STOP THE PRESS: The State Government of NSW has just passed a law (rushed through for the Olympics) that bans smoking in indoor areas, including restaurants, bars and cafes. If you light up, you will be breaking the law and the owners will have to ask you to go outside (or leave). 

Sydney is a city that is very easy to visit – and indeed live in. The warmth and friendly attitude of its residents is a major part of the city's charm, but the climate comes a close second. Warm and balmy in summer and clear and crisp in winter, Sydney almost always looks good. The harbour setting makes it near picture perfect and the clean air and water is a welcome surprise to anyone familiar with large cities. Many visitors are surprised by Sydney's size, which includes a population of more than four million people and a suburban sprawl almost the size of London. There are a lot of high rises in the central CBD, but take a trip out to the inner suburbs and you will find charming lanes and crooked alleys, filled with turn-of-the-century houses. Sydney has been developed in various erratic ways over the last 200 years or more, so don't expect the comfortable grid patterns of newer cities and expect a few confusing signs. 

Australians are a remarkably easy-going people, as nearly everyone is an immigrant from somewhere else, which lends to a wonderful blending of cultures and history. At its worst, Sydney can be shallow and facile, the hot and trendy places to eat and see change almost weekly and there are no real traditions that come with the more established cities.  

The upside is that no one has years and years of cultural baggage hanging over their head, and everything is open for reinvention. Classic French (or indeed Japanese or Italian) cuisine is give a fresh twist in Sydney restaurants, and theatre and film often has a funny irreverent angle from a people who don't take themselves too seriously. Relax and enjoy the sunshine 

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