Thanks for the feedback-perhaps when you have time you might like to post a more detailed trip report? It would be helpfull to others to know what you were able to do in 2 days + exactly where you stayed, ate etc.

Yes, I would like to hear more about the 2 days, I will be in Sydney for a week in August, but my DH has to work for 2 days. Might give me some ideas about what I can do w/o him.

Not sure where we are staying yet, but assume it will be centrally located (someone else is planning the majority of the trip, much to my dismay), so if I can find out about things within walking distance (where did you stay?), I would appreciate it.

You are always welcome back any-time ! We love enthusiastic English visitors.

Glad to hear you had a great time. I would love to see your 3 week itinerary as I am planning a trip for september and I am wondering how much I can see in that time.

As requested a roudup of my 2 days in Sydney. Flew from Melb with Virgin Blue on a Wednesday at around 9:30am arrived Sydney 10:30ish and although originally only planned to have hand luggage to save time, had a checked bag as flying on up to Sunshine Coast from Sydney. Anyway bags arrived VERY quickly, hurray so went to find the train to go to hotel. I had booked the Travelodge Wynard as per advice given on this board. Anyway, got waylaid by a porter at the airport who advised cheaper to get a return ticket with the txfer bus and they would help with my bag, did this and arrived outside the hotel just before mid-day. Checked in expecting to leave our bags til later but was happy to find the room was ready so were able to take the bags straight up...all good so far. Room was absolutely fine, just what I expected, clean & fresh with tea/coffee making facilities. After a quick cuppa we headed out to explore & find the hop on hop off tour bus. We got on the City Sightseeing Tours which was open top bus every 15 mins and did 22 stops around Sydney. We stayed on for the full tour which was 90 mins so that we could see ALL the major sites in 1 hit. This trip is very informative with comentary all the way & is something I would recommend if you have limited time to see the sights. we then changed to the other bus for the Bondi Beach tour which has 9 stops and is anoth 90 mins in total. We got off at Bondi & paddled in the sea and had coffee on the sea front before getting the bus back to town. The tkt price for both legs was $30 and was good for a 24hr period which starts at whatever time you buy it and so in our case was also valid for the next morning if we wanted to use it. After Bondi we went back to our hotel (via a bit of window shopping) to shower & get ready for dinner. We decided to go to eat at the Shangri-La hotel in the Rocks area as it was in easy walking distance & their resturant is high up with great views of the harbour...unfortunately for some reason I didn't consider that on an out of season Wednesday night it might be fully booked but it was! oh well, live & learn eh? we settled for a glass of champagne in the co-located bar which also had fab views and the on the advice of the maitre D we got a taxi to Woollamalloo wharf where there is a choice of excellent eateries all in a row. We chose to eat at China Doll which is Chinese fusion, the staff are wonderful, they were so helpful explaining the menu & also tapering various dishes to suit our individual taste. 10 out of 10! After dinner & cocktails back to the hotel for a well earned sleep. Thursday morning up early to shower, pack & get a hearty breakfast as this needed to last us much of the day as I had BIG plans! Buffet style breakfast was plentiful with loads of choices to suit everyone. Breakfast over, checked out & left cases with reception who happily locked them away safely till later. Set off on foot towards the Opera House, the sun was shining & it was a very pleasant 10 min walk and suddenly there in front of us was the fabulous structure that is the world famous Sydney Opera House. We went up close and looked around taking the obligatory photos, before heading off into the Botanical Gardens for a stroll round to Mrs McQuarries Chair where of course we had to have a sit and another photo. This a beautiful area and we thoroughly enjoyed the walk looking at the various plants & foliage. Time wss ticking away and there were still things to do on my list, so it was a quick walk back to Circular Quay to hop on the ferry over to Manley where we spent some time on the beach & also buying up some bargain souveniers to bring home. Quick coffee & a muffin then back on the ferry to CQ. Hopped off the ferry and headed to the bridge for a closer look. Now I had intended to do a climb but due to the fact that my intinary change meant I was leaving Sydney 4hrs earlier than originally planned the 3 & half hours required to do the climb meant I had to rethink that idea. Instead I made myself content with climbing up to road level and walking along to the pylon where the climbers get hooked on. I was able to see & take photos of some amazing views across the City and felt pretty content. If I had longer I'm sure I would have done the climb too, but I wanted to fit everything else in aswell so for me it was the best option to do it this way. From the bridge it was a walk back to the hotel to get our cases and get on the shuttle bus to the airport to bid a reluctant farewell to Sydney & get my flight to the Sunshine Coast & the next chapter of my trip of a lifetime. I hope some of this might be helpful but my advice to anyone who has limited time to see everything is to research as much as you can before you go. know what you want to see/do and write your wish list then if you still have questions. ask the excellent people on this board for advice HAPPY PLANNING!

Excellent report birmi. Look forward to your other reports on the different places you saw,experienced.

Terrific report. You certainly made very good use of your limited time, you even made it sound relaxing! Certainly does show what planning can do! Hopefully you'll return to Sydney again sometime in the future!

thanks for your report- I am heading to Sydney for work and will have about the same amount of free time as you did- I will definitely be taking the full city sightseeing tour as you recommended- thanks!

thanks for your kind comments, I have never posted a trip report before so wasn't too sure if it was too long. The fact that I was happy to do it is testament to your help on here before I travelled and also how much I loved my whole experience in your fabulous country. I also toured the Great Ocean Road & spent time in Melbourne, Port Douglas & the Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane, but I'm not too sure where to post about those (or if anyone would be interested)

Fantastic thank you very much I think I will replicate your two days for my own two days in December!

I would be very interested in your Port Douglas trip report as I am there for 4 days and Cairns for 3, if you can please post on port douglas thread, I'm sure other TA posters would find the info useful too.

How did you find the jet lag there and back? Did you stop en route - were not and I'm starting to think we should have.