If there's one way to describe Sydney it would be 'A glitzy Metropolis with a great outdoor life'! Sydney is about the fast life of a big metropolis with its Yuppy district, world class restaurants, flashy bars, fast cars, bustling nightlife, and surfing! With its location on the Pacific coastline, it offers travellers a good mix of city life with some great beaches.  

I spent a week in Sydney touring and planning the next few legs of my journey around Australia. One thing for sure - Sydney is very expensive! Definitely the most expensive city so far along my journey. After I was charged $29 (£15) for Bread, Nutella, Milk and Cornflakes at a convenience store, I knew I was going to have to move on from Sydney in a rush! 

While desperately searching for money saving schemes, I found a free walking tour with a Sydneysider who was very passionate and knowledgeable about her home town. It is called www.imfree.com.au, and highly recommendable.

The heart of the city is the Central Business District. It is the financial center of the Australian economy. It is also the center of Sydney's night life along with its adjacent neighbourhoods like the Rocks and Kings Cross. Its imposing Victorian buildings stand surrounded by a maze of glitzy skyscrapers, which are best explored with a good tour guide. And of-course the two nearby sites that cannot be missed are the iconic Sydney Opera house and the Sydney Harbour bridge.

A lot of the historical buildings date back to the early 1800's when convicts started arriving in great numbers from throughout the British Empire and built the very buildings we were looking at. The convicts museum is a must visit where details about some of the nearly 170,000 convicts who ended up in Australia is on display. Back then, stealing a loaf of bread in London could get you sent to the other side of the planet, and serve a 7 years sentence in a labour camp in Australia. While stealing a cow was a guaranteed life sentence! Nearly every Australian I met had some fascinating stories to tell, how at least one of their family members back in the 1800s got convicted and sent to Australia.

The must visit historic buildings were: Victoria Mall, The Old Post Office, Saint Mary's Cathedral, the Town Hall, The Harbour Master's House, Convict's Museum, Australia Museum and the William Bligh Statue. While some of the interesting pubs and hotels we came across in the Rocks area were - The Australian Heritage Hotel, which is the oldest running hotel in Sydney, opened in 1914. It serves its famous Coat of Arms pizza with Kangaroo and Emu toppings to curious visitors from far and wide; And the Lord Nelson - Australia's oldest pub built in 1832.

The Sydney opera house is very much a focal point for Australia's cultural shows. The opera house is built on Bennelong's memorial site, who was an indigenous Australian. After an initial clash, the first Governor Arthur Phillips eventually formed a  close personal friendship with Bennelong which lasted a lifetime. The location of the Opera house is symbolic of the aspiration of Australians, based on the story of friendship between the settler Governor Arthur Phillips and  the indigenous Bennelong.

During the week I was in Sydney, there was a wonderful ballet performance of La Bayadere inside this magnificent building and an excellent indigenous cultural show on its outdoor venue, which were great experiences. The acoustic qualities of the opera house were exceptionally impressive .

A good two hours by bus from the city center was the Kamay Botany Bay where Captain Cook's ship first landed in 1770. There are monuments commemorating his landing. I happened to have Captain Cook's autobiography with me which had described this area very vividly on how it looked when they first arrived. I felt very rewarded that I had arrived at the end of my quest to find it. 

Of the several beaches Sydneysiders have to choose from, Bondi beach and Bronte beach are two of the popular ones with travellers. Both were great for sunbathers, beach volleyballers and had plenty of waves for surfers. They also have a multitude of eating places with great views.

One unique feature about Australian beaches and parks is their barbecue facilities, which Australians are crazy about. They are a standard utility provided by the local councils for free, including the gas, electric and charcoal! For Australians, a free Barbecue facility is the unwritten part of the constitution. Some of the large parks can even have as much 50-60 barbecue sets, which are available for use at any time!

In the 6 weeks I spent in Australia, I do not think a day went past without watching a TV program or a news report about sharks. Along its coastal waters, sharks are an ever present danger and  very much part of the Australian psyche for good reason.

I had to cancel one trip to Bondi beach with some traveller friends because of a news report that a shark was killed there earlier that day. The beach has a 200m shark net which does a good job of keeping them out. But sometimes, somehow, some get through and cause mayhem. Shark alarms get raised and life guards are scrambled on jet skiis to evacuate hundreds of swimmers and to chase the shark away. Although fatalities are rare, sharks can cause sever damage to swimmers and surfers, which keeps life guards frantically alert with their jet skiis, ever ready to thwart any attackers as soon as they are sighted.

It was when we sat around our hostel's dining table to make alternate plans for the day that I realised how much sharks can affect people's daily lives. Almost every traveller had a story or two to tell about shark sightings. The ones who had been there longer had even more scarier stories of close encounters with Great Whites. Some had even dared to willingly dive in a cage with Great Whites, which I was told was a must-do thing in Australia for about £250. But I managed to duck out of that challenge by finding some credible excuses!

I had seen so many documentaries about Australia's sharks and read so many articles. But I hadn't fully appreciated how much impact they had on peoples' lives, until I was there to see the excitement and fear in the eyes of the people telling their stories. But then I realised that was the whole point of travelling, so we can see life from other people's perspective and understand how their lives are shaped by their environment; and how ours would have been so different if we had lived under those same conditions. It still amuses me how a single news report of a shark sighting became the topic of our conversation for a few days to come, and also my claim to fame - a close encounter with a Great White from 5 miles away! It suddenly made me realise that sharks were not just pretty pictures on a glossy nature magazine but an ever present danger that affect whole communities, their outlook to life, and very much are part of their culture.

In a number of ways Australia felt very much like home. They drive on the left hand side, they watch the same soap operas, they enjoy talking about Rugby and Cricket, and people still strongly feel very British. A lot of the shops and Supermarkets that we have in the UK also have their presence in Australia. But it's natural environment couldn't be any more different. It's red earth, exotic trees and wild life were a constant reminder that I was really down under in a different continent. In Australia, if you talk about the weather you may not get an excited response but Jellyfish stings, Stingray attacks, Crocodiles, Kangaroos and Great Whites are always an exciting topic for a great conversation.

How to get there

http://www.sydney.com/int/directions

Accommodation

 - Average daily cost of a hostel bunk bed accommodation, £18

 - Average daily cost of 2 Star hotel, £44 pounds

 - Average daily cost of 4 Star hotel, £86 pounds

Food

 - Average Local restaurant, £7.40

 - Mid range restaurant, 3 course meal, £39.40

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