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Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney
April 22nd 2012
Published: April 23rd 2012
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Okay so I have been a little rubbish on the updates. I can only apologise but I have been squeezing an awful lot of touristing in!

After I finished the tour in Bangkok, I said goodbye to all the amazing people I had met on the tour and took a spontaneous trip down to Krabi in the South West of Thailand. I spent two days there with some friends I had made in Ho Chi Minh City and I had a lovely relaxed two days spent on the nearby beaches and islands.

The seas and islands were truly beautiful and the whole thing was so relaxing that I managed to fall asleep in the sun and burn even with SPF 30 cream on. Woops.

I left Krabi on Wednesday morning and flew back to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Sydney. I had exhausted most of the films I wanted to see on previous flights so watched back to back episodes of new girl, how I met your mother and the Sherlock Holmes series!

I arrived in Sydney pretty dazed and confused at 8 am on Thursday and after declaring a jar of jam to security, I met Nick and Sue (my mum's friend from Uni and his wife) who had very kindly come to collect me from the airport.

As I needed to sort out my Chinese Visa, we drive into the city and I went to the embassy before we went and had a wander round. It was amazing to see the opera house and harbour bridge in real life as I have seen so many photos and images of them over the years. I had a wonderful tour of the parts of Sydney we went through before we headed out to Bondi beach to see the sea. And some body builders! We also went up on the cliffs to look over the gap in the land that leads into where Sydney is situated.

After that we headed back to Eastwood where Nick and Sue live and i had a brief wander around and tour of the suburb with Sue. I then spent most of the evening relaxing and watching telly with their daughter, Rebecca.

The next day we woke up fairly early to take a trip out to the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney). We drove to Kotoomba where we had an amazing view over the valley and the rock formation known as the three sisters. Bec and i went for a trek through the forest and past several pretty waterfalls before getting the scenic railway up to where Nick and Sue were waiting for us. This was no ordinary railway though, as you went up a slope of 52 degrees and did feel rather like you might fall out. It was a little bit terrifying.

In the afternoon we drove over to the beautiful Jenolan caves, where Bec and I took a tour through the orient and river caves. They were beautiful and it was interesting to learn about how the rocks and caves were formed and how they were discovered.

When we got back to Eastwood, we went for a delicious Chinese meal and then i had a very long sleep as there had been an awful lot of stairs that day!

On Saturday, I slept in quite late. When I eventually woke up, Bec and I went for an amble around Eastwood to pick up a few things we needed. After that, we went to Koala Land which despite it's name had koalas, kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, dingoes, wallaroos, emus, kukaburras (probably spelt wrong) and several other birds. We walked round taking photos and I managed to touch a koala called Tadpole, a kangaroo and a dingo called Roxy. This was a definite tick in the box for me as I have wanted to see a koala for years! It was very soft and quite a lot smaller than I thought it would be. And very cute!

When we had finished at the koala park we drove just around the corner to where Nick was playing in a football match and watched the first half while eating a picnic lunch. The weather was great so it was nice to sit and watch for a while. After the first half we decided to pop off to a shopping centre and have a bit of a look around and we stopped for some of the moat amazing hot chocolate I have ever had. It was just yummy and tasted exactly like melted chocolate. Mmm.

When we came back we had a scrumptious BBQ with lamb, sausages and an amazing pumpkin salad. Bec and I then caught the train into Sydney and went for a couple of drinks at the Opera Bar which is directly under the Opera House so we had some stunning views.

On Sunday morning I went to the Church where Nick is the minister and enjoyed being a part of the service. The congregation were very friendly and it was wonderful to experience a service that is so different to what I am used to at home. There were powerpoint slides, a video and some pretty lively music!

After we came home, Bec and I had tea and lamingtons (a kind of sponge cake covered in chocolate coating and coconut which is DELICIOUS) before heading back into Sydney and catching the ferry to Manly beach. We walked around and looked through an art gallery and the market before having fish and chips and ice cream (not together) on the sea front. Unfortunately the weather wasn't that amazing but the waves were great and I loved sitting next to the ocean and hearing them crashing away next to us.

In the evening I went to a short part of the evening service at Church and enjoyed some fantastic music- they played really well and I found myself singing along and not caring too much that I didn't really know the tune.

After dinner, Nick and I watched the formula 1 together. It was rather strange to be watching it in the evening but a good race. Even if I wasn't too happy with the outcome.

Today I went back into central Sydney and ran a few errands (including picking up my chinese visa) before meeting up with Philippa, a friend from home who is over here for a year and staying with some family near Sydney. We had decided to do the bridge climb together to have some company on the trip! It was absolutely fantastic, if a little terrifying and gave you a truly unique perspective of the city. Our guide was really informative and told us lots about the construction of the bridge.

We then had a well deserved dessert and coffee at a patiserie before going to the Contemporary Art Museum and then heading back.

Tomorrow I have a flight to Cairns at 6:00 am so it's going to be an early start!!


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23rd April 2012

Jealous
Fab to see what a wonderful time you're having. Bet you wonder why you ever felt anxious! It's lovely to see the pix of you in Sydney and at the Three Sisters, know them well. See if you can get a gozleem at the Sydney market (it may only be Sundays, so you may have missed it). But if you can they're the most fantastic turkish 'snack' (like a hot filled flat bread). I've never seen them anywhere else and our aussie friends introduced us to them. I recommend the spinach and feta ones, make sure you put the chilli and lemon on! Take care my lovely xxxx

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