So I have arrived in Australia on Friday after the mammoth journey from Manila. 2 hours to Hong Kong, a 7 hour layover and then another 9 hour flight to Sydney. To see the sign 'Welcome to Sydney' was very, very nice to see

It was so nice to see my big sister, her husband and amazing kids after 8 years. I mentioned in my last entry how stressed I was when leaving Manila but having only been with them for a few hours definitely washed that stress away and I started to feel relaxed.

The weekend was spent at my sisters and brother in laws house and a cousin who lives near by visited us with his wife and kids. I haven't seen them for about 14 years so it was brilliant to see and catch up with them we ate fried fish, prawn curry and chicken pilau. I have really missed home cooked food so it all went down a treat along with some Aussie beer and a few shots of Chivas Regal...............NICE!! We even got to Skype with mum who i'm missing extremely but it was great to see her, even if it was only on a laptop screen.

On Monday I visited the Blue Mountains, one word, STUNNING!! the views were amazing. The Skyway Cable journey took us over the mountains revealing breathtaking views with its glass floor and the other Sky Cable car took us down into the forest at the bottom of the mountains, again with breathtaking views and gave us the opportunity to see the different trees and plants which were all amazing, i did find it funny when my sister jumped out her skin when she thought she saw a snake hanging from a tree when it only turned out to be a long thin leave from the tree, bless her little cotton socks lol. The guide in the Cable Car made me laugh, he asked a lot of the people in the cable car where they were from and he said 'hello' in the different languages in relation to where these people were from. He said 'hello' in Thai, Punjabi, Hindi, Korean but when it came to me, the english one, it was a simple 'awright mate' lol

After the Mountains we went to the town of Katoomba for some food before heading home. We found this awesome little cafe where they served the best pies I've eaten for some time, i'm afraid I cant remember the name of the place but it was run by this little Malaysian lady who makes her own cakes and pies. We were too full to try her cakes but they sure did look good......

On Tuesday I caught the train from Penrith (New South Wales, not the Scotland town which I was in a month ago lol) to Sydney's Domestic Airport and took an hours flight to Brisbane to visit my uncle and aunty, they took me to the Gold Coast yesterday which was amazing. The long coastal beach was beautiful, the water was nice and cool which was needed considering it was 30 degrees!! I didn't bring my DJ E-Portfolio sign with me so I drew something in the sand to compensate. Must admit the heat did take it out of me so when we arrived home I took an hours sleep only to wake up later with my uncle talking to someone on the phone saying I was an old man because I had a little snooze, that someone on the phone happened to be mum back in England who echoed my uncles comments lol

Please check out my photos as they illustrate how good the Gold Coast and the Blue Mountains are.

I've got more things planned while i'm here and will write about them next week but for now and until next time peeps.

Much love
Rob
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