One inescapable fact is Sydney is an ocean front city. The Harbour is everywhere with 4 of the 5 central districts on the water. The Greater Sydney area has many pristine miles of coast line. Did you know there are well over 100 beaches in Sydney? Sydney also enjoys over 300 sunny days each year. Sydney has it all – beach lifestyle, culture, food and wine, and history.
Speaking of history – Indigenous Australians have inhabited the area for over 30,000 years and thousands of engravings remain throughout this region, making it one of the richest for aboriginal archaeological sites in Australia.
In 1770, James Cook and his crew became the first Europeans to visit the area. It didn’t take long for more people to arrive when in 1788 the First Fleet arrived to found a penal colony here. British convicts were originally transported to the 13 colonies in North America, but after the American War of Independence ended in 1783, the newly formed United States refused to accept further convicts. Between 1788 and 1868, roughly 162,000 convicts were transported from Britain and Ireland to various penal colonies in Australia. Most were transported for petty crimes with sentences ranging from 7 years to life. If well behaved, freedom was granted at the end of your sentence however very few had the means to return to Britain and therefore became settlers.
Enough of the history lesson though – let’s get back to modern Sydney. It’s easy to get around with 5 fantastic neighborhoods in the Central district
