SUNDAY 6TH MAY

Gday to you all, hope you?re all well and had a good bank holiday weekend, although heard weather wasn?t all that great. Weather here however has been amazing, like another country compared to the ridiculous rain last week! The parents therefore were much happier and we were able to show them Sydney at its best.

Started the week by having a day at work whilst the folks were still in Melbourne, Paul picked them up from the airport Monday night. They had a good time and did all I instructed such as seeing kangaroos and koalas!

Tuesday was back to my schedule. We got the bus to city and had a walk through the attractive Hyde park then through the botanical gardens (in the sun this time) and round to circular quay (opera house and bridge area). Took lots of photos much to their disappointment! From here walked up to the harbour bridge, not my idea this time, Dad wanted to walk across it. We went up the bridge pylon lookout, kind of conned dad into it as he claims to dislike heights. After 200 steps and lots of bridge history reading, the views at the top were well worth it. There is an outside part that you can walk around and check out all angles of the harbour as well as being almost level with the top of the bridge so was very cool. Afterwards we walked across the bridge, just as sun was setting which made for some good looking skies. Didn?t stress ourselves further and got the train back from Milsons point on the north side of the bridge. That night we all went for dinner at the glorious Darling harbour, dinner was good as usual and we ended the night by going to one of the cool bars Pier 26, they closed by eleven though which was odd, Mam wanted to carry on, Paul was happy to go to bed!

Wednesday we went and lay on Bondi for a while before having lunch. I then managed to convince them to do the 3 mile Bondi to Coogee coastal cliff top walk, I hadn?t done it before but had heard it was really worthwhile with breathtaking views and the bright blue skies made it an ideal day. We went past Mckenzie bay which hadn?t heard of before but was a really pretty little bay, Dad didn?t agree though and wouldn?t let us stop. Next was on to Tamarama which is a really attractive beach, narrow but very long, houses round here are amazing too, bit out of my budget though! My fave was the next beach Bronte, beach is glorious but its main pulling power is a sea water pool at the corner of the beach/ocean, will hopefully get to make some more trips there in the future. After Bronte the walk took us through a huge cemetery, not the best part for me. This was followed by Clovelley, here we had a rest and went to the Clovelley hotel for a drink. It was the home straight after here and on to our local, Coogee. Just as we got there it was sunset which made it even nicer. Paul picked us up after work and we got a takeaway, not a boring greasy shop, it was from an Italian restaurant. This was followed by ice cream from the amazing cold rock ice cream shop.

Thursday they had wanted to lie on the beach all day but it was looking quite cloudy so we decided to go to the blue mountains. Took about an hour and didn?t even get lost! The cloud had disappeared by the time we got there which is very rare for the mountains. We went to see the special three rock formation known as the three sisters before going to scenic world. This is where there are three different modes of transport that take you over and down to the valley. Didn?t think dad was going to do any of it but he ended up going on them all. We first went on the scenic railway which is an old coalmine cart that takes you very steeply down to the valley where we had a short bush ride before getting a cable car back up. Before getting on the next cable car we had a cockatoo fly over to the fence where we were, this was quickly followed by about a dozen more, also parrots like rosellas and king parrots and also galahs. Mam hadn?t seen them up close and I hadn?t seen that amount within arm distance, was very cool, got very photo excited! From here it was a return trip on the cable car which was 270m high and had a partial glass floor, dad said he didn?t like it but he looked alright. You could stand on the glass floor and look at the huge waterfall underneath, he resisted this though! Before returning we walked down to Katoomba cascades which due to the sun were not gushing but were still nice. After this we went o a couple more walks to Leura cascades and Gordon falls before returning home. Paul had gone out after work with Jim to his friends million dollar apartment in kings cross for a Barbie, alright for some!

