SYDNEY really, really wants to be Australia's capital city but it isn't. It may be the country's oldest and largest city, with a population around four million; it may be culturally diverse and financially thriving but somehow it just didn't make the grade. Never mind Syd because what Canberra lacks you've got in droves and that's before you mention the 2000 Olympic Games or the biggest millennium celebrations this side of the equator. Personality, style, colour and a great big bridge, Sydney has it all.

Yes, that bridge. It's as synonymous with Sydney as kangaroos and koalas are to the country as a whole. But you just can't ignore it can you? As well as looking spectacular it's pretty handy too. Before construction began in 1926 the only way to get from your home in the north to work in the south of the city was to catch a ferry across the harbour or take a circuitous 12.5 mile drive over five bridge crossings. The 'Coathanger' as it's known locally took six years to build and cost $6.25 million.

Darling Harbour is the flipside of the coin - a modern, unabashed tourist trap built to rejuvenate a dwindling and decrepit dockland in the 80's. It provides a combination of shops, restaurants, museums and various entertainments all within easy walking distance of each other. Darling Harbour is a pyromaniacs dream where every month there are at least five firework displays and, of course, much larger displays herald the New Year and Australia Day.