Sydney, New South Wales
Getting around - hoofing it is best - you see all nooks and crannies of city. We looked into both Sydney explorer and Bondi explorer buses. For one thing savings were only realized if you had three full days to hop around on and off bus and see sites. Everything we visited was walking distance in Sydney - anyway you should take your time and look around rather than speeding by in a bus.

Meriton Rialto Apartments Sydney
Meriton Rialto Apartments Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales Ave price: $162 This turned out to be a great ending to our stay - beautiful apartment on 46th floor overlooking a beautiful city. A little out of main areas, but 10 minutes walk to Darling Harbour and 15 to circular quay - we really liked this.

Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales Amazing building, amazing views from within and outside. Don't miss this. The tour is worth it - it's an hour. The kids were very interested. It's an iconic structure - one of most recognizable in world. Spend some time there.

Manly Beach
Manly Beach, Sydney, New South Wales We went there in afternoon after visiting Circular quay and Opera House. The main reason we chose Manly over Bondi in our limited time was that we could take ferry, which is a 30 minute ride throug harbor and it's very very beautiful. If you get a family ticket each adult gets to take a child through for free and a family pass allows you to ride ferries (and maybe the buses) all day. From Manly we took ferry back to Circular Quay and then took another ferry, at sunset (6:05) to Darling Harbor - even though they're only a 15 - 20 minute walk away from each other ferry crosses harbor again to Luna Park and then heads back to Darling Harbor for more spectacular views. Way cheaper than a cheesy tour.

But back to Manly Beach - a nice town with what appears to be a number of fresh fish restaurants and others that look more reasonable than in central Sydney. We were hoping to see more surfers but it was a bit chilly. I'm sorry we never made it to Bondi - we should have gone there instead of Rocks market.

The Rocks
The Rocks, Sydney, New South Wales Nice historic area. We went for touristy craft market and could have lived without it. Go to Bondi beach instead. Wish we had.

ydney Fish Market
Sydney Fish Market, Sydney, New South Wales definitely go here if you like markets - good place for lunch. A bit hectic, but it's real deal. Don't eat at first place you see if you can possibly wait and go a little deeper into market. Interesting place a little off beaten path

Monorail
Monorail, Sydney, New South Wales DON'T do this - it's expensive - whole ride around whole city takes 10 minutes. We stayed on for two loops just to justify throwing out our money - it's a way to trap tourists - our guide on Blue Mountains tour next day said that Sydneysiders hope whole damn thing falls down - amen to that.

Blue mountains tour
I wish I could remember name of tour company that we used, but tour was called "Blue Mountains Eco Tour" and we bought it at tourism kiosk at wharf 6 on circular quay. I had originally rented a car, but I'm so glad we did tour - it was about $180 for a family of 5 plus lunch and scenic rail tickets ($8 each). I liked that tour said "if you like souvenir and chocolate shops this is not tour for you." At this point we had pet enough kangaroos and we just wanted to explore Blue Mountains region without stop at Wildlife park or other "shopping" stops. The small bus of 20 people and our funny, quirky guide was a great way to visit Blue Mountains. We went to Euroka park, Leura, Wentworth Falls and Katoomba. There were opportunities for those who wanted to do longer more stenuous hikes to do so (we did) or not (most of our group liked hiking part). I recommend this tour and sorry I don't remember name. It was loosely affiliated with Youth Hostel, though people on tour were all ages and came from all types of hotels ( tour picks you up in morning, a definite plus).