22/8/9 Saturday Christchurch to Sydney

We woke fairly early and finished packing for the ride to the airport. We walked 20 mins in to town carrying all our bags and amazingly we managed without any rest stops !!! We arrived into town early enough to get breakfast in the square before the shuttle bus left for the airport. Once we checked in we were feeling pretty sad to leave NZ and even worse when we had to pay $25 to leave the country too. While waiting for the flight we filled out various immigration paperwork and changed our money into AUS$. The flight was a comfortable 3 hours and no jet lag into Sydney and we watched the new Star Trek movie which was suprisingly entertaining. Once we arrived at Sydney we took the shuttle bus into our hostel 790 on George. It was a bit of a dump there and not really clean. Our room was ok but the communal spaces were really foul.....e-coli central !!! Not the best start to our Oz leg. Phil called a friend of his Matt Houlders, a paramedic who emigrated to Oz 6 months ago to arrange to meet up. Unfortunately Matt is on nights when we are at his area but we can rearrange to see him and his family even for a few hours. The Oz Experience office was just round the corner from our hostel so we called in to book our onward travel. We also emailed Brad and Christine, friends from our South America trip who live in Newcastle north of Sydney, to arrange a visit with them too!! The Tri Nations match between Australia and NZ was being played in Sydney so we headed out to find a bar to watch the game. You wouldn't have known there was even a game on in the city as hardly anywhere seemed to have the game on and there was no atmosphere where the game was being shown...it was all really disappointing as we were really looking forward to the party. On our way into town we walked through Darling Harbour which had a real buzz about it with street entertainers and lots of people wandering about. It is full of open fronted bars and restaurants which are all pretty exclusive. We soaked up the atmosphere at the harbour and then were advised by the police to go to the Rocks to watch the game. The Rocks is Sydneys oldest area and the sight of the first fleet landing and has lots of bars and old hotels. We went to The Orient Hotel to watch as it had a few people watching the big screen. When the All Blacks won the match the mood was pretty low in the bar so moved on to circular quay which overlooks the Opera House. We had a couple of drinks in a bar overlooking the Opera House and felt really underdressed alongside Sydneys rich and trendy.....We walked back to our hostel via a quick McDonalds.

23/8/9 Sunday Sydney

We walked to Central Station to join a hop on hop off tour of Sydney. It tours around all
Sydneys main attractions and you can get off where you like all day. We went past the casino, chinese gardens, aquarium and Campbells Cove where we got off the bus to look around The Rocks, Sydneys oldest area. We wandered around a craft market and watched an artist painting with spray cans . He was called Darren Jermaine and he created amazing amazing pictures in only a few minutes. We bought a picture of Ayers rock which will hopefully survive the journey home. After exploring The Rocks we realised we had missed the best bits on our search for a decent bar the night before. We sat in a cafe watching the world go by for a while and visited Cadmans Cottage, Sydneys oldest building, about as old a Lizzies house!! We could get a great daylight view of the Opera House there too so got some touristy shots before getting back on the bus. We saw Circular Quay, Queen Victoria building, Kings Cross, The Opera House, Botanical Gardens, parliament, Hyde park and the Australian museum. We then changed onto the Bondi Beach bus tour included in our ticket and headed out to Bondi Beach. We only stayed for about half an hour as we had no swimming gear with us. It is a nice beach but is next to Bondis shops and cafes etc so doesn't feel like a beautiful tropical beach. We drove through Rose and Double Bays on the way back to Sydney. Once back in Sydney we checked our arrangements to see Brad and Christine and sorted a few arrangements on the internet. We ate at a Vietnamese Restaurant which Phil didn't really enjoy. He is sure he will starve in Vietnam but we doubt that !!! Liz loved her meal and won't be starving there!! Phil had his bank card refused at the ATM so we had to call up and get his account unlocked. Fortunately it did work after the phone call but it was a bit of a pain. After that we went to bed.

24/8/9 Monday Sydney

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO CLARE AND MARTIN 12 YEARS TODAY !!!

