January 3rd 2007. Sydney, Australia.

Beginning again outside the Town Hall, the site of Sydney's oldest burial ground where bodies were first buried five years after the arrival of the First Fleet; we head off along Park Street to Hyde Park where the first stop will be the ANZAC Memorial and the eternal flame.

This memorial, originally dedicated to those sacrificed in World War I stands as a beautiful art deco statement encouraging us to reflect on man and war, either inside the memorial or sitting by the Lake of Reflection.

As we leave this end of the park we stop to view the statue of Captain James Cook who as the Father of European settlement "discovered" this territory in 1770.

St Mary's Cathedral is a work still under construction. In truth this wonderful building is a remarkable statement to ecumenicalism having been built with donations from both the catholic and protestant communities following a direct appeal for funding from the Archbishop.

Due to a lack of money the cathedrals two spires became towers, but today work is almost completed on bringing William Wardell's design fully to life.

The cathedral is very traditional in design and offers an atmosphere excuding a European counterpart. It has wonderful treasures with all six altars made from New Zealand Oamaru stone, very beautiful stain glass windows and the sandstone for the construction coming from nearby Pyrmont.

Just beyond the cathedral stands the Frazer Fountain which is one of the several that was donated by the wealthy Sydney merchant John Frazer. You need to remember that such philanthropic statements were needed at a time when fresh clean water was anything but the norm in every home.

We head off across The Domain, a park established in 1792 when Governor Philip set aside this whole area to the east of Sydney Cove "for the Crown and for the use of the Town of Sydney". Indeed, it was here that the first cricket match between England and New South Wales was played in 1862.

The State Library of New South Wales is a stunning building with an elegant Great Reading Room and at present it is host to a fascinating exhibition On The Run, Daring Convict Escapes.

The eleven ships of the First Fleet sailed from England to establish a penal colony in New South Wales on May 13th 1787 beginning a programme of transportation that lasted until 1868 with over 160,000 convicts transported.

The attempts at escape ranged from the audacious i.e. trying to return to England as stowaways, or building your own boat to sail to China and beyond, to the most common which was escape inland. Those who were successful became known as Bushrangers and survived by plundering farms and robbing travellers.

The New South Wales Parliament House is fortunate enough to still have use of the 1816 Richmond Villa. Situated on Macquarie Street the villa is a reminder of the Gentlemen's residences and clubs that once thronged this exclusive neighbourhood.

As traffic increased so the residents moved out and the doctors of Sydney Hospital moved in. Macquarie Street,named after the fifth Governor of the colony, today remains the Sydney equivalent of London's Harley Street.

Inside Richmond Villa it feels like a Victorian Gentleman's Club and stands testament to all those villas that once dominated this area. Originally the home of Rum Hospital's Principal Surgeon, it has been home to the Parliament House since 1856.

Passing the hospital I had to rub the nose of Il Porcellino, the Wild Boar that has a twin sister living in Florence and that is said to grant you a wish. The Sydney Hospital is where nurse training in Australia began when Florence Nightingale (who incidentally was born in the city of Florence) sent out six nursing sisters from England to establish a nursing school. The wild boar by the way was a gift to the hospital from a Florentine lady whose father and brother were both surgeons at the hospital.

The Rum Hospital was a replacement for the makeshift hospital that existed in The Rocks and it derives its name from the fact that builders were paid in a manner richer than gold, i.e. rum. The builders were given a permit to import 45,000 gallons of rum.

After lunch we head to St James' Church on King Street which is Sydney's oldest surviving church and built to the design of convict architect Francis Howard Greenway. The Georgian design was constructed in brick and sandstone and built by convict labour. Over the altar sits an interesting copper dome.

My last port of call today is the Hyde Park Barracks which from 1819 until 1848 served as the principal gaol. The barracks were also home to the chaingangs who worked outside its walls for the free men of the colony. Another Greenway design the barracks are strikingly similar to many such establishments across the Empire. There was an interesting exhibit on the District Court that later occupied the buildings and I can certainly recommend the flat whites at the Barracks Cafe.