We went to check in for our 8am flight to Sydney at 6am to be told that flights were running a bit late - did we want to get the 6am flight instead? So, with seconds to spare, we went through our most stringent examination at a security checkpoint ever, ran to the furthest gate at the airport and arrived just as they were about to take our luggage off the flight.

Thankfully things were a bit calmer the other end. We're staying with Julie's friend, Deborah, in Mosman, a suburb just across the harbour from the Opera House. We got a train from the airport into the CBD and then a bus to the end of her road. I bought Sygic Aura satnav for the iPhone before we left and it's been really useful to let me know where to get off buses etc.

We had an afternoon nap, ate a lovely pasta meal made by Deb and then walked to the nearby Balmoral beach in the early evening. Sydney is in the midst of a heatwave at the moment, so the beach was still pretty full and stayed that way until it went dark at 8pm.

On our way there, we walked down the steepest hill I've ever seen and saw wild kookaburras flying and squawking overhead. Then we sat on a bench at the beach where flying foxes were perched and then flying from tree to tree.