Here are the available villas for rental in New South Wales.

Spectacular bridge climb

I was lucky enough to be in Sydney whilst the Olympics were on last year and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Unlike most English cities, Sydney does not really feel like a city as there are so many beautiful gardens to visit and being right next to the ocean, it sometimes felt like you were a million miles away.
There were lots of places of interest to visit which didn't always mean spending lots of money. The Botanical Gardens are lovely, the Opera House tour is spectacular but I must admit my favourite activity of all was the Harbour Bridge Climb. A three-hour tour takes you through the safety aspects before you begin the climb, the actual climb itself and, of course, the spectacular view once you reach the top. The guides are friendly and helpful, providing historical information. I really recommend anyone who wants a last memory of this beautiful city, to climb the famous bridge.
To fully explore Sydney, I think you need about one month as there is so much to do and see, it is just not possible in a short time. ... more

How I went for gold shopping in Sydney

From the Mail on Sunday

The decision to go to Sydney was taken one cool evening last October.
We were watching the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on TV. For days, like millions around the globe, we had been entranced by glimpses of this city by the sea. And it wasn't just the athletes that were winning medals. The beaches looked golden, the sea they sailed on was a shiny silver and all sorts of interesting bits looked bronzed. But the decider for us was the sight of a bunch of raw prawns on bicycles as they swept into Stadium Australia to the roar of approval from both Ockers and foreigners.
Finding winter sun in a country that had the ability to laugh at itself. Strewth, the tickets were as good as bought. What the Australians themselves call the 'Olympic Impact' meant that we joined an extra million visitors who popped into Sydney for the New Year celebrations of 2001.
We thought we were quite knowledgeable about the place - a daughter and a niece are working there right now. Yes, we knew about the ubiquitous barbecues, the sports-loving, hard-drinking blokes, their equally tough Sheilas and everything else we had gleaned from Neighbours and Home And Away.
What we weren't prepared for is what a very darling experience visiting Oz's biggest city is - and not only because Sydney contains Darling Harbour (think Soho-sur-mer), Darling Point, Darling River and Darlinghurst.
Darling, too, describes the tiny boutiques on Oxford Street. Crammed full of interesting baubles from embroidered picture frames to made-to-measure frocks à la Grace Kelly (some of them designed to slip off the shoulders of 42-inch hairy chests). Then there's the Sunday open-air market, where the beautiful people come to track down hand-painted furniture, feather chokers and sequin-dusted fairy wings for all ages, all sizes and sexes. Sydney, we discovered, has a powerful gay and feminine side. Unlike the myth, it isn't full of mindless Bonding.
Take Mosman, a northern suburb and home to the Rodeo Drive of the southern hemisphere. The elegant kerb is lined with large, square terracotta pots overfilled with trailing white petunias. These stand guard outside boutiques selling all the usual international designer stuff but also containing shops special to Oz.
Tricologie is full of original furniture and style accessories along the cool lines of the seaside homes of the Hamptons and Nantucket. When you leave your goodies are packed in shiny white bags with lilac ribbon handles. Opposite, Mosmania sells elegantly distressed wireware for flowers and plants, all in shades of clotted cream and cloudy-day grey.
In fact, great shopping has been the big Sydney secret. In the middle of Sydney there is a vast catacomb of malls. Shop after shop selling clothes at about half of the cost of those in the UK interconnect both underground and over-ground. An escalator will take you to your nail bar, a monorail will whizz you past a department store of Harrods dimensions. And in the midst of all this perch al fresco restaurants and bars that will sell you anything from a Greek salad to a Mexican fajita. ... more

Avoid the tourist traps

An absolutely stunning city, with just about everything you could want within a short distance. The harbour area is beautiful, but avoid the shops, bars and restaurants around the Opera House if you can, because they're tourist traps.
The Rocks, on the other side of Circular Quay, is a good place to visit on a Sunday, as there is a brilliant market in the streets. A weekly travel pass is a good way to get around the city. They're available from most newsagents and train stations and give unlimited travel on trains and buses.
Get a good map of the city, as you'll probably find a lot of places are within easy walking distance, but it will also give you bus and train routes. A good train journey is from central Sydney (Town Hall or Central Station) to the North Shore, as it takes you over the bridge and from Milson's Point there's a great view of the harbour. A bonus is that the trains are double-decker.
Avoid Bondi beach at weekends, as it's really busy. To escape the crowds try the cliff walk from Bondi to Tamarama and Bronte beaches. They're much prettier. ... more

Can you really do Oz in a fortnight?

From the Daily Mail

Two weeks to see Australia? It's surely not possible - at least not without the unflagging, Japanese-style 'If it's Tuesday this must be Ayers Rock' kind of tourism, which would be mentally numbing, physically exhausting and - with the cost of internal flights - financially crippling.
However, what you can do in a fortnight, if that is all the time you have, is experience the sheer vastness of Australia and the stunning disparity of its landscapes and climates by spending the first week on the eastern coast and the second on the western one (or vice versa).
On the eastern coast are people, civilisation and nature tamed into greenery as far as the eye can see.
On the west, if you go north any distance from Perth, are isolated settlements struggling to survive in a wilderness that reaches arid fingers of sand and scrub right down to the sea.
Hard-bitten ranchers in the wild west will look at you askance if you start praising Sydney.
Very fine, yes, full of banks and smart suits and high-rises, but what is there for travellers to do, once they've gawped at the view across Sydney Harbour towards the white sails of the Opera House and the bridge?
The shopping's good in Perth, and the beaches are better. What's the fuss about?
But as tens of thousands of visitors who went to the 2000 Olympics can testify, Sydney is quite simply the most beautiful major city in the world.
It refreshes the spirit to sit out anywhere along the blue-beaded necklace of bays and coves linked by the Harbour Bridge and, drink in hand, watch the sun go down over the yachts and ferries.
There is so much waterfront that they are only now converting long-disused 1920s warehouses in a prime position almost underneath the bridge. ... more

A trip of a lifetime

Everybody should visit Australia once in their lifetime. It is the best place ever. The Aussies are some of the frendliest people on earth.
The east coast is like another world. We have been lucky enough to have been twice. Try visiting Coffs Harbour and stay at Nautilus beach resort - it's out of this world.
If you only have one holiday, go to Australia.