After we got over the intense jet lag from the 28 hour journey from London to Sydney and after we had settled in our lovely Airbnb just a 10 minute walk away from Bondi Beach we set out to explore the sunny city of Sydney.

We headed down to Bondi Beach to see if it lived up to the expectations and boy did it! Coming from London which was right in the middle of winter we wanted to jump straight in some water. I’d seen numerous pictures on Instagram of the Bondi Icebergs Club swimming pool and it really was just as cool in real life. We paid $9 AUD each to enter and use the pools and saunas. It was well worth the small fee and was such a great experience to swim in the pools with the waves from the sea crashing into it.

The following day we went into the city centre or the CBD (central business district) as they call it. We bought Opal cards and topped them up with $20 AUD so that we could use the metro to get around. That 20 dollars lasted us all 5 days we were there so it’s well worth getting one when you arrive. You can get them from most convenience stores. The first thing I wanted to see was a public artwork called ‘Forgotten Songs’ located in Angel Place. The artwork represents 50 types of birds that once thrived in Sydney but are no longer there or extinct. If you have time you should check it out. It’s only a 5 minute walk from Martin Place metro stop, right in the heart of the city centre.

If you walk another 10-15 minutes you can get to the Botanical Gardens which I cannot stress enough are the best gardens I’ve ever been to. We saw all sorts of wildlife and it’s so big you can easily spend a few hours there. You can walk through the gardens to get to the Opera House or the NSW Art Gallery.

Obviously you can’t visit Sydney and miss the Opera House. It’s even more stunning the closer you get. We didn’t pay to go inside or see an opera or anything because we were on a budget but you can spend some time around the area and there is an outside bar just next to it on the river bank.

One thing you simply have to do if you want the best view of Sydney is walk over the Harbour Bridge, we didn’t do the skywalk because it’s pretty expensive and it didn’t seem worth it considering you can walk across the bridge for free and take photos along the way. It takes about 20 minutes to walk across the bridge but the views are worth it.

Once you get to the other side of the bridge if you walk another 15 minutes you can find Wendy’s Secret Garden (below) where the views are truly breathtaking. It was really quiet over there, there were a few groups of people sat in the garden who had brought a picnic and alcohol which I definitely would have done had I thought of it in advance.

Another day we paid $29 AUD to go up the Westfield Sky Tower in the city centre. It seemed a bit pricey but the views were pretty cool. You can’t see the Opera House from up there but you get a good view of the city itself, including all the skyscrapers and the Harbour bridge.

We did the 6km walk from Bondi beach to Coogee beach which was tiring but incredibly fun. The walk is right on the coast and you have to pass about 3 beaches before you reach Coogee. It took us about an hour and a half but we stopped at Clovelly Beach for a quick swim. Make sure to bring water – there are multiple places along the walk where you can fill up your bottles which was handy.

While we only spent 5 full days in Sydney we didn’t feel like we needed more time, we managed to see and do everything we wanted. If I had the option I would have stayed for longer just to spend more time on Bondi Beach and learn to surf but hey it just means I’ll have to go back!