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Published: January 28th 2010
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We have had a fantastic first week In Australia It has been lovely to come to a warmer climate. We’ve spent the week in Sydney & it has flown by. We were pretty shattered when we arrived as it was an overnight flight & we didn’t get much sleep at all. I think that was partly because of all the great films that were on including the Micheal Jackson this is it film which was great!
We felt much better stepping out into the sunshine & having a walk around the lovely botanical gardens, taking in the famous sights of the Opera House & Harbour Bridge. We were very excited to go to the supermarket & buy cereal, pasta & cadburys chocolate! It has been lovely to be able to cook for ourselves.
We enjoyed our trip to the famous Bondi Beach & watching the surfers, I’m very wary of the sun here so sat on the beach fully clothed with a hat on & factor 50 suncream. Not going for the beach babe look but at least I didn’t get sunburnt!
It was great to meet up with our friend Dan who we’d met in Thailand, we had a picnic
in his local park, which was lovely & quiet & had a great view of the harbour, the locals know all the best places! It was so hot that day, around 39 degrees, we were sitting in the shade & still we were sweating! The weather is amazing here one minute its absolutely boiling and then “the change” comes & within a few minutes there was strong wind & the temperature had dropped by 15 degrees, promptly ending our picnic!
On Sunday we were kindly invited by Dan’s housemate Natalie to go to the cricket (where she’s a member). We watched the Australia & Pakistan match & it was great, neither of us have seen cricket live & we had great seats at the front. In the evening we all met up with our friends Sarah & Michelle who we’d met in Malaysia & their friend Rachel, they are currently working out here. We had a lovely thai meal at Bondi beach & enjoyed with the lovely Australian wine! We had a great time with them.
The next day we had an early start as we headed out on our tour of the Blue mountains. It was a gorgeous sunny
day & we enjoyed walking around & taking in the sights of the vast national park & the famous 3 sisters rock formation. We also travelled up the worlds steepest railway, which had a 52 degree incline. It was a bit like a rollercoaster ride & Mark with his fear of heights was very happy it only took a couple of minutes!
The highlight of our time here & for me of the whole trip so far was meeting our newly discovered relatives, My Uncle Mike (dad’s half brother) & my cousin Marian & her family. I have known about Mike’s existence since I was a quite young, but we only discovered his whereabouts last year just in time for our trip to Sydney! It was really fantastic to get to know them & amazing to see the similaritys between Mike & Dad, both in looks & personality. He is an author and a great storyteller & it was brilliant to listen to all his stories, he had Mark & I in stitches. It was lovely to stay with Marian in her beautiful home which has amazing views of the water & to have some great home-cooked food. It was
Austraila day when we met up & so we had the traditional BBQ & also Pavlova, yummy! They gave us a great tour of the northern beaches, including Palm Beach where Home & Away is filmed & we also passed Kylie Minogue’s house. The next day Mike treated us out to a delicious Thai lunch & we went to Manly & enjoyed an icecream on the beach. After saying our farewells,we took the ferry back to Sydney which has great views of the harbour. We were looking for a seat on the ferry & ending up sitting next to 2 of Amy’s best friends from home who I’ve known for about 10 years, very small world! I also bumped into a girl in our hostel who I used to work with at the RVI. I think all the brits migrate to Australia in January, great idea!
We had a lovely last night with our friends in Sydney at the Opera bar which has an amazing view of the harbour bridge & then we went to touch the Opera house & take plenty of photos!!!
Today we are flying to Cairns for a week, apparently its going to be very hot
& humid there, lets hope for AC in the rooms!
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Miles Johnson
non-member comment
Great trip!
What a lovely trip you are having, wish we could be there too, haven't been to Australia yet. This is Miles. I have two cousins living in Australia, but don't where they are. One is my aunt Bo's son on my mothers side and the other is my aunt Wink's son on your grand dad's side. Aunt Wink's son is the owner of a large trucking company. His name is Stewart Freater. Love, Miles and Ann.