Hi everyone. Hope you're all OK. Thanks again for all of your birthday messages. x

Moving on from Canberra, we arrived in Sydney mid-afternoon on the day before New Year's Eve. We checked into our room (the four of us were cosying up in a triple as the city is soooo expensive around new year) and headed down to the harbour to see what all the fuss was about.... we'd heard rumours of an opera house, a bridge, some pretty good views? Well, we weren't disappointed. I can see why all you Sydney aficionados love it so much. Sat on a cushion against the harbour wall in the Opera House Bar certainly presents some memorable views. I would have killed for my skinny jeans and heels though - there was a definite yuppy vibe we weren't fitting into in our thongs (as the Aussies like to call flip-flops - odd, I know). After a few beers around the harbour and The Rocks we then went to Chinatown for an over-priced and not very good meal - much the same as you do in Chinatowns the world over really so you'd think we'd have learnt by now. Not to worry though; it soaked up a beer-filled hole and eased us into a nice slumber in preparation for the festivities to follow.

And then New Year's Eve was upon us... the main event! We got the ferry over to Manly for lunch which we really enjoyed sat up on a balcony overlooking the beach. The sea was too rough to swim in, but this didn't deter some half-witted surfers who thought they could still ride the waves....... they couldn't of course, but their crashing and burning was good entertainment for us onlookers!

Chiara and Joel had surprised us by organising tickets to Taronga Zoo for the evening (in which only 400 guest were permitted!!), so after stocking up on beers, minimal food and a new esky to keep all of the beer cold we caught an early ferry over to the zoo. Now this was another military operation masterfully orchestrated by Chiara who by hell or high water was going to get us visiting pomms the best view of the harbour there was on offer - mate, you were awesome! She engineered seats at the front of the ferry so that we were first off the boat at the other end, and then while us three kids carried the provisions up the hill Chiara marched on up to get us in the queue well before the rest of the disembarking passengers. Then - and this was the piece de resistance - when the doors opened, Chiara and Stuart literally legged it to the main amphitheatre and bagged us the best patch in the whole zoo..... the other zoo-goers didn't stand a chance! So, after looking around the zoo for an hour or so (stubby in hand) before the animals were put to bed, we settled into our spot and had a great night - the fireworks were incredible!! During the night there was even a turn on, and even more excitingly (for Stuart) he had a quick drink with the Aussie cricket legend Ian Chappell.

Naturally we awoke late on 1st January feeling less than 100% so we went to Darling Harbour for some breakfast/lunch. We were then meant to be going to spend the afternoon on Bondi beach, but seeing as though it was already the middle of the afternoon we decided to visit another of Sydney's must-see areas instead, King's Cross (a.k.a. backpacker heaven or the red light district). There are actually quite a few cool bars around here, but the main street is pretty seedy as there are a number of bars offering various services, the likes of which I'll leave to your imagination!? After a good number of hours drinking cheap jugs of beer, and after being joined by Cat and Stig (the Irish friends we met in India) I drunkenly decided that, "I've never been in a strip joint before so let's get ourselves in one".... mistake! Oh my god, it was hideous. In my mind it was going to be a little stage with small round tables around a bar area where you could see what was happening if you cared to watch but otherwise you could just have a quiet drink before leaving and knowing that you had 'ticked the box'. Naive, I know. It was dark and dingy and was like a theatre, with a stage at the front and tiered seats up to the bar at the back. It had the odd pervert sitting at the front watching the 'show' and I couldn't even numb my embarrassment with alcohol as they only served non-alcoholic beer which we didn't know was non-alcoholic until after we'd paid and drank it... the rascals! Anyway, my bravado didn't last very long - I wouldn't even go to the toilet on my own and after giving a barrage of abuse to the staff for conning us into buying s***e beer we left. And I can safely say strip clubs are just not my bag! Or Stuart's, are they sweetheart?!?!?!!!

By 2nd January the four of us were all feeling pretty knackered and like we'd eaten and drank more than we ever had in our lives - the usual new year feeling which sparks the usual new year promise to detox for the whole of January. Like that was ever going to happen!? It doesn't in a normal January, never mind when we are on our holidays! Anyway, I digress. We spent the day having a stroll along Bondi Beach and then Coogee Beach and in the evening we decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal on Darling Harbour seeing as though Chiara and Joel were leaving us the following day. It was a lovely way to end our two weeks together. Chiara and Joel, thanks again for a brilliant Christmas and New Year - it was amazing. We have a lot to live up to when you come to Manchester for a visit..... soon..... ;-) x

We had actually planned to go into the Blue Mountains the day the Cons left us, but as we had not planned anything and needed a little bit of time to get our heads around doing things for ourselves again we booked an extra night in a hotel in Sydney and spent the day planning the rest of our trip in Australia whilst enjoying the lovely Aussie sunshine from the grounds of the Botanical gardens. We then met up with Cat and Stig "for a couple" which resulted in the worst hangover the next morning that we've had on the whole trip..... those bloody Irish! We still managed to drag our sorry a***s out of bed though (the same one which had a cockroach invading it the previous night - gross) and make our way into the Blue Mountains for at least a couple of days without an inordinate amount of food and booze and instead, lots of fresh air and a little exercise......

xxxxx