28th Feb
Well the last week or so has been a tale of two cities. We spent two days in Canberra with our lovely friends Maureen and Angela who Michele was at primary school with and emmigrated 20 years ago. They both have children themselves and it was great for ours to have some pals to play with. On one evening Maureen had all their family over for a BBQ, many of whom we had met when we travelled here 14 yrs ago so it was lovely to catch up. Maureen and Angela, with Maureen's son Ben had travelled over to England for our wedding and guess what came out after a few beers - our wedding video. It was actually amazing for us because we were able to see a lot of footage for the first time as we hadn't got much of the reception the first time so thank you to all the Burnells for making us feel so welcome.

Canberra, being the capital of Australia, has all the government paraphernalia such as parliament house and so on but is spread out over the city as a part of a matrix of huge avenues, parades, lakes and parks. The layout is similar in style to Milton Keynes (no offence to either) which is indicative of how young they both are. It makes navigation a doddle and you always have a sense of space. We spent one afternoon in the science and technology museum called Questacon and is probably one of the most interactive, children friendly technology/science museums we have been in. The good weather we had experienced coming through the national parks gave way to a few torrential downpours but certainly didn't put a dampner on our time in Canberra. What was a bit disappointing was my second altercation with the back of the van when I knocked two huge bits of trim off the back corners driving it up onto Maureen's driveway. Oh well - I think all those rivets are designed to snap off easily when the van is nudged to avoid damaging the rest of the vehicle (that's what I keep telling myself anyway). The day we left we visited the war memorlial on Anzac parade which is very moving and has some extraordinary exhibits focusing, obviously, on the Australian contributions. We didn't realise just how many conflicts the Australian military were and still are involved in. There was an excellent discovery zone for the children as well.

We left Canberra, staying one night in Wollongong on the coast before heading up to Sydney and the next stage of our journey. I will say at this point that the time seems to be going faster and faster, especially since we got to the halfway point of the whole trip. Saying that, it also feels like we have done an immense amount and are squeezing a lot in between the long drives. The whole travelling experience feels more like a way of life now rather than just an extended holiday. It's going to be a bit of a shock to the system I think when we get back to the UK. Anyway let's forget about that for the moment and concentrate on the present.

Our first stop in Sydney was in the Eastern suburb of Maroubra to visit some other friends who have just moved out here to work. Rich and his wife Annette and their three children came out in January to work for National Australia Bank and so far are loving it. Annette is an Aussie and Rich I went to school and university so we go back a long way and it was great to catch up. The children were particularly excited when they saw the pool they have in their back garden. We had a lovely evening and a few beers before setting off the next morning for our first day in Sydney. The sun was out and their were thousands of people out spending their Sunday in the city. Cunard's flag ship the Queen Victoria was in dock, right between the bridge and the Opera house and is just massive - a real marvel of engineering actually. It was fabulous for Michele and I to be back here after we fell in love with the place 14 years ago and we wondered about by the ferries that take people all over the harbour and walked by the Opera House which is every bit as iconic close up as in the pictures (as is the bridge). The other reason for there being lots of people is the Sydney Mardi Gras which is on at the moment. Lots of people of all persuasions dressing up and having fun. Policemen outfits seem to be the most popular, although I'm not sure how much protection a copper on the street would get from black leather hotpants and a singlet but the hats and ties looked fairly authentic!

There have been a few significant moments I thought about and looked forward to before the trip such as crossing to the south island in NZ and first picking up the van in Adelaide. Another was crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the van and I did have a bit of a lump in my throat as we drove over. It's just immense and the backdrop of the harbour, the opera house and the city make it a very memorable experience.

The campsite we are staying in for a few days while we explore Sydney is only 25 mins from the city and in a National park but with all the facilities of a commercial site - even a swimming pool! We had another wildlife first on the first night when we saw a possum right by our van. He didn't seem in any hurry to rush off so we got a good look - huge eyes for the night vision and a beautiful coat. It's weird how they are detested as pests in NZ as they are introduced but loved and nurtured in OZ where they are native.

