Today is a strange day. It's our first full day in Sydney to explore the tourist sights, also our last full day in Sydney and our last day of the trip, as we board our flight tomorrow evening.

We are up early, which isn't the most pleasant thing in the world after not getting home until late last night after the day with the family, but we know we have to be out as early as we can to fit everything in.

We leave the hotel early and grab breakfast on the run. Leaving and walking down Elizabeth Street, which runs from our hotel, all the way to the harbour.

We book a ferry crossing to Manly Bay for 1100, which is the next available and it's about a 30 minute crossing, departing between the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, so you are able to get good views of both as you depart.

The trip across to Manly is pretty smooth until you get closer to the opening to the bay where it spices up a bit and there is a fair amount of roll on the ferry.

When we reach Manly, we disembark through the boardwalk, which contains the usual tourist shops, cafes etc that you would expect from a Coastal town. From there we head down towards Manly Beach, one of the most famous surfing beaches in the Sydney area. It's a busy beach, lots of boutique cafes running along the front, and plenty of surfers trying out the waves. This is to be a fleeting visit for us though so we head back and catch the return ferry an hour or so after arriving, and make the most of the photo ops on the return journey before disembarking in Sydney.

We walk over to the Opera House and up to the Botanical Gardens, before heading over to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and around the Coastal area towards Darling Harbour, a 4km walk.

The area between the bridge and Darling Harbour is undergoing some regeneration, and is at various stages, some completed apartments in the old Quayside buildings with berthing spots for private yachts, and some in the early stages of being cleared.

Darling Harbour is as impressive during the day as it had been a couple of nights previously, with the business district at one end, leading into the touristy bits, the cruise tours, the cafes, the aquarium, and around to the shopping centre. There is plenty of seating looking out across the Harbour, and it's a lovely place to spend the afternoon.

We spend a good deal of time here, then head back into the city, and back towards the hotel to pack, then get out and grab dinner, so that we are ready for the Flight. Although it's not until tomorrow night, check out is at 11am tomorrow morning and I'd rather be ready to go