We spent the morning travelling to Edgcliff to sort out our Vietnam Visas ready for our flight to Hanoi after Australia. We caught the train to Edgcliff and it was a really easy process to fill in some straight forward forms and it will be ready in a couple of days for us to pick up. It cost AUS$100 though !!! We had budgeted for the visas already so no panic. We booked ourselves a diving course and a live aboard dive boat out of Cairns to the Barrier reef. We are spending lots of money all at once here but all Phils hard work is paying off as we haven't gone over our planned spends at all. We had planned to go up the Sydney Tower to look at the views but it was a miserable day so we walked through Hyde Park to visit Hyde Park Barracks. It was originally built by convicts to use as a dormatory for them and then used as an asylum, then a courthouse , then a museum. It was really interesting and gave an insight into the lives of the convicts alot of whom were in jail for really petty crimes. We decided to go up the tower anyway but it was really busy with a school party so we left to get some lunch first. We went back after some lunch and first went on the oztrek ride included in the entrance fee. It was a virtual flying ride like we had been on in Wellington Te Papa museum. After that we went up to the viewing deck to take in the rather grey and cloudy views. Unfortunately the Opera House is obscured by some high rises but there was a good view of the Harbour Bridge. It was absolutely throwing with rain when we left the tower so we ditched our plans to take a ferry out to Manly, in favour of going to Sydney Aquarium. The Aquarium was great and we spent three hours wandering round seeing all the displays and huge aquariums. There were salt water and fresh water mammals and fish as well as huge aquariums displaying tropical fish and coral. We also got the chance to see Dugongs (water cows) feeding on lettuce !!! We also saw crocodiles, sharks, rays, eels, jelly fish, and loads of tropical fish. We sat for ages just watching them swimming about with the classical music accompanying them........absolutely lovely. When we came out of the museum it was really calm and it had stopped raining at last so we took a walk to Darling Harbour and enjoyed some happy hour beers overloking the night scene of the harbour. We were planning on having a chinese meal in china town but ended up going straight to the hostel so Phil could calll Matt (friend who emigrated) and sort our visit with him. It was pretty late so Liz cooked up a gourmet meal of beans on toast (trying hard to ignore the passing cockroaches) before we headed to bed.

25/8/9 Tuesday Newcastle

We are off to Newcastle 100Km north of Sydney to see Brad, Renae and Christine from our S.America trip. We were catching the train at about 3pm so we had the morning free to explore the other bits of Sydney we hadn't yet seen. We put our big packs to store in the hostels extortionate lockers and carried our overnight bags with us. We walked through China town into Darling Harbour and took some photos of the gardens and water features there. It was a really gorgeous day and so we really enjoyed the walk through Hyde Park and into the Botanic Gardens. We walked along Art Gallery road through the gardens and beside the coast line where we had great Harbour Bridge and Opera House views . We walked down some steps to the waters edge and spotted a really tall woman with see through bikini bottoms after a swim. Phil was quite excited by the view until the 6ft tall muscular post sex change person stood up !!! She had fabulous implants but was obviously a woman in a mans body still. She then started some random kickboxing moves which we couldn't suppress our giggling about so had to make a rapid exit. We could see over to the navy base at Woolloomooloo with a couple of naval boats moored up. We then went round farm cove and Mrs MacQuaries chair-a rock named after the governors wife. We got some great shots of the Opera House and walked around Farm Cove towards it through the more formal gardens with ponds etc. We arrived at the opera house with about half hour spare before our train to Newcastle so we headed straight to the station on Circular Quay. On the Quay was an aboriginal playing a didgeridoo so we listened to him for a while and Phil bought a CD. We bought tickets to Newcastle, changing at Central station. At central station we had to change trains and managed to go through the wrong barrier where our tickets got swallowed. Unbelievably the guards closed the barriers and happily opened them up and hunted for our tickets....can you imagine that on the London underground? The journey up the coast to Newcastle was really lovely passing lots of really pretty bays and harbour towns, Phil spotted some kangaroos by the railway line but Liz missed them. When we arrived at our destination Brad and Renae were waiting for us. It was really great to see them after a few months since we left South America. Brad took us back to their house where we said hellos to Christine. We had a couple of cold ones catching up with everyones news and then headed out to a local resturant for some food. There was a trivia night there too so we ate a really tasty meal and then joined in the quiz. Its fair to say we were absolutely terrible but in our defence one round was about New South Wales which over half our team were clueless about !! We had a good laugh with Brad and Renae desperately trying to get answers by texting friends and relatives...amazingly we ended up only 4 points behind the winners but were 5th out of 7 teams. Once back at Brad and Christines we had more drinks and Brad put Guitar Heros on the playstation. We all had a go and sang our way through a few funny hours before we all fell into bed pretty worse for wear !!!It was a great night.

