Friday 21st nov. Wahoo were off to sydney!! We had to get up very early to catch our flight, only an hour and 1/2 but we arrived in good time, lyndsey arrived 20mins later and daryls parents flight got in 20mins after that, couldnt have planned it better! We jumped into a taxi and went straight to our hotel which was great, right on darling harbour. we had a lovely appartment wich had electricity and a fridge what a novelty!! (2 things we have really missed in the van lol) First things first, we had a cuppa tea, ahhhhhhh. Once we had refreshed we went down to the sydney opera house to take some photos, they were also holding the australian idol finals there on sunday so the stage and the lights were just in the process of being put up on the steps. We got great views of the harbour bridge from there not to mention the hundred photo's ha ha!!

next morning we got the ferry from circular quay to manly. Very nice little place and we found ourselves a spot on the beach to soak up some of the sun and watch the surfing! I forgot my suncream though so decided to go bikini shopping (as daryl is getting me one for crimbo!) In the evening we went to surrey hills to meet judy and tom (family friends) for a meal at a local pub, had a good night and the food was fantastic.

On sunday we took a walk down to paddy's market and passed a thai food festival on the way (hmmm my favourite.... NOT!!) We had a good look around the market i got myself a new necklace and ear rings but daryl came away empty handed =( The afternoon we spent looking around the Hyde Park Barracks Museum which was all about the convicts history. We looked up the name cartwright and found daryl could be connected to the convicts, maybe he is one!! In the evening we went to he IMAX 3D cinema at darling harbour to watch a 3D film (check out the photos of us all with our 3D glasses we look very funny!!) then we took a walk to the star city casino, was very tempted to get on the pokies!

24th we took a walk around The Rocks which is the oldest part of sydney, very historical buildings mixed with modern water side appartments, its lovely here. Spent the afternoon walking around the botanical gardens and got our photo taken on mrs macquaries chair. The whole park was swarming with joggers there were even people joggin in there work suits!!! We got a free ride on the monorail, it doesnt go far so we just did a loop around. I found the most amazing shop on pitt st its called "cupcakes on pitt" i couldnt resist buying some and they tasted heavenly (see pics!!) We were pretty tired after all that so we spent the afternoon in the hotel pool, jaccuzzi and sauna room!! its a hard life! In the evening we went for a meal at the sydney tower restraunt, which was a christmas pressi from daryls mum and dad. Its a revolving restraunt 270meters up the sky tower with 360. degree views across the whole city. It was a serve yourself buffet style meal with 5 courses. soup to start, fresh seafood- prawns and languistines, salads, currys, australian carvery with all the trimmings and lashings of GRAVY Mmmmmm............ Finished off with every type of cake you could still manage to stuff down your face and coffee. Truly amazing, thankyou daryl's mummy and daddy !!

Felt very full this morning, dont think we will need to eat for another week!! went to the maratime museum had a look around kay cottees yatch which she sailed around the world single handedly in 1988, think she was the first woman to do this. We also had a look around a navy destroyer and HMB Endeavour - a replica of captain james cook's ship from the 1700's. We all went out for a meal in a pub down at The Rocks this evening - Pie of the day with chips and gravy, Mmmm.... i will cherish this memory as it will be the last time we eat out for a looooong time =( it was awesom.

26th. Said our goodbyes at 6 in the morning and caught a flight back to hervey bay, another good flight and we got in early, however our bags were stuck on the plane as the crew couldnt open the cargo door! They had to fly an engineer in from sydney as they dont have any up here (can you believe that) so we went to do our shopping and went back a couple of hours later to collect our bags. Once we had our gear we got on the road again and went to a small place called Tin Can Bay just for one night to see the dolphins. got up at 6 and went down to the jetty just before 7. The dolphins were allready in the bay and you can get knee deep in the water with them. There are 7 wild dolphins that come in to feed every morning, only 2 of them came today though. they were so friendly and for a small donation you could buy fish to feed them with. They were sooo gentle and friendly wich seems unbelievable for wild animals. Its free to see them, you cant touch them but you can put your hand in the water and let them come to touch your fingers. Well worth seeing, and highly reccomend but you gotta get there before the rainbow beach ferry at 8am!!

we went down to rainbow beach for a look around, great little place but the campsites were very expensive so we didnt stay and went straight on to noosa heads, we absolutely love it here, its too expensive to stay too long though. we checked out the beach and had a look around the swanky shops, they were also holding noosa's $10million bash, lots going on and they had closed off the main street to traffic to hold noosa's longest lunch. All the restraunts lined very posh wedding style tables up all the way down hastings street with big umbrellas and fancy table dressings. for $65 a head you could join in the roman style banquit (i wish!) we took a drive up to laguna look out wich gave great views over the noosa area (see the pics) not sure where were going next, just see where the road takes us probably maloola or maroocheydore, watch this space....