Blogs from Pyrmont, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, Oceania

Today we had a champagne brunch planned which was part of Jo’s Christmas present. It was another hot and sunny morning (finally it seems summer has arrived) so we took a stroll around Darling Harbour and across to Asti restaurant in Pyrmont. It was a very small boutique restaurant with dark furniture and lots of chandeliers… very glamorous for brunch! Brunch was booked for 11am and by that time we were both starving so we made the most of the buffet which was a selection of yoghurt fruit, cereal, fruit juices and mini pastries before then moving on to eggs benedict, followed by a flaming crème brulee and a chocolate fountain! All washed down with juice, coffee and a bottle of champagne! We decided we needed a walk to work off some of the food we ... read more

After a bout of Denge fever (yes I finally got the real thing) and the rains opening up in Thailand it became obvious we had to fly south for the Winter. All of SE Asia was covered in rain cloud and Australia looked dry. Welcome to Sydney. Decided to stay for a month and so organised a flat share with some Koreans. Planned to buy a car and extend our visa to 9 months so that we could travel the length and breadth of this island. Received lots of advice from various Brits, Irish, Thais, Kiwis and Chinese (are there any Australians here?). Well after three days we met our first Ozzy (he was trying to sell us a copy of the Big Issue). The sun was shining and the beach of Palm Beach beckoned (aka ... read more

Dear all, We have now been back from our camping trip for a week and I suppose that I have become used to sleeping indoors again. However I am really looking forward to camping in New Zealand. We have spent the last week exploring Sydney and eating. Two new eating experiences have been a Japanese bbq which I liked and a Korean bbq which was a bit too spicy for my liking! For both of them you are given a bbq on the table and then they bring out a huge platter of various meats and you cook them. I think that men especially enjoy these meals as they get to do the whole "man and bbq" thing. Obviously there has also been some drinking involved because it would be rude not to try that as ... read more