On Saturday morning, we got up at 5am to ensure we could eat breakfast, (as it was included in the price!) and were picked up at 6am from our motel in a 4-wheel drive bus / truck by our very friendly Tour guide / driver, Bernard,(Bernie). You could tell straight away that he was definitely a "morning person" - but he did give us our own 'squishy pillows' which we were to use for the beds at the campsites, but said we could use them in the bus as well i...

So on Friday 23rd, we set off at 6am for Sydney airport. We struggled along with our rucksacks, as the luggage trolleys were four (non- refundable) dollars if you used them! Our 4 hour flight to Alice Springs was longer than our flight from New Zealand to Australia, and involved another time change! We were lucky, as it was a really clear, cloudless day, and we had fabulous views as we flew out over Sydney, then the Blue Mountans, (where we should be going in a f...

Sydney - (day 3) didn't start off too well, as Tony's phone was ringing at 5.15 am (cold caller, who got a short sharp response). We ended up sleeping later than we meant to, and then didn't really feel like doing much. We walked to 'The Rocks' area, where some of the houses look like English back-to-back Victorian terraces, then went to have a look at where people go to start the Harbour Bridge climb. Some signed photos on display showed that, among others, Bruc...

Sydney (day 2) - started off with the 2nd of our 'Hop on hop off bus tours'. This 'Bondi beach' tour had simillar problems to the 'city tour' of the previous day, with overhanging foliage whipping us round the head as we whizzed along, and a commentary that was out of sync. with where we were at the time. It was very amusing watching the other passengers craning their necks to look for places of interest that either we had passed a couple of minutes earlier, or h...

Sydney (day 2) - started off with the 2nd of our 'Hop on hop off bus tours'. This 'Bondi beach' tour had simillar problems to the 'city tour' of the previous day, with overhanging foliage whipping us round the head as we whizzed along, and a commentary that was out of sync. with where we were at the time. It was very amusing watching the other passengers craning their necks to look for places of interest that either we had passed a couple of minutes earlier, or h...