After spending night in Ricks hotel we went and searched a new hostel out and found the perfick place above a pub!! AWESOME. We headed out to Bondi beach on our first day in Sydney and spent a couple hours lazing around on the sands here. very Very busy beach but can see the appeal with Sydney when you have a vibrant city with beaches like this accessible just a stones throw away.

We went and ventured out towards the Opera house a couple days later and pretty impressive however bad weather so not as good as had hoped. Had a walk around the local fish market and then onto the aquarium. Now this was again fairly interesting but have visted a few aquriums now and having done diving now an aquirium is never quite as appealing. Still some awesome sharks, turtles etc to be seen here mind you so still good. Went to pub that evening to watch the Rugby league final and met some kiwis in here after the game who had been at game and fly out every year to watch it. Had a good few bevvies with them before dragging ourselves off to bed.

Next day we drove over to Lauries (guy know from back in UK) and met him his girlfriend Claire, Smiffy and Alice who also had flown over to OZ for a short holiday. Unbelievable how spend so many months travelling on your own and then in one swift hit you meet soo many people in one place from back home, very bizzare everyone out here in OZ!!! We all drove to Palm Beach today which is the famous setting of Summer Bay from Home & Away. Saw the Surf Rescue place with Alf Stewarts name on the board, get in all you Home & Away fanatics out there..... hhmmm not sure that is anyone out there actually but I was impressed!!! haha. We had a true Aussie BBQ at Lauries that evening and met Dave (another guy know from UK who lives out here) and his girlfirend Sarah. Ended up having a few drinks and crashed the night at Lauries.

We went to the Blue Mountains the next day which as per all of OZ so far had beautiful scenary and views. Wandered around here for a few hours and saw waterfalls and magnificent view after magnificent view. Very strange how you can have this sort of scenary together with beaches all surrounding Sydney which is a busy vibrant city. Certainly can see the appeal with the place and why Laurie and Dave have made it their new residency. After back in city we headed up the Sky Tower (which every major city here appears to have). Great views over city and the bridge and opera house could clearly be identified from this great height.

The following morning we once again headed to the Opera House and this time it truly was a magnificent sight in the beaming sunshine. From here you look across the harbour and see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Not difficult to capture a remarkable photo here with the scenary like that in the background it has to be said!!! From here we headed to the foot of the bridge to check in for our bridge walk experience. This was a must do whilst in the city and was weel worth the effort. Great views and experience walking at such a great height above the city and very informative as well learning about the history of Sydney along the way. It is said to be the most overated trip in the world I think, and yes it is pretty expensive for what it is so can understand that, but when in Sydney you have to climb the bridge I guess and we certainly didn't regret doing it.........

The next day we loaded all the cars (Mcluvin, Lauries and Daves) and we all headed up to Stockton where we would spend a couple nights camping at Stockton. Arrived early evening set up camp and did the most important thing, went and got beers and ice.

In morning we headed to the beach for the day and whilst here there was some off roading across the sand dunes that could be done. No before you ask we did not take the Falcon Wagon over these but Laurie had a Mitsibushi truck so was more then equipped to deal with it. Myself, Laurie, Smiffy, Claire and Alice loaded into the car and off we went. Once we got out there it was just total surroundings of sand and with the sun you could not tell the steepeness of the decents so we were very cautious and got stuck a couple times. After a bit of time on the dunes however Laurie got a bit more adventurous and decided to go full throttle up a vertical incline!!! Not so good. The back end of the car sunk into the sand and was buried above the number plate and tow bar!!! Oh dear, some serious digging now required which took a little time but eventually we dug the vehicle out and we were on our way again!! Seriously you have to see the phtos to beleive it, I will try and get some uploaded as soon as I can, which yes judging on the last addition to these photos back in Bangkok could be a while!!! Doh! After this we fravolity on the dunes we headed back to the beach and had a swim and laze about in the sun.

Went to One Mile Beach next morning and had a go on Daves Body Board. Good fun although waves not very good. I was also totally rubbish and Alice showed me up as she was catching wave after wave into the shore whilst I was sat out in the deeps going nowhere!!! Must of been something wrong with my board I guess???? Thouroughly good time of Sand Duneing, beaching, swimming and plenty of evening drinking was had by all and after One Mile beach it was time to pack up and head back to Sydney. We had a big night out in town that evening with Claires brother James. Bit of a messy one but hey your only in Australia once right, well once this time around anyway!!!!!