I arrived midnight on Monday at Katie's flat, luckily her and Mike (brother) were still up watching a film so I didn't wake them up!

On tuesday w had a lazy morning then headed in to the city however it started raining so we decided to go to the cinema. it had just gone 1pm and les mis started at 1. instead of joining the mass queue of people I went straight to the front of the VIP queue just to see if there were still seats. there was none. so I asked about this is 40 which had also started at 1. there were seats available so I got us some tickets, skipping the queue and missing all the adverts. perfic! the film is brilliant, highly recommend it!
When we came out the rain and stopped and the sun was shining and we headed to Darling Harbour for cocktail happy hour with Katie's friends Rachel, mark and Jen. Katie's birthday was on Australia Day (26th Jan) so everyone was busy so today was her honorary birthday. We headed to Opera Bar, did a quick change in the loos in to our dancing shoes then hit the vino. Once everyone had arrived and we'd had a few drinks we went to a bar that had a salsa night on. this probably would have been much more successful if I could salsa!! it was fun all the same though!

Wednesday was my birthday :-) myself, Katie and mike walked the seafront at rosebay and hired some kayaks. we paddled out in to the harbour and had an awesome view over the city. sadly I didn't have my camera with me to take pictures. the kayak man suggested leaving it behind as it would get wet, despite me informing him that I was in training for Rio. We walked back to Katie's via the butchers so I could buy some birthday bacon. what we call bacon, they call green bacon. and the stuff they call bacon is already cooked, but you can still fry it up. I think. we had it with pancakes and syrup, scrummy.
Mike was going home today so we escorted him to the train station to wave him off then met up with mark and Rachel. We caught a bus over to Coogee beach and walked along the coastal path back to Bondi beach, which is just a short walk from Katie's. the walk is stunning and definitely a must do if you're here. back at bondi we went for a drink then back home to watch DVDs and eat my weight in icecream, another birthday treat!

Grace arrived on Thursday from Melbourne :-D I went into town after lunch to run a few errands then went and met grace at central station. we walked up to the bar where Katie works and had a drink and a catch up. we then caught the bus to bondi and had good at The Bucket List. now feeling very full we decided to walk home, wise decision!

On Friday Grace and I caught the bus to Watsons Bay, as expected it started raining but we still enjoyed the scenery of this lovely little town. we heard a big rumble so headed indoors for an early fish and chip lunch and doyles?it had just gone midday so it was now acceptable to have wine. the weather cleared up by the time we finished so we walked back home passing lots of posh house and big school that's playground overlooked Sydney harbour! we chilled out at the flat for the rest of the afternoon, feeling rather sluggish we thought we ought to go out and get some air. hoodies on we ventured back out in to the rain and walked the long way in to rosebay centre, all the time wondering why we were doing this!! dressed in shorts flipflops and hoodies there was only one watering hole we thought we'd be allowed in to, a betting pub! we got a drink and found a table then decided to get something to eat, instead of standing up to go and read the food board we squinted and struggled to read the menu, laughing about how we felt like our mothers!!

As we were having a brother reunion this weekend we thought we ought to move in to a hostel and give Katie her house back. we rang round about 30 hostels and hotels and they were fully booked! madness!! Katie had already suggested that we just stay at hers anyway so it wasn't to much of a problem. Grace and I went to bondi junction shopping centre as this is where Nank's would get the train to. we mooched about and came across a pet shop...that sells puppies. as something I'd not seen before I wasn't a fan and wanted to buy all of them just to get them out their goldfish bowls! they were all weird cross-breeds too, see pictures!
We found Nank's, went home and got ready to go out with fizz and chambord (thank auntie Cyd!) cocktails. Jim was back in Sydney for the weekend so we met him in a pub for a drink. at darling harbour there are fireworks every Saturday at 9pm which we were in time to see. we then went to get some dinner, Jim kindly treated us all! After drinking gin like water and dancing the night away I think we got home about 3.30...?

