We woke up on the bus the next morning after a debatable nights sleep on the coach but we were so excited to look out the window and see we were driving across the harbour bridge along side the opera house! Once checked into YHA Central we met up with Louise for some well needed Nandos! It was awesome to see her and hear about all her travels so far...after some planning on christmas and new year we met up with Seano the next day to finalise the festive plan! Again amazing to see him and his Canadian mate he's been sharing his car with for the past few months (the car they've also been living in)lol! We all wandered around the botanical gardens to see the fruit bats in their masses and then grabbed some lunch before sending the boys off to buy us a feast for Christmas day on the beach!

Christams eve night we headed for Gemma and Ewens apartment they had rented with a few friends for the best christmas dinner we could ask for....bread sauce and everything! We began to finally feel festive as we introduced them all to the drinking game 'deal or no deal' while singing along to all the christmas classics! We woke up on christmas morning and had croissants and orange juice in bed whilst opening our presents....not only did we both get presents from each other but we also got cards from back home and Rich had gone crazy and booked a bridge climb for the both of us for boxing day!!! After our present opening we met up with louise and headed to Coogee beach to meet the boys and get the festivities started! The guys had bought enough meat and goon to sink a ship and so we began! We spent the morning on the beach playing and drinking with our obligitory santa hats on and then started on the bbq at lunch...unfortunately the heavens opened! It started as a little drizzel which no one seemed bothered about but then the rains came! We sat eating our bbq in the rain with the rest of the backpackers in sydney....couldnt believe it the one year we are in sydney and it bloody rained! Still there was no way we were going to let a little rain stop us (we were all very used to that from the lovely uk waether) so one we continued with the goon....all the way until half nine at night when we'd eaten and drunk far too much (as you should every christmas) and decided a taxi was in order! Even though the weather was not quite as planned it was an awesome christmas day!

The next day we all had a slightly slow start and then decided all we could managed was the cinema, so we met up with louise and headed to see what was on....Lovely bones....was abit of a weird one but kept us all entertained for the afternoon before it was time to do our bridge climb!!! Once we were all geared up (which took quite a while because not only did you need gear for every eventuality a guy was also sick on his way up so we had to wait until that was cleared! We were actually very happy with the guy for being poorly as it pushed back our time and ment we got to see the sun set while we were doing our climb!) We set out on the climb and Rich was begining to wondered what on earth he had paid for but soon realised it was all worth it when we reached the summit of the bridge and looked over sydney opera house while the sun set! We got some amazing pictures and then made our descent back down...it took about 3 hours overall and was absolutely amazing! Afer spending a few days exploring sydney with shelly and lou taking full advantage of the january sales...nope being the other side of the world does not stop them, we planned a day out to the blue mountains.

We all got up bright and early, packed our pack lunches and boarded the train up to the mountains...we were lucky enough to be sat next to a local who not only saved us some money on the tour we were thinking of taking but told us about a walk we could take that would lead us all the way along the front of the mountains to some of the most amazing views. He wasnt kidding...the views were utterly beautiful and there was hardly anybody in sight which made it all the better. We stopped for a picnic on one of the lookout platforms where shelly had to battle for her lunch with a lizard before finishing the 4 hour walk at a rock formation called the 3 sisters....excellent day out!

Before we knew it it was time for new year and we had high hopes of being right on the lookout point over the whole bridge and opera house...this was one hell of a task and meant that rich had to make his way down to the botanical gardens to start queing at 7am!!! Sean and Patrick joined rich at about 8 and Lou and Shelly jumped in the que about 10! After another couple of hours of queing up we finally got in and the boys made a run for it and bagged us a fantastic spot! We set up camp and had a picnic to die for that lou, shell and rich had prepared the night before...preparation and dedication! The day went by suprisingly fast and we had a great day of food and chatting with Sean trying to chat up anything in sight! When the fireworks started there was a massive rush to the front so after all standing our ground we managed to get the most amazing view of the fireworks....they were unbelievable and went on for what seemed like forever!....By far the best new years ever! After abit more munching on the left overs while debating the oooo's and ahhhh's of the fireworks we headed back...not without seano giving it one final try with the swedish girl we'd befriended during the day!

New years day was a slow one and seemed like the perfect excuse for another night out...Shell and Lou headed down to the common room while Rich went on the hunt for goon...we knew it was bad news when we bumped into the group of London lads we'd been out with quite a few times down the coast...it was going to be a heavy one! The rest of the night was abit of a blur after leaving the hostel and ended in shelly and Lou feeling rather embarrassed the next day! The next day started with shelly doing some serious sucking up to rich for her drunked antics and then meeting up with the lads....oh no a final night out was planned before we all left! It was another brill night and this time it was one we could remember...well except for seano, so after some drunken goodbyes to sean and Pat we headed to bed to awake to our final day in sydney! We made a trip to Bondi but unfortunaltely we stepped off the bus into the biggest rain storm sydney has seen in months and months! So after cutting the day out slightly shorter than expected we met up with Lou Lou for some goodbye dinner before she started her trip up the coast! We gave Lou lots of kisses and left over pasta and sent her on her way.....it was Fiji time!!! We arrived at the airport early (luckily!) and found out our flight had been brought forward an hour!...but on the up side we got extra leg room seats and set of on our holiday from traveling to Fiji!