Koalas and kangaroos

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Sleeping late in Aus has just not been an option, as a friendly kookaburra or cockatoo squawks away outside our windows at 6am. So therefore we have tried to make the most of our days. We have been manly staying with Jan's uncle and family in the Sydney burbs. It has been really nice for her to meet her cousins.

On and Off

Our first day in Sydney was spent on the Sydney hop on-off explorer, where we got a real feel for the city as well as the beaches, by also doing the bondi explorer. The weather was not great so most of the time was spent sitting in the bus, it also gave us an idea what we wanted to do.

Exhausting Out Uncle

The following day, Ivor took the day off work to spend with us, he did not realise what professional tourists we were as the amount we pack in a day is what most people do in two. We spent a lovely morning in cremorne, a coastal town, so we could take the ferry into Sydney centre. After the obligatory wonder around the opera house, we indulged Ivor's artistic nature and saw a cool exhibition in the museum of contemporary art. After a replenishing coffee and cake, we left an exhausted Ivor to go onto the amazing Sydney aquarium. The Australian penguins are no way as cute as the SA jackass penguins. That night we had dinner with the daughters of some family friends who live in Sydney. They took us to a great Thai rest in the funky new town, where we experienced our first of Sydney's blackouts.

Meat at Last!

The next day we met up with our friends nic and ilan, who are from London and happen to be visiting Sydney at the same time as us. It was great to catch up with friends from home and here all the news and gossip. the Sydney sun decided to finally come out and show its face, so we decided we had to take advantage of it. We took a ferry to belmain and walked around the small town and then went back to the city. Nic had been recommended a local salad/sandwich bar. It was tucked away in a small lane in the centre of town and was a local businessman hangout. the queue was a mile long, but wow it was worth the wait, the salads where freshly made and packed with goodies and the sandwiches were large enough to even satisfy Steve's large appetite. We sat in hyde park munching away and enjoying the sunshine. After lunch we managed to get hold of another friend craig marcus (who had emigrated to aus 3 yrs ago), he finished work early and we all went to walk on bondi beach with ice creams. After catching up, he had to leave and we did the famous bondi to bronte walk, which was really pretty.

It was Friday and Steve was craving meat, (it must have been his time of the month, u see men also have them too), luckily his cousin sara was able to satisfy his cravings. We had a lovely fri night bbq in the heart of Sydney, with the harbour bridge being the backdrop. But don't worry cousin sara made sure there was plenty for me to eat, in fact we went home rolling.

They Aren't Bears You Know

Our sat was spent trying to get ivor and julie Internet working as since there computer had recently been reformatted due to viruses. However after spending 2 hrs on the phone on a call centre in India, we gave up and went to the koala park. The koala were so sweet, they almost did not look real and slept draped over branches. A few of the kangaroos even had joeys, still in their pouches, which were very sweet. The rest of the afternoon was spent using the Internet at Ivor's office sorting out car hire and accommodation for some of the trip. In the evening we enjoyed the features of Ivor's home cinema, with a massive screen and surround sound.

Rain ... That was not in the travel book!

On Sunday ivor took us to the beautiful palm beach. We had a walk on the yellow sand beach, this is the spot that they film home and away. After the obligatory coffee and cake, we headed back home, where Julie was having her family over for a pre christmas lunch. It was a good opportunity for us to meet some real Australians. In the late afternoon we went into town to meet my friend Amanda, who has been in aus a year. She lives in the famous bondi, where the sun is meant to shine, however it was pouring with rain. We sat and chatting together with another friend debs for a while and then went off in the rain to cooggee beach for dinner. We decided to stay the night in bondi to make it easy to get into town the next day.

Finally to Manley Beach

The sun was shining the next mourning, so after paying for our car hire, we headed off on the ferry to manly, another one of Sydney's beaches. It was really pretty, but as i felt like i was getting a cold we did not do the famous manly to spit 10km walk but just a small section of it. After a spot of sushi for lunch we headed back into town to see an amazing photographic exhibition at the contemporary arts museum. As they say when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so a walk across the Sydney harbour bridge was a must. So we did it, not the one that costs $200 each but the free one. Our evening was spent with Ivor and family.

Bye Bye Sydney

On Tuesday we hired our car and were off on our road trip on the pacific highway to Brisbane. Till next time.

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