Day 60
We arrived in Sydney at around 9.30am after a 16 hour bus journey from Brisbane. we are staying just outside of the city center in a town called Chullora which was a 40 minute train and bus ride away. Its new years eve tomorrow and we can already anticipate how busy Sydney is going to be, and as we are staying so far away from the city center we thought we would take a trip into the center to see where abouts would be best to see the new year celebrations. We got the train to Circular quay, the closest station to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. While walking around the Harbour we spotted the Botanical Gardens, which had a perfect view of both the bridge and Opera house, an ideal location to see in the new year (plus its free entry!).

Day 61
New Years Eve... During the whole of our travels we have met people who have either been to, or know someone that has been to Sydney for new years eve, and all of them advised us to get into the city early. Come 9am on NY eve we were back on the train on our way to Circular Quay and queuing to get into the Botanical Gardens by 10am! Eventually at 11.30 we were in the park with our picnic looking out over the harbour. It was a BAKING hot day, not a cloud in the sky, and we had a another 12+ hours to endure before the new year celebrations. Don't know where the time went but was a lovely relaxing day, all be it very busy and hot. The long day was well worth it as the firework display was spectacular. It was an amazing experience, and was strange knowing all these years you have watched this event on tv and now we were there soaking up the atmosphere for ourselves. It really did give us a funny feeling inside, just cant explain it. Got home about 3am that night, the journey home went surprising well, considering how far out we were staying and the 1000's of other people trying to get home at the same time.

Day 62 (1st Jan 2011)
Woke up just as England were celebrating the new year.. We are now 11 hours ahead in Sydney. There is not much open in Chullora, so we headed back into the the city and to Darling Harbour to enjoy New Years day, was another beautiful day think it was about 27c. We have definitely fallen in love with Sydney, you still get the buzz of a city but the usual stress is taken out by the amazing scenery and lovely weather that Sydney has to offer, don't worry mums, we are not planning on setting up home here just yet ;)

Day 63
Left for Chullora today to check into our new hotel in the centre of Sydney, we are staying just on the edge of Hyde park so is a great location for all the sights. After checking into our lovely room, we jumped on the train to Bondi Junction, then hopped on a bus to Bondi Beach! Is nothing like we had imagined it, but a lot like we had heard from other travellers.. It is far too busy! It is however a nice beach but just not what you what call a lovely beach! It wasn't just the beach that was packed, the sea was also! We went for a little paddle in the sea and was shocked at how cold the water was. We then took a little look around Bondi town before heading back to the city. While in Bondi the beautiful weather seemed to disappear and became very stormy, it wasn't until we got back to the city that the heavens opened and the storm started - not good news as we are going to the cricket tomorrow so fingers crossed it clears up for that.

Day 64
Today we headed to the SCG 'Sydney Cricket Ground' for the first day of the 5th Ashes test match between England and Australia. The storm seemed to have cleared this morning, although still a bit overcast. We were a little worried the cricket would get rained off but we did manged to see most of the days play, albeit not a full day. There were a couple of breaks in the match due to rain and ended up losing about 2 hours of play. It didn't dampen our spirits as it was a fantastic atmosphere and had a really great day. We were sitting alongside Aussie and English supporters so was good fun, plenty of funny outfits on display. We were sat near a group of Aussie fans who had made hats out of watermelons, and think we may have been on TV as a result.

Day 65
It was our last day in Sydney today and we had lots left that we wanted to see. Managed to get over to Manly, which only took about 20 mins on the ferry. Had a great walk while we were in Manly and saw 2 lovely beaches, Manly Beach, and Shelly Bay. We also got to the opera house one last time to take a few closer photos. Would have loved to see a show here but with the xmas excitement and NY eve we didn't really have the time. After the Opera House, we walked around to 'The Rocks' the oldest part of Sydney, located by the Harbour Bridge. We actually ended up walking around to Darling Harbour again and got dinner in a great restaurant (a very rare treat), all the restaurants meals were only $10. Last stop was Scruffy Murphys, a pub just off Liverpool Street, couldn't have too many as we are up early tomorrow to catch our flight into Alice Springs.