G'day from Sydney, New South Wales!

Well we are now in another state....but before we move on to talk about Sydney life, we feel the need to round off Perth for you!

So we left off with us doing our tourist bit around the city.Other fun-filled activities included a trip up to Swan Valley to the amazing chocolate factory.Our awesome substitute tour guide for the day (Kyle's brother Stuart) took us up there to pig out on chocolate and gave us a tour around on the vine yards and wineries.It was a lovely day filled with Stuart's witty comments and his quick humour (nothing like his brother haha).To round off an awesome day....we got to witness a high speed chase.We are driving down the freeway and a car with 3 wheels (not a del boy car but a car that has actually lost a wheel) comes speeding up behind us and drives past when we notice a police car chasing it.At the lights further up the road, we see the guy in the "get-away" vehicle jump out of the car and run followed in hot pursuit by the police.So being the nosey people that we are....we got Stuart to follow, you know...try to give the police a helping hand.Don't worry....Perth is safe, they caught him :)

So to move on to one of the best weekends ever...our trip to Rottnest Island off the coast of Perth.On the Friday, me and Gillian made our way to the Ferry to meet up with Kyle and his friend Ben.The Ferry took 45 minutes to get to the island.We even saw whales on the trip over....Claire was happy.Once we got there we went straight to the pub hehe....well our house wasn't ready till 2pm!This island was paradise....the views from our house were stunning!We spent the day chilling on the beach, sitting out on the balcony with drinks (the boys screaming and flailing at the Aussie rules football on the TV), playing card games, playing music and watching the sunset, drinking more booze and having midnight walks along the jetty.It was by far the best night of the trip so far.The following day pretty much consisted of the same elements!Gillian and Kyle braved the cold water and went snorkelling...well done them! We had a lovely meal out in the evening and a nice stroll back to the house (spotting lots of Quokkas, see the pictures) for more music, booze and card games.It was the best weekend by far and we will certainly be going back when the weather is a lot hotter.

So straight after we got back from Rottnest, it was a case of me and Gillian packing and getting ready for our flight to Sydney.We had our final meal out with the entire Nicol family which was lovely and a laugh. We definitely love Perth and will be going back in the summer...cant wait!

So our 3 and a half our flight to Sydney was fine, we landed and got a taxi to our hostel.By 6pm it is dark in Australia.So when we rocked up outside the place to find that there was no booking for us there we started to panic!The guy wouldn't even let us in through the security gate till phoned around to sort out the mix up.We then got told we were in the house down the street...so we had to heave all our stuff down the block to our house.Now I will say this....our room is gorgeous (expensive but gorgeous).We have our own bathroom, fridge, TV and DVD player.Oh and comfortable beds and free internet....bonus!Just a pity they mucked us around and gave away our room...so we have 9 days here.After a big panic attack, having nowhere to go in Sydney, 2 places offering us a place to stay to then give them away to other people, we were having no luck.Everywhere was either booked or extremely expensive, therefore Gillian and I came to the conclusion that there was no way that we can live here long term!So after a rubbish night sleep worrying, we have now decided to move to Melbourne up until we leave for New Zealand.We are going to continue being on holiday mode for the remaining 7 days in Sydney and enjoy the sights and beaches.

So far in Sydney, we haven't been enjoying ourselves at all.We are finding it very hard to get around and seem to be meeting all the jerks of Australia.We have gone on the City Sightseeing bus tour which has been a highlight...especially after seeing the harbour bridge and the Sydney opera house.It was awesome to finally see some of Australia's most famous land marks.Today we found ourselves down at Bondi beach and it is gorgeous....the 3rd best thing we have found in Sydney.The weather has been beautiful today which makes things look better but we have decided Sydney isn't the place for us.We are looking forward to coming back here with Kyle and Nelette for New Year and plan on doing more of the tourist stuff with them.We are spending most of our nights watching movies, organising accommodation for New Year, applying for jobs in Melbourne and organising the rest of our trip....so much to do!

So as of next Wednesday we will be in Melbourne in a place called St Kilda.We have a backpacker flat in which we are going to be sharing a 5 bedroom flat with 2 girls from Sweden.It is so much cheaper there and apparently Melbourne is the place to be!We are feeling a lot happier about this move and looking forward to finally being able to unpack all our clothes and settling down for awhile.

That is us for now!We have uploaded our Perth pictures so check them out!

We miss you all loads.

Claire and Gillian

xxx xxx