We were supposed to fly from Phuket to Sydney and then on to Brisbane. I'm sure that to anyone reading this it is clear that we didn't make it to Brisbane. The first flight passed without incident and we were given a small console to watch films. This meant that neither Sarah or I slept, I got to watch 'Gran Torino' (great film by the way) and Sarah watch 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'. We arrived in Sydney and got straight through passport control and immigration (easiest border ever) and managed to recheck our bags for the domestic flight. We were taught by the barman the difference between the sizes of beer; jar (European size), half pint, scuna (between half pint and a pint) and a pint. We then went to get our flight. We were on board and taxiing to the runway when the engines failed and we had to be towed back to the terminal. After 6 hours in Sydney airport we were told that the flight wouldn't be for another 4 hours (and not even to Brisbane but to the Gold Coast) or we could get our money back. We took the money and went to see Sydney (trying to make the most of a bad situation). At this point we decided to work in Sydney and phoned the house that we were meant to be viewing to say that we weren't going to Brisbane now.

Once in the hostel we went to get a drink and some fish and chips. The fish and chips were not like fish and chips back home as they use Baramundi fish and the chips themselves are battered, still nice though. Over this we decided to use the extra money we had by flying to Australia, rather than travelling through Malaysia and Indonesia, getting a camper van and driving up to Brisbane. We had to phone Tanya about the room in Brisbane and as luck would have it she was in Sydney that weekend visiting her boyfriend so we arranged to meet for a coffee the next day.

After meeting Tanya and agreeing to take the room we decided to see the sights. We took a (very very) long walk to the harbour bridge which wasn't as incredible as it appears on the TV. We had the same feeling of being let down by the opera house but we decided that they were exactly what we expected but as the sky was overcast, that was why we weren't as impressed as we thought we would be. We thought that we would get a better picture if we walked through the park (to eventually get the shot of the opera house and the harbour bridge in one picture). This was an experience in itself as we both knew that cockatoos were native to Australia but it still took us by surprise when we saw them in the park like you would see pigeons back home. They were bigger than the cockatoos I've seen in zoos before and we both stood there for about 5 minutes when them around us, in awe. The wildlife continued to amaze us when we saw what looked like huge bats but were informed by a smart-arsed child that they were flying foxes (the derision in his voice was clear).

After the nice walk through the park we went to find a shopping street, even though we had already walked miles, and on the way it started raining. This was no ordinary rain, it rained so hard that we were saturated running just 20 metres over to a church. The rain seemed to have stopped so we resumed on our way to where we were told the shops were when the heavens opened again. It is fair to say that by the time we made the shopping street we were aiming for we were both miserable. The road was not what we were after as it seemed that every other shop was either an adult store or a liquor store (or as one was openly called 'Lick Her Store'). By this point I was wanting to tear my hair out when Sarah flagged a taxi and it took us back to where we started the day!

To sum up Sydney it was cold, windy and rained alot. We have travelled all around the world to land down under and it's alot like being back home!