TheStart of The East Coast

After dropping off our trusty camper we made our way to the kKings Cross Area of Sydney - which we quickly learnt wasn't the nicest part of the city. The first couple of days we explored the city to get our bearings - having our first glimpses of the opera house and the bridge in the process. We really enjoyed the atmosphere in the CBD and became very familiar with George Street (the high street).

We took the chance to go and visit Sydney's famous beaches - Manly and Bondi. The ferry to Manly offered spectacular views of Sydney's famous landmarks against the city's skyline and the beach itself was what we expected of Australia; surfers, joggers and lots of tanned Aussies! On the way back we luckily time our ferry so that the sun was setting behind the city and Harbour Bridge providing a perfect photo opportunity. Natalie took this as her cue to take hundreds of photos of the scene and she got right amongst all the japanese tourists!

We also decided to climb the Bridge and after completing the most thorugh safety briefing, lasting over an hour, we were ready in our jumpsuits and excitied to climb the famous landmark. However, our enthusiasm was dappened when we stepped out onto the bridge onto wooden planks, over 100ft in the air.We hadn't realised we were so high already! The climb also involved passing inbetween the rock deck and the train tracks - we felt like we were climbing out of a manhole cover onto the motorway but once reached the top the view was worth it.

The following day we had booked to go to the blue mountains in hope of seeing the three sisters. However the weather had switched from one extreme to the other overnight and was now throwing it down! We went any way wishing that it would clear on the journey...it didn't. We arrived to be greeted by thick fog - we were lucky to see our hands in front of our faces', let alone the three sisters. We tried to make the most of it and trudged down the 1,000 Farber Steps to the bottom of the valley and then took the world's steepest railway back up - which was a hair raising journey! We had a luagh anyway and chuckled at the persistance of the tourists at the "vieiwing" point - only to be left staring at the clouds.

We spent Easter Sunday walking around Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens which was like a free zoo! We saw bats, birds, fish, iguanas, eels and spiders amongst the immaculately kept flower beds. A relaxing day in the sun, which was such a spectacular place, there were even a few wedding ceremonies going on!

Beforewe left we went to try and sort out our Chinese visa - to be thwarted by the public holiday. Never mind we thought, we'll sort it out in Brisbane...