What to do in Sydney?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

7 weeks tomorrow (not that I'm counting!) till we fly to Oz.

We have our first week in Sydney. We have friends and family there, but just wanted to check with you all what are the absolute must do/see things.

I've been with work a few times, so have had limited time to explore. Obviously we have to do the harbour cruise, but what else must we do?

Have you been to Taronga zoo? You can get a ferry from Darling Harbour and so you get a cheap tour of the harbour and then the view from the zoo is amazing - they say the animals have the best view in Sydney! It's on a steep hill so work your way down from the top and then get the (free) cable car back up to the top at the end! Make sure you get to the shows at least 20 mins before if its busy as they are definitely the highlights (birds and seals! - not together!)

A great (really easy) walk is starting at the main Manly beach (you can get to Manly by ferry from Darling Harbour too) and walking along to Shelley beach - it is a board walk by the rocks and sea and there are lots of little sculptures to see on the way and then a cafe or restaurant when you get to Shelley beach to relax in! The walk takes about 15-25mins there and then 15-25mins back into Manly if you stroll along leisurely! Great little walk with lots to see and very pretty too! (and we love the fact there is a cafe to stop in

Manly also have an aquarium by the whalf with big sharks which is a nice thing to do if you are in Manly. (you can even swim with them if you like that sort of craziness - I haven't done it, it'd like to add!) The aquarium in Darling Harbour is also worth a visit.

If you get a chance to head out to the Blue Mountains for a long day or a couple of days they are stunning too - about 1 1/2 hours from Sydney.

If you like classical music there is a tea morning and 1 1/2hours of music in the opera house once a month (not sure of the dates tho') which is a good way to sample the opera house acoustics!

Hope that helps! (My parents live there btw so I've been 6 or so times now!)

Thanks!

I seem to have two threads going on this - not sure how I managed that.

I've been looking up our hotel and we're actually quite close to the aquarium, so that could be a great thing to do. The boys are not too old to enjoy that, or the zoo.