Friday they got their way for a slobbing on the beach day. Went to Clovelley as they wanted to go snorkelling in the bay famed for its snorkelling and frequent blue groper fish visitor. Weather was good but not boiling and sea was freezing. Dad lasted about 1 minute before getting out. I persevered as wanted to make use of their snorkels. I got in at the deeper end, started snorkelling, had my eyes closed for a moment as they were stinging and when I opened them the 1.5m bright blue groper was beneath me! So jammy in this huge area that the parents wouldn?t believe me, convinced mam in the end to come in and look but it had disappeared, found it again but she got out, pair of party poopers! Friday night we went to the city and to Circular quay for dinner. Had dinner at the harbour with all the views followed by a couple of bars. Had a cocktail at Lenin?s then went to the amazing opera bar which is next to the opera house and opposite the bridge, love it here. Had couple of drinks before heading home ready for our early start to go to Port Stephens.

Left at 0930 for our trip to Port Stephens, Dad had wanted to check out Newcastle which is on the way but then realised that there is not a lot there so didn?t stop. Took about 2.5 hrs to get there and trip was alright. Headed straight for Stockton beach which is famed for its sand dunes and imparticular sand dune surfing. As soon as we got out the car the place was amazing, vast open space with a huge long sandy beach and sand dunes that go on for ever elsewhere, the wonderful weather helped too. Paul wanted to go quad bike riding but with his history decided it wasn?t a good idea, looked cool though! There was also trail bike and horse riding but we wanted to go surfing. It only cost ?6 each including trip up in 4x4 and surfing for as long as you like. Parents unsurprisingly didn?t fancy it so lazed on the beach. We got driven up there but dropped at the bottom of the particular dune and had to walk up with our skateboard size board. The walk nearly finished us off and realised water would have been good! I went own first sitting down and stupidly had my mouth open getting a mouthful of sand! We went down and walked back up again (no easier) once more. Had a very long rest at the top before doing our last trip, decided to try standing. I stupidly went first again, did really well and stayed on 9/10 of the massive steep hill until picked up so much speed that the only way off was to jump off, not good plan as went somersaulting the rest of the way down smothering myself in sand. The instructor said I did really well though so was worth it and Paul said it was very funny. My back, head, shoulder and neck wasn?t laughing though! Went in the freezing sea to get rid of some but am still finding sand days later! Was really good fun though. After the beach we went to a really nice beach called Shoal bay but didn?t stay long as sun was setting. Found a 2 bed, 2 floor fully furnished apartment to stay in Nelson bay, could have stayed there forever. Had a lovely pool that we had a dip in to shed more sand. That night went for dinner at Nelson bay harbour which was very quiet but very nice.

Sunday went to the harbour to go on a dolphin trip, Port Stephens has the biggest population in Oz. On the way to the boat Dad spotted a fairy penguin swimming under a catamaran, must have got a little lost, although they are known to be in the area. 90 min boat trip was good, also bargain at ? each, saw some dolphins including a baby but they kept moving from us. There was a net that you could sit in at the back of the boat but the water was a bit too cold! After this we went back to lovely Shoal bay where sitting on the beach saw some dolphins that were closer than the boat trip. Went snorkelling here but not a lot to see so moved on to a marine park called Fly point. The best area was quite rocky and coral populated so had to tread carefully getting in but was worth it as was like getting in to a huge overcrowded fish tank. They were huge too, somebody saw a turtle earlier but we didn?t. When we got out were standing on the rocks and dolphins jumped out the water about 10ft from the shore, was very cool! Went to the beach next door next which was also very nice and while snorkelling saw a small stingray, hung back from it though! Went parrot spotting after this before driving home, went through lots of roo/koala populated areas but didn?t spot any. On way stopped at Stuarts before going home. All had a really good weekend, such a cool place.

Also had really good week, did so much together so was really cool, didn?t have many fallouts either which is good! Folks due to fly Hong Kong on Tuesday 8th so couple more days of fun to let you know about but think have wrote enough!

Have a good week, speak soon LOVE AND MISS YOU LOADS LAURA AND PAULXXXXX

HAVE PUT PHOTOS IN SYDNEY 2 ALBUM AND PORT STEPHENS