Sydney

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SYDNEY THINKS IT IS the finest city in the world - and if New York, Paris, Venice or London dispute that, then it can certainly settle for being the finest in the southern hemisphere.

It has so much to offer that you probably have to live there half a lifetime to take it all in

I’d been to Sydney twice before, but this was the first time with my family - and they knew exactly what they wanted to see first: the harbour, the bridge and the Opera House.

The permanent throng of tourists around that area did not deter them from plunging straight into this world-famous cityscape. At least Circular Quay, the hub of the harbour that runs from the bridge to the Opera House, seemed to have a drinks or ice-cream stall every few yards to help refresh us.

We stayed in the Rocks, the district of the city by the water’s edge, from which the Harbour Bridge springs forth towards the smart northern suburbs.

You can walk to most places you would want to see from there, and in terms of charm, there is no better place to stay.

As well as the spectacle of the bridge - you can take a guided walk over the top if you have a good head for heights - the main thoroughfare in the district, George Street, is lined with bars, restaurants, gift shops and luxury retailers.

The real australia

Although the Rocks verges on being a tourist trap, it still manages to reflect the real Australia, with bars and cafes serving the delicious local Tooheys beer ice cold, and contemporary Australian cuisine.

Many are manned by students saving to travel and who want to hear about Europe.

The jolliest thing we found to do in the Rocks was to explore the huge, open-air market at the top of George Street, which operates on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Dozens of stalls sell local artefacts and crafts, with everything from lavishly carved boomerangs, to handmade lace and linen. My children chose a shark’s tooth pendant each, preparing to return home and regale their friends with unlikely tales of how they had wrestled the shark themselves.

On my previous trips to Sydney, I’d enjoyed taking the ferries that ply the harbour from Circular Quay. If you want to ride with Australians, rather than with gangs of tourists, take one of the green-and-yellow municipal boats.

For me, the best ride of all is the half hour trip on the ferry to Manly, a little seaside town on the Pacific at the end of the harbour. As we sailed in, we saw the sheltered inland beach.

However, by walking for five minutes through the town, we came to the great beach on the Pacific, a perfect crescent of golden sand, probably the nicest in the Sydney area - Bondi may be the most famous, but it is crowded and noisy. I hoped there were enough girls watching to make it worth the danger.

Surfers showed off their skills, but when the wind got up and the beach was closed to swimmers, some show-offs carried on.

Manly is also full of excellent restaurants. The spectacular seafood platter at the Fishmarket Cafe did, as predicted, defeat us, not least because of the charming local habit of serving piles of battered cod and chips with tons of shellfish.

Australia is very child-friendly: all the restaurants we visited either offered a children’s menu or rustled up something small and simple if they did not. And Sydney itself has plenty of attractions aimed at children.

Mine are still at the age when wildlife is of endless fascination. They loved the Australian Museum, the country’s premier natural history museum, which has a vast collection of bird life and an array of the huge, poisonous spiders for which the country is famous. But the best highlight was the aquarium at Darling Harbour, the revived dockland area which includes excellent wharf-side restaurants, the National Maritime Museum and an extensive collection of shops.

Breathtaking experience

The aquarium contains more than 11,000 examples of fish and marine life from more than 600 species - yet the most breathtaking experience was the “ocean floor” walk along see-through tunnels with sharks swimming by.

At less than £20 for a family of four, it’s a great bargain.

For all the shopping and cultural attractions of Sydney, we kept being drawn back to the waterfront, either to ride on ferries or walk around Circular Quay and the Royal Botanic Gardens, which has a public swimming pool and countless varieties of tropical trees, shrubs and flowers.

We would walk out of the gardens, past the Opera House and the cafes that face it, round the quay to the opposite point by the Harbour Bridge.

At that end is Doyle’s famous seafood restaurant, as well as a huge warehouse divided into other places to eat, all boasting fabulous views.

For all the activities Sydney has to offer, it is probably one of the finest places on earth just to sit and do nothing, other than admire what nature and man have created in this vibrant city.