We finished off our tour of Oz with 6 days in Sydney... what a great city! We stayed with my aunt and cousins who live in a lovely suburb called Balmoral, so we were't exactly roughing it with the rest of the backpackes in Kings Cross!! Evenings spent in the spa with views over the ocean and a glass of wine... a hard life! Thanks to Marion and the kids for having us - it was so great to catch up and we were so well looked after.

We spent the week relaxing and taking in the city's scenic setting with ferry trips across the harbour, walks along the coast and of course the climb over the harbour bridge - what visit to Sydney would be complete without doing that! It was a great experience (if not ludicrously overpriced - thanks to Jonas who paid for Dan's climb as a leaving present) and we had a lovely clear sunny day which made it even better.

We also had a surf lesson - you can't come to Australia without giving it a go?! I was a natural.. up first time and all the way to the beach... Dan nearly drowned a few times, but we both had loads of fun!

We spent one night at a town a couple of hours north of Sydney, near Newcastle, visiting friends we met whilst travelling in Vietnam. Blacky, Saigon John and Stewie, thanks very much for the fat steaks!! Hope to see you in London some time soon?!?!

We will definitely go back to Australia, we had a great 4 weeks and there is so much more to see and explore.

Next stop New Zealand - for 2 weeks in a campervan... a bit of a change in surroundings from spas and home cooked food. Willl we survive?!

xxxx