Temperature: 25-32 C Wildlife: urban folk Highlights: Sydney is a great town, larger than we had imagined. We toured the city on a hop-on / hop-off bus which took us around all the major sights. The Opera House is of unbelievable beauty and the Harbour Bridge is...well....worth the $20m? The skyline is beautiful and you can find all major institutions in the CBD. We stayed in a backpackers run by a Swedish family, in the Kings Cross area; to Steves disappointment, the Swedish female volleyball team had already left... We had the chance to meet up with Christian, a former colleague of Steves who has moved his family to Sydney to live the good life just south of the city. Him and his very Aussie friend Fiona took us to a uber-trendy restaurant - Wildfire, a Brazilian style meat and seafood place with great cocktails and view of the Opera House. The food was amazing, we ate so much it was hard to move the next day! Who said you lose weight when travelling?? It?s a rumour! The next day we took the bus to Bondi, which is the closest beach south of the city. It has great (but tough) surfing and is dotted with little cafes, boutiques and fresh seafood restaurants. We spent the evening with Abigail, a friend from Leeds who had moved to Sydney about 18 months ago and our old friend, the Norwegian hitchhiker, Orjan. Both were on great form and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner in Darling Harbour (yes, we spoilt ourselves again). Disappointments: forgot to bring camera when out with Abigail Other: Finally got to see the movie Brokeback Mountain. Sigh. An extra day in Sydney would have been good.