FOX STUDIOS
Fox Studios is the big new visitor attraction, a short bus or taxi ride from the centre of Sydney, in Moore Park. Fox Studios consists of the studio itself, Bent Street, and the Fox Studios Backlot.
The professional studios have already attracted some big productions, including Keanu Reeves' The Matrix, the yet-to-be-released Tom Cruise Mission Impossible 2 and, shooting later this year, the latest two instalments of Star Wars.
Bent Street is where the shops, cinema and restaurants are, and is free to enter and walk round - but it's the backlot which opened in November which is the main attraction. It proved so popular in the recent school holidays that there was criticism of the queues (up to two hours on the worst day).
Those problems have apparently been sorted out, and certainly on the day I visited (still in the holidays) there were no queues at all.
Once through the gate the attractions are quite dizzying. There's Titanic - the Experience, with special effects emulating the last moments of the liner, the TV Tour with sets from the X-Files, Home and Away and NYPD Blue, and plenty of interactive stations.
In one, a cartoon face appears, asks your name, and just when you think it's a recording, it describes what you're wearing. You get to see how it works later in the tour.
Information: 00 612 9383 4000, www.foxstudios.com.au. Open 10am-6pm daily. The studio tour is for slightly older children (under sixes go free) but it's popular with all the family - adults £15, children (up to 12) £10, family ticket £40.
The National Maritime Museum
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THE NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM
The National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour isn't new (it opened in 1991) but has several new attractions perfect for children. Secrets of the Sea, Myth, Lore & Legend (until July 16) investigates everything from the Bermuda Triangle to the Marie Celeste.
Also new for this year is a stunning replica of the 59m flagship of the Dutch East India Company, Batavia. The original ship was wrecked on a coral reef off the west coast of Australia on its maiden voyage in 1629.
This new version, on loan from Holland and moored in Darling Harbour, is so tall that its masts barely fitted under Sydney Harbour Bridge. It gives a real taste of what it was like to work and live on a 17th-century Dutch East Indiaman. There are also all the normal attractions (a submarine for exploring, the destroyer HMAS Vampire).
Information: 00 612 9298 3777; www.anmm.gov.au. A family ticket for the museum costs £10: all maritime attractions, £20. Open daily, 9.30am-5pm.
DARLING HARBOUR
You can visit the attractions at Darling Harbour by monorail, foot, train, taxi, water taxi and ferry. The monorail offers great views and at £1 per loop (children under five free) is a novel way of seeing the city. Once there, you won't be short of things to do.
Darling Harbour
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Although opened over a decade ago, recent redevelopment has given the harbour a much-needed shot in the arm. It's still not stylish - but with the Aquarium, Powerhouse Museum, National Maritime Museum, Segaworld and IMAX theatre, you won't have time to worry about the aesthetics of the place. A miniature train in yellow, green or purple livery ferries the young, old, infirm or plain tired along the pink brick promenade and past the shops and excellent restaurants at Cockle Bay Wharf, on the east side of the Harbour.
CUSTOMS HOUSE
Also new is the refurbishment of the Customs House, which opened in December 1998 and attracts 35,000 visitors a month. Built in 1845 and home to the Australian Customs Service until 1900, the building has been through several changes during its history, growing from a two-storey Greek Revival through three-storey Classical Italianate to five-storey French Neo-classical. But after its recent £10 million restoration it now boasts a sixth-storey atrium, a bar, exhibition spaces and galleries and the Djamu Gallery - the Australian Museum's new Indigenous Gallery. Café Sydney is an excellent restaurant with great views of the harbour from its sheltered balcony (see restaurants, below).
In Customs Square you can see paving reflecting the original tidal zone as it was when the First Fleet landed, and, if history is your thing, the Rocks' Walking Tours run three times daily in the week and twice a day at weekends.
SYDNEY HARBOUR BRIDGE
You can now climb Sydney Harbour Bridge, day or night (details: 00 612 9252 0077; admin@bridgeclimb.com, www.bridgeclimb.com) as long as you're over 12, wear rubber-soled shoes, and pass the breathalyser.
