Hi everyone,

We're just getting ready to leave Sydney after a really action packed couple of days!

After what seemed like an eternity on the plane we arrived in Sydney early yesterday morning, and after checking into our (amazing) hostel we went to check out the city.We had really great weather yesterday - hot but not too sunny so perfect for exploring! We started off in the botanical gardens and did a long walk round the coast to the opera house and the harbour bridge.Weirdly the opera house isn't actually that impressive once you get up to it, it's just a concrete tiled building with nice curves but it looked amazing from afar at least!

We jumped on a bus to Bondi Beach in the afternoon and just generally chilled out there for most of the afternoon - Bondi is really nice - quite sophisticated, not quite the warmer version of Blackpool I thought it might be! We had dinner in the hostel (part of the money saving plan that doesn't seem to be paying off too much since Sydney is expensive beyond belief) and then went for a wander down to the harbour and an area called the Rocks, which had some really nice looking bars and restaurants - maybe a place to come back to when we have a bit more dosh to throw about!

Today we've walked over to Darling Harbour and walked right round the wharf that runs along the coast before heading over to Manly Beach this afternoon (partly just so we got a ride on the ferry)!Manly was really nice but it was a bit too chilly to stay on the beach so we walked round the headland instead up to the edge of Sydney's national park, which was really pretty.

Couple of glasses wine later we headed back and grabbed dinner in Chinatown and came back to the hostel for a lie down (partly the excessive food, partly the fact that we seem to have walked a marathon in the last couple of days!)

We've both really enjoyed our time in Sydney - it's a really modern city with loads of nice bars and restaurants, and its nice to have a bit of hot weather for a change as well! Definitely on the list for a visit when we have a few more pennies to splurge - at $8 a beer our budget doesn't quite go far enough to do this place justice, although we've given it a good go :)

Flying up to Cairns first thing tomorrow to pick up the Campervan.Hope all is well

Love Katie and Martin

(koala count to date: 0- apart from the one on Dad's hard rock badge!)