Darling Harbour is an area on the harbour full of tourist attractions, playgrounds and restaurants. We spent a good deal of time there soaking up the atmosphere and Rosie made friends with the lorikeets and Meg chased the Ibis's which live and nest in the palm trees. We visited the Sydney aquarium which was excellent and just the kind of place the children love. It's lovely seeing them fascinated by such beasts as crocodiles and sharks. Isla must have said 'cool' about fifty times. We finished the day on the ferry back around the harbour giving us another perspective of the bridge and the Opera House.

Wednesday saw us meet up with another friend, Sandy, who we stayed with 14 years ago and one of her sons Gerard. It was great to see them and we spent a lovely day firstly at the Museum of Australia which had a great wildlife photography exhibition and we also spent time in the indiginous peoples hall. It would have been nice to read a lot more about the aboriginal population and their history, especially in light of the recent public apology but it's not the greatest environment to keep the little ones interested so we moved on. We spent the afternoon in the botanic gardens and walking near the opera house. The gardens are stunning and the children loved the vegetable garden which is a replica of the type of gardens convicts would have started when they first arrived in Australia. A highlight was the bat population that live in the gardens. They are huge fruit bats or flying foxes and there are hundreds of them. Even in the day they make a lot of noise as they change position in the trees and you can often see them flying between trees. At night they head off across the suburbs to their feeding grounds outside the city. They produce a lot of guano as well - maybe one reason the plants all look so healthy. I mentioned when we were in Hong Kong the fascination the Chinese had with the children. Sydney has a huge Asian population and the trend of wanting to take the children's photo has continued. Isla and Rosie were off playing while we had a coffee in the gardens and had two buddhist monks taking their photos. When we were outside the aquarium a Chinese lady asked if she could photograph the family as the children were so cute. I happily agreed and when she took out her camera another five or six people in her party suddenly pulled theirs out and started snapping away. I jokingly said that would be $25 but they didn't pay up - I'll say it with a sterner look on my face next time!

I did the harbour bridge climb on Thursday which I could write masses about. Suffice to say it was just incredible. I'm so glad I did it because I'd procrastinated because it's quite pricey. Our guide was excellent and you have headphones so he can talk to you all the way and I learned so much, not just about the bridge but engineering and also other aspects of Sydney. The bridge is so well made that of the 6 million rivets which were used to hold it together only one has had to be replaced since. The rivet inspectors did such a good job (rejecting about 100 000 as it was made) that replacing parts has been minimal. The weather was awful with torrential rain and high winds. I actually love those conditions and in many ways it added to the experience. The only way the trip could have been improved is if I'd shared it with someone but all the children are too young and obviously Michele had to mind them but there's always next time - the bridge isn't going anywhere soon.

Our last day in Sydney was spent mostly at Paddy's market. Yes, I did a whole three hours shopping on the trot - a personal best for me I think. We could have opened our own souvenir shop by the end of the day. As anyone who has girls will know the sight of seemingly endless stalls loaded with every kind of merchandise is like Christmas come early. I think they spent their spending money about five times over. Isla didn't let go of her bag with her UGG boots in for the rest of the day and even Meg stopped chasing seagulls for a while to play with her new purchases. Thank fully we kept the soft toy tally to nearly zero which is quite a coup with our bunch!

We will be very sad to leave Sydney - you either love or......you love it. I haven't travelled extensively worldwide but I've been to a good few cities and none quite have the buzz that Sydney has. It's busy like London, got the iconic attractions like many other cities, got the harbour like Auckland and San Fransisco but still seems to surpass them in some ways for atmosphere and zest. It has an arrogance like 'we don't care if we're not the capital of Australia, you can keep your government down in Canberra, we are still the best city'. It's the combination of factors which make it so appealing not one in particular and I know this is not our last visit here.