I wanted to have the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and Sydney, and have the chance to work there.

I'm the son of an everyman. My father is a teacher. He teaches physics at a boys' school in Sydney.

Sydney has taken my money, Melbourne has my respect, but Adelaide has taken my heart; I shall return.

Sydney in general is eclectic. You can be on that brilliant blue ocean walk in the morning and then within 20 minutes you can be in a completely vast suburban sprawl or an Italian or Asian suburb, and it's that mix of people, it's that melting pot of people that give it its vital personality.

A board constituted as the board of Sydney Hospital is constituted is not a suitable body to have control of an institute of medical research.

The food in Sydney is an Asian Pacific cuisine. It's eclectic but above all it's fresh, inventive and creative and that's what I love about it.

When you look at the fittest, leanest populations like Japan and Scandinavia, they don't even go to the gym. The average person in Sydney takes 11,000 steps a day, and the average person in Houston does 4000. Guess who is going to be leaner, regardless of their diet?

Sydney in the 1960s wasn't the exuberant multicultural metropolis it is today. Out in the city's western reaches, days passed in a sun-struck stupor. In the evenings, families gathered on their verandas waiting for the 'southerly buster' - the thunderstorm that would break the heat and leave the air cool enough to allow sleep.

I think Sydney has so much natural beauty; it's just a beautiful city.

And currently, there are four to five new works in the pipeline for upcoming celebrations such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Australian Federation, my 50th Birthday, and Sydney Dance Company's 25th Anniversary.

There is such a rich sporting culture in Western Sydney, one that nurtured my sporting aspirations. Having Penrith Whitewater Stadium right at my doorstep was such an amazing advantage. It was a springboard to my success as an athlete, and I feel really fortunate to have grown up in this part of the world.

As far as I'm concerned, Cate Blanchett is a goddess, but she's really down to earth. She's got all those Oscars, she's made all those amazing films and she could spend her whole life doing that, but what does she also do? She gives birth to three boys and creates her own theatre in Sydney.

"Sydney spent a lot of time on my bed these days.

I wanted to have the opportunity to travel to Vietnam and Sydney and have the chance to work there.

I'm the son of an everyman. My father is a teacher. He teaches physics at a boys' school in Sydney.

Sydney in general is eclectic. You can be on that brilliant blue ocean walk in the morning and then within 20 minutes you can be in a completely vast suburban sprawl or an Italian or Asian suburb and it's that mix of people it's that melting pot of people that give it its vital personality.

The food in Sydney is an Asian Pacific cuisine. It's eclectic but above all it's fresh inventive and creative and that's what I love about it.

Sydney in the 1960s wasn't the exuberant multicultural metropolis it is today. Out in the city's western reaches days passed in a sun-struck stupor. In the evenings families gathered on their verandas waiting for the 'southerly buster' - the thunderstorm that would break the heat and leave the air cool enough to allow sleep.

Climate change is a global issue - from the point of view of the Earth's climate a molecule of CO2 emitted in Bejing is the same as a molecule emitted in Sydney.

I had some vague memory of visiting Canberra as a lad when we came up with my father by car. But when I made the long train journey from Sydney to Canberra and arrived at the little stop I did wonder slightly whether this really was the national capital.

And currently there are four to five new works in the pipeline for upcoming celebrations such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics Australian Federation my 50th Birthday and Sydney Dance Company's 25th Anniversary.