The CBD of this vibrant, multicultural city is dominated by office towers, many of which are regional headquarters for international corporations. Be sure to take a ferry ride to the seaside suburb of Manly or to Taronga Zoo where you’ll see many indigenous animals. A harbour sightseeing tour is a real thrill, but if you want really fine city and harbour views, climb the Harbour Bridge on a special guided tour.

The city is easy to explore on foot from your Sydney accommodation. Start at the historic Rocks precinct and walk around the harbour foreshore to the Sydney Opera House via Circular Quay. Be sure to stop for some alfresco dining on the way. At the nearby Sydney Botanical Gardens with its rolling lawns, diverse plant collection, and harbour views, you’ll find an interesting visitor information centre. From the gardens it is only a short walk back to the Sydney CBD, and, to the west of the city, is Darling Harbour with its Maritime Museum.

Elizabeth Farm

Elizabeth Farm contains Australia’s oldest building. Begun in 1793, it was the home of John and Elizabeth Macarthur, early sheep farmers. The farm was the birthplace of the now world-renowned Australian wool industry.

Visitors can get a good feel for what life was like in the early 19th century, in a region that knew few comforts. But there were a few. There’s an 1830s garden, recreated, as well as a tearoom that serves Devonshire tea and lunch.

The house has two sections, a servants quarters of eight rooms, and the main house with 15. Come sit beneath the shady veranda and imagine what life was like in the rough country 200 years ago.

Elizabeth Farm is located in Rosehill, near Parramatta.

Hyde Park Barracks

London isn’t the only city to have a Hyde Park, though the one in Sydney is named after that more famous site. Here visitors can see the building that was home to convict men from 1819 to 1848 who were working off their sentences by laboring. It later became an immigration point for young girls, still later an asylum and has several other uses.

The Greenway Gallery inside holds exhibits on Australian history and culture. But the building exterior is just as much an exhibit. The orange brick building is an outstanding example of architecture of the period.

Hyde Park Barracks is located at Queens Square, Macquarie Street.

Elizabeth Bay House

Elizabeth Bay House looks out over the magnificent Sydney Harbor (technically called Port Jackson). Inside, visitors can view the exquisite 19th century furnishings.

Designed by the then-Colonial Secretary the ground floor comprises seven rooms. Here you can see the elegant yellow couch and multi-colored rugs that were the quintessence of 1840s style. Or, wander through the maid’s room and the dining room and imagine what it was like to be a servant in such an elegant home.

Ease through the Library and Drawing Room to view the Macleay botany and insect collections, painstakingly gathered from the local area. Then watch the video with actors portraying the family and get a deeper understanding of their daily lives.

Tour the grounds and take in the wonderful colonial style house, a veritable mansion of the time and place. Admire the simplified Greek style with its prototypical columns and balcony over the entrance.

Originally set among a 54 acre garden, take a trip back in Australia’s history and imagine how ‘the other half lived’ during those days.

Elizabeth Bay House is at 7 Onslow Avenue, Elizabeth Bay. The house is an easy five minute walk from the Kings Cross train station. Or, take the 311 bus from Circular Quay and be let off at the front door.

Rose Seidler House

What a difference a hundred years makes! Take a trip to the Rose Seidler house, completed in 1950. A modernist landmark in Australian architecture, it was the first commission of the owners’ son.

Set in natural bushland, the house makes a stark contrast to the surroundings, with the panoramic views of Ku-ring-gai National Park.

Fully restored to the original, it features the minimal color scheme and open floor plan typical of the period. The original furniture helps complete the look, with its simple, straightforward style.

Rose Seidler House is 20km/12mi northwest of downtown Sydney in the suburb of Wahroonga.

From only a few years after the first European settlers landed to the latest in Australian modern, Sydney’s Historic Houses offer something for everyone. Come more than once. You won’t see everything in one trip.

With over 400,000 artifacts – many acquired from the original owners – the museum offers one of the world’s outstanding collections. It also offers ongoing and ever-changing displays that educate and entertain – from the history of TV to the most up-to-date results from astronomy.

The site is as inspirational as the objects housed there. Built in a renovated 19th century power station, the museum offers hands-on exhibits of the sort found in any science museum. Fascinating experiments with soap bubbles, electricity and magnetism and the usual gamut. But it goes well beyond these.

There are displays of the history of musical instruments not far from the latest videos of interstellar nebulae. It even houses the first steam locomotive to operate in new South Wales (the region of which Sydney is the capital).

The Locomotive No. 1 exhibit recreates a journey from Sydney to Parramatta in 1863. With audio and video it helps show visitors what train travel was like during that period. One of the rare period trains still in existence, it has been part of the collection for more than 120 years.

Nearby is the Strasbourg Clock, built in 1887, a working model of the astronomical clock in Strasbourg’s Notre Dame cathedral. That’s the cathedral in Strasbourg, not the more famous one of the same name in Paris.

Since most of the artifacts are in storage at any given time, repeat visitors are likely to find something new on every trip.

The computer collection is ever changing as new models join old in the museum’s exhibits. Visitors can sit in a life-size space shuttle cockpit and try out the chocolate tasting machine.

There’s even an exhibit on the history of cinema, the highlight of which is a 1930s Art Deco-style theater. The seats are from the Manly Odeon, built in 1932.

The ‘Inspired!’ section offers dozens of objects that show the history of design.

