Sunday 10th Jan

I didn't wake up until 9.30am which is late for me so I must have been exhausted from the previous few days events. We'd had somebody knock on our room in the night so Lisa was annoyed she couldn't get back to sleep after it, but I was completely knackered and slept well.

We chilled in the morning, grabbed cereal, I video chatted Nick and his pals before they were all going on a night out which was funny, and then finally activated my Australian SIM card so I don't have to depend on wifi all the time. We eventually made it out to Manly beach for an hour and met back up with my friend Jamie, who lives in the area. Manly is a lovely little place and despite the huge crowds for the ferry, it was good that Sunday transport around is free. There were lots of people surfing and it was good they provided water fountains to keep hydrated. We left fairly early as we needed to get back and showered to be back out by 5.30pm to make the Opera House at 6pm to pick up our show tickets for it starting at 6.30pm (we were as usual a bit rushed!)

Blanc de Blanc was a brilliant show, covered by producers who also have done shows within the Cirque Du Soleil group, which Ive seen a show of before and could see similarities within. We weren't allowed to take photos and it was a first-come-first-serve approach to grabbing a seat as long as you had selected whether you wanted to sit downstairs or upstairs, but we got some good was on the upstairs front row close to the stage. The show itself was all about the French champagne, Blanc de Blanc and they were selling glasses for $10 which most of the audience (including us) were enjoying during the show. There was a breathtaking solo in the first half which was my favourite part, where a lady did an areal performance with a porters trolley which was lifted up into the air spinning whilst she flexed her body in all kinds of positions I've seen a lot of shows and never seen areal done that well before. There was comedy incorporated and also a lot of sexual scenes and nudity (would expect nothing less of a French Moulin Rouge type scene), but it was executed professionally throughout and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. Afterwards, we sat out with a view of the bridge and had another glass of champagne and phoned home before heading back to the hostel to pack our bags up and get ready to leave the following day.

I felt sad to be leaving Sydney as have had a fabulous time here, it's got a real sparkle to the place and isn't like anywhere I've visited before. The vibrant streets full of talented buskers, the friendly locals and the affordable site seeing opportunities and hang out places make it a really wonderful place to stroll around and I can see how many people end up staying here.

xxx