Well - the last few days have been pretty busy, owing to a great turn in the weather and so finally we've been able to get out and about and sightsee in the sun! We had one last day of pretty average weather (day 3) in which we took ourselves off to the convict museum via the botanic gardens where we were inundated by Cockateils after deciding it would be a good idea to feed them on left over blueberry muffin! In the afternoon we took a tour of the inside of the opera house - (our tour guide was a bit of a "thesp") and we were surprised by how much concrete had gone into building it. The highlight was visiting the main theatre and hearing the beatles tribute band who were playing that night, warming up - it sounded amazing! On day 4 we picked up our hire car (red toyota automatic mm!!)and headed off to Bondi beach for a few hours. I was trying to get a piccie of the hunky lifeguards but didn't have the guts to pull a damsel in distress move to bring them closer! Mark and I both got really burned because (classic Brits) thought half an hour in the sun wouldn't be enough to cause any damage (and after all we needed to lose the pastiness)! On the way to Bondi we strolled through the botanic gardens that run through the heart of the city and around the harbour, and were amazed and horrified to encounter hundreds of bats sleeping in the trees! In the afternoon we headed up the AMP tower to see some stunning views over Sydney- Mark wasn't great with the height and I kept teasing him by musing about the fact that everyone seemed to be over on one side of the tower - surely that wasn't good for leanage! He was also extremely unnerved when he saw a crack in one of the windows!! We calmed down from the excitement afterwards by treating ourselves to a bit of time in the rooftop pool and jacuzzi - very relaxing - before heading out to the opera house bar for a lovely drink by the harbour. When we got back to the hotel, just out of coincidence, we headed up to the rooftop of the hotel to take in some of the views (and take a few snaps of course) and couldn't believe it when we managed to catch a fireworks display over the harbour - we decided it was meant for us!! Day five was the start of Mark's mini jaunt down memory lane with a road trip to Newcastle, the place where he lived and played cricket for 6 months in 1998/99. I insisted that we detour past palm beach - better known as "summer bay" in Home and Away and was so excited when I saw Alf Stewart's name over the door of the club house (actually just a storeroom for lifeguard equipment in real life). This quickly turned to disgust when I realised that the beach was covered in washed up bluebottle jellyfish! When we arrived in Newcastle (uneventfully as we had the trusty sat nav to guide us) Mark busied himself with the job of tour guide, pointing out all his old haunts and starting or finishing every story with "when I was drunk". We stopped by his old cricket club and visited the clubhouse (like a cross between Kath and Kim and phoenix nights!), nearly got accosted staking out his old house and finished with a trip to a very "Kath and Kim" style mall, a place that Mark assures me he wasted many an hour with his mates! We caught up with one of Mark's old friends in the evening and had a nice meal with him and his family. Day six began in newcastle with a greasy cafe brekkie (no frills in Newcastle!) before heading back into Sydney so Mark could catch up with an old friend. I gave them some man space and headed up the pillar of the harbour bridge which has been turned into a museum and a lookout. The weather was tremendous so I managed to get some great views of the harbour and beyond. We had a lovely evening stroll through the botanic gardens when all the bats came alive and dive bombed us just above our heads(!) and finished the evening off with a ferry ride to Darling harbour (an inlet near the opera house where all the bars and restaurants are), and had a lovely drink and bite to eat before heading back to the hotel where we are now. We hope to add some more piccies soon - and keep you up to date with our next move - tomorrow we are off to Byron!!