Sunday was definitely a Sunday! but fairly productive considering how hanging we all were!we went in to the city to go to the rocks market for some souvenir shopping and an icecream (I've developing a really bad need for icecream in Sydney!). back at Katie's we watched tv and had a nap. that evening we'd bought tickets to go to the open air cinema at bondi. unsure of the weather we risked not taking raincoats but took lots if layers, luckily the weather held out for us! the cinema is sponsored by Ben and Jerrys and on Sundays they give out free ICECREAM! they also had a few games to win cool bags, bracelets and a cardboard chair for the evening (which were actually really handy!) the film was wreck it Ralph, a kids animation. it was ok but it was no monsters inc. just before the film grace cracked a 'hilarious' joke which tickled her for a good 10minutes. 'ooh, they're slowly dimming the lights' ...on your own grace!!
we did get a bit chilly but the walk home soon warmed us up again.

Grace had an early flight Monday morning so we were up at 6 to wave her off at the bus stop, don't know when I'll next see her now!:-(
we crawled back in to bed for another hour then headed in to the city to check Nanks in to her hostel. we then headed down George street (the Main Street through Sydney) stopping along the way for a massage. this was an interesting experience! there's always loads of people on the streets advertising thai massages and we saw a cheaper one so followed the signs, we got in to a lift with an elderly gentleman up to the fourth floor. at this point we realised this was just a normal block of flats, apart from the door in the corner with the sign on. we went in to the room which was cluttered with three booths in it, 3 thai ladies all jumped up and started jabbering at us. we were trapped!! the massage was ok but the bizarre-ness of it all was more overpowering!!
Back on track we headed on down to circular quay, I took Nank's to the tourist information to pick up some stuff on places to go and see. Afterwards I left her to it and headed back to Katie's, via a cake shop, as Kaz was now here, the next room mate!
After some tea and cake we headed to an Indian restaurant in rosebay that Katie wanted to go to. it's a lovely open fronted restaurant overlooking the water, the food was fab and the company even better. we laughed. a lot!

Katie had work again on Tuesday so Kaz and I took on the chore of going hottie spotting at bondi beach for the day. after a hard days work we went for a drink with a scabby pigeon then wondered home. Katie's friend adam messaged me to invite me to the cinema. we watched silver linings playbook which was ok but i wouldn't rush out to see it though! we then went for a drive around the coast which was cool. our last stop being south head...a cliff with high rates of suicide, thanks for that!

on Wednesday Kaz and I got a ferry over to manly to catch some more rays. we were later joined by Nank's and adam. adam is from manly so showed us round, we walked over to Shelley beach which was really pretty...and wave free, ideal for Kaz who didn't want to get her hair wet!
we then went for a drive around the coast, including north head, looking back over to south head, with views back to circular quay. we didn't quite make it to palm beach, the home and away beach. we did however stop to get nacho rolls which adam insisted upon. to be fair they were pretty awesome, I can imagine they'd be even better with a hangover! i'll bring one back for mother incase she has another night on the tequila. we then went through THE DRIVE THROUGH BOTTLE SHOP. AMAAAAAZING!! this totally compensated for the fact that you can't buy alcohol in supermarkets out here!
we headed back to the ferry, we missed it by about 2minutes so had to wait half an hour for the next one. at the other end we had to wait another half hour got the bus. having said goodbye to Nank's (who I may not see for 2more years) we were shortly reunited as she came hobbling over to the bus stop having just fallen down some steps and cut her knee. think she was a bit in shock and unsure whether to laugh or cry!
we had planned to go out that evening but as it was nearly 10 by the time we got home we decided to stick on bridesmaids and drink wine. perfic.

On Thursday I took Kaz to her hostel (funny how I keep taking people to hostels but stay at Katie's myself!!) then went to the RM Williams shop for what seemed like the millionth time, the exchange rate isn't great so it's no better to buy boots out here.
I then wondered down to the opera house and bought a ticket for a guided tour. I had half an hour to spare so bought some lunch and went to eat it in the royal botanic gardens.
The tour was fantastic, although perhaps a little bit on the pricey side I'd highly recommend it. when I first went inside I thought the bare concrete was dirty and lazy but once is learnt about the architecture of the building I grew to love it by the end. here are a few facts I managed to hot down:

-there are four stages

-in the opera stage theatre there are 1547 seats. they are designed with the acoustics in mind. the cushions absorb as much sound as the human body sour doesn't matter if the theatre is full or empty, the sound will always be the same.

