Wednesday 3rd December - my 21st Birthday! We went out the night before to a place called The Gaff, a backpackers bar/club in Sydney city centre. Packed in like sauages and the cheapest booze you can imagine but i had a brilliant time dancing to the music, on the tables and be thrown around by my tour guide for the week! Everyone on my ozintro week made such an effort for me, i had a huge card signed by everyone and my bunk decorated in banners and balloons with even a little cake.

The following moring (my actual birthday) we were taken to a secluded private beach by a surf school. The beach was lovely and quite, all to ourselves with apparently very easy beginner waves! Having donned my very attractive wet suit (does not hide any lumps and bumps!) we were given our first lesson. We began by learning how to paddle on the sand, how to lye correctly on the surfboard and how to stand up. It's a lot easier on the sand! Again, they made a big fuss giving me a better surf board than everyone else (apparently it was even more stable) and i recieved one on one coaching for the whole day. Surfing is meant to be easier the more stable board you have and the shorter you are however i was absolutely pants at it. I managed to half stand up on one leg by the end of the day whereas many of the others were happily riding alone the waves! The sun was shining however and i had a brilliant time with plently of nasty bruises to show for it.

Thursday 4th. Today we took a trip to Boni Beach, massive beach but not as exciting as i thought it would be after you hear all the hype. The waves are pretty big at Bondi so a brilliant place for surfing, if you can actually stand up. There's plenty of shops around Bondi with a big interchange. From Bondi we took a the coastal path towards Coogee. We walked along the cliff tops and around a couple of smaller bays and beachers. The walk between Bondi and Coogee only takes about an hour at a slow pace. We stopped off at the beach before Coogee for a bbq on the beach, snorkling and vollyball.

Friday 5th December - the highlight of my week so far. We had a very early start, 7am pickup so up at 6! We took a trip with Oz Experience to The Blue Mountains. Firstly we drove out of Sydney through Panamatta towards the mountaints. We stopped off at a little mountain town called Glenwood. Here down in the valley we got to see wild Kangaroos and white and black cockatoos. The Kangaroos were not intimidated by having humans so close to them however trying to stand next to one for a photo would not be advised! Apparently there are hundreds living out in the wild there but we only saw about 5. We saw a few Joey's, very small in size compared to the fully grown males. The female Kangaroo only carries the joey for about a month before birth at which point they are about the size of a jelly bean. They then live in the pouch for about 9 months.The female Kangaroo can have up to 3 joey's at a time due to their ability to slow down the growth stage of birth. They can therefore have a Joey out of the pouch, a Joey inside the pouch and a Joey in the tummy.

We then left Glenwood and carried on further up the mountains. We stopped at a quite stop and proceeded to walk through the brush on uneven, rocky and thick over grown paths. I loved being able to walk through the bush surrounded by all the different plants and trees. The Blue Mountaints are mainly formed from eucalyptus trees which give off a very distinctive smell and aid the mountains in giving off their famous blue glow. Our tour guide said the blue glow is emitted from the oils from the trees but can't always be seen. In some of my pictures you can just see a blue tinge on the horizon of the mountains. We walked through the bush for about 2 hours, stopping at various viewing spots. Inside the trees we cam acoross a patch of rain forest, very dark, different in texture and in climate. Much cooler and wetter than the rest with a small stream running through it. The Mountains have very little water in or around them. We came acorss a few beautiful waterfalls just scattered about between the vast amount of trees. After the short walk we drove to a more touristy area of the Mountains to see the famous 3 sisters rock formation. Apparently as folklaw says, they are meant to be of 3 sisters turned to stone by their father who was protecting them from an evil being who wanted to eat them. Peronally i couldnt make out woman in any of them and the one of the left looks like a dianasor! We walked for about 45 minutes down the mountain and very steep steps (my calfs ache so much this morning!) until we reached what is called the cable train. It's a little cable cart that pulls you backwards up the mountain at a very steep angle. the seats are tilted upwards when you first sit down as you are pulled up at such a vertical angle! At the top is what is known as Scenic World where you can biy tours and gifts etc. The drive back to Sydney took about 2 hours in total along the freeway which a lot of only had 2 lanes! The traffic is just completely different to over the the UK.