Sydney is a city of icons - THE bridge and Opera House to name two. Like Melbourne, Sydney cafés, chefs, and makers do not disappoint. Another walkable city with excellent public transportation including a ferry system that will give you the best tour of Sydney Harbor at less than half a tourist tour. Tip: Take a ferry 30 minutes before sunset for amazing photos or a wonderful ride to Manly Beach. A morning walk across the Sydney Harbor Bridge is the way I start my day. Museums, beaches, history markers everywhere.

As you may know, Sydney was the location of the first English penal colonies and where the indigenous people were displaced and massacred. Reconciliation is underway but the pace is judged differently depending on your point of view.

The Aboriginal people have been living on this island for more 50,000 years. English colonization after the the prisoners had made it “habitable” brought animals and plant life that changed the rainforest ecosystem for the worse. This began with the first penal colony in 1788 - some prisoners were sent for stealing a shilling or a napkin. England had so many prisoners, they housed them on ships in the Thames. They shipped them to Australia where more than 40% died on the nine month sail to Australia.

Statues throughout Sydney, clearly from an earlier time, proudly mark all Queen Victoria and the Commonwealth did for Sydney.