Miriam is an online features editor for Lonely Planet and freelance writer. Always up for an adventure she has spent the last few years splashing around the Mediterranean and working on the Turkey, Greece and Israel & Palestinian Territories guides.

Miriam is also a big fan of the Aussie road trip - covering ski fields, national parks, RSL clubs and peanut festivals for the regional Australia series. She tries hard to stay out of trouble but often falls by the wayside dodging bullets in Nablus, aggro coastguards in Cyprus and outback parking inspectors in Bourke.

She has worked as a radio producer, karaoke hostess and Wilderness Koala. When she isn't on the road she likes baking, eating dumplings, playing backgammon and wasting hours in second hand book shops.

Sydney swings along with a bold, brassy, hedonistic attitude to life. Swaggeringly beautiful, charmingly kooky and intensely idiosyncratic, this is a young city as golden as the sun that sets over the harbour bridge.