This will be my last update now from Sydney which is quite sad as we love it here but cool none the less as it means we will finally be backpackers again! Since Christmas things have been pretty quiet as we only have the weekends to really do anything and since we decided to leave Sydney early it has been great as it has made us do some things we have been meaning to do for a while and just haven’t got round to.

 Phil and Jen from Uni, who we spent New Years with, came back to Sydney for Jen’s birthday so we went out with them and celebrated. We went for a nice meal in Cockle Bay and then the next day we did the Bondi to Coogee walk again which is just so beautiful. That night we had a bit of a dinner party to say farewell for a while as they flew off to Asia. If we are lucky we may get to bump into them again in Asia as they finish in Bangkok when we arrive there. They are also going to be in India when we are so they are going to be proper travel buddies for us and it is always nice to see familiar faces!

I am now proof of how strong the sun really is in Australia! The other weekend I managed to put factor 30 everywhere except one of my calves, went to the beach for maybe an hour and a half to two hours and managed to burn it so bad I had 2nd degree burns! I was in so much pain for a few days I felt sick but luckily the chemist gave me something for the pain. It has now recovered and I have no permanent damage but it was quite a scare as it was my whole leg and it just shows how much stronger the sun really is!!!

Last weekend we went to the Australia Museum by Hyde Park which was fun as it is their Natural History Museum. They also had an exhibition on from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards so that gave Nick something to aspire to! The weekend was so hot we didn’t go to the beach till later in the afternoon both days but it has given Nick the chance to practice surfing and I have to say he is getting good and is standing up now!

This last weekend was great as Friday was bank holiday as it was Australia Day. It was all very patriotic and basically an excuse for the nation to get pissed! Nick and I kept quiet and politely turned down the offer of flags to wave!!! That day we went to the Sydney Wildlife Park in Darling harbour which was fun a s it has only animals from Australia and they have quite a few I may add! We were loving the snakes and spiders and couldn’t get over the size of the Wombats! They are like furry pigs with hamster faces! I now know what I want for xmas instead of a puppy! That night we watched the fireworks in Cockle Bay and I have to say Sydney really know how to do fireworks, they were absolutely amazing, almost as good as those at New Year, and at the end an Air Force 1 Jet flew literally 50 meters above our heads with its backburners alight and you could literally feel the heat as the flames went past, it was amazing!!!!

Saturday we got up early and went to the famous Paddy’s market for a wander then we went to the Powerhouse Museum which is the largest Museum in Australia and equivalent to the Science Museum. It was fun if a little young but Nick was loving all the planes they had somehow fitted into the museum! There was also an exhibition on about the Great Wall and the Chinese Dynasties so it was fun having a look again and we even saw part of the wall where we had been so that took us back! We would love to return to China one day and would recommend it to anyone!

 Yesterday our lovely Landlady Ann woke us up at 8am because she had a spider in her room. As you can imagine I was pretty unimpressed to be disturbed so early on a Sunday but when we saw it we nearly died of shock! It was the size of the palm of your hand and pretty hairy! It took Nick a good 10mins to psyche himself to hit it and he put on his trainers to make a quick dash if his hit failed to kill!!!! Luckily he killed it and when I explained the spider at work it was either a Funnel Web – only the deadliest spider in Oz, or an Australian Tarantula!!! Who knew Australia had Tarantula’s!!! I don’t know if I would have moved here if I had known this back then!!! Scary stuff!

It is our last week at work now so really excited to be leaving on Sunday! Nick will be sorry to say goodbye to his Board but is getting it shipped home so Newquay here we come!!! I finish work Wednesday so I can get everything sorted out for then and basically I can’t face too much more copy typing and photocopying! We then leave Sunday night which is also Nick’s birthday, to do our east coast tour! Next stop is Byron Bay where the water is meant to be warmer so I may actually go swimming for the second time since we have been here! I am not joking when I say the water is cold…its 16 degrees and when the outside temp is nearer 30 it makes a difference! So the water should be warmer but that also means more chance of sharks! A girl can’t win!