2ND JANUARY 2007 Happy 2007 everyone, hope you all had a good one. Last spoke in surfers paradise, we continued to have a good time there. In the evening we went to cinema on the beach which wasnt a very cool thing to do but it was different, it was free and they had put up a huge screen with the sea behind it and behind us was the illuminated scrapers which were quite miami like. The other not very cool thing was that the film was toy story but we got free ice cream and had a good time. We continued our cool night and went to the hard rock for dinner then went to a couple of bars. On friday we met pauls cousin stuart, vanessa and their sons for jakes 12th birthday at wet and wild waterpark. It was 30 deg with bright blue sky so the whole of surfers paradise were there and the ques long but we had a good time. Went back to Lismore that night then left 0830 to drive back to sydney, took 10 hours with stops but was alright didnt see any skippys this time though. Stopped at a nice place called coffs harbour and stopped at hexham for dinner which was strange cause there are quite a few geordie places near each other like newcastle, wallsend, hexham and some durham places too. The whole of oz is like that, i reckon there must be a maidstone somewhere. New years eve day went shopping in our local Hornsby which we are getting quite used to and actually has some good shops. New years we hadnt planned at all acuse had been away and hadnt met anybody in the know, actually we havnt met anybody at all except pauls family and none of them have been before so didnt know what clubs or bars to book tickets for so didnt book any. We got train down at 2000 with pauls cousins husband owen. It was absolutly packed, went to a bar for a couple of drinks then went to circular quay for the 2100 fireworks, couldnt get anywhere near but we could just about see the bridge to our left and most of the fireworks went off to our right so could see them well, some paddies that we were standing next to gave paul and owen a victoria bitter each which was nice of them. We then went to the rocks area and there was a mobile club in the street with everybody dancing which was cool but we had to go in a bar to get a drink and stayed in there till midnight as wouldnt have got back in but it was good anyway. At midnight stood in a street lined with scrapers with a view of the bridge at the end of the street so could see the bridge fireworks but not by the opera house. There were alot of fireworks going off behind us that we could see though. So we did manage to see the fireworks, it wasnt the best view but would have had to get there at lunchtime and not move and didnt fancy that. After the fireworks owen said we should go to his friends apartment who was having a party that overlooked the harbour so we went to walk there and had to walk accross the bridge which when walking bare feet with very painful feet was like an eternity, it did have very good views though. When we got accross it the flat still looked like miles so we got on the train home instead. We should have stayed at the party in the street but we had a good time anyway and the atmosphere was really good. New years day got up very late as didnt get to bed till 0600 after being on the phone, we drove to watsons bay which was really nice with good walks and views, it also has a nice beach and wharf but paul moaned the whole time that he was tired so we came home. Today we unfortunatly had to take the car back, it would be so nice to keep it. We were gonna get on one of the explorer open top busses but we deceided to walk it instead. We went to kings cross which is the red light district, thought it was meant to have quite trendy cafes and stuff but didnt seem like it to us, wasnt helped by the fact that all of sydneys tramps were there and there was a used condom in the road, there was a very nice fountain though. We then walked around the edge of sydney and went to the botanical gardens which were nice and also had thousands of bats hanging from every branch of every tree, they were actually flying foxes, was well freeky, actually on the way back from surfers, we drove through a massive swarm of black bats that lasted for ages. These ones had furry ginger bodies though and were wrapped up in there wings upside down but kept having a little stretch! We then went to hyde park which was also nice and then to some shops. Back in hornsby now, vanessa and stuart dont come back till next wek so have the whole house to ourselves till then although us and the dog then mag and john dont come back till the end of jan but we will hopefully have found somewhere to live by then. Gonna try and do our photos tomorrow as are getting very behind and mums keep moaning! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL LOADS AND HAPPY 2007, HOPE ITS A GOOD ONE FOR ALL OF US LOVE LAURA NAD PAULXXXXXXXXX

have just added in 3 photos to singapore that we forgot, a very good one of paul with singapore girls that i made him have done and 11 koh tao ones on our last day, have put all our photos on so far so cant leave them out, it takes so long though on this computer, will do oz tomorrow.