Our brief stop in Sydney...

Sydney - Can't really say much as we'd landed at lunchtime and had flights booked to Perth the following morning at 5am.


After the panic in Fiji about Jules' visa not existing (it thankfully did) we grabbed the bags, walked past the "Swine Flu Detectors" (infrared cameras) and then walked through immigration quicker than an Englishman does when returning through Heathrow.


Not a word about the visa - touch!


Quick look around and a chat with the airport booking desk was useless, we were looking for a luggage lock up to stash the bags so we could wonder round and sleep in the airport. No such luck. Begrudgingly having to pay $100 for a hotel room was good as it was pretty much in the domestic terminal, painful as it was miles from the city and all the sights.


I'm not going to talk about an airport hotel, the view was almost American...


Buses are rubbish in Sydney. I really didn't enjoy the waiting in Mascot for a bus to the city either. By the time we'd arrived in the city I was tired enough from the flight and time was getting on. We'd managed to get to the docks just in time to grab the Manley ferry (our friend in the UK had mentioned this and said it was dirt cheap compared to a tour boat.) Jumping on the ferry, we had the Harbour Bridge on our left and the world famous Opera House on the right. Both look good, the OH looking surprisingly small, but somewhat of an anti-climax - not sure why.


As we got towards Manly, the boat was going crazy with the Pacific currents coming into the bay it felt like a roller-coaster. Hopping off and following our noses lead us down to Manly beach. First Australian beach we've seen and very impressed. Manly itself is really nice and clean - like most of Australian cities. The surfers were out and the waves were big, powerful and crashing around. After a quick fish and chips, we jumped back on the ferry and headed home - getting the obvious night shots on a crappy camera that made everything blurry.


By the time we'd got back to the hotel it was 8pm, we were both shattered and straight into bed. We'd set about 8 alarms for the morning as missing a flight was not an option. Next stop Perth - Go West!

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