Ohhh Sydney! What a place. I was surprised at just how much I liked it as I wasn't anticipating too. Not that I thought I wouldn't like it, but I'm not really a city person. I think the thing was that it didn't really feel that big. Each area was individual and quirky, and it was almost like you were moving between different towns rather than one massive city.

Anyhow, our first full day we had a day trip to the Blue Mountains planned with your group, Blue Diamond (who were fantastic, highly recommend!). Mum was ill, so it was just Dad, Matt and I. We had two tour guides Andrew and Rob, Rob was the owner and showing Andrew the route he did as he was new. Not new to the tourism industry, but to the company. Both of them were extremely knowledgable and funny too which makes the difference between good and great tours! We had an early start which was tough after being up at 4am the previous day! It was a fairly long drive out to the Blue Mountains but there were some lovely views and our tour guide was giving us lots of information. Although in all honesty, I wasn't awake for a lot of the journey! Our first stop was morning tea with fresh home made scones, very English! The cafe was on the edge of the forest and had some spectacular views. It was still fairly misty at that time but had started to clear. Afterwards we made our way to Katoomba where we went to Scenic World. There was the worlds steepest passenger train (at 52• incline) which we got to ride down into the valley. It was deceptively steep, you didn't think it was that ad and then suddenly your looking over an edge and it's going straight down! Almost. Felt like it. Nearly lost my bottle of water! Once at the bottom there were boardwalks where you could take a nice stroll through the rainforest. We had a hunt for the lyrebird which is common around there. We ended up spotting two which was cool, although didn't get to hear them calling. They're famous for being able to mimic noises even man made ones like a chainsaw! After our walk we went back up the mountain in a cable car and then across the valley in another one which had a glass bottom, at 270m up it was a pretty good view! We then went to Echo Point for a better view of The Three Sisters famous rocks and aboriginal landmark. Our guide then took us to a nearby site where a bush fire had recently been started, a couple of weeks earlier. It was very scary how close they were to people's homes and this fire in particular had even destroyed a couple. You forget how real a threat the fires are in Australia, even more so with how dry it has been. Our next stop was lunch at a restaurant on the way back in to Sydney. After lunch we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got to feed kangaroos and wallabies and stroke a koala. To be honest it never gets old! I also saw a quokka!! The happiest looking animal in the world, it was so cute. So yeah, pretty chuffed about that, especially as they're only found in Western Australia in the wild. Our final part of the tour was a ferry back into Sydney harbour. It was the first time I saw the Opera House so that was pretty special. We had some fantastic views of the city and the bridge. A great end to a great tour!

After a relaxed evening and lazy morning we decided to do a walking tour of Sydney. We had done one in Melbourne with the same company that was very good so thought it would be a good opportunity to learn more about and explore Sydney but in a more enjoyable way. Our guide Justine had actually set the company up and she was very friendly and upbeat. She had quite a big group to manage but we were still able to hear what she had to say. We visited several parts of the city including: Hyde Park, the Town Hall, the Barracks, Martin Place, the Rocks, Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, the hospital, Sydney Tower etc. So we got to see a lot of the main things in the city and learnt a little about their history. Once the tour finished we grabbed some lunch at a German restaurant which was very nice then got side tracked by the liquorice man (a guilty pleasure)! We wandered over to the Opera House to get a better view but decided not to take a tour. After we hopped on a ferry over to Manly to relax by the beach and have some dinner. It was mostly so we could get the ferry back in the dark so we could see all of Sydney lit up, which really was quite a sight!

Our final day in Sydney ending up being just Dad and I. Mum went I the Blue Mountains tour she missed and Matt was just being anti-social. I spoke to Andrew and the kids in the morning which was nice as I do miss them all! After Dad and I headed over to Darling Harbour to try and suss out doing something for the evening and then we made our way down to Harbour Bridge. We decided to walk over it to get some nice views, but the weather was a little grey and windy. The rain held off though which is always good! We had lunch at a bar in the Rocks district and a farewell drink. Will be another 5 and a bit months before I see him and Matt again! We decided to take a walk through the Botanical Gardens and down by the bay. We then thought it would be cool to go to the Barracks and learn more about the convict history of Australia. There was a database there and we discovered who we think may be my great great great grandfather who was shipped over to Australia for forgery back in the 1830s! How exciting is that. We're going to try and investigate further. For our final evening in Sydney and Australia we went down to Darling Harbour for dinner, drinks and fireworks! It was lovely. The firework show, albeit short, was spectacular and has got me very excited for the New Year display in the main harbour!