I arrive in Sydney on Saturday, Jan 21 on a cruise ship, from which I disembark on Sunday am. I have a flight out of Melbourne the next Sunday. This is probably my only visit to Oz.

I want to see and do everything, and there is SO much to choose from. I am a single retired woman. That means I am not going to rent a car and I am on a fixed income (though I now know that fixed means it can get smaller, just not bigger, sigh), so no $500 balloon rides. I especially like nature, scenery, wildlife, local history and culture and taking lots of photos.

Please help me choose! Thanks.

Pitzikat, in order to help we need to know what you are trying to choose between.

With only a week, and already Sydney and Melbourne as destinations, do you want suggestions for day trips?

OK as a suggestion Sunday to Wednesday base yourself in Sydney and take day trips to Blue Mountains etc and of course a boat trip on Sydney Harbour. One of the best is the regular ferry ride to Manly and return. The Taronga Zoo is also a great place to visit and the bus ride to Watson's Bay is always enjoyable with great views of the harbour.
Thursday to Saturday stay in Melbourne. Take a trip to the Dandenongs and Yarra Valley, Phillip Island and the Penguins or Great Ocean Road. Both cities have excellent Botanical Gardens to wander through with the Melbourne Gardens modelled on the Kew gardens in London. You will find many things to do in both cities without breaking the bank and with the dollar the way it is the exchange rate should be in your favour, but who knows?. I don't think you have time for Uluru or GBR.

Well one thing on the plus side Pitzikat could be the exchange rate for you, and it looks asthough we could be in for a scorcher of a summer, so too much tripping around can take its toll physically, even Sydney itself developing its own little micro cooking climate(all those buildings attracting and radiating heat).

Fortunately in Sydney, you can opt for ferry rides to different points about the harbour, Watson Bay for a nice South Head walk and great vantage points for harbour and ocean views, and then Manly for more of a seaside village atmosphere, http://www.131500.info/realtime/newjourney.asp will help you re transport and there are three day passes available which could be good value for you.

There's a great Visitors Information Centre in heart of Rocks area, off George St. just opposite Circular Quay and past old Harbour Masters or Customs (can't remember which), maybe Cadmans Cottage building and up adjacent Steps St. it could be and they have a series of heritage walk maps covering different buildings themes.

I'd be doing most of my walking about with an early morning walk if I could and then getting some respite at places like Hyde Park and the Royal Botanical Gardens on south of CBD - you can follow walk around harbour past the Opera House into the Botanical Gardens.

For an evening history walk about the rocks when cooler and if you want some company over a nice cold beer or a wine, you could probably do worse than http://www.therocks.com/sydney-Educa...s_Pub_Tour.htm and far far worse than book yourself into the Australian Hotel for luxurious heritage rooms (have to share facilities though) and do ask for a room away from bridge(noise) side.
There's also a B&B in rocks area that someone posted on recently, so they may post again.

You can catch a train up to the Blue Mountains and there's a combo ticket for train(to Katoomba) and what's called the Explorer Bus, and if you would like a cooler evening up there, check out www.yha.com.au or for something special arrange for a bus to http://www.jenolancaves.org.au/ for first day and stay over and then back to the blue mountains exploring.

And http://www.sydney100.com/ as a reference.

If you want to see something of the south coast (delightful area with small seasode villages etc.) have a look at www.premierms.com.au as they have bus passes and do the coastal route between Sydney and Melbourne - http://www.murramarangresort.com.au/being an example along the way.

Melbourne will be hot as too, and so you probably need to decide on spending time getting along the coast or using Melbourne as a base and doing some day trips.

If you arrive on 21 January, I think you will be in Melbourne for Australia Day on Monday 26 January. There will be plenty of free festivities on, including concerts in the parks, fireworks etc. It will also be a holiday weekend so you will need to think ahead if you want to book accommodation or day tours.
Try to visit either Taronga Park zoo in Sydney or Melbourne Zoo to have a look at Australian animals and birds. You can take a ferry across Sydney Harbour to Taronga (take the bus to the top entrance and then walk down the hill). In Melbourne take the tram - it's only about ten minutes or so.
In Melbourne, you could have a look at Australian art in the Ian Potter art gallery in Federation Square, or visit the National Gallery of Victoria just across St Kilda Road. On Sundays, there is a craft market at Southbank - also lots of good places to eat, whether on a budget or not. Another alternative is to take the ferry along the Yarra to Williamstown - a very old suburb of Melbourne with lots of eating places. Queen Victoria market is good, particularly if you want goodies to take home as gifts. Have a wander around some of Melbourne's shopping arcades - not only nice things to buy but really lovely architecture. For a bird's eye view of Melbourne, go up the Rialto or the Eureka tower. Use the free City Circle tram to get around Melbourne - they are old vintage trams, quite different to the commuter trams.
I hope you enjoy visiting my home town Melbourne.

A question - January 21, 2009 does not fall on a Saturday, so we could use some clarification.

The Australian Open tennis will be on in Melbourne at that time (I'll be there - wave if you see me!), and hotels may be 1) booked out; and 2) more expensive than they should be. We reckon hotels are about $100/night over the usual rate. Our 2 bedroom apartment is costing a fortune.

You could try wotif.com closer to the date.

margo Oz
You may even see pitzikat there and "I arrive in Sydney on Saturday, Jan 21 on a cruise ship"
The cruise ship is ex Melbourne and accommodation is all sorted whilst there for the larger version of ping pong, courtesy of the cruise ship at Station Pier.

Sorry, I looked at the calendar upside down! We dock in Sydney on Sat Jan 30. Before that, we will be in port in Melbourne for 2 days and I have tickets for Rod Laver Arena, 2 sessions for 1/4's and day session for the first day of the semis! Super exciting (and yes, I've heard the mantra: slip, slap, slop).

Thank you for the suggestions! They look great. I will have more questions after doing some homework on them.

When the weather gets really hot and humid, I become slothful...as in moving v..e..r..y s..l..o..w..l..y. Cold beer or cider (is there cider in Oz?) at noon and a museum with AC for the afternoon is probably a good idea.

Yep, you can get cider, Strongbow being one of the more popular brands and it comes from memory as either dry, sweet or medium it might be, all the same strength, probably 4.5 or 5.0 % again from memory - too much having addled the brain cells.

I remember about possibly the only ever cider bar I discovered in anouthouse of an outer Melbourne Pub where they had local brews in plastic containers with little taps and some glorious tastes running from rough to scrumpy and a few in between, making up about twn in all and in those good ol days it was about 10%.

But we like our beers icy cold in summer and you'll find that bars are not too far a way from Museums or even the central library which has some cushy relaxing areas and interesting displays, it being the corner of Swanston and Latrobe Streets.