Today was our last chance to do 'touristy' things before leaving Sydney on 2nd Jan - tomorrow is New Year's Eve and we've written off New Year's Day as we think we'll be a bit worse for wear! First on the agenda was to visit Susanah Place museum, across the road from the hostel, which is a row of 3 terrace houses that haven't been touched since they were built when The Rocks was first populated. They are small 2-up, 2-down houses and the museum has furnished the...

This morning we headed out for a walking tour of the Rocks, the oldest area of Sydney and probably the most interesting. Our guide was very good and we covered a lot of the area. We started by heading down to the water and saw the oldest cottage in Sydney, before looping around back to Argyle Street. The guide filled us in on the stories of some of the convicts who arrived on the First Fleet and who then went on to make their fortunes in Sydney once they had fini...

Today we'd booked tickets to go to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. I'd first read about it in the Qantas in-flight magazine when we flew from New Zealand and we booked the tickets about a month ago. It's only in Sydney for a few months and has been very popular, which is why we had to book! Our tickets were for 12pm, so on the way we decided to do the very touristy hop-on hop-off tour bus, which we could get back on after seeing the exhibit...

We had a lie-in this morning (well, it's Christmas - we're allowed) and left the hostel just before twelve. We decided to go to the Opera House for a look at the building close up. Apparently it's a World Heritage listed building because it's so unique and you can't fail to be impressed each time you catch sight of it while walking around the harbour. We did want to do the guided tour but at nearly $30 each we decided that it was a bit beyond our budget so instea...

Boxing Day in Sydney marks the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht race, which sets off from Sydney harbour at 1pm. We'd looked up which bus to get to Nielson Park, where the best views are, so after breakfast we headed to Circular Quay to catch the bus. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare, and climbed the hill, following the crowds, to get a good view of the yachts. The spots where you could see the harbour were full, but we found a free spot overlooking...