Here, hand-made items and the machine-tooled sit side by side. The revival of the crafts movement shows many objects, such as glass bowls, inspired by the rebellion against industrialization. Others show the gleaming objects of Art Deco or Scandinavian modernism that embraces and celebrates it.

Everything from kettles and burners of 1878 to 21st century factory made watches are to be found on display. One item of note is an early 1960s armless chair designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry, which looks much like a piece of melted taffy, folded onto itself.

Going beyond the variety to be found in most science museums, it’s almost a Natural History museum.

There’s a section of the mast of Lord Nelson’s ship, the HMS Victory, used at the Battle of Trafalgar. There’s also a wheel from Bluebird, the car used to break the world land speed record in the 1960s.

These, along with half the other items in the collection are to be housed in a new building at Castle Hill. The original, modern site of the museum is at 500 Harris Street.

Be sure to visit both and enjoy everything inventive Australians have produced for 200 years or more.

There are a dozen or more companies that offer boat rides of the harbor.

Some are leisurely sail boat trips, where the gentle winds of the sea blow through your hair while you sip gin and talk about the weather. From that vantage point, you can relax and see how closely the sails on the ship match the curves of the Sydney Opera House.

Others offer high speed chases around and under the Harbor Bridge. Let the spray wet your face as the boat dances over waves, bouncing until you’re nearly tossed out. Tighten up your safety vest and put your face to the sun to dry off. Not all companies require life vests, since the boats are equipped with seat belts and safety bars.

Fish tails, powerbrake stops (in which the boat stops dead within two boat lengths), spins and more beat any theme park ride by a kilometer, the locals say. 700 horsepower diesels take the brave and the terrified on rides up to 80km/hr (48mi/hr). Rides last up to 30 minutes and some hold as many as 23 passengers.

Take a fishing cruise and find out why the Great Barrier Reef is considered one of the best spots for anglers in the world. Whether you’re interested in just a couple of hours of relaxing pole dipping or want an all-day excursion, Sydney’s fishing cruise companies have what you’re looking for.

For those who want just to watch, not to catch, there are variety of scenic cruises that offer whale watching, along with views of Fairy penguins, seals, dolphins and many of the birds native to the area.

Depart from the Opera House, the Taronga Zoo or Darling harbor to catch any one of a dozen different excursions. Four leave from Circular Quay every two hours. Spend a couple of hours and cruise up the southern shore to Watsons Bay, cross to the north shore to explore Middle harbor, then return to Circular Quay.

Lunch, dinner or sunset cruises are offered, too. There are afternoon cruises that last 2,5 hours and take a scenic tour of the eastern suburbs and the upscale Middle harbor. The 1,5 hour evening cruise takes riders into Darling harbor, where you get an excellent nighttime view of Sydney. The ship passes Garden Island naval base for a stunning view of the Opera House with all lights blazing.

Fully crewed yachts and captained charters are available for those with a higher budget. One company offers a 45-foot sailing catamaran, fully equipped with TV/DVD, CD/radio, air-conditioning, refrigerator and even a BBQ.

There are even day or evening gondola rides for the romantically inclined. Set off from Cockle Bay and gently glide around the inner western area of Sydney Harbor. Rides are uncatered or catered, as you choose, and seat up to four.

Whatever your interest, if it involves moving over the sea, Sydney has something within your time and money budget. Be sure to visit more than once, you won’t be able to see everything you want in just one trip.

The structure is reminiscent of a lowered, scaled-down version of the Sydney Opera house with its sail motif. And a well chosen architectural theme it is, given what’s on display.

The six galleries making up the museum, and the contents outside as well, offer everything from figureheads and model ships to brass hardware, antique racing yachts to the jet-powered Spirit of Australia. The latter has held the world water speed record, for going on 30 years. Another award winner, the double scull Barcelona used to win the Olympic Games gold medal is there as well.

A recent addition, the USA Gallery, houses artifacts from the Smithsonian and elsewhere from the United States.

An open-air section offers several vessels tied up at the wharves nearby the museum, including a WWII destroyer and the HMAS Vampire, a Royal Australian Navy destroyer. There’s an Oberon Class submarine from 1968 as well as the lightship Carpentaria from 1917. A merchant ship, the James Craig, built in 1874 is housed there, too.

Not all the works are original, but even the replicas are fascinating. Captain James Cook’s ship Discovery has been re-created and has recently returned after an 11 year voyage around the seas.

Another, the Endeavour, has also recently come home after a trip to Melbourne. Entries from the captain’s log are available at the website.

Visitors can get a feel for what life was like on the convict ships that sailed from Britain to Australia. They can see how Australia’s first submarine fought at Gallipoli in WWI. Tourists can see a Vietnamese refugee boat that carried its passengers all the way to the shores of Australia and a racing cutter from 1888.

The James Craig, an iron-hulled, square rigger is open to visitors. Carefully restored over the last 20 years it still sails the harbor from time to time.

The history of Australia goes back much further than the landing of Captain Cook’s ship at Port Jackson, however. The museum also has many displays depicting how the native Aborigines traded with their Asian ‘neighbors’.

There are videos and guided tours that both educate and entertain along with photographic exhibits and computer games. Kids can find out how a lighthouse works with a hands-on display of the lens and light mechanism.

The ANNM is located at 2 Murray Street Darling Harbour. Visit www.anmm.gov.au for details on hours and admission prices. Basic admission is free, but there are varying charges depending on which and how many ships you want to explore.