-one of the shows had live chickens in, one of them fell off the front of the stage into the orchestra pit-there's now over the top of the pit!

-because opera singers have to rest their voices, the show changes daily which means changing the set every day which takes 6 hours.

-the tiles on the sails were developedin Sweden and took 3years to produce.

-there are 10roof sails in total, they are white so they are always reacting to the weather. some of the tiles are a Matt-off white to take away the glare.

-it takes 2months to clean all the glass.

-7thousand tiles have been replaced, as a percentage this is actually quite low.

-the glass window out to the water is at a 45degree angle so you can see out of it 24/7 without a reflection.

-when Pavarotti visited everything was set up in a room with a purple carpet. in Italian purple is the colour if death and coffins are lines with purple hence he refused to walk on it! the whole ceremony was packed up and moved to a room with read carpet!

-there are 18 pianos in the opera house

After the tour I caught a train out to Newtown to catch up with Therese. I met her outside the station and we walked down to a book shop. I've never seen anything like it. again, I wish id taken a picture! it was utterly rammed. I was scared to touch some of the books though for fear that the shelves would collapse!
we then walked down through the town. it's quite bohemian with lots of independent shops and cool cafes and bars, a nice change from the city. we stopped for a cocktail and watched the world go by. Therese then gave me a scarf that she'd knitted for me in the wool I saw and loved in the shop when I was with her last! think ill be needing that when I get home. she also gave me a calendar to pass on to Laila (please remind me of this when I get home!)
we then wondered some more and stopped at a sushi restaurant for tea. it was SCRUMMY! since being with grace I've got quite in to this sushi lark. is the one in ciren still open??
Therese also kindly offered to take me to the station on Saturday. totally out her way but she insisted!
the train home was a bit of a muddle with lots of tanoy announcements which didn't make much sense. I was sat with 2 Irish lads and a stinky man with a guitar who was quite sure he was being helpful. luckily for me I know my way round quite well so got off at the next stop to catch a bus...only for him to stick his head out the train door and scream down the platform 'NOOOOOO YOU NEED TO GET OFF AT THE NEXT STOP!!' awks. and he claims he doesn't drink any alcohol whatsoever...
after all the palaver I got back to the flat about 10pm, watched britains fattest man then went to bed!

On Friday I wondered to bondi for some shopping and beach time. I spent longer than planned wondering the shops then headed to the beach pavilion for some shade...and free wifi! adam messaged me to see what I was up to, he wasn't working that day so he picked me up and we went to Bundeena, a small town in the royal national park. it was quite far away but the scenery was beautiful and the beach nearly empty. before we left, some of the locals came down to walk their dogs. I love seeing dogs running around on beach, it's very humbling! there was a (most probably stinky) lab, a beagle, a spaniel, 2 corgi's and a collie. hours of fun!
adam dropped me back about half 6, I had some cereal, a shower and got ready to go out. Katie was working in the pub so I met Kaz at her hostel and we walked up to The Wanderer. Henry Westons was my first tipple, served in a handle to make me feel extra butch and British, mother you'd have been horrified! The Wanderers an awesome little bar, definitely worth a visit if you're in Sydney.
a few ciders later we all headed to side bar, a backpackers club. now im practically a local I wasn't a massive fan! we cut some shapes though in true Sophie fashion and got home about 4am.

Saturday was a bit of a queezy morning, I don't know if it was the hangover or nerves that I was leaving probably a bit of both. we'd planned to go to bondi for the day as it was also Katie's last day too. she's off to a cattle station in the outback for 3 months work to gain her second year visa. I was in desperate need of sleep so stayed back for a nap then caught them up later on. still shattered! the beach was fun though, over cast but still hot. the sea was freezing but I was forced to go in as it was my last day in oz! once you're in it's fine though, as per!
we got back to Katie's at 4ish, showered and packed, and repacked...folding, not rolling. Therese picked me up at 4.45 to go to the airport. we took the coastal road so I could have one last look. sob.
I'm now on the plane waiting to take off in to the next and final part of my adventure.
Australia has been really great, more down to the people than the place though I feel. saying that though, to date, Sydney is my favourite city in the world!

p.s a lady sat next to me on the bus the other day wearing a very silky skirt... I don't expect she's as generous as auntie Karen though in giving it up!!