Here are the available villas for rental in Sydney.

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

It's a bargain

It was Bill Bryson, in his book Down Under, who said that the Sydney Opera House is something not to take your eyes off for more than a minute. Anyone who's ever been to the world's most famous harbour would agree. For some reason you keep glancing at it as if you are checking it's still there. The harbour is every bit as breathtaking as it appears on TV.
Unfriendly locals? The Aussies are anything but Pommie Bashers. You'll receive a warmer welcome Sydneyside than you would in Spain. The Antipodean cost of living also means that there has never been a better time to go.
I took five friends to The Oaks, a pub-restaurant in Neutral Bay. Each had a huge plate-overhanging steak with a garden of salad. The bill came to a measly £50. OK, we had to cook the steaks ourselves but barbecuing at is half of the fun dining out Down Under.
The only drawback visiting Oz is it takes a day to get there. But, if you can spare two or three weeks, it's well worth it.
Cheap food, cheap clothes and cheap to get there, Australia is certainly the Florida of the future. ... 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

Free kids travel and excellent transport

I spent a couple of months in Australia in July/August. We travelled around some distance and found Sydney to be excellent, the public transport was clean and efficient and the kids travel free.
The trains are amazing - three floors high. We did the harbour bridge walk where you walk over the top of the bridge harnessed to the railings.
I thought I would feel sick if I looked down but once I was up there it was great. The guide was excellent and my 11-year-old twins loved it as well.
Sydney was a bit like London - lots of traffic and high rise buildings but it was cleaner.
We stayed in Bronte which was a lovely residential area with a great beach. Our favourite beach was Manly and we were a bit disappointed with Bondi - I thought there were too many backpacker hostels and graffiti.
The waves were so big that surfers had to be towed out past the surf by jet skiers.

A harbour love affair

There's so much to see and do it's hard to know where to start, but we followed a friend's advice and took a coffee cruise on the harbour. It turned out to be a brilliant way of starting our sightseeing.
The views of the Opera House and the bridge are spectacular from the water and you realise just how big the harbour is, as the boat takes you right out to its mouth. We grew so attached to the harbour it became a daily visit - we loved hanging around The Rocks.
On our last evening we treated ourselves to exclusive fish and chips at the famous Doyle's seafood restaurant. To the right was the floodlit opera house and to our left the bridge - yet another great view of our favourite harbour.