26/8/9 Wednesday Newcastle

We had a pretty slow start after the excesses of the night before and poor Christine had to go to work in her hairdressing salon for a few hours too!! Brad took the other three of us on a quick tour of Newcastles sights. It has loads of lovely beaches and the town is nice too. He pointed out the local authority houses which were positioned right on the water front with sea views.....bit better than UK options !! Christine then called Brad and said she could fit Liz in for a desperately needed hair cut much to Lizzies delight. We headed to the salon where Liz had a wash and blow dry with head massage.....bliss. Christine wouldn't take any money for it which was really kind of her and really appreciated by Liz whos hair was reaching a crunchy dryness level never reached before. When we got back to the house Brad, Renae and Phi lwere preparing barbecue and salad for lunch. We sat out in the garden to have a long lunch of steak, sausages and salads.....brilliant. Renae had to catch her plane back to Melbourne so we went with Brad to see her off. It had been really nice to meet up again. We all went back to the house again and chilled for the afternoon before having home made soups for supper. We all played 500, the game we had learned in South America, but we were really hopeless and kept making bad mistakes but is was great fun. The boys won 3-0 but we are going to buy a pack of the cards and teach a few people when we get back as its a really good game. It was pretty late once we'd finished three rounds so we went to bed.

27/8/9 Thursday Sydney

We left Brad and Christines at 7.30 to catch an early train back to Sydney as we were climbing the harbour bridge and also needed to collect our passports from the Vietnam consulate. At central station we had to change trains and managed to go through the wrong barrier where our tickets got swallowed. Unbelievably the guards closed the barriers and happily opened them up and hunted for our tickets....can you imagine that on the London underground? Once directed through the right way we went straight to Edgcliff to collect our passports which were ready and waiting for us when we arrived. We dropped our bags at the hostel and walked straight down to the bridge climb office. It was a still and sunny afternoon thank goodness so we would have a great climb. After signing the traditional disclaimer we changed into some really fetching overalls and harnesses before meeting our guide. We all had a practice on some small frames climbing ladders and attaching ourselves to the safety lines etc. We then went out to the bridge to start the climb. It wasn't half as difficult a climb as it was built up to be and we really enjoyed it. The views were really amazing across the harbour to the Opera House and also down to the highway below. The bridge was built in the 30s and there were no safety lines at that time . It took 8 years to build and only a few fell off the structure. Only one chap fell from the bridge and survived. He had fallen into the water but he must have broken the surface tension with a paint pot as he should have died. He had to have his boots surgically removed from his feet as they were so deeply embedded !!! We walked along several walkways to the main bridge spans which we climbed up to the top. The view was really great but unfortunately they wouldn't let cameras up there in case they were dropped on the road below.The guide took a few shots of us so we bought one so we had a memento. We could see Luna Park from the top which is a fun fair given to the people of the city to recognise them putting up with 8 years of noise and dust from the build. It takes 80 years to repaint the bridge so it is a constant job. Paul Hogan (Crocodile Dundee) was a painter there !!! Once off the main part of the bridge the guide pointed out the bridge bunnies which were two but are now thirty !!! It was dark when we got off the bridge and we went to look at Cadmans Cove which is a little cove with restaurants and bars just under the harbour bridge. We took photos of the floodlit bridge and the area. We walked into circular quay and saw the Opera House and city all lit up and it looked amazing. We walked back to the hostel via china town where we had a delicious chinese meal. We are starting to cook for ourselves apparently as we are eating too much and are both getting a bit porky!!! After dinner we went to bed as we have an early start in the morning to visit the Blue Mountains.

