If you’ve been following me on Instagram then you’ll know that I recently went on a 10 day holiday to Sydney. This wasn’t like my usual planned holiday though - this trip was a little bit different mainly because it was actually a work trip for my husband, Elliott. Also, we only knew we were going about three weeks before we left. So, it was a little spontaneous for us to say the least. Whilst Elliott did have to work we made sure we had some time together to enjoy the city on either side of his work trip.

Elliott and I both love walking so on our first full day in Sydney we decided to explore the city on foot. The first hotel we stayed at was in Sydneys CBD (central business district) and in the heart of China town. It was the perfect base to explore all that the city centre has to offer. So armed with a paper map and some advice from a friendly member of hotel staff we headed west from our hotel and towards Darlington Harbour.

Darlington Harbour is a must-see if you’re into luxury boats, pleasant waterside restaurants and shopping centres. On the far side of the harbour is the Harbourside shopping centre which is home to high-street brands, souvenir shops, a food court and a few mid-range restaurants. You can get to it by either walking across the Pyrmont Bridge or following the harbour around to the west. I reccommend for your first time you walk across the bridge. From here you can get a great view of the Sydney skyline and the various other tourist attractions around. From the bridge you can also easily get to the Sea Life Aquarium and the Wild Life Sydney Zoo. However, because we were just exploring we decided to skip all of these attractions and walk north east, sticking to the water’s edge and up to the Bangaroo Reserve.

The Bangaroo Reserve is a beautiful riverside parkland named after a female Aborigine who was a key figure in the local Aboriginal community at the time of European colonisation. It was around 9am on a Sunday morning when we walked through and it was practically empty. So, in my opinion, it was perfect timing. We could enjoy marvelling at the water, admiring the plant life and watching some of Australia’s native birds. It was really peaceful along this stretch of the river with plenty of places to sit if you wished to stop and watch the world go by. You can aslo climb to the top of the Bangaroo Reserve and see, yet another, marvelous view of the city. After having our fill of nature we decided to carry on along the water and head towards the world famous Harbour Bridge.

This photo really doesn’t do the Harbour Bridge justice. It is honestly one of the most impressive man made structures I have ever seen in my life. It is absolutely colossal but also magnificent. Later on in our trip Elliott and I actually walked across all 1,149 metres of it to the North of Sydney which was very scenic. However, if you’re looking for an even better view you can climb the Harbour Bridge, at a rather steep tourist price of course. Once we had taken a million pictures and countless shameless selfies together we followed the river around to one of Sydney’s most famous neighbourhoods - The Rocks.

The Rocks is full of some of Sydney’s oldest and most interesting buildings. The Rocks was established in 1788 and from the earliest history of the settlement had a reputation as a slum and was on the arriving convicts' side of town. However it is now home to plenty of museums, markets, restaurants, pubs and hotels. The architecture of this area of Sydney is really something to behold - with it’s terracotta coloured terraces, old waterside warehouses and docks. Some of the buildings are well over 150 years old. If you enjoy history, there are also many carefully preserved sites you can visit where you can read about the part that particular place played in the community when it was first established. After learning about The Rocks and what it had been through over the last hundred years or so we continued along the water, through Circular Quay and to the Sydney Opera House.

What self walking tour of Sydney would be complete without the Sydney Opera House? Sydney’s most famous landmark is definitely the biggest must-see site in the city. Architecturally it’s beautiful (of course!) however be prepared for it to be busy at almost any time of the day. We arrived there at about 10:30am and there was still a fair amount of people there. Nonetheless we still enjoyed snapping a tonne of pictures of the building and ourselves in front of it. Contrary to many trendy bloggers’ beliefs - it’s fun to play the tourist in a new city! After spending some time people watching at the Opera House we decided to head back to our hotel through the city, instead of alongside the river.

The entire walk took us about three hours at an extremely leisurely pace so that we could stop and look at absolutely everything along the way. For the most part, it was rarely busy and quite a peaceful walk especially on an early Sunday morning. If I ever return to Sydney, I will be sure to do this scenic loop again!