We arrive at 5.30am after not getting much sleep due to the crazy frenchmen. After milling around the airport for a bit we get a bus to the Wood Duck Inn, the first noticeable thing is it's bloody freezing! We check in and sleep, sleep, sleep! We're sharing a room with another couple who are really nice when we finally drag ourselves up we go to the supermarket and make JP, beans and cheese for dinner. We watch a film and then go to bed. We're in Sydney for a few days and don't really do much as we need the rest from the 'on the go' travelling we've done through Asia. First impressions is Sydney has a nice vibe, somewhere us brits could easily live, it's clean and even though it winter here at the moment it's always sunny and not even that cold.

The first day we go to Bondi Junction, Maggie needs some warmer clothes. The next day we go through the Botanical Gardens and onto Mrs Maguire's point where we get a good view of the Bridge and Opera House. We walk back through the gardens and are amazed the amount of people that are out running, serious traffic! but very tempting to join in!? We continue walking and see loads of bats hanging in the tree, there are hundreds of them. We have a couple more lazy days just walking around and watching some movies.

The day we go to Canberra, I decide to get my golden locks of hair cut, long story short it cost 17 pound and the tart has given me a girls haircut!!! Karen tries to make me feel better by saying she thought the girl was a bit weird/special - BRILLIANT! I hack at it a little with scissors to make it better, job done. We get the bus no problem to Canberra, Karen is a little nervous about meeting them but excited too. Tom and Angela meet us at the bus station and it's like we've none them for years! We get there home and obviously have some proper food and tea! We talk till late and go of to a real bed!!!!

The bed is amazing, heavy doona (duvet) and two sheets equals some good sleeping. We have some breakfast, and Erin, Deidra and Preston take us to Tidbinbila National park, it's our first little taste of the bush. We see Emu's, Wallabies and 6ft Kangaroo's which are pretty funny to watch hop around. We go on a Kola Bear hunt and despite numerous false alarms and about an hour of searching we find one. They're very cool, you really want to steal them - I made Maggie put him back. When we get home later in the evening Angela is cooking a roast dinner with delicious roast pumpkin too, happy days! Followed by yummy apple pie.

The following day we go to an outlet centre (DFO) to get some more cloths as a few items are bit battered. When we get back we have our first Aussie BBQ and eat Kangaroo, it's sooo good! The evening includes tea and talking. The next day Angela, Deirdre and Preston take us to the black mountain and up the telecoms tower, you can see the whole of Canberra, it's a great view. After a while we get back into the car and go to the Australia's National Museum. There's loads to see all about Australia and we're impressed with the good museum food too. We are well fed in the evening, followed by tea and go to bed. We're both having a great time here.

In the morning Tom takes us to the National Institute of Sport, I love it! We play on their interactive stuff and they give us a tour of the facilities as well as some interesting facts. OK I'll tell you one - the swimming pool at Beijing follows the new standards, it's deeper (now 3m) and wider (10 lanes not 8), increasing surface tension, thus allowing the swimmers to pull through the water with greater force, hence the reason why a lot more world records we're broken at the Beijing Olympic - or so our tour guide said anyway.

On the way back we stop off at New Parliament House, the building is amazing like so many of the others here. All the staircases are completely made out of marble and it's been built into a hillside so you can barely see any of the building it's all hidden away. When we you're inside you can go everyhwere except down where the politicians sit and rabbit on! But you can go into the viewers gallery which is where we go. It's really cool.

As we're going back to the house we make a quick stop off at Canberra glassworks but unfortunately there is no one working in there, again the building is so cool, it's a converted powerhouse and there are loads of the old features.

We finally go home after seeing loads of stuff and are knackered, I totally love it here!!!!