Hello everyone!

We spent a week in Sydney and had lots and lots of fun - it really is a beautiful city!

We spent our first couple of days in Bondi and we arrived on a sunday afternoon (abs packed to the hilt) and spent quite a while trying to find a good home for Moose but managed to get an hour of sunbathing in before getting ready to go out that evening! We met some random ozzie boys at a cash point which was an advantage for us as they showed us around the best bars and afterwards took us up to a look out point - there we got our first glimpse of the stunning harbour bridge and opera house by night - all lit up it was fantastic!

Next morning we woke up to find a PARKING TICKET!!!!! on the front windscreen - Moose was rather upset! The ticket was actually for parking in the opposite direction to the flow of traffic and we complained to some friends that they could have at least knocked on the door to tell us and give us the benefit of the doubt as we are tourists! However we found out that it is actually illegal to sleep in a camper on the streets - woops we have been doing that since we got here ha ha! So we actually got off lightly!

We cheered outselves up with a visit to the beach for a tanning day - we went to a cove just around the headland from Bondi to a beach called Tamarama and it was a really lovely little cove with lots of surfers! Round was in her element lol!!! Plus we all got lot of tips on how to surf!

The next couple of days were spent sightseeing around Sydney after we parked Moose up at a camp site in one of the suburbs.

We visited the Rocks, which is a place near the harbour where the first people that came to OZ settled. The streets are extremely quaint and very colourful and boast lovely bars and restaurants including two beer kellars where the staff where the traditional dress. We also saw the proverbial Harbour bridge and the Opera House - every bit as amazing as they look on the pictures. We also caught a ferry to Darling Harbour and went around the aquarium - it is the biggest one in the world! We saw lots of sharks and our first encounter with a platypus, and we saw the hugest sting ray ever! Round was quite excited about the Nemo fish, D absolutely fell in love with the Platypus and Bennett really loved the Platypus aswell - very strange but very cute! We also walked around Darling harbour past the Maritime museum with numerous war time ships out the front that you could board, and we ended up eating in cockle bay wharf which really is something! We also visited Manly wharf on the ferry which was good but probably not as spectacular as the guide books make out.

We wallked through Hyde park past the anzac memorial to the captain cook statue - bennett loved it cos he was born in Yorkshire! We then visited the Australian Museum to learn about the aboriginies, saw lots of stuffed animals - one was actually tha same size as D! Also saw an amazing BBC competition winners display of wildlife photograhy - some of them entered were by kids under the age of 11 - and they were stunning - very impressed!

On one of our nights we went to see the ballet at the Sydney opera house - it was called Raymonda and we all really enjoyed the dancing even if the storyline was rather cheeesy and loved up!

One other great thing about our week in Sydney was that our friends from the new zealand bus - Geraldine, Aeofia, Sarah, Brenda, Denise and Rochine are in Sydney now for a good few months and we met up with them in Kings cross for a night out. The champagne - well there was lots and everyone had such a great time - we started out in world bar and ended in a place called Empire. Kings cross as you get off at the station is really really like your walking along PORN STAR ROW! Lots of adult shows and people trying to get you to go in to their bars but we ended up off that strip and the bars renowned for attracting the backpacking crowd were actually really cool - but we actually would not have noticed half way through! The guys that we met at Bondi took us to a famous pie bar at the end of the evening - Russel Crowe and Delta Goodream live in the area and lots of celebritie eat pies from here! They have lots of pictures of all the famous people who have eaten there. The chicken one WAS GOOOD and they can now add the kates to the list of pictures!!!

BIG NEWS - We love Sydney sooo much that we have decided to fly back for New Year. So we will be watching the fireworks and spending it with all the old Kiwi Experience gang woo hoo!!!!!!!!

Our night out had worn us out and so on our last night we went to see the irish girls at their new place in Coogee. It was so nice to chill out and watch TV in A HOUSE! Really lovley evening and great company.

On our way out of Sydney we stopped in Killara one of Syndey's northern suburbs, at Dave and Judy's house, friends of Bennetts mum and dad. We had our first ozzy bbq and the food was really lovely and we had a really nice time. They had a really cute dog called KB and their son Cameron even gave us three bottles of wine to take with us and tips on new years eve - bonus!

All in all Sydney is a very clean, very pretty city that you could easily live in - we all had such a fab time - speaks for itself that we are coming back! Hope everyone is well at home and not too stressed out from Christmas shopping - we are now headed to Coffs Harbour to see the big banana and get some surf lessons in - will update soon

KKK XXX