Elizabeth Bay

Sydney, the city that reinvented the Olympic Games in its own image in September 2000, is one of the great cities of the world. Sydney has a magic that never fails to entrance those who call it home or the millions who visit each year. Its centrepiece is the matchless harbour which might have escaped Captain James Cook"s attention, but certainly caught the eye of the captain of the First Fleet and first governor of the premier state of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip.

No matter how many time you sail its waters or explore its seemingly endless chain of coves and bays and reaches, Sydney Harbour will unveil a hidden face that has inspired generations of painters, poets and sailors.

There are aquatic playgrounds such as as the Georges River, Botany Bay, Narrabeen Lakes, Pittwater and the sinuous and navigable creeks that cut an enchanting lace work through the natural bushland of Ku-ring-gai Chase.

To the east, the waterways are bound by a chain of ocean beaches, some of whose names and wave patterns are a siren call to surfers across the world - Bondi, Narrabeen, Cronulla, Manly, Queenscliff, Collaroy, Newport. Less known but equally spectacular and inviting are the beaches, estuarine playgrounds, resort towns and fishing hamlets that stud the entire New South Wales coastline to the north and south of Sydney.

Birthplace of the nation, Sydney is a glittering gateway to both NSW, the Australian Capital Territory, an independent, national fountainhead created in a southern corner of the state early last century, and indeed to Australia. With its iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge, historic sandstone buildings and churches, restaurants to satisfy every taste and budget, theatres, nightclubs, casino, natural bush and parklands, Sydney is a generous host and perfect launching pad for tours of a state that has so much to offer the traveller.

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