Some News from Sunny Sydney

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Hello!
So its been a while since our last blog as we have been busy busy seeing the sights!
The first day we took a walk through the Botanical Gardens, which are beautiful, to the Opera House and then around the Quayside to The Rocks - one of the oldest areas in Sydney. Just had a look around really and wanted to see what was where! Ended up walking back to our hostel in Kings Cross (an 'interesting' area of night clubs/ hostels and nice restaurants) as we hadnt discovered where to get the trains and buses yet.

Since then we brought a train/bus/ferry ticket - pretty good value really and its had our train rides sorted all week. We headed to the Aquarium on the second day to look at all the fishes - nemo and friends included. Really liked the Platypus which was smaller than we thought and the Dugongs were cool too. The Shark tank also pretty huge, definately dont want to get anywhere near those teeth though - we are staying clear of the seas with all the recent shark attacks (3 in the last month or so). The area around Darling Harbour, where the Aquarium is, is really pretty and we caught a wierd little train thingy upto Paddys Market for a look around - lots of cheapy tourist stuff, some good some not so good!

We headed over to Manly on Saturday for a look around the area there, there is a really nice beach or two with lots of surfing and very much a cornwall feel to all the surf shops and cafes. There was a nice little market on as well but tried not too look for too long as we didnt want to end up buying everything - lots of nice crafty things there though. Also headed over to the Art Gallery and Museum there, free entry, lots of old surf boards and art work by local school children was on display when we went - pretty good stuff!

Sunday we headed back down to the Rocks for a nosy round the market there. Definately lots more nice crafty things than in Paddys Market, so we ended up buying the odd thing! We walked back up through the Botanic Gardens past Parliment House (might nip back next weekend if we have time for a tour) and up to Hyde Park to see what the wine festival there was all about. Sat in the sun for a bit and listened to the free music there before heading along to the Sky Tower. It was a nice sunny day so we could see quite a way - out to the Olympic Stadiums and all the way to Manly too. There is also a wierd little 'ride' thing they take you on to show you different areas of Australia - one bit with moving seats and one just like little projection shows.

On Monday we walked along to the Australian Museum, with the National Geographic Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition - very good piccies! The museum was pretty interesting, lots of stuffed animals and some dinosaurs along with historical bits about Australia and some rocks and minerals. We wandered down to Chinatown and Darling Harbour for a bit ended up buying some very small and light sleeping bags for about 35 pounds each- hopefully they will be usefull, we need them for our trip in SE asia and im sure they will come in handy on trains in India!

Tuesday took us on a bus tour to the Blue Mountains, good value at 68 dollars. We went to see some Rock Engravings - a kangaroo! and onto Kings Table, a good lookout over the Mountains themselves. Onto see Katoomba Falls and the Three Sisters rocks along with a trip on the steepest railway in the world (we went up it - backwards - like going back up a drop on a rollercoaster!) and walked around in the forest to see some of the old coal mining area. We stopped off at Wentworth Falls which were really pretty and then went to find some Kangaroos - saw about 4 sitting in the afternoon shade - pretty hot 28 degrees that day.

Yesterday we went for a look up the Pylon of the Sydney Harbour Bridge - definately worth a look with some nice views even on the cloudy day that it was. Wandered back through the rocks and happened across a nice cafe so had lunch there before catching a ferry over to Luna Park/Milsons Point. Just wanted to wander round somewhere different, might have to go back to the park as it was closed so maybe we will go tomorrow evening. We headed back through town and Queen Victorias Bolevard (very nice shopping centre - old building!) to the hostel for a shower and change before back out to see a play at the Opera House. Floating by Hoipollois was very funny- by a couple of welsh actors about Anglesey breaking off from Wales and its journey back to its original position. The actors encouraged a bit of banter with the crowd but may have wished they didnt as some people shouted out at slightly inappropriate moments - still they coped well with it all and it was a really good show!

Today we are off to Bondi Beach - might swim in the beachside pools but probably not in the sea, apart from a paddle.

More News before we head off to SE Asia to come
Love Katie and Izzy xx

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