Here are all my Sydney stories for you to enjoy this week.

Hopped on a plane from Melbourne straight to Sydney, it was such a short flight that there was hardly any time for us to eat our free sandwich and drink before the plane was back down again. Steve and I got the airport shuttle to our hotel and found out that we were far too scruffy and shabby to be staying there! We stayed at a Swishotel right in the centre of the city which was very very very posh. But we pretended we were posh and settled into our hotel room - best things about the room were 1/ big bath! 2/ seperate power shower! 3/fluffy white towels! 4/ cool view from high up over the city (Steve liked to pretend he was Batman looking over Gotham at night!). That evening we took a stroll down to Circular Quay where we looked for a place to have dinner, ended up at a chinese restuarant and stuffed our faces (as usual)!! We were so hungry so while everyone else was ordering one dish to share between two I think we had about three plus soup to start. This was the beginning of the end regarding food in Sydney because we just didn't stop eating! Little piggies. We also found the tres fantastique "Copenhagen ice cream" that night, lots of scrummy flavours all inside waffle cones dipped in chocolate - ice cream heaven!

Next day we were determined to climb up one of the pylons of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We walked down to the bridge from the hotel and as you start getting closer then you start to catch glimpses of the bridge out of the corner of your eye looking all imposing over the buildings. As we got closer to the bridge we stumbled upon a part of town called The Rocks which was really cool, it had lots of market stalls selling arts and crafts which I got distracted by for about an hour. When Steve eventually pulled me away from the shopping we tried to find the entrance to the walkway onto the bridge. You'd think it would be easy to find the Sydney Harbour Bridge (as I just said, it's literally looking at you from where ever you are) but we could not find the walkway! Needless to say after much walking we found it and walked about a quarter of way along to the first pylon. Now, when you go to the bridge you have the choice of paying 100 and something dollars to climb the bridge proper style right to the top or the choice of paying 9 dollars to climb the pylon and still get exactly the same views with half the effort. So being the lazy/penny pinching bums that we are we took the latter option. When we got to the top though it decided to rain so I stayed in the little museum while Steve braved it and then when the rain stopped I ventured out to see the view. Although it was a bit cloudy it was great to be looking down on the bridge and out to the Opera house.

We went back the next day when the sun was shining and took some more pictures of the bridge from the other side of the harbour. It is really hard to stop taking pictures of it actually - and the opera house - it's like some magnetic pull making you want to take a million pictures in case they suddenly disappear. I suppose it's because they're just such iconic images related with Australia it's hard to believe you're actually seeing them in real life so you want to capture the moment. We went on the Opera House Essential tour this day which was BRILLIANT! Anyone who's interested in architecture or the arts would be happy on this tour so Steve and I were covered. It was good to learn about the history of the building as well as it's modern day additions. I was amazed to find out that the original achitect Jorn Utzon only actually designed and supervised completion of the outside of the building, then had an arguement with the government/council for taking so long and spending so much money, so he returned to Denmark and never once came back to see the completed building! He died this year and still hadn't returned in his old age to see his masterpiece - so sad! I really wanted to go and see my first opera when we were there but they were only running Madame Buterfly in the New Year. I loved the Opera House though and I don't usually like modern style buildings. That afternoon we also took a stroll through the Botanic gardens to see all the bats in the trees!

Third day in Sydney was taken up by visiting The Powerhouse Museum (science museum) which had an exhibition on about Star Wars and science (result - Steve fascinated, Sarah bored). On the way back to the hotel we went to the Chinese Friendship garden. Lots of lovely waterfalls and shady places to while a way the hours in refuge to the big bad city outside. That night, however, was the most eventful with Steve and I getting ourselves into a sticky situation! It started out with us deciding to walk far way from our hotel to a fish and chip shop I had read was good. But being the holiday season it was shut so we had walked all the way out there for nothing. We wandered about a bit more and discovered another restaurant which had seafood (Steve was determined to have tuna!). We looked at the menu outside - hurray- Tuna spaghetti, 15 dollars - perfect! So we went in, it looked very posh but we had seen the prices and it seemed reasonable. Anyway, the waiter takes us to our table, gives us the menu and Steve and I read it in dead silence while trying to work out why the menu is completely different to the one outside and nearly quadruple the price!!!!! And don't think either of us wanted to say anything and we just kept turning and turning the pages of the menu trying to find the food we'd seen on the one outside. As it turns out we had read the bar menu not the restaurant menu and by the time we'd realised this we'd already had drinks and bread and didn't have the heart to leave. So we both ordered something really expensive which was super tasty but also super super small. As you can imagine we left pretty quickly, then went to the ice cream shop next door and filled up on that!!

It was then Christmas eve and we set ourselves a mission to buy Christmas presents for each other for only 10 dollars. So we went on the hunt for some bargains. After that we decorated our hotel room to Christmas it up! We had tinsel hanging from the mirror, Christmas lights, crackers and an innovative little Christmas tree that Steve made out of Christmas tinsely pipe cleaner type things. We were ready for the big day! Christmas day was pretty quiet. First things first, we opened our presents. I got lots and lots of lovely goodies and cards even though I was on the other side of the world which proves Father Christmas really can find you wherever you are! We watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas on TV and then went for a walk around the city where we happened (ahem) to come across Tiffanys. I only got to have a drool through the window though as it was obviously closed. Our Christmas dinner was the buffet at the hotel, it had every Christmas treat you could possibly imagine and I wasted no time in catching up with all the treats I had missed! We had turkey, ham, roasties, mince pies, christmas pud but not all on the same plate. Finished the day with a lovely Skype call to Mum, Dad and Jen AND George the dog back home - they did a rousing rendition of O Come all Ye Faithful for me which made me crack up! A great way to end the day.

On Boxing day we were a bit less lazy and got on the ferry to Toronga Zoo. Spent most of the day wandering around there and had our turkey sandwich picnic in one of the parks - lovely jubbly. Then we got on a bus to Manly beach where there were hundreds and hundreds of people celebrating with BBQs and beers. And at last Steve had the chance to get his picture of him on the beach wearing his Santa hat! And that was about it for our week in Sydney...We caught our plane safe and sound to Christchurch, New Zealand and we're staying with Alison and Lindsay as we speak. We've visited the catherdral and I've got my certificate to prove I climbed up the tower! We've been to the art gallery. We've been to the botanic gardens. We've been to the shops! And tonight we're having a BBQ to celebrate the New Year. So HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone, I hope 2009 brings you wealth, health and happiness! Talk to you next year! xx