Finally made it to Sydney!

After saying a fond farewell to the South Island I hopped onto the InterIslander ferry from Picton to Wellington on wednesday, then got the night bus from Wellington to Auckland, arriving on thursday am-very early. The flight was good and arrived mid afternoon. It was nice to see a friendly face, even though she later tried to kill me with her driving abilities!

Sydney's very spread out, so am going to concentrate on the good bits. One the first day here I went to Bondi Beach. Famous for surfing and surfers, a beautiful beach with a long front to walk on and just sit and watch the world go by, which is what I did for most of the afternoon. That evening we went out with some of Nats friends to Coogee, a suburb in East Sydney. We visited a pub called the Palace which used to be in a shopping mall. The mall gradually closed down and the pub took over-resulting in the biggest pub I've ever seen-with escalators inside!

Have spent a lot of my second day recovering from last nights escapade. We started off in the city, visiting Paddys Market-one of the oldest and best tat markets in Sydney. It sells pretty much everything, inclduing cheap UGG boots-which I just had to get. We then got the bus over to the Rocks, and area by the ahrbour, and then walked down to Circular Key. This is where the Harbour ferries go from, and also where you can see the Opera House and the Bridge. We got the local ferry over to Watsons Bay and the view from the boat is spectacular-it's what I will probably remember about the city. After fish and chips on the beach watching the boats go in and out we made it back to Rushcutters Bay (the area where Nat lives) and then out to Kings Cross (and full of bars and strip clubs) in time to watch the Rugby. All Blacks lost to the Springbocks-not a good result.