Were you orignally scheduled to dock in the harbor at Circular Quay, near the Opera house? I have a bet with someone who said they never dock ships there. But I was there for 3 weeks during the Olympics and there were plenty of ships in that harbor. I figured that's where you's go. If I remember correctly, it is about a 1 mile walk from Cirgular quay to Darling harbor, a nice walk, did it MANY times. There is also a small boat shuttle thingy, a water taxi maybe, to get from one to the other. During the Olympics, the line for that was longer than the walk.

Darling Harbor is closer to Chinatown and they had the best deals for souvenirs.