Your ultimate guide to Sydney

It’s the last Friday afternoon of summer, and Freo’s calling. I wander through the limestone lanes of town until I reach the grassy Esplanade. As I look out past the spinning ferris wheel, I spy a cheeky cherub peering through the pines. It’s just a hop, step and a jump to the docks and Freo's harbourside brewery, turning hops into bevs by the sea. Little Creatures isn’t hidden away behind bricks and mortar – it’s all glass and timber beams and corrugated iron roofs. Later, I learn from my tour guide Iain that the Creatures’ space used to be home to a crocodile farm. Iain’s love of beer is infectious as he lets us in on the secret world of beer, from the birth of beer in Babylon to current day Creatures. “Beer is linked with civilisation as we know it,” he tells the tour. Before I know it, there’s a pinch of hop flowers in my hands, and I’m sifting through roasted grains. Trust your own unique perception of flavours, Iain tells us. “It’s your nose. You're wearing it.” He waves at a man in orange as we explore the buzzing brewhouse. “Over there! There’s a Creature!” It’s Cam, the brewer on duty. He weaves around the enormous silver tanks, picks one, and pops a ‘pig’s tail’ in to pour a pale ale. "We’re all really different, all the staff, but it’s the one thing that sort of pulls us all together. We’ve all got this love of beer… It’s our common bond.” Reggae beats roll over the great hall as the clock hits five – boats putter round the docks, Bathers Beach

Sydneysiders get a little forlorn in winter. Which is terribly sulky of us. Even when it’s too cold to be getting in the water, we should still be enjoying that Harbourside life. The best pick me up? An Espresso Martini of course. Sip one while you stare out into the gorgeous distance – at these venues, it’s all about the view. Vote for the bar making your favourite Patrón XO Café Espresso Martini and win a $200 bar tab.

Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize is currently showing at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. To make your visit even more special Chiswick at the Gallery are serving up a custom menu to accompany the exhibition, with a main, dessert, a glass of wine or beer plus one ticket to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes for $72 per person. You'll get to beat the queue and enjoy either lunch or dinner in the light-filled surrounds of Chiswick at the Gallery. Mains include grilled spatchcock with pumpkin, pine nut, ginger and sage; or seared Cone Bay barramundi with heirloom carrots and tarragon. For dessert pick between Valrhona chocolate with tonka bean, hazelnut and espresso; or rhubarb with coconut sticky rice and kaffir lime. Then cap it off with a glass of Tertini Hilltops Riesling, Tertini Central Ranges Shira or a James Boag.   Once you've finished with your meal, head into the exhibition where you can see the divisive and colourful collection of paintings. This year's line-up (the 96th for the prize) features 43 portraits, culled from 822 entries, featuring faces familiar and not, by big name, mid-career and emerging painters. Then head over to the Wynne and Sulman Prize exhibitions – the former for landscape painting or figurative sculpture, the latter for subject painting, genre painting or mural art. You can also see the Young Archie, which features portraits by pint-sized artists between the ages of 5 and 18. Find out more about Chiswick at the Gallery's Ar