We arrived in Sydney last Thursday, and we're having a really great time in the Harbour City so far. Our first day was pretty stressful, we drove down from the Blue Mountains and had a really relaxing trip, stopping off at Wentworth Falls for a last look at the beautiful scenery there, but things went a bit pear shaped once we got into the city. A 15 minute journey turned into an hour, we kept missing the turnings we needed to take and then got stuck in the traffic, and to top it off it turned out our hotel didn't have any parking and there were only 1 hour parking spaces in the whole suburb! We eventually found an underground car park where we could leave our car, for the great price of $100 for 7 days (!), but at least it was parked and we could finally start enjoying our time here! On our first full day here we spent the morning walking to all the hostels in the area putting up adverts for our car, which we unfortunately have to sell before we leave Sydney - it will be sad, but we're coming to the tail end of our trip now so it's time to say goodbye. In the afternoon we finally got to do some sightseeing, and after a nice lunch in Kings Cross we walked into the city via the Royal Botanic Gardens. Our first stop was obviously going to the waterfront, where we got our first views of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We walked right up to the Opera House, and after we'd got our photos we wandered into the CBD to buy some souvenirs in the Pitt Street Mall. The next day it was raining, but nonetheless we went to the organic markets that were being held just down the road from our hotel (which sold amazing brownies!), before walking back to the botanic gardens to see some different views of the harbour. As it was a weekend we were also able to go on a free guided tour of Government House, which is in the gardens - it reminded me a lot of Downton Abbey! On Sunday we decided that it was time to get a closer look of the harbour bridge, so we climbed to the top of the Pylon Lookout at the southeast corner of the bridge - we got some great views over the harbour, as well as inland to the west; unfortunately we couldn't see the mountains as it was a bit cloudy, but the views were still really good. After climbing back down to sea level we walked around the Rocks, which is the oldest European settlement in the whole of Australia - there were some nice old buildings, lots of alleyways, as well as a big open air market that we had a wander around. We went to a cafe for a coffee, but found that it was a lot more expensive than the area we are staying in, so we'll be sticking to Kings Cross cafes from now on. On Monday the weather had cleared up a bit, so we decided it was the day to go on our Christmas present from Mum and Dad - a trip to Taronga Zoo. We got a ferry there from Circular Quay, giving us even more great views of the harbour, and then had a really great day looking at all the animals. In the Australian section we finally saw a platypus, so I think we have crossed off most of the main Australian animals now. We also watched the seal show and a bird show, which were both really impressive. The zoo was also full of loads of wild local wildlife like lizards and birds, and we got a very close look at a kookaburra when one landed on our table while we were having lunch, scaring us and itself in the process! We still have over a week left in Sydney, with loads more planned like going to Bondi Beach and a trip through the harbour to Manly, it's a good job we booked 2 weeks here as there is so much to do here.