After an 11 hour bus journey we arrived at Sydney airport at around 7.30am sleepy eyed but ready to greet Lee's family who were flying over to see us for 2 weeks! Their plane was due at 8am so we arrived at a very good time! Lee was was excited yet nervous about seeing his family after 5 and a half months, it was so good to finally see them coming through the departure lounge and to be able to give them all a hug.

We left the airport and set off to the hotel we were staying at with Lee's mum which was literally a 2 minute walk from Darling Harbour, had a much needed shower and unpacked our rucksacks for the first time in months which was so nice. Once we were all freshened up we set off for Darling Harbour and had some lunch and went for a nice stroll around the harbour. That evening we watched the weekly fireworks display at Darling Harbour which was amazing, the display went on for about for about 10 minutes and had background music which the fireworks went off in rhythm to. It was a brilliant way to start Sydney. After the fireworks we went back to the hotel room and relaxed for a while before heading to bed for some much needed sleep.

The next day (Sunday) we went for a walk to Circular Quay which is a bigger version of Darling Harbour and just as nice, it has main docking points for the ferries so if you wanted to visit Manly Beach or Toronga Zoo you would go there. We also spent some time visiting Sydney Opera House which is spectacular, it is such a lovely building that looks even more incredible when you are standing right outside on the steps. After that we took a walk round to the Harbour Bridge which was really nice. As we had done a lot of walking that day we headed back to Circular Quay to get a well deserved milkshake and a bus back to our hotel. That evening we went for a few drinks at Darling Harbour which was nice, the setting was perfect, the buildings look so nice of an evening when they are lit up and with people strolling along the harbour in shorts and t-shirts it just makes you realise there is more to life than miserable England. We headed back at around mid-night and went to sleep.

We awoke the next day and went to market city which is basically a huge shopping mall, Zoe and Jess wanted to get a few bits and as there were quite a few outlets it was the best place to go. After a few hours we all headed back to the hotel and went swimming in the pool which was really refreshing - there was also a sauna and jacuzzi which we took full advantage of! That evening we stayed in and watched Bruno, it was hilarious! We all had an early night as we were visiting Toronga Zoo the next day!!

We woke the next day, had a shower and headed to Circular Quay to catch our ferry to Toronga Zoo. Toronga Zoo is the largest Zoo in Australia and had so many animals we didn't have time to actually see them all. During the course of the day we saw tigers, lions, giraffes, elephants, koala bears, kangaroos, hippos, jaguars and leopards amongst others, all in all we had a fantastic day out and it was lovely for us all to visit a zoo. That evening we all went to the IMAX cinema to see 'A Christmas Carol' with Jim Carrey, it was the most amazing thing ever, you actually felt like you were flying with him at certain times, the film itself was so Christmas-y and topped off a really nice day out.

After a nice sleep we woke up relatively early to get ready to go to Bondi Beach! We couldn't wait to get there! We arrived around mid-day and found a nice spot to put our towels down, within 10 minutes Lee and Zoe were in the sea followed by Lyn enjoying the fun of riding the waves as well as getting dunked under quite a few of them! It was so relaxing just chilling out in the sun, with the beautiful sea and nice surroundings, it couldn't get much better! That evening once we had showered we went to Circular Quay to take some photos of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge when it was dark, they equally looked just as nice as during the daytime.

The next day we (apart from Ben, he had an earache) headed to Hyde Park and the beautiful botanical gardens which were stunning, the gardens are huge and some of the trees have bats hanging from them. It was really strange to see that in the middle of Sydney there were bats flying or hanging around you! Once we had got out of the gardens we walked to the Opera House and then around The Rocks (where Lee, Jess and Zoe are jumping with the Opera House in the background) and along the Harbour Bridge. From the Harbour Bridge we had stunning views of Circular Quay and the Opera House. We headed back to the hotel after a day full of walking and relaxed for the evening watching TV and playing cards.

On Friday we didn't do a great deal, we went and sat by the dock whilst Ben went fishing and went back a couple of hours later for a swim in the pool. Ben returned some hours later after us having caught 1 fish in 6 hours! Unlucky! That evening Lee, Ben and Jess went for a night out around Sydney starting at The Gaff, a well known club that travellers go to. As it wasn't that busy when we were there we headed off to a couple of other places in Kings Cross which was good fun, by the end of the night we headed back to The Gaff and stayed there for a while as it was much busier before finally heading back at 3am, a good night was had by all! (In the Sydney photos you can see Lee doing his guitar impression to Sweet Child O' Mine!)

Having woke blurry eyed in the morning we got the ferry to Manly Beach for the day, as soon as we got there we couldn't believe how busy it was, it was packed! We stayed there for a few hours and left, the clouds had come over and it was looking like it was going to rain! :o(

On Sunday we headed back to Bondi Beach which was again lovely, we stayed there for most of the day topping up our tans and doing our Baywatch impressions which was fun! Zoe unfortunately got taken under by the waves and in her words "did a rolly poley" under the water! Bless her, she was pretty upset! That evening we watched 'Bedtime Stories' with Adam Saddler which was a really good film and went to bed!

On Monday we went to Coogee beach, another lovely beach but it was so windy and then it started raining heavily so we found shelter in a nearby cafe, the hot chocolate was delicious!

On Tuesday we headed to Palm Beach, probably the nicest beach we had been to, it is actually where they film Home and Away! The beach was quite long and had such nice sand, it was a shame for most of the day the weather was overcast although we did get a couple of hours of sunshine towards the end of the day! Jess even taught Zoe some yoga there which was funny to watch!

On Wednesday we visited the Blue Mountains which was brilliant, we went in a group of 10 or so and had a really nice but strange tour leader, Steve, to show us around. Before we arrived at the Blue Mountains we went to Featherdale Wildlife Reserve which was good fun, it was like a mini zoo with koala bears, kangaroos, parrots, eagles, crocodiles and wombats. We got to the Blue Mountains at lunch and had a bite to eat in the town before we finally set off and reached the 3 sisters. It was amazing to be there, the views were incredible and the 3 sisters looked just as good as when we had seen them 3 years ago. Lee, Lyn and Zoe also went on the steepest railway train in the world there, it was quite scary to begin with but they got through it! We got back at around 5pm after a 40 minute ferry journey from where Steve had dropped us off.

As Thursday was our last full day Lee and Jess headed off in the morning to get some Christmas bits and then Lyn had a surprise for us, she had organised a Sky Tower trip and a 3-D ride afterwards which was good fun, it took us on a journey through the wonderful sights that Australia has to offer. That evening Lyn paid for us to have a final meal at the restaurant we had lunch at on our first day. It was a lovely way to end our Sydney adventure, I am delighted that they were able to come out and see us, also thankyou Lyn for your fantastic hospitality over the two weeks. Once we had finished packing the rest of our stuff on Friday morning we headed to the airport together at lunchtime before saying goodbye to Lyn, Ben and Zoe and going our own way once again, this time to Singapore.