So we're now in Sydney, having a lovely time relaxing chez alice and leon - THANK YOU ALICE AND LEON - it's tragic to say but so lovely to have a bed with a duvet, a TV, a kitchen, a bathroom that you don't have to trek across a field to get to in the night.... and it's lovely to catch up with Alice and Leon who have been out here for a year and now have a lovely flat in Bondi Junction and have been introducing us to the wonders of 7 dollar steaks that are reaally good. We arrived a week ago, and since then I have introduced Evan to the wonders of Sydney, because having been here for all of 3 months a million years ago I am naturally the world authority on the subject! We've taken in the Opera House, the harbour bridge and the rocks, we've taken the ferry to Watson's Bay where Ella used to work at Doyle's Fish and Chip shop, we've done a scenic coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee beach ( and I revisited the very bit of pavement outside the Coogee Beach Hotel that gave me a scar on my knee...) One of our main observations is that Sydneysiders are all incredibly fit... as in they run a lot. We were in the botanical gardens around lunchtime one day and literally hoardes of people were out running, some in stressful sounding running clubs with people barking orders at them!?!? In London I thought it was just Anna Millar who ran in her lunchhour. Anna -you would love it here, and when they aren't jogging everywhere, they are surfing....

This weekend was pretty special, Kate's Ma has a house in the Blue Mountains ( see pic) and offered to loan it to us for the weekend, which was incredibly kind of her. We hired a car on Friday and had an easy drive up to the mountains. We've been blessed with great weather whilst we've been here and even though we were expecting the mountains to be much colder actually it was beautifully warm and the views, unlike the drizzle of 1998, were amazing.  The settlers in the 18th century used to look at the blue mountains and wonder how anyone would ever get across them, and they are very impressive. The cliffs are very high and you can see for miles. We stopped at various lookouts to take in the views over the weekend so undoubtedly you'll be forced to view those photos at some point. Kate's Ma's house is in Blackheath which is a little village with friendly shop owners ( who offer to email you gluten free bread recipes.) Pine Reach itself is beautiful, just how I imagine Green Gables ( as in Anne Of...) with a wide veranda and dark green woodwork, set in a large garden with wonderful pine trees, a swing hanging from a tree and a horse next door. We had a lovely cosy time playing the piano and watching imported english TV. We also did a very hearty walk from Evan's Lookout (!) through the Grand Canyon, which involved hopping across streams and clambering up rocks. It's supposed to take 3-4 hours but we did it in 2 - the only explanation for this that I can see is that have become incredibly fit NOT because we wanted to get to the end quickly so we could eat lunch/ I could have a wee....

We also visited a museum called Leuralla in a village called Leura, which is a private residence dating pre WW1, most of which isnow a museum set out as a 1930s house and also displaying a large toy and model railway collection. Just my cup of tea, so many barbies you didn't know where to look, and also (Mother you'll be pleased to note) many improving toys such as tin tin figures, James Bond Figures, and lots of toys from the early 20th century. Also a worrying battle figure display with lots of nazis figurines, hmmmm. And a nice garden with a model railway.

I also added to my wardrobe with 2 more tops from an Op Shop which takes my tally of new items from Sydney op shops to 4. In fact I have one entirely new outfit which in total cost 2 dollars ( about 80p.) I shall never shop in topshop again... ( ok that bit's a lie.)

Feeling pleased with our heartiness, and envigorated by fresh air, good views and unlimited gluten free bread,  we returned to Sydney yesterday and spent today revisiting Glebe, my old stomping ground. I managed to bore Evan quite senseless by taking photos of our old local, the old bakery cafe, the old hostel... until he saw that Domino's were doing a 5 dollar lunchtime special on pizzas, at which point he mysteriously perked up!

Tomorrow we fly to Byron Bay so watch this space!