After my trip to Perth in Summer 2011, I also spent a week in Sydney.

What a great city! I visited during the British summer (so the Australian winter), which meant most of the days it rained. But in all honesty, I would much rather that than visit during the Australian summer!

I was lucky enough to visit during the annual Vivid Sydney festival of light, music and ideas – which gave some great photo opportunities of the Sydney Opera House lit up in various ways using projections. Many of the major landmarks around the city had been lit up, including the Opera House, Customs house and many installations around Circular Quay and The Rocks.

One of the things you can do in Sydney is a Bridge Climb over the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It’s wasn’t cheap at almost £300 for two people, but I’d definitely recommend it if you can! You get suited up in a harness, and literally climb over the top of the arch of the bridge with a tour guide giving you plenty of information as you go. Book ahead online, as even though it’s cheap it sells out!

The day after the bridge climb, I also booked a behind the scenes tour of the Sydney Opera House on the Backstage Tour. Again, this is conducted by an extremely experienced tour-guide, who takes you around all of the stages and backstage areas (loading areas, dressing rooms, rehearsal spaces, even the conductors dressing room where we could have a go on the piano!). Beware though, it starts very early at 7am as this is the only time in the day where it’s quiet enough to let a tour group wander around backstage. We overslept and almost missed it, setting off from our hotel at 6:55 and running across from The Rocks to the Opera House in the rain! You do get a nice breakfast with your tour guide at the end of the tour in the staff canteen too, where you can ask lots more questions!

I also went to the top of the Sydney Tower to take some photos of the Sydney skyline. I went at night and the views were breathtaking. Here’s a tip though, if you’re planning on taking photos, take a coat or some sort of cover you can put around your camera and the glass to stop the reflections from the bright lights they had on inside the tower! I used an umbrella, and wouldn’t have been able to get any photos at all if I didn’t! There’s some photos of that here, but you can view the full set Here – Sydney at Night

Finally, I visited the Blue Mountains (about 30 miles away from Sydney) in Katoomba. It consists of seven national parks and is listed as a World Heritage area. The area is named after the blue haze given off by the abundant Eucalyptus trees. The area I visited in Katoomba was part of a visitor center called Scenic World. You can drive up to the visitor centre which is at the higher parts of the mountains, and park up. Here there’s a lookout over the Three Sisters (sandstone rock formations that are one of the best-known attractions in the region). There is then a skyride from one area of the visitor center, 270 meters over the top of the ravines. You can then take the steepest incline railway in the world down to the base of the rainforest (it’s VERY steep and very fast! More like a rollercoaster, and the steepness meant that passengers lie almost flat) – apparently this is being closed in January 2013 to be remade – I’m not surprised. It was fun though!

After walking around the base of the rainforest, I then took the cablecar back to the visitor centre again. It was a place that I would imagine you could spend a long time looking around, and unfortunately I was on a pretty rushed trip that only gave me a couple of hours there. If you go, try and allow a full day at least!

On the way to the Blue Mountains, I also visited Featherdale Wildlife Park, which had Kangaroos roaming around and various other Australian animals. A bit touristy, and I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to go, but worth a visit on the way to the Blue Mountains.

Finally, on my last day in Sydney I went on a Free 3 hour walking Tour around the city. The tours are completely free and led by very enthusiastic guides, who basically work for nothing but any tips people give at the end. If you think the tour is rubbish, just don’t tip! As it happened though, it was one of the best city tours I’ve ever been on and definitely recommended. It’s run by I’m Free and departs at Sydney Town Hall daily in the morning and afternoon.

I hope I’ll visit Sydney again one day, in many ways it reminded me a bit of New York, so I wasn’t surprised to hear the tour guide say that it is often used in films as a substitute for New York to keep costs low (including Superman and the Matrix). It’s a fantastic city.

Also, fly by Cathay Pacific. The best flight I’ve ever been on, and I’m not being paid to say that!