Hello to all, i hope you have recovered from Iain's marathon blog!! I just i'd let you know what we have done in our last week in Sydney as we are off on Saturday to start our 2 week road trip throught the Australian Alps and the Great Ocean Road before we get to Melbourne.

Friday 11th Jan

We got up early and boarded our coach to go to the Hunter Valley Wineries but within 10 minutes of getting on the coach i was sick many, many times in the toilet - had sinus problems and stomach bug, not good for wine tasting!! We drove through Hunter Valley and to our 1st Winery, "McWilliams" where we had a great behind the scenes winery tour and a lovely lunch in their restaurant with 4 wine tastings - i managed a sip!

We then went onto our 2nd winery where we tasted 10 wines - i had perked up by this point and i managed quite a few with Iain eagerly on hand to finish off my leftovers!! We also did some cheese tasting and choc tasting - yum, yum!!

Saturday 12th Jan

We pottered about the own and bought a few souvenirs from Paddy's Market and in the evening we went to the Minus 5 Ice Bar where everything is made of ice!! We had to get super sexy boots, gloves and jackets on and in we went! We managed to fit in 2 cocktails in the 30mins we were allowed in and had our own ice glass to drink out of from the ice bar and all the chairs and tables were made of ice too woth amazing ice sculptures of the Opera House etc! Amazing bar!

Sunday 13th Jan

We took my mum to where we 1st stayed in Sydney - Bondi Beach and when around the markets and did some sunbathing on Bondi, of and Iain the pro surfer hired a surf board and caught some waves!! We had a nice lunch at a beach front cafe with yummy cakes! We also colected our car to go on the Hot Air balloon ride for Monday morning

Monday 14th Jan

We got up at 3am to get ready to go on our balloon ride but we had to phone in for a weather check at 3:30am - only to be told it was cancelled due to bad weather!! We were very disappointed and not only that me & Iain had to go out and moved the car as it was in a place that had to be moved by 5am!

We went back to bed and thought we may awell use the car since we have it so we went to a National Park called Ku-ring gai chase and did a trek in the drizzle and had a picnic in the drizzle too- and finally my mum got to see wild kangaroos bouncing about! In the evening we went to Wagama's asian restaurant for some grub.

Tuesday 15th Jan

We had a late brunch at a local japanese restaurant where we all had traditional Bento Boxes (lots of different things to try like Miso soup etc) and then headed to the Harbour Bridge to do the Bridge climb - at 57m on the outside of the bridge i decided that i am definately afraid of heights and then we climbed the outside of the arch to a height of 143m!!!!! Absolutely fantastic views but very scary! Iain has decided he isn't scared of heights! - he'll have no pronlem with a bungy jump then!! I think i might chicken out of that in New Zealand!

After the climb, we deserved a drink and when to the Oldest Pub in Sydney for a few drinks and then more food....we went for a nice Italian in the Rocks area.

Wed 16th Jan

We had a tour of the Opera House on how it was made etc and then went to a show called Le Cirque Grande which was fab!! Acrobats, trapeze artists etc, absolutely amazing what they could do and it was in the concert hall of the Opera House, and we managed to fit in a wee glass of bubley in the interval too!!

Thurs 17th Jan

Today we went on a 2.5hr Cruise of the Sydney harbour and saw the old Fort, Army naval base and the gorgeous beaches and bays, Iain has gone to meet his cousin for lunch for a $5 steak and me and my mum had a nice cafe lunch. Tonight we are off for a posh Indian meal (mums treat to us, again!) at Darling Harbour as it's my mum's last night here.

We have all had a fab time in Sydney and we will blog soon when we are on our Road trip soutth of Sydney,

C xx