We arrived in Sydney in the afternoon and Lauren, a friend and former colleague of mine, came to pick us up at the airport. I last saw her 4 years ago when she finished her travels and work in England and was going back home to Australia. It was good to see her. She took us to our hostel in an area of Sydney called Stanmore. It was a very residential area however it was within walking distance of a long street of shops and restaurants, and Stanmore train station. We only had to take a ten minute train journey to reach the centre of Sydney. Lauren showed us around the local area so we could get our bearings, and then returned us to our hostel where we relaxed for the evening after our day of travel.

The next day we got the train to Central Station. From there we went to Paddy's Market. The market reminded us of the ones in Vietnam and Cambodia, and was full of cheap clothes, electricals, souveniers. . . anything you could want. Like the Asian markets though, after a while we saw that a lot of stalls sold identical goods. After spending a short time walking through the market, we went to Darling Harbour. It was very busy there since it was a Sunday and the weather was good. Lots of people were chilling out in the Chinese garden, the fantastic play areas were full of children, and the restaurants and cafes along the harbour front were packed. Everyone was having a good time. We walked through the harbour and then went to Circular Quay to see the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. As we walked around Sydney we noticed lots of familiar road names; Oxford Street, Liverpool Street, Trafalgar etc. It was just like being back in London! From Circular Quay we walked around the harbour to The Rocks to look around the nice shops there. We were lucky to also find that since it was Sunday, the market stalls were open. Unlike Paddy's Market, The Rocks Market was full of unique stuff that was good quality. We both got a corn on the cob and spent a while wandering around all the stalls. Lauren came to meet us in the afternoon and took us to a pub that we would never have found on our own. The pub had a rooftop bar from which we had a great view of Sydney harbour. It was great. From there we headed back to Darling Harbour for dinner and then got the train home. We saw so much that day, and it was a great start to our time in Sydney.

The following day we were feeling quite tired so we just had a nice quiet day back at the hostel, hardly venturing out. We made up for it on Tuesday though as we spent all day at Taronga Zoo. We got the train from Stanmore straight to Circular Quay, and then took the boat 20 minutes direct to the zoo. When we disembarked we got on the bus which took us to the top of the hill where the main entrance is. The zoo is absolutely huge and is situated on the side of a hill from which you have a great view of Sydney. The star attraction of the zoo was the litter of baby tigers, and we were told to visit them first before they have their afternoon nap. Being very young, we were told not to expect much movement however when we saw them they were wide awake and feeding from their mother. There were 3 tiger cubs in total, and they were very cute indeed. Our other favourite animals in the zoo were;
- The Himalayan tahrs which looked a bit like goats, and were precariously balanced on a small, rocky manmade hill.
- The gorillas, as there was a baby gorilla just finding it's feet, never staying too far from it's mother, while the giant father slept nearby.
- The kangaroos and wallabies in the part of the zoo where there were no barriers.
- The koalas, especially the baby one clutching onto it's mum.
- The duck billed platypus that we were very lucky to see (they are very shy).
- The seal that followed us around when we went nearby.
- The pygmy hippos were just hilarious to look at.

There were lots more animals we really liked at the zoo. It was a really fun day.

On Wednesday we again got the boat, but this time we went to Manly beach. Manly is a small seaside town with a street of shops and a long beach that is popular with surfers. Since it was nice weather, the beach was quite busy, although we managed to find a quieter spot a bit further from the main street. It was good to see all the Aussie surfers - some of them very impressive, some failing miserably. The waves were quite big, so there were lots of surfers out making the most of it. The weather was the exact opposite on Thursday - sheeting down with rain for much of the day. We had arranged to meet up with Lauren in the evening for a walk along the beaches, however in the morning we doubted it would go ahead. By mid afternoon it got brighter and we decided to go ahead with the walk. Lauren picked us up and drove us to a beach south of Sydney (I can't remember it's name). From there we walked north around several beaches until we got to the famous Bondi beach. We were lucky because the 'Sculptures by the Sea' exhibit had just started that day, so there were hundreds of interesting sculptures on the beaches and along the cliffs. I'm not a fan of modern art, however these pieces were really interesting and clever. We liked the giant taps on the cliff edge and a big turtle that you could go in, which inside was like a living room. After our walk we met up with Chad, Lauren's boyfriend, and the four of us had dinner while the sun set over Bondi beach.

On Friday we visited Sydney Opera House. We had seen it from afar several times, but never up close. We went inside for a quick look, and then walked around the outside. There wasn't a great deal to see there, it was just cool to be in such a famous iconic building. Afterwards we went to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and walked the entire length of it there and back. It was bigger and longer than we expected. Walking across we saw the people doing a bridge climb far above us. Scary. That evening we went out to a pub in Darlinghurst to celebrate Lauren's birthday with her friends. There we some crazy cocktails going around - especially a green one in a small glass containing two shots of vodka and some absinth! Everyone had a good night though, although apparently some people felt very rough the next day.

We visited Sydney's parks on Saturday. The weather was perfect. We started our walk at Museum station and went through Hyde Park, where there is a big war memorial and a long avenue of arching trees. From there we walked through 'The Domain' (another park area) and reached the Art Gallery. It is a nice building with some great artwork, however there was a floor of contemporary art that I found more than a little annoying. I'm sorry but I don't consider two trees in bags, or a framed sack, art. The Aboriginal art section was good, however the oldest piece was 1940's. It would have been nice to see some older examples. From the gallery we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens to the waterfront from which we had a great view of the bridge and opera house. There were two weddings going on while we were there. You could understand the reason they chose that location, it is a beautiful area, however I'm not sure I'd want a load of sunbathers, picnic-ers and tourists watching me say my vows. From the park we walked around the water's edge all the way past the opera house and back to The Rocks for 'Pancakes on the Rocks'. I had two thick chocolate pancakes with dark cherries, in cherry brandy, with cream and ice-cream. Charlene had two thick pancakes with loads of blueberries. We were both stuffed afterwards, and slowly went back to the hostel to rest for the remainder of the day.

For our last full day in Australia, Lauren and Chad took us to the Blue Mountains which are about 2 hours drive from Sydney. Our first stop was at 'Scenicworld'. Great name! Scenicworld is situated about 1000m above sea level, and it is where you go to see 'The Three Sisters' (a formation of three tall, thin rocks sticking out above a narrow cliff edge). From the visitor's centre at the start, we took a short railcar journey down into the forest. The railcar track is the steepest in the world and has a 52 degree incline. On the descent we went from a reclined seated position to practically standing (it was THAT steep) and went through a cave while the Indiana Jones theme was playing. At the bottom we walked through the forest along a wooden walkway and read about the history of mining in the area. We saw lots of different trees and plants, while Lauren and Chad gave us information about what they were (some of their 'facts' however were highly dubious, but funny nether the less). At the end of our walk we had a cable car ride back up to the top of the cliff, and then did a 'Skywalk' from one side of the valley to the other (it was basically a glass bottomed cable car). The views across the valley were fantastic, and we could see dense forest below stretching out for miles. We then went to see a beautiful waterfall, and afterwards walked to a lookout where we saw the Three Sisters up close. The scenery was amazing. After we left Scenicworld we went for a pub lunch in a nearby village where I had a lovely steak and guiness pie and a pint of Coopers Ale. Nice. When we finished lunch we went on another short walk around a cliff top and had a great view of a huge valley with a dense forest at it's base. By this stage we were all very tired and so we returned to Sydney and said our goodbyes.

The following day we left Australia to go to New Zealand, our penultimate country.

D