Sunny Sydney! Or not. Imagine our disappointment when on our first day in Sydney (which we had expecting to be HOT) it rained pretty much ALL DAY. It felt like being back home! After a drenching by the stupid rain, which took us by suprise, we were both feeling pretty sorry for ourselves so spent most of the afternoon holed up in the hostel on the internet. By evening time we were in danger of sinking into depression (or just falling asleep in the TV area) so we braved the rain and walked to a fabulous cafe with yummy hot chocolate. As usual this cheered us up no end and we had an actually quite nice evening planning our buses for the East Coast (which is harder than you'd think). The cafe was so cute too, it had a second hand book store at the back and was the kind of place I could easily live in if it were at home.

The next day was inifinitely better, as the weather perked up and we met up with Be, who we met in New Zealand was prepared to take us around the city for the day. We had a great day, heading for the Harbour Bridge and Opera House (how I want to see an opera there someday!) and then over to The Rocks market. The sky was distinctly cloudy, but it was so good to see some of the Sydney we'd been waiting for and we finally felt like we were there! We had a quick look at Cadman's Cottage; the oldest house in Sydney which felt really strange seeing as I still haven't gotten used to how new all the old things are here! I had my first Aussie pie for lunch (they are absolutely obsessed with them here!) and we then headed down to Darling Harbour, where Finding Nemo was set. Really want to watch it again now! We finished our day with Be at Paddy's Markets and the Market City shopping mall, and a walk through Chinatown back to our hostel.

Our Sunday was a day trip to the Blue Mountains. Sadly the weather wasn't that great so most of our photos are finished with a blanket of cloud, but there were still some amazing sights to be seen. Our tour guide was a little annoying and the bus was full of some incredibly rude Dutch people who had come all the way to Australia to watch a friendly football match and insisted on all wearing bright orange jackets, but apart from that it was all good. We had various stunning views of the national park and a little visit to Wentworth Falls, before heading to Katoomba. Here we were able to see the Three Sisters, which according to legend were 3 aboriginal maidens who were encased in stone by a witch doctor. We got a scenic cableway down and went for a walk past the site of the Katoomba Mines before catching the world's steepest railway back to the top. The trip finished with a ferry ride into circular quay, and we were so happy that by this time the sun had come out and the clouds cleared, so we could finally get those iconic shots of the opera house standing proud against a blue background.

That night our sleep was very rudely interrupted by a fire alarm in the middle of the night. Most annoying as we were on the 7th floor!

On our final day in Sydney we headed for Hyde Park. Another war memorial greeted us in the form of the ANZAC monument and reflection pool (I finally know what ANZAC stands for - Australia and New Zealand Army Corps if you were interested!). Again, it does England to shame on size, but they do say size doesn't matter!

We stumbled across St Mary's Cathedral, which was so beautiful (and again huge). We were able to go in and walk around which was lovely and I was happy to be able to light a candle (real flame, Mum, not like those electric ones we saw in Mallorca!). We then walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens (yes, more gardens) to Mrs Macquarie's Chair, and on the way reached the point where you can get photos of the opera house and bridge together. We saw a LOT of runners on the way, which was very alien to me! On the way back to the hostel we had divine cupcakes at the cupcake bakery (I would go as far as to say these were better than Magnolia Bakery!) and walked past the Queen Victoria Building and Town Hall, both of which are lovely old buildings. Also found, completely by accident, St Andrew's Cathedral which is the oldest in Sydney. Sadly nowhere near as impressive as St Mary's but it was nice to see it.

Our last night was spent having great Thai food with Soozie's school friend Rob, before meeting up with some of the lovely people we met on the Oz Ex bus to Sydney to say farewell before our next early start and another day on the bus!