Here we are in Sydney, Australia. We are not really city people but we have been rather taken with Sydney, although that is surprising considering our journey from the airport was with a driver who was a little odd to say the least. He started by saying he was working for a few more hours which was good as it would give him time to work of all the coffee he had drank. He went on to tell us about people stepping out in front of cars and trains and not paying attention when crossing roads texting and whose fault it was. He was so intense it was a bit spooky as we were the only ones in the vehicle with him. He definitely needs to cut down on the coffee. I was very happy when we arrived at the hotel, and what a hotel, absolute luxury for us.

We only had two full days in Sydney so thought a general walking tour would be a good idea, so of we went. I hadn't realised how many old Victorian and Edwardian buildings Sydney had, so I was happy. Outside a lovely old Victorian shopping precinct they have a statue of Queen Victoria and one of her favourite dog (Islay). Her statue once stood outside the legislative assembly of the Republic of Ireland, Dublin – until 1947, when it was put into storage. They obviously had a clear out as in 1987 they gave it to Sydney (bet they were pleased). The rather odd statue of Islay speaks asking for money for charity. On the top level of the precinct is a sealed letter written by Queen Elizabeth which is to be opened in 2085 and read aloud to the People of Sydney. No one else knows what it says; I doubt she can remember now either!

The bird life around the city was rather impressive and I don’t mean your common old pigeons. They have long curved beaked (good for getting worms around corners) white Ibis wandering around the parks, the odd Off –White (smog stained) Cockatoo sitting on traffic lights and noisy Kookaburras.

Once again it was our friend James Cook who first came to the east coast in 1770( he must have been exhausted by 1771) and claimed the whole east coast for King George III and called it New South Wales, (why this name is a mystery maybe they found leeks). The British did nothing for many years until upon the urgings of Joseph Banks (the botanist with the Cook expedition); they decided to establish a colony. This was a good idea as due to the American War of Independence Britain could no longer send convicts to the American colonies. The history of Australia began when the first fleet of seven ships, commissioned by Thomas Townshend, Baron Sydney (a parliamentary Minister), set sail for Botany Bay in 1787. On arriving at Botany Bay they discovered there was no fresh water so moved north. It seems a bit odd that the arrival of this fleet full of convicts is still celebrated every year. They named the cove they landed at, Sydney Cove, in honour of the Baron. The original settlement in an area called The Rocks still has a lot of the original buildings and even pubs. Two of which Peter visited but yet again the beer was not good.

The most iconic sights are obviously the Opera House and Harbour Bridge so we were keen to see them. They are rather impressive although against the Sydney skyline the Opera House looked smaller than it seems in photos.

The bridge (also known as the 'Coathanger') was opened in 1932. Made of steel (79% from England) the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets and is the world's largest (but not longest) steel arch bridge. Each side has two large granite faced concrete decorative pylons. Huge hinges absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun. Its total length 1149 metres and its arch span is 503 metres. The top of the arch is 134 metres above sea level and the deck is 49 metres wide. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tonnes.. After inviting worldwide tenders in 1922, the New South Wales Government gave the contract (for Australian 4,217,721 pounds 11 shillings and 10 pence!) to an English firm. In February 1932 the Bridge was test loaded using up to 96 steam locomotives placed in various configurations. I think we can safely say that is pretty safe to walk over.

Peter was thinking of climbing to the top of the bridge but they wanted £132 and you can climb a pylon (a little lower) for £7. Also you can’t carry a camera (in case you drop it on someone) but they will take your picture for £7. So he climbed a pylon.

Our tour guide told us all about the controversy associated with the building of the Opera House which was completed in 1973. It was designed by a Dane Jorn Utzon but he fell out with the new NSW Government in 1966 because of a massive overspend amongst other things (possibly because it took him 4 years to figure out how to construct the roof sails) and they refused to pay him so he resigned. The new Australian architects overspent by 3 times as much as Utzon but they got paid. When the Opera House was officially opened Utzon was not invited to the ceremony, nor was his name mentioned in any of the speeches (that showed him!).

The second afternoon (a very hot sunday)we decided to visit Bondi Beach. Now I know we have all heard of the beach but why I don’t know. We took a ferry to Watson’s beach and then the bus back to the city via Bondi Beach, which was packed. It is a very nice beach but I still don’t know why it’s so famous. It maybe something to do with its being the site of efforts to fight indecency in beach attire. The beach in the past was a focal point of protests against dress standards for beach goers. Beach inspectors were responsible for enforcing the law and were required to measure the dimensions of swimwear and order offenders off the beach (bet they were queuing up for that job!).

Every watchful of the pennies when we had to leave our hotel to pick up the campervan Peter decided that instead of a taxi straight to the depot we would catch the shuttle bus to the airport where he would leave me with the luggage and walk to the depot, collect the campervan and drive back to the airport and pick me up. So there I sat for over an hour outside the departure drop of terminal with all the smokers!