I have 3 days in Sydney before heading off to the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley. We will be there in late July, both of us are fairly active. Would appreciate some ideas about what we must do/see.
Would like some advise on some good resturants as well. Thanks.

In 3 days you can cover plenty.

I suggest you investigate some of the following, I'm sure our Sydney friends and others will dip in too.

Bridge climb
Opera House
Rocks area
Centerpoint tower
Taronga Zoo
Harbour ferry ride
Spit to Manly walk

There is just a few to think about.
Avoid the restaurants on Darling Harbour, unless you want to get overcharged and ripped off.

Muck

Mucky's reply is pretty comprehensive; to that list add Macquarie Street, where most of the historic buildings of Sydney are situated. I wouldn't be able to recommend any specific restaurant for you, but I would say that the best way to have a memorable meal without it costing you an arm and a leg is to hop on a bus and go either to Newtown (King St) or Glebe (Glebe Point Road). If you like Italian you might add Norton St Leichhardt to that list. None of these is more than a fifteen-minute bus ride, and they are interesting places to stroll around in in their own right.

Agree with Alan re reasonably priced restaurants in Newtown or Glebe. Do you want something more upmarket? What sort of food are you looking at?

Either way, you could use the search bar on this forum (above) to find many previous threads on Sydney restaurants. There's really a vast choice of restaurants in all price ranges and all ethnic persuasions - if you could be a little more specific you'll get lots of help, I'm sure.

- kayaking at middle harbour
- walk at bondi/coogee either direction
- picnic on Observatory Hill (great view of bridge/luna park and rocks) and/or at Mrs Macquarie's chair (botanic gardens are here as well)
- Beer at one of may historic pubs in the rocks, eg lord nelson, hero of waterloo
- ferry to balmain for a walk along darling street, plenty of places to eat and shop

I don't necessarily agree about darling harbour - especially the cockle bay/kings wharf side. Chinta Ria is a good example - great location but not so expensive.

Go for a walk in Chinatown and have a meal there. Golden Century is very good.

Couple of sites worth looking at for food ideas are www.citysearch.com.au , www.cheapeats.com.au , www.eatability.com.au .

Agree with Neil_Oz - tell us what you like to help narrow it down. Also, where are you staying?

How could I forget - if you're active types, a surf lesson! great wave conditions in the winter (normally better than summer) and I'm sure they kit you out in full length wetsuits.

can be done at bondi (lets go surfing - they're great, i've done a couple of lessons through them) or at manly (I think it's manly surf school, but not 100% sure, also have very good reputation).