Fair dinkum: Dollar-free walkabout

With the Olympics looming, demand booming, the Kiwi dollar sagging and the arrival of GST, not a lot is looking cheap in Sydney.

But even on the most tourist-heavy strip in the city you can entertain yourself almost cost-free for a morning. Between the Opera House and Bennelong Point, past Circular Quay and out to The Rocks is a cornucopia of eccentricity, live music and free entertainment, with a decent dollop of window shopping thrown in.

The Opera House is always worth a stroll around, with a cheap cafe overlooking the harbour, Fort Denison - built to repel a mythical Russian invasion last century - to the right and the Harbour Bridge to the left.

Circular Quay is always abuzz with ferry traffic. Ashore, the Quay is A-grade people-watching. Sam Mancuso is always there, fiddling with the intricate model sailing ships which take 2000 hours or so to complete. He accepts donations to help cancer research.

Not far away a goateed young entrepreneur hammers at the hidden controls of several dozen small puppets pounding out 1970s hits.

A stilted, flower-bedecked garden sprite moves with agonising slowness; a silver statue takes a break from rigid posing to chat on a bench with a digeridoo player, half-naked despite the bone-chilling southerly wind.

Near the Museum of Contemporary Art, buskers, fire-eaters and jugglers swap barbs with an enthusiastic audience.

Walking to The Rocks along the tail end of George St and Hickson Rd, live music pumps out from bars, Sydney's oldest pub is still in business, and there are the markets, with their colourful and extensive range of stalls.

It remains one of Sydney's best free shows.