Arrival in Sydney

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I arrived in Sydney on Saturday afternoon after having escaped my dreadful hostel to find myself at the Wood Duck Inn which is far nicer and I've met quite a few nice people there to chat in the eve and eat dinner with. The hostel also turns out to be on the same street my mum used to have a flat on nearly 30 years ago! Can you believe it?

On Sunday I walked up to Cockle Bay to meet my Uncle Bob, Cousin Kate and her daughter Charlotte and it was amazing. Uncle Bob is so gentle and so nice and it's so nice to meet my cousin Kate who is as head strong as me. We went to the park at Darlinghurst and then went on the Monorail (which is teeny tiny!) to the Sky Tower which we had quite some trouble finding admittedly (the entrance that is). The views again were incredible, there is so much to see and the buildings are gigantic and beautiful to look at.

My uncle and cousin very kindly bought me a four pass ticket deal, where I can go into Oceanworld Manly, Sydney Wildlife Park, Sydney Aquarium and the Skytower for $50. So I went to the aquarium after Uncle Bob and Kate had to go home. Charlotte certainly did very well to stay awake all day. I have to say that the aquarium at Sydney is far better than Kelly Tarltons. The underwater viewing is amazing, there were sharks of unbelievable size and you could see their teeth when they swam over you. Dugongs (Manatees) which are the cutest despite their size, sting rays, platypus, everything there and all of it was so easily accessible too I would definitely recommend it.

After a rainy day yesterday at the Art Gallery I spent today going up to Darlinghurst Harbour to see the Sydney Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, up through to the Rocks and went into the Rocks Discovery Museum, walked around the cobbled streets back down on to the harbour and finally through the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are beautiful, I also managed to find the grey haired flying foxes, some very strange birds and went through the tropical gardens complex. Now as it's only 2.30pm I think I shall head up to the Outback Centre and grab some lunch!

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