Another beautiful sunny start and the plan of an early morning run quickly fizzled when I realised that my legs were suffering following the previous evenings step challenge. Sadly Luke was still keen and I was soon struggling to get enough air into my lungs as I raced Luke up the Cooper Park steps for the third time in the morning sunshine. I managed to do a few circuits, but avoided the sit ups which were likely to further aggreive my sore bedonkadonk.

We staggered back to the house, still struggling for air and recovered slowly whilst Bob fed us water. We made some exciting plans for the weekend and headed to the train brandishing our bivalve mollusc cards. We grabbed a pretty sensational lunch from the bustling food court and then caught the bus out to Spit. Luke pointed out interesting bits and pieces as we headed out of the city centre, soon disembarking in the leafy suburbs to start our walk. We watched and waited for the cantilever road bridge to allow a couple of yachts to pass and appreciated the relaxed beauty of the surrounding bush with its lazy waterways, dotted with swanky addresses.

With the water traffic reorganised, the roadway was replaced we continued our route along the north shore, across golden beaches, intermittently dipping into dense bush. Foot long lizards watched us imperiously from their natural sun loungers only scuttling away when Bob tried to get a selfie with them, they coped significantly better with the heat than I did.

It was hot, and after our early 'step challenge' my legs were in danger of mutinying but after 3 hours of bush trekking and pleasant conversation we arrived in Manly. Luke showed us to the inviting looking beach however, we opted to head straight to the bar on the harbourside, ordering 2 steins of deliciously cold beer which we enjoyed in the sunshine. Bob had a soft drink breakthrough with a 'lemon-and-lime-bitters' and we spent a very pleasant few hours drinking, laughing and reminiscing.

It was a fantastic afternoon and as night descended we boarded the ferry back to Circular Quay, snuggled under beach towels, dodging a brief tropical rainstorm. As we rounded the headland the horizon lit up with the backdrop of Sydney and we saw the city from a whole new perspective. The moonlight on the waves made for a silvery atmosphere as we grinned at each other, passing the harbour bridge and the opera house before being swallowed up into the illuminated depths of the city.

Awestruck we were jostled off the push-me-pull-you ferry and picked up the train, shadowing Luke and Bec's morning commute to work. We walked across the park, full of nocturnal athletes and crossed to the old theatre where 'the magic happens'.

I thought mood rooms and inspiration boards were just in the movies but they were all over this very cool office. There were entire walls of post it notes, one-way mirrors surrounded testing rooms with hidden cameras and microphones, there was fluorescent tube art on the wall, a room brimming with rainforest plants, a bank of computer terminals in a huge open office with kilner jars of nuts and GHD hair straighteners in the girls restroom. The artistic energy was incredible and very different to a veterinary waiting room or operating theatre!

We collected Bec and trooped along the sidewalk to the local pub where their colleagues drew up chairs at their table for us. There was vibrant chatter and laughing everywhere through the dark back rooms and we tucked into beer, deep fried gherkins and joined in conversation with the other members of Mentally Friendly.

We ate burgers and dispatched more jugs of beer, as well as both Luke and I failing to win anything on the spinning burger wheel. We disbanded into the night, flagging a taxi back home. An amazing day and great to spend quality time with my antipodean womb buddy.