Finally, we were in Sydney and raring to see what was in town. First of all though, we had to navigate through the baggage collection area, which appeared to have half the world's population in it. We had already been warned to clean our boots thoroughly but forgot this advice when we left Bangkok. We paid the price for this at Sydney as we had to declare we had been trekking on the arrivals form. Next minute we were in a queue for an inspection. They took Lisa's boots away for cleaning.......it's just a shame they didn't do the insides too as they were kicking up a bit!!!! To be honest, there was minimal mud but they are really hot on bringing mud, plants, wood etc etc into the country.

After some delay, but with the bags and clean boots on the trolley, we hobbled to the arrivals hall at Sydney airport ready to hit the free Internet and get some accommodation sorted. We were only in the city for a 24 hours stopover so time was a premium. It therefore wasn't the plan to still be in the airport 4 hours later. We were trying to find a member of Emirates staff but they had left for the morning as their flights had already arrived/departed. Instead we were directed to different handling offices of companies that work with Emirates, located on different floors of the airport. We gave up after our 4th mis-direction. Our plan was to check the luggage in for the flight the next day to make things a little easier. After giving up with Emirates, we located a small shower cubicle in the men/women's toilets, had a wash and got changed. We found a left luggage counter, handed over a small fortune for the service and headed into town by bus. It wasn't too long before we were at the central train station. From there it was a handful of stops on the train before we were at Sydney Harbour. Despite it being winter the weather was pretty good (hitting 20c). The first thing that struck us was the fact that the harbour was smaller in real life than in the pictures. This was followed by realisation that everything was sooooo expensive. The weakness of the British Pound was pretty clear to see. We took a few piccies of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney bridge and harbour area then grabbed a nice lunch (our first taste of Barramundi fish....and definitely not our last....yum). We also watched an aborigine blowing a didgeredo (before you get excited it isn't a euphomism but is a six foot hollowed out piece of wood that makes a pretty cool instrument with a haunting sound). Next was a dreadlocked guy with an excellent street act. He was unicycling and juggling torches of fire. He was also telling jokes and making the audience laugh. Very entertaining.

As we still hadn't checked emails and, more importantly, accommodation online, we were still looking for a bar or restaurant with free wifi so moved on. We thought our prayers were answered when we saw the Hyatt Hotel. A coffee with free wifi.....hurrah. The cafe/ restaurant informed us that the wifi was not free. Mark then went to the reception and lied through his back teeth about being interested in a room (which we weren't). He was shocked to learn that the cheapest room was AUD675 (about £385). He may have overdone the interest bit as the woman at the counter was soon talking about the AUD7,000 six balcony room!!! The best bit was whether you wanted use of the wifi in the bar or your six balcony apartment, you had to pay £17 per day (no hourly rates)!!!! Fortunately, Mark managed to sweet talk 30 minutes of free access though. As a fair bit of time had elapsed, we decided to take a slow walk back to the train station. Earlier we had decided that we wouldn't get a room and would instead hangout at the airport. During the walk, we stopped at a pub with good live music and got chatting to an Aussie couple that were getting married in 3 months......at the Hyatt!!!! Afterwards we stopped at the Guylian chocolate shop and indulged in seriously overpriced, but fantastic, coffee and cake (£9 a slice....are you sure). We then headed back to the airport. 

We arrived back at about 11:30pm expecting to hang around the airport's bars and restaurants. Within 20 minutes security told us that they were closing the airport. Bad news for us as 1) we hadnt bothered to book accommodation, 2) the left luggage holding our rucksacks was now closed, and 3) it had now gotten pretty cold. There was a positive though. We were allowed to sit in a small area with about 30 other travellers. We felt like Tom Hanks in the film Terminal although we had no access to the main terminal, just toilets as the Security staff had pulled down the main shutters!!!! We ended up chatting to, and ultimately sleeping next to, a cool girl from Canada who had been living in New Zealand for a few months. 

We woke after a terrible night of broken sleep feeling like we were going to die from hyperthermia as there was no heating. We checked in for the flight to Auckland and got priority boarding as Mark was walking with a crutch (he threw the other in the bin at Sydney airport when we arrived). He did, however, decline a ride in a wheelchair. 

The flight wasn't too busy so Mark laid across the middle row of seats soaking up some zzzz.. Lisa was doing the same as she reclined back on her seat with thoughts of New Zealand floating through her head. We then heard an announcement telling us to buckle up as we were about to land. We had finally made it to the otherside of the world!!!  

More on our adventures in the Auckland blog.......