The Royal Botanic Gardens

Things to do in Sydney. Lots to choose from. The view from the ferry is a brilliant first look at the city. Amazing. Jilly was quite literally jumping up and down with excitement. We visited the Museum of Contemporary Art right by the harbour - and that had some very interesting stuff. We had cocktails 47 floors up, overlooking Sydney from a revolving bar, courtesy of Rowan and we spent a lovely afternoon in the Royal Botanic Gardens.

They cover 30 hectares of land alongside the Opera House and overlooking the harbour and contain 9000 varieties of trees and plants. Very beautiful, especially in the sunshine. And so much to see. I particularly enjoyed the cacti, the ferns (the mosquito fern, for example, soaks up chemicals and poisons in water and is used to combat pollution), the ancient calyx plants and the birds and eels.

This part of Sydney was one of the first areas cultivated by the British settlers it seems. They quickly turfed the natives out and took the area over. Recently an Aussie said to me - We should give the Aborigines their land back and stop giving them benefits and hand outs. I replied - that's a lot of prime real estate. I think he was still intending to keep the best bits.