We've come to a land down under

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We left New Zealand last Monday with a bit of sadness, but looking forward to exploring a new place. Sydney was a total culture shock after 9 months in NZ - it was like being in London, people rushing, very busy, nobody smiling... On the plus side it has an excellent public transport service and one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

We were meeting my friend Jamie in Sydney - I worked with her at summer camp a few years ago and she's in Australia on holiday. She flew in from Boston and we met at our hostel. The pace picked up in Sydney and we felt like proper tourists again - we visited the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, Taronga Zoo (where we had our photos taken with Koala bears - sooooo cute!), Bondi and Manly beaches (Bondi in torrential rain wasn't much fun, I can tell you) and had many coffee and beer stops.

Jamie left us on Saturday to visit the red centre, and we stayed in Sydney for a couple more days, managing to fit in a trip to the Blue Mountains, a couple of hours from Sydney. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular. On Monday we got the bus to Canberra to catch up with some of mine and Graeme's family. Canberra is an odd city - very sanitised and clean, totally planned in the early 20th century, with lots of trees and green spaces, but very pedestrian un-friendly. We visited the parliament and the National Museum of Australia inbetween doing the family thing. We had a nice couple of days in Canberra before flying up to Cairns in tropical Queensland, which is where we are now. Cairns is everything we hoped it would be - hot and sunny - yay! We're having a trip to the great barrier reef tomorrow, then heading off down the coast to do more exploring after the weekend.

Till the next time

love Jo and Graeme x

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