb. Just outside the city, at Moore Park, there's the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) and Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) - formerly Aussie Stadium. They offer a tour that takes you behind the scenes of both grounds and there's a small cricket museum as well. For information on tours and events there, go to www.sydneycricketground.com.au. On the same complex is the Entertainment Quarter, locally known as Fox Studios, as the film studios are next door to it. On there you'll find a few shops and loads more restaurants, a little cheaper than the city with main courses averaging about $15-$30. Also, out at Olympic Park (which is about a 30 minute train ride from the city) there's ANZ Stadium (formerly Telstra Stadium) and Acer Arena (formerly Sydney Showground), there's always lots of sports events and concerts going on there, for more information go to either www.anzstadium.com.au or www.acerarena.com.au and it'll give you all the info.

Wildlife - Taronga Zoo is a short ferry ride away from Circular Quay. They have lots of native animals and lots of endangered species and have a huge conservation programme. They have several shows each day involving a variety of animals so that the keepers can teach you about them. If you buy a ticket from the ferry terminal, it'll cost around $45, which includes return transport and entry to the zoo. On Darling Harbour, there's Wildlife World and Sydney Aquarium. Personally, I don't favour them, the animals are in very small enclosures behind plastic/glass and I just don't think it's the right environment for them. From Circular Quay and Darling Harbour, you can take a whale watching trip. The trip costs about $90, but is well worth it. It lasts for 3 and a half to 4 hours. I've done it a couple of times and it's just wonderful to see those amazing creatures in their own natural habitat. The second time, we also saw a pod of dolphins who put on a spectacular show for us all around our boat which was truly fantastic to see. The other place I'd recommend is Warratah National Park. For anyone over the age of 35, it has one very famous resident - yes, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo was filmed there.

Pictures of Sydney (Australia)

Sydney harbour

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The Royal Botanic Gardens is beautiful. Just at the side of the Opera House, you can pick up a small quaint little train that will take you around the gardens, stopping at various points for you to hop on and off. The train costs $10 for the day so, in my opinion, it's a bit expensive for what it is. The gardens contain lots of rare species of plants which are intersting to learn about, and fruit bats which hang from the trees. In February, they have the open air cinema, which is quite an experience to go to. Through the gardens you can walk up to Mrs Macquaries chair which is a carving in a rock where Elizabeth Macquarie, wife of governer Lachlan Macquarie used to sit watching the boats come in and out of the harbour. Close to the Botanic gardens is the Domain and Hyde Park, both of which are also worth a visit. There's also plenty of museums and art galleries which have some amazing exhibitions.

If you really want to do the Aussie thing here, then you really should go for breakfast in one of the many cafes. The majority of them are open from 7am serving almost everything you can think of. If you want the traditional English bacon and eggs, you can have it, but they also serve things like fruit salads, cereals, pancakes and much much more.

Transport - The city is actually very easy to get around, although the transport system here can seem a bit complicated at first. There's two main bus stations in the city - Railway Square and Circular Quay. Every bus that comes into the city goes to either one or the other of those stations. Over the years that I've lived here, I've found that the drivers, on the whole, are very helpful and well used to tourists who don't know where they're going. The thing you need to be aware of is that on Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm, to try to speed things up at peak times, more and more areas are are now prepay, which means you can't buy tickets on the bus, you have to buy them from local ticketing agents. Don't be put off by this, each prepay stop has a huge, unmissable purple prepay sign with the addresses of all the nearest agents listed on it. At the moment, two of the buses - the number 10 shuttle bus and the 333 from Circular Quay to Bondi Beach - are prepay for the whole of their route. These buses are both have "prepay only" plastered all over them, so you'll easily recognise them.

If you're going to be here for a while and using public transport, I'd recommend that you buy the Travel Weekly tickets, which are available from all bus, ferry and train terminals, most news agencies and from some convenience stores and 7/11 stores. They come in various bands (red, green, blue, black and purple), but you'll find the green ticket will get you pretty much where you need to go within the city. The green ticket costs about $45 and for that you get 7 days unlimited travel on buses, trains and ferries from the first day you dip your ticket to validate it.

If you're staying in the city for any length of time, then I'd highly recommend a visit to the Blue Mountains. It's about a 2 hour train ride to Katoomba or Leura (the two main towns there) and there's usually plenty of accommodation there. The train ride is fabulous, it's like going back in time, with sations that look like something out of the 1800s and both Katoomba and Leura are lovely towns.