We left behind Canberra, and the lovely hospitality of Beth and Shaun, at the crack of dawn on Monday the 21st of April. We had an appointment with Exact, a work agency based in Manly on the Northern beaches of Sydney. We drove the four hours and with no map and only vague directions and stumbled right upon the agency with fifteen minutes to spare, better born lucky than rich. We signed up, watched a ridiculous health and safety video then called Leane, a friend of Judy's who we stayed with in Melbourne. Leane manages a factory that assembles make up counters and she got us work the following day. We were very kindly allowed to park Sheila up in Leane's garden and use the facilities in the house. We started work the next morning at 7am. One week till pay day!!!!!!!We only have $15 between us and a quarter of a tank of petrol. At the weekend Leane drove us into Sydney and showed us round The Rocks and Circular Quay, we both love the buzz of this city and feel that we are going to really enjoy it here. It was quite daunting on the drive up here with no money, or job lined up in a huge alien city but soaking up the atmosphere in the sun, sat outside the Opera house we knew our time here will be enjoyed. The following day we walked from Spit Bridge to Manly on a coastal path that is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. This was a fair old trek and took us nearly all day. The scenery over the harbour was breath taking, beautiful beaches and bays and steep jagged cliffs. We stopped for a swim with our lunch(sandwiches…we are on a budget.) Back to work on Monday for the week. We are now Monday to Fridayers andnow get that Friday feeling that we haven't had for ages, and on a plus plus note we do get to finish at 12:30 each Friday and so its like we get a long weekend every weekend. On the following Saturday we went to a lecture on Freud at Sydney University, as Julian (Leane's husband) teaches adult education there and lectures in psychology. He kindly offered us the chance to attend one of his lectures and have our first university experience. "We studied at Sydney University don't you know!" We can now put this on our CV. The lecture was very enjoyable and I feel a book on Freud is going to be included in next weeks budget.Julian dropped us off in the city and we went to China town for lunch. $7 fill your plate as much as you can, yum. Suitably stuffed we headed off to the other side of the city to try and find the Hard Rock Café. After searching for a couple of hours and cussing our useless map we realised thatit had been shut down so we dragged our thirsty thirst thingys to the nearest pub to hydrate. We were at a place called Wooloommooloo bay and after our beers we walked along the Wharf and eyed up all the boats we can't afford then walked back through the Botanical gardens to find our bus home. On the Sunday we were planning to catch the ferry from Manly where we are staying over to the city but the weather was so nice we slept on the beach all day instead. In the evening we went to the internet café and found out there was free jazz round the corner starting in ten minutes. We arrived at the Artichoke café and listened to some old guys playing very pleasant music then a French backpacker came onstage and played with the band on an acoustic guitar and sang. One of his mates, an Irish guy from Dublin got up and played on the electric guitar much to the dismay of the original guitarist who wasn't a patch on the Irish guy. We also met up with another French guy called Stephen who is now working at the factory with us.Back to work. On Thursday we went back to the Artichoke café to watch a young aussie girl on a guitar. You know us, we like to catch a music thing or two, but the thing with the Artichoke café is that they only have their drinks license if drinks are served with food so catching a music thingy or two for us was getting rather expensive, and a bit like losing pounds from the wallet and gaining them on the waist. We hit the city again at the weekend like Japanese tourist armed with our cameras and silly hats. On the Saturday we spent the whole day in the Botanical gardens. We went on a free tour then lazed in the sun watching hundreds of fruit bats flapping around in the nearby trees trying to impress the ladies as it was mating season. The gardens are full of cockatoos who are extremely bold. Hold your arm out and they fly over and land on your arm and bite your hand for food. They are fantastic birds, and just because I like a cockatoo it doesn't mean I'm gay! On the Sunday we went on a Sydney and Bondi bus tour. The buses are exactly the same as the ones in Bath. We went round twice just to get our moneys worth, and plus we couldn't decide which stop to hop on and off at. Bondi Beach is of course famously known. Mention Australia and almost everyone asks about going to Bondi but in reality its not all that special. It reminds us of Weston Super Mare, but with better sand. It is filled with lots of cafes and cheep tat gift shops. After the next weeks work the factory had run out of orders and we were temporarily out of work. Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!So we decided to head up into the Blue mountains before the weather got too cold. Before we left we went to China town with Leane and had some lunch after looking round Paddy's markets. This is a huge market with 1300 stalls but it seems as if the same five stalls have just been copied and pasted hats, sweets, shoes and socks, didgeridoos, sunglasses, hats, sweets and so on. The following day (Sunday 18 May) we went back to the city and rubbed a giant pigs nose for good luck! This big brass bore was green and well weathered but his nose was a shiny as a new penny. Lots of hopeful wishers. After we went to the Queen Victoria Building for lunch a huge building with posh shops and jazz playing and lots of yummy cafes and chocolate shops. We then went to the National Art gallery of New South Wales, some fantastic portraits most dated before European settlement in Oz quite ironic I feel. They were also exhibiting some modern art that looked like someone had shoved a paint tube up their arse and farted, art, my arse. We took in a comedy club in Manly at the Old Manly Boat Shed on the Monday. The comedian was an American guy called Eddy Ifft. Not the funniest thing on two legs but an enjoyable experience none the less. We woke up on Tuesday morning stretched, shat and shaved, filled Sheila up, in that order then headed for the hills.