What a day - we woke early and got out on to the local bus down to Circular Quay. People here are so friendly and we had already made several bus stop friends and by the time we got to our stop today several more passengers had given us hints and tips.

We spent a lot of the day on the water using the ferries to move to and from Darling Harbour. It was a great way to be part of the building excitement and to watch the crowds gathering in the parks and any vantage point around the waters edge. Many had camped out overnight and tents and picnics seemed to be the order of the day.

We arrived at King Street Wharf by 5.00pm and had a quick drink at one of the quay side bars soaking up the atmosphere and boarded our paddle steamer at 6.00pm.

We had such a great evening. The food was fantastic and all drinks were included in our ticket price. After watching the 9.00pm fireworks we found that the best view point was from the top deck but only 100 people could access this at any time so we decided to forego dessert and decamped upstairs early to be able to make the very most of the firework spectacular.

We felt that we had a ring side view as our boat was one of the parade of lights and stopped in the perfect place just in front of the Bridge. Fantastic.

We walked back to the hotel after disembarking at 1.30 so tumbled into bed at 3.00, exhausted again!