Monday 6th April

We bid farewell to Scott and Lisa and the lads and headed for the airport for our flight to Sydney. The flight we had booked with Jet Star had been cancelled when we got there and we had been put on a Quantas flight three hours later, which meant we didn't get into Sydney until quite late and we only just managed to catch the train to the area of our hotel.

Tuesday 7th April

We decided to walk instead of use the trains, the city didn't look too big on the map. We set off and walked through Potts Point which is a very nice area of the city with lots of delicatessens and small shops. Eventually the road led down to the sea where the navy base is, there were lots of ships in dock. We followed the road round and into the park, up to Mrs Macquarrie's chair, which has a great view over the harbour. As we followed the path round towards the botanical gardens the Bridge and opera house slowly came into view, a very impressive sight. Following the path round we went into the botanical gardens for a drink. They are beautiful gardens except for when you get close to the coffee shop!! there was a dreadful smell in the air and we quickly realised that the noise in the trees wasn't coming from birds, but bats, hundreds of them, very large. We sat for quite a while watching the bats in the trees squabbling over branches then occasionally one would fly past and you could see just how big they were.

Walking towards the opera house we couldn't get over how many people there were jogging along the path, we thought that there must be something going on, but quickly realised that this must be a normal lunch time pastime, the Australians appear to enjoy jogging. There appeared to be a lot of activity out on the steps of the opera house and as we got closer we could see they were laying red carpet. On closer inspection we could see it was for the world premier of the new Star Trek movie that night.

We carried on round to Circular Quay where the ferries go from to various places in the water ways and along the coast, then followed the signs fro the harbour bridge. We climbed up to the bridge and walked the full length across to Kirribilli on the other side where we sat and had a coffee before heading back across the bridge.

We walked back from the bridge through the Rocks area which is full of older buildings and has a lot of cafés and restaurants. We then made our way back round towards the opera house where we sat at the quay side and had a drink. We then made our way to the front of the opera to see the stars arriving for the film première, I took lots of photos of the actors, unfortunately though we didn't know any of them!

Wednesday 8th April

We bought a travel ticket for the day which cost us seventeen dollars each but gave us travel on the trains, boats and buses. We set off for Bondi beach, as the bus came down the hill into the bay it was very reminiscent of a Cornish town, but with huge waves. It was great sand on the beach and there were lots of people out in the sea surfing. Bondi had a nice feel to it and we walked along the sea front to a cafe.

Later on we caught the bus back to the city and caught a boat out to Manly to have a look at the beach there. Getting off the boat you have to walk through the town to the surfing beach. Manly is on quite a large bay and again there were plenty of waves, the beach front is lined with lots of trees. We walked round the headland towards another smaller beach (Shelly beach) where there were lots of people Sunbathing and swimming. The headland was a protected area and they had started weeding out plants and replanting species of trees and plants which were once native to the area.

We caught the boat back to Circular Quay and then got on another boat which went round to Darling harbour and Cockleshell bay. This was a very lively area with lots of bars and restaurants and also where the Aquarium, maritime museum and other attractions are. We watched the moon come up behind the skyscrapers as we sat and had dinner.

Thursday 9th April

Walked into the city for breakfast, then made our way to the main shopping area. From there we walked to Darling harbour. It was as lively during the day as it was at night. We sat in a bar and had a few beers while the sun went down. There were lots city worker in the bar and we chatted to some.

Friday 10th April

We went back to the bridge and went up the pylon to look out over the city. The pylon was almost as high as the arch of the bridge and you could look out all the way round. There was a great museum with the history of how the bridge was built with lots of photos recording the event.

We walked back round to Circular Quay and sat by the side of the Opera house for a while then walked back through the botanical gardens to the area by the navy base for a pie from Harry's pie van which was covered in photos of famous people who been and tried the pies (the pies were very good), we then made our way back to the hotel to collect our bags and make our way to the airport for the flight to Melbourne.

We hadn't arranged any accommodation in Melbourne even though we were arriving that night, we tried a website that had been recommended for last minute bookings and managed to find something.

We arrived at a different airport to the one we thought we would arrive at, fortunately there was a bus which took us to the city centre, from there we got a taxi to the hotel. We were very pleasantly surprised as the hotel we had booked a few hours earlier was a beautiful 10th studio apartment, and as a bonus we had a laundry room which was put to good use.