Well after a few nights in the city, claustrophobia set in (I know I'm a city girl but all those open spaces I've visited have obviously had a bad effect on me) so I've escaped to Manly which is a 30 min ferry ride from the city centre and total bliss - great beaches, very relaxed and lots of surfers. And I'm staying in a great (upmarket) hostel where I have my own bungalow with it's own kitchen so finally cooking again (well warming up quiche and preparing salad). But how's Sydney I can hear you all scream and what you been up to there. OK... We arrived Friday got rat-arsed and Belinda and I had terrible hangovers on Saturday so we just crawled around the city to get our bearings, stopping for a drink in Darling Harbour (very over priced) and then again at The Rocks which is just by the main quay in Sydney and quite nice but a bit touristy - mind you it had a great market which we wandered through to do our walk over the Harbour Bridge. Saturday night we went to Paddington to try out this fish restuarant that Harry had recommended and yep it was good and cheap and BYO (this is such a great concept out here, I love BYO as it means you're not charged outrageous prices for a decent bottle of wine). Then we were both pretty tired so had a fairly early night for a change. Sunday we hit the beaches and first went to check out Manly which I loved (obviously as now staying there), then I met Helen in Bondi (which is very very tacky and packed to the hilt with big men and very skinny girls) where we caught up on the past year over bottle of wine before grabbing a taxi to Coogee where we proceeded to down more bottles of wine in the presence of about 8 policemen from Melbourne and that's about all I remember. Monday was chill out day in Manly (where I'm staying until Friday) then on Tuesday I took a train to the Blue Mountains and spent the day walking including the 1000 steps at the 3 Sisters and the train ride up (steepest ride in the world and no doubt at a minute the quickest). The weather was wonderful and for a change there was no mist or rain and I even saw the 3 sisters. Also saw about another 3 waterfalls and all I can say is please god no more waterfalls. Yesterday I spent another hard day on the beach at Manly admiring the surfers (shame they are all a bit too young for me...) then met Harry for a couple of beers and it was great to catch up with him (you remember, the guy with the hat and glasses who I met on the bus to Karijini). First impressions of Sydney are that he's a bit arrogant but probably rightly so, everytime I catch that ferry from Manly and see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge I still go gooey and it's even better by night. The city itself is ok but not overly impressed with the CBD area etc, you've got iconic views yep but other than that during the day there's not much to do apart from escape to the suburbs for the beach and walking, however at night Sydney really comes alive and becomes fab fellow for a few hours. Well just got a few more days here - leaving Manly tomorrow to go to stay with Helen for a couple of nights (and probably drink gallons of wine) then I've got my last two nights in a posh hotel in Circular Quays which boasts harbour views, a rooftop swimming pool and best of all an iron and hairdryer in my room (total, total bliss). xxxx ANOTHER PUBLIC NOTICE: I have discovered (after 5 months of using this site!!) that I have a contacts list section so everytime I add further rubbish for you all to see you'll get an email to tell you this fact. If these emails start annoying you, let me know and I'll take you off the list.