28/8/9 Friday Blue Mountains

We were picked up at 8.15am by a seemingly grumpy Israeli guy when we were expecting a chatty happy Aussie driver. He spoke really quietly and had a really sarcastic sense of humour which took us a while to realise. We were stuck down the back of the bus on the last seats which were lower than the others so we had a really bad view. Anyway we left Sydney over the Anzac Bridge through the Olympic park then stopped outside Sydney in a small town called Picton to have morning tea and pay the bill. They had laid on drinks, fruits and biscuits on the banks of the river...all very civilised. We spent the next part of the day climbing steadily through the Blue Mountain region to a view point of craggy rocks overhanging and overlooking the valley below. You could see the blue haze over the mountains caused by the Eucalyptus trees which are the most common tree in the area. We then drove through to Wentworth Falls which is a huge waterfall dropping down into the valley. We took a short walk to a view point then boarded the bus again to visit the picturesque village of Leura which is a National Trust village. There are really pretty gardens which cannot be altered dramatically to preserve the village. We stopped for a picnic lunch and then made our way to the highlight of the day, The Three Sisters and the skyway complex.The three sisters are a famous rock formation and the Aboriginal legend of them is in Italics here if you fancy a read:

Long ago in the Blue Mountains there lived three little Aboriginal sisters. They were Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo, whose Witch Doctor father was called Tyawan.Only one creature was feared by all - the Bunyip who lived in a deep hole. When Tyawan had to pass the hole, he would leave his daughters safely on the cliff behind a rocky wall. One day, waving goodbye to his daughters, he descended the cliff steps. On top of the cliff a big centipede suddenly appeared and frightened Meehni, who threw a stone at it. The stone rolled over the cliff and crashed into the valley.Birds, animals and fairies stopped till as the rocks behind the three sisters split open, leaving them on a thin ledge.The angry Bunyip emerged to see the terrified sisters. In the valley, Tyawan saw the Bunyip close to his daughters, so he pointed his magic bone at the girls and turned them to stone. The Bunyip then chased Tyawan, who found himself trapped, so he changed himself into a Lyre Bird. Everyone was safe, but Tyawan had dropped his magic bone. After the Bunyip had gone, Tyawan searched and searched for his bone - and he is still searching.The Three Sisters stand silently watching him from their ledge, hoping he will find the bone to turn them back to Aboriginal girls.As you look at the Three Sisters, you can hear Tyawan - the Lyre Bird - calling his daughters as his search for the lost bone continues .....aahhhhh!

It is an area of the blue mountains which has three different rides over and through the temperate rainforest below. First we went on the scenic skyway from the Eastern station across the top of the waterfall and over to the main station. We had a good view of three sisters and the car was glass bottomed so we got good views into the valley below. Next we boarded the scenic cableway down into the valley below where there are lots of different length walks through the forest. unfortunately we were on Speedy Gonzales tours so we only got to race round for about 10 minutes before we had to return to the bus...rubbish!!! To get back to the bus we rode the worlds steepest railway to the top station. The railway is 52 degrees gradient and you lie in the seats at first but are in the right position once it starts climbing...cool!! We had seen a Lyre bird in the forest which was good though....it must have been Tyawan. The tour picked up then as the driver took us into Glenbrook National Park where we pulled into a clearing and saw loads of kangaroos eating the grass in the afternoon sun. We were able to sit really close to them and watch before we had to leave. A kookaburra was sitting in a nearby tree too so we were pretty lucky. It was a really peaceful spot to stop at with the birdsong and views. Liz had never seen kangaroos in the wild and was really happy to have seen them finally despite three other visits to Australia. On our way back towards Sydney we had enough time to drive through the Olympic Village and look at all the amazing facilities there. We are sure London will be as good....not! For the last part of the days tour we were dropped at a ferry jetty to take a boat ride along the Paramatta river back into Circular Quay. We hadn't realised this was part of the tour so we had a real treat seeing all the lights of the city after travelling under the harbour bridge into the city....really good end to a pretty rushed day. It had made up for us missing the Manly ferry earlier in our Sydney stay. Lizzies cousin Nick had arrived in Sydney that morning from the Uk as he is in town to work on a cruise as the guest singer. We gave him a call from circular quay and headed over to Darling Harbour where he was in a hotel. We arrived at his room to find him missing. His room mate called him for us and we found him soon enough as he had been outside looking for us!!! He was a bit jetlagged after 30 odd hours awake but we still dragged him out to the harbour for drinks. His hotel is in the most amazing spot overlooking Darling Harbour unlike our scabby backpacker hostel !!! We spent a few hours with Nick chatting about his and our news over a few cold beers in the bar we'd been to before. It was lovely to see him and he was really looking forward to Australia and the cruise. We said our goodbyes and then went off to bed.