Final moments in Sydney

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Having spent yesterday saying goodbye to Will's family, we woke up and walked to the bus stop round the corner with our luggage to catch a ride to Sutherland Train Station. We made it to Town Hall Station in good time, and after a short walk we were checking in to our room at the Park Royal near Darling Harbour.

With the sun shinning we set about walking up George Street towards the Harbour Bridge and the Pylon Lookout that we previously missed out on because of bad weather before.

Thanks to our YHA card Will managed to blag us a concession entry, and once climbed up the 91 meters of stairs we received a great view of the bridge, the Opera House, Circular Quay and North Sydney. We also tried to spot Wills uncle and cousin from the vantage point as they were working nearby but weren't successful. As most attractions we've visited on this trip we walked away with several facts to test our readers on at some point in the future:
- Due to temperature variation the bride can expand/contract 180mm in height.
- The bridge took 7 years to complete
- The Pylon stands at 89 Meters high

- Originally there used to be a tram line crossing the bridge, although now its just cars, trains, pedestrians and cyclists.

Having walked back down to the pedestrian walkway we decided to walk across to the north side of the bridge and spot Wills relatives, but again we were unlucky so we decided to walk back past the cruise liner terminal at Circular Quay and check out some of the light show exhibits.

Having skipped breakfast to get into Sydney we were starting to feel hungry so we decided to satisfy Wills curiosity and share a Sydney Stack at McDonalds. After our quick snack we proceeded up Pitt Street to the shopping mall as Jo wanted to treat herself to a new bag and cash in on the end of year sales and tax back scheme Australia provide for tourists, but Jo's dreams were quickly shattered at the Mulberry store as she couldn't find the bag she wanted.

Not to be deterred we pressed on to pick up a few gifts and take one last look round whilst the sun was still shinning. On the way back to the hotel we picked up a bottle of bubbles to drink in the room whilst getting ready for dinner. Unfortunately there wasn't an ice bucket in the fridge to stand the open bottle in but with a little imagination Will took what was to hand and improvised to keep the bubbly at optimal drinking temperature with a kettle! It wasn't long before it was time to meet the others at Kamikaze Teppinyaki in Darling Harbour.

It was great catching up with Jo & Charles and Wendy around the grill in the restaurant. Our chef even amused us with getting us to catch omlette in our mouths and bowls. Needless to say there was egg everywhere within a couple of minutes. Having the food cooked in front of us made for great entertainment with the flames, although we were all on edge encase anymore food got thrown at us! Having enjoyed our food we headed to Grandmas bar where we were joined by Andy our old flat mate for a few more drinks and stories on what had been happening in Sydney since we left.

With it being a school night for the others and a long day tomorrow for us we were all starting to get heavy eyes so we said our farewells and headed back to the hotel.

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