I think I maybe about to set my record for two blogs closest together!

Its been just over a week since my last one, so im going to now attempt to keep on top of things.

Ive spent my first week in Australia in Sydney with my cousin Alex, her family and also some old family friends and its been a great week...despite some rather rainy weather!

On my first day here Alexs parents (Chris and Kerry) took me down to Sydney harbour to see the Opera House and Harbour Bridge and they are both quite spectacular! The bridge is HUGE, the photos you see just dont show the scale of it. The Opera House was just stunning...luckily the sun came out and so I was able to see just how white it shines. We took a ferry out to Manly beach which was really lovely. I dipped my toes in the water however and it was freezing!!! So I decided at that point I would wait until I get to the East coast to do some swimming.

Alex lives in Newtown, a trendy, relaxed area just outside the centre of Sydney, so in the evening we went out with some of her friends for Japanese food. I was made to feel so welcome by everyone I met it was great.

The following day I was lucky enough to have a backstage tour of the Opera House which was fantastic and very interesting. The concert hall is stunning with the huge silver organ at the back...it took 10years to build the organ and 2years just to tune it so its really quite something. The views from the front of house area were amazing, looking out over the harbour and the bridge. I was surprised at how small the Opera and Ballet stage was though. The wing space is tiny and im amazed that the stage management team there manage to put on full scale operas and ballets! They must be very talented people to coordinated large casts and sets in a space thats much smaller than you expect.

I enjoyed a good wander one afternoon in 'the Rocks' area. Its a very old area of Sydney and full of little winding streets and lovely cafes and shops.

Two of my days were spent with some family friends, Carole and her son James. Carole was kind enough to take me up into the Blue mountains for a day. Unfortunately the weather was not so good, but the views were still stunning, despite the clouds. We enjoyed a couple of short walks and a lovely hot lunch in a tiny village there. The mountains themselves are full of walking trails are are definitely somewhere I want to return to in the future.

Our second day the weather was better and so we visited Palm beach which is a very upper class and sought after area to live in. The houses on the hillsides by the beach were beautiful and im sure make fantastic holiday homes for many rather rich people.

I got back into Sydney on the Friday and Alex had a weekend of partying lined up for us. We started our Friday evening at a friend of hers who was having a BBQ. His house was amazing, gorgeous wooden floors, a white grand piano in the living room, a clear blue pool outside surrounded by palm trees. The family was lovely along with all of their friends i was made to feel very welcome and involved. After a few hours there we headed back into Sydney city centre and into a tiny bar above some shops that you wouldn't know existed unless you were local. It was quite quirky, big grates full of light bulbs on the ceilings and old brick walls. The toilets were full of graffiti of all types and the place had quite a dark feel to it. After a couple of drinks there we were off to a house party which had a outer space theme...we were certainly not dressed up, but when you arrive somewhere like that at 1am most people dont seem to notice after a good few hours of alcohol consumption! The house was fully decorated, even the garden had a completely silver floor specially for the occasion. At about 4.30am we wandered our way home...I got very excited when i saw my first possum in the local park....and we eventually made it to bed at about 5am.

On Saturday we got up late and went for a fantastic, and much needed, breakfast in a local cafe before catching the bus down the coast out of Sydney to Alex's parent house. Their house was lovely, tucked away in a little sea side town with great views of the cliffs behind. It was warm enough to sit out on the deck before having a lovely dinner. That evening a local reggae band was playing at a music venue so Alex and i headed there. When we arrived there was a sign on the door saying 'sold out' which was not great...however, a very friendly guy was helping everyone jump the fence to get in. So after a bit of scrambling through bushes and climbing up over a fence we were in. The band were fantastic and a group im hoping to now keep track of!

There was an after party organised and so of course we headed there for a good dance and a few more drinks, before heading home and getting it at about 4am. So it was another late night, but a very worth while one!

On Sunday we enjoyed a good cooked breakfast before heading to the local beach for coffee and then taking a scenic drive along the coastline. It was just stunning and the sun was shining which made the scenery even more impressive.

Once back in Sydney during the evening we visited some more friends of Alex's for a fondue evening which was great fun, but by the time we got home I was very tired.

Monday was spent doing some shopping, having a leisurely lunch and relaxing evening. It was nice to have a chilled day after such a hectic week!

This evening I fly to Melbourne for a few days and so im all set to explore somewhere new before hitting the east coast for some surfing (well plenty of falling off a surf board) and sunshine (I hope)...xxx