Hi all,

We have a few things to tell you so you may find several blogs to read, hopefully I can fill you in and bring you up to speed with our travels.

30th December 2007

Boy this seems a long time ago now!! We took a ferry to Manly, which is in the north of Sydney and has a little harbour bay area and a nice beaches. There are no waves there so you can relax in the water without getting smashed. This was Diane's first trip to an Oz beach. We spent the whole day there sunbathing, swimming and eating icecream from the Icecream boat that docked in at the beach.

The view from Manly was nice and is was really good to be away from all the noises of the city and into more peaceful surroundings.

31st December

New years eve, time to party!!! We all got up early, filled our eskey with ice and packed the drink and food into it. Took our blanket and headed for the bus around 10am to our fantastic vantage point in Birchwood. This vantage point had clear views to the Harbour Bridge. We headed so early to get a good spot as everyone said it gets busy and packed really quickly from 11 onwards. We got to the point and there was only 2 other men sitting waiting. So for around 2 hours we had a laugh to ourselves as we were far to early. Best view in the park however, around 12 some of the hot spots were taking but still not jam packed like everyone said. So we sunbathed, read books, kicked a tennis ball around and had drinks and ate our picnic.

Around 4 in the afternoon it started getting busy and by 8 most people had arrived for the 9 O'clock fireworks for the kids, my Jimmy hat came out to play and my Scotland flag was hanging from a stick next to our picnic area. The 9 O'clock fireworks were really cool lasting for 15 mins.

We drank somemore and made friends with a women from Glasgow (who had been living in Sydney for 18years) and her elderly mum.

At Midnight the fireworks went off to bring in the beginning of 2008 or the end of 2007 whatever takes your fancy. This time the Harbour Bridge had streams of fireworks making a waterfall effect into the sea it was so cool, The City buildings let of firworks and all around us fireworks, amazing!!!!!!!!!

We started to leave for the bus, which were free but the queues were huge. When we finally got on the bus it tookk 1hr 30 min to get us back into town as the city was gridlocked. It took us 20 mins on the bus to get out there so you can see how frustrating it was. 3 O'clock we got home and went to bed. What a night!!!

1st Jan 2008

A new year and a new beginning to the travels of Iain and Charlotte, My mum called me around 11 in the morning, which was the midnight bells back in Scotland due to the 11 hr time difference. This was really nice and managed to speak to Mum,Dad, Mary, David and the little ones (Jack,Eve and Sophie). Thanks to David who must now start the new year with a wee bill on his mobile!!!!

We headed of around 12 to go to the Olympic Stadium, Some of the park was closed and there wasn't many people around but that suited us. Charlotte and I hired a tandom bike ,which we had so much fun on and Diane got herself a 3 wheeler with a basket at the back. We called it the Mary Poppin's bike. We went all around the park looking at the stadiums and recreational area's around the river bank. This was a blast and helped work off the food and drink from the day before.

At night we went for a nice new years day meal at Darling Harbour, Seafood Restuarant. We tried Octupus, which was still all intact. Fish still with there eyes attached and massive prawns,Z. which you had to pull of heads and tails!!! We watched the sun go down and had a very relaxing night. Yum Yum!!!

3rd January

We had a travel ticket for the buses/trains and ferry's that lasted a week, so we decided to head to Watsons Bay which again was a suburb outside of Sydney. We arrived by ferry which took 20mins. We found a nice bit in the park, done a bit of sunbathing, I played keepy up with a tennis ball for 2 hours in bare foot, getting good at it!!! Watson Bay was very small and quiet, nice to have chilled out but wouldn't say it is spectacular.

The clouds came out so we headed back into town, dd a little shopping and started to pack for our trip on the 4th to the Northern Territory to see Alice springs, Uluru etc.

Something I should mention is that I have started reading books across here and I am now onto my third which is very impressive for my standards, Just bought my fourth today (12th Jan).

Well more blogs to come!!! Northern Territory trip and our Hunter Valley trip