Hello again! Or maybe I should now be saying g'day!

Our last few days in Melbourne were by far the best! Billy Eliott was amazing! The critics were entirely correct by judging it as spectacular! We had cheapo seats which were supposed to be majorly obstructed but a clear view was had by all so no worries! We went back to the hostel fairly early that night as the next day we were to be driving the Great Ocean Road! We picked up the car aroung 9am - given that it was at least an hour away from our hostel this was quite an achievement - and set off! Having found our way out of the city pretty easily we stopped at a tourist info in Geelong which is the gateway to the Ocean Rd. We met an inceribly helpful lady who gave us brilliant tips on where to go and what not to bother searching for!! 1st stop was Torