Hi to all

We have just realised how long it has been since the last blog so thought had better fill you in on Sydney before we start the New Zealand section of the journey!

We were in Sydney for about a week and had an absolutely amazing time - we have decided that if we could bring you all out here we would definitely stay forever!Despite it being winter it has been unseasonably warm apparently so we were able to get the old flip flops out again and have not worn coats for a week . If I get any more comments about the heat wave at home I will be less than amused!

I should point out that inbetween all the activities listed below we ate ridiculous amount and headed to Paddys market quite a few times in China town!

Day 1 we met up wit Elise, our friend from the Fraser Island trip a few weeks ago and she took us out for a cheap steak with her housemates and many other random french people. We also adopted Amanda, a crazy texan from our room who was here on our own and we liked dragging round to different places! The next day Elise took us to Bondi Beach and we all sat and had a drink looking out over the harbour and this crazy outside pool which is member only and was full of big men in tiny tiny pants (by big I mean pot bellied with small pants saying awful things like Team USA across them!) The american girls we were with were so proud of thier country at that moment! We then did the coastal walk from Bondi to Bronte which was really beautiful!

We also had our breakfast in Darlinghust, the gay capital of Sydney where there is a small cafe called BIlls, Bill Granger is apparently a celebrity chef over here like our Jamie Oliver who is sometimes on Saturday kitcen at home. According to Emma he is the smug devil incarnate so it's probably best he wasn't there!

The next day me and Emma headed out to see the only real reason any of us Brits go to Sydney and it really was as amazing as we thought it would be. We sat and ate our breakfast looking at the Syndey Opera House and the Harbour Bridge feeling pretty cool and local. We then ran round it taking many pictures - less cool and definitely less local!! :) We also paid a visit to te museum of contemporary art which had an exibition of black and white photography to discuss the aboriginal problems in Australia and it was absolutely captivating. One of te series was based around the aboriginal prison population which is ridiculously high and bought me to tears!

Friday night was one of the best of the week as we headed over to Luna Park, which is a 1930's restored theme park under the hrabour bridge. It is all lit up at night and had an old school fun house and ferris wheel which made us feel like we were in Grease. I even went on a roller coaster!!! O yes I kid you not. It was some little old wooden thing called mouse trap and I figued how fast can something be that was built in 1930's. Me and Em were squeezed into some tiny little cart and were bacially shot round this ride where every time you reached a corner you were pretty sure the track was going to collapse and you were going to fly into the river! I literally buried my head into Emma and did not open my eyes or stop screaming for the entire ride!!

Next day we went over to Manley on the ferry, which is pretty much just a beachy town on the other side of the harbour but the ferry takes you round te harbour so it;s definitely worth it. We picked a really sunny day so wandered all round the beach and ad some lunch etc then came back.

Finally on Sunday we headed off to Sydney Congress Hall for yet another dissapointment -it was just quite small and pretty dull but hey at least we can say we've been! Wandered around saying goodbye to everywhere, including watching sunset over the opera house in a lovely outside bar. Then went out for last dinner on the harbour front and headed to bed as airport shuttle picked us up at 5:30am next morning. We are now in New Zealand but will leave that as a to be continued.......