G'day mates

Me and the cook arrived in the big smoke (Sydney) on 3 November. We checked into our hotel, which was near Darling Harbour and within cooee of the waterfront. We went walkabout over the next few days and saw a lot of the main tourist sites, the Opera House, the Coathanger, the Rocks, the Observatory and Circular Quay.

We had wanted to see something at the Opera House, but as usual, we hadn't planned anything, and more importantly (to Steph), we didn't have the right clothing with us (our dresses having all been left in the UK). However, as luck would have it, as we were walking around the Opera House someone approached us and offered us two spare tickets to see Michael Palin yabber about his recent travels to Brazil. At first we thought they might be Clayton's tickets but to our surprise, they turned out to be dinkum and we got to see the show, which was Mickey Mouse (okay, I'll stop with the Australianisms now ~ 'bout bloody time you Drongo ~ shh!). After that we walked around the harbour to Mrs Mackenzie's chair where an outdoor concert was being given by a swing band. As the sunlight faded over the harbour and the music played, one metre wingspan Fruit bats woke from their sleep and swirled above our heads.

The next day we took fairly easy. We caught the harbour ferry over to Manly beach where we enjoyed a bit of coastal walking and sunbathing.

The Blue Mountains are a mountainous region not far west of Sydney which makes them a good day-trip destination for walking. We caught the train out to Katoomba and walked to Echo Point from where you can see the Three Sisters rock formation and can descend the 'Giants Stairway' into the valley 750m below. From there we walked along a forest track and saw and heard various parrots, Kookaburras and, best of all, the Lyrebird (which is able to mimic not only other birds but anything from cars, camera clicks and chainsaws). We saw a number of waterfalls and enjoyed amazing views of the valley on the climb back up. We caught a late train back to Sydney from Katoomba.

One of the more exciting things we did in Sydney was surfing on Bondi Beach. Neither of us surf so we booked a two-hour lesson. It was great fun and very exhausting. Both of us just managed to briefly stand up on the board a few times during the lesson, though we mainly wiped out in front of puzzled looking surf-dudes.

We felt we couldn't leave without seeing some of the unique Australian wildlife. The only way to do so in our short time in Sydney was to take a trip to Taronga Zoo where we got to see Koala's, Kangaroos, Wombat's and two of my personal favourite monotremes, Platypuses and Long-beaked Echidna.

On our last night, we walked over the Harbour Bridge (referred to as the 'Coathanger' by locals). We made it to Luna Park, a 1930's theme park on the waterfront, with beautiful parting views of Sydney Harbour.

All in all, it was a great city break.

~Chris