Sydney

In Sydney, lots of people go to work by ferry!

The boats zip across the harbor. Trains rumble over the big bridge. Buses and trams carry people too.

People who live around the harbor can ride public ferries, and Circular Quay, in the heart of the city, is the hub for ferries, trains, buses and cruise ships. Trains have run since 1855, and since 1932 they have crossed the Harbour Bridge to the north shore. Sydney also has buses and a light-rail system.

Because the harbor splits the city, most people coming from the North Shore must cross the bridge or the Harbour Tunnel, which opened in 1992, so traffic can be heavy. The main airport sits on Botany Bay, south of the city.

Since 1855 a radial suburban railway has linked the center with its suburbs; it was electrified between the world wars, the first underground section opened in 1926, the north shore was linked by rail when the Harbour Bridge opened in 1932, and lines reached the eastern suburbs in 1979. Britannica judges that public transport has failed to keep pace with demand: with work concentrated downtown and homes in the outer suburbs, traffic funnels across the harbor by the bridge, the 1992 tunnel and the Gladesville Bridge. Martin Place became a pedestrian plaza in 1971.

The public ferry system serves harbor-shore suburbs, and Circular Quay is the hub for ferries and cruise ships and a bus and rail center; there is also light rail. The main airport, for both international and domestic flights, is on the northern shore of Botany Bay, where a second port, 16 km south of Port Jackson, handles petroleum products, chemicals and bulk cargo.

Sydney is warm and sunny most of the year.

Summer comes in December and January, when people go to the beach. Winter, in July, is cool but not freezing. Rain falls in every season.

Sydney has a warm, sunny, temperate climate. It is south of the equator, so summer is from December to February: in January, highs average about 27 °C and lows about 20 °C. Winter is from June to August, with July highs around 17 °C and lows around 9 °C.

About 1,200 millimeters of rain fall in a year, spread fairly evenly through the seasons, with short tropical downpours in summer. On a few very hot days, a westerly wind blows hot, dry air from the desert, and sometimes a cool wind from the south called the "Southerly Buster" brings relief.

Britannica gives average temperatures of 22 °C in January and 13 °C in July and about 1,200 mm of precipitation, all as rain, spread relatively evenly through the year: most in late autumn, least in early spring, with short tropical deluges in summer (December–February). World Meteorological Organization normals for 1981–2010 give mean daily maxima and minima of 26.5 °C and 19.6 °C in January and 17.4 °C and 8.7 °C in July; April is the wettest month at about 141 mm.

Sydney is unbearably hot for only a few days a year, when westerly winds bring dry desert air; such heat is broken from time to time by a cold front from the Tasman Sea, heralded by the stiff southerly wind known as the 'Southerly Buster'. In winter (June–August) the westerly wind is cool.

People in Sydney love being outdoors.

They swim, surf and sail. Lifeguards watch over the beaches in summer. Across the harbor is a big zoo with about 2,000 animals.

Few cities offer so much swimming, surfing and sailing. Bondi Beach is a short drive from the city center, and volunteer lifesaving clubs provide guards on the beaches all summer. On weekends the harbor fills with sailboats. The city also has fine places to play cricket, rugby, Australian rules football and tennis.

Taronga Zoo, opened in 1916 on the harbor, has about 2,000 animals. The Australian Museum, founded in 1827, is the country's oldest museum, and the University of Sydney, from 1850, is Australia's first university. Many families came from Britain and Ireland, and since World War II newcomers have arrived from across Europe, Asia and New Zealand.

Britannica calls Sydney above all a city for physical enjoyment: harbor beaches, world-famous surf beaches such as Bondi and those of Manly and the Palm Beach peninsula, guarded by volunteer lifesaving clubs, and yachting on the harbor and Pittwater. Sydney Olympic Park was built for the 2000 Games on reclaimed industrial land, with recycled materials and energy- and water-saving designs.

Cultural institutions include the University of Sydney (1850), the Australian Museum (1827), the country's oldest museum with its largest natural history collection, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1874), with a large collection of Aboriginal art; Taronga Zoo (1916) and the Royal Botanic Gardens (1816), Australia's oldest scientific institution, face the harbor. After World War II, immigrants from Europe, Asia and New Zealand joined a population largely of British and Irish descent. Sydney is a city of government and commerce and, since the 1970s, Australia's financial center.