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December 12th 2008

Published: December 15th 2008

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MonkeyTravel

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Day 2: Surprisingly, no jetlag to report after our first night of sleep. We both woke up around 4am but were able to go back to bed until about 9, when we awoke absolutely starving. After a quick breakfast we set out to see the city on the City Sightseer bus tour. The tour took us to the highlights of Sydney and also allowed us to get out to see Bondi Beach. Unfortunately, it was a cold and wet day, so we were left dreaming about how it would be in fairer conditions. We had amazing fresh Fish 'n Chips in Bondi. On the way back we passed the Royal Sydney golf course and caught the Australian Open in action. Once we were back at Circular Quay, we hopped off the bus and boarded a ferry to Darling Harbour (where they filmed the Real World Sydney.) Once there we tracked down a Meat Pie snack and then wandered the waterfront stores and restaurants. Christmas parties were going on everywhere that night and they all seemed to be costume parties. Quite bizarre to see people dressed for Halloween on their way to office parties but we learned that is the norm around

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here. We had a beautiful ferry ride back to our hotel at dusk and then hopped on a train to check out Kings Cross for the evening before calling it a night.

Day 3: Again, no jetlag to report. Maybe we're safe? Again, starving in the morning but a quick breakfast took care of things. We checked out of our hotel and headed to the Sydney Bridge Climb. When we arrived it was drizzling. By the time we were suited up it was a downpour. Nothing like climbing hundreds of meters on a steel structure when it's wet. First great adventure of the trip. We'd recommend it to anyone visiting Sydney. The views (even weather limited) were amazing from the top and our guide Mike made the adventure fun and educational. Tired from our aerial fun, we found lunch at Sailor Thai in the rocks and had an amazing lunch. Perhaps the best Thai food we've had outside of Thailand. We caught up with Brian and Amanda one more time at the Lord Nelson Hotel, the oldest pub in Sydney. After that it was Bon Voyage in a torrential rain as we set sail on the Diamond Princess for