Ian dropped me and Beryl off at Manly ferry wharf, and we got a ferry into Sydney CBD. I really appreciated having Beryl with me as she was pointing out things on the way, like the quarantine they used to put diseased immigrants in once they'd reached Sydney, and an island they starved convicts on. She was also good at being my photographer (so I could prove it was me there).

Once we'd reached Circular Quay, we walked up and around the Opera House. I needed the toilet and so we went into the building, so even though I only used the toilets at least I got to see a bit of inside!

Next we went through the botanical gardens, where we stumbled across some play for kids, where they were leading them from place to place. I stopped off at the information stall which revealed that the play was a Wind in the Willows production. We then ate lunch in the cafe where we had a conversation about dreams.

It was very odd when we were in the bandstand type thing next to the rose garden as there was a woman asleep with a suitcase by her side. Two cleaners came in to clean it up because it had been booked out for a wedding. When they woke her up she kept asking whether they were marrying their mother, and whether she was marrying her son.

We had a look around 'The Rocks' and this was another instance of being glad I had Beryl as she took me around all the historical parts of it instead of just the shops and stalls- she showed me where all the first fleet people set up homes in the rocks, and where had to be burnt because of the bubonic plague. There was an area called 'The Big Dig' where they started doing a lot of archaeological work and found lots of artefacts from the first fleet houses. The woman in the museum opposite told us they had more of the plaques about it inside the YHA, and these were in the ground floor of the YHA building. I went upstairs to fill up my water bottle and thought it was quite cool that they had extended the theme by putting lots of artefacts in glass tables in the common area of the hostel.

We went in one of the old pubs, which had a lot of interesting information on the wall like maps of old Sydney, and names of people in the first fleet, and what provisions and seeds they took across with them. We were going to have lemonade, but if we weren't going to be eating we would have had to have gone in the old man style pub so we didn't bother.

We then got the ferry back to Manly, where we sat on a bench overlooking the beach for a while. The lifeguards kept telling off the people not swimming in between the flags and then eventually they told everyone to get out as too many people had gone under the water. We moved on a bit further and watched some guys play beach volleyball. A man came up to us and asked if we wanted to start getting into playing, but I said I didn't think I'd have much need in it in England.

Ian picked us up, and drove us to Clinton's house (Clinton is another one of their son's). Clinton drove to pick up some fish and chips, whilst we went up to a dog park near his house, along with his partner, and her brother and his daughter, although it was really windy up there, so we set up a picnic area in a nearby park. I enjoyed the fish and chips but it was no Hooked! We had calamari, fish bites, potato cakes, grilled and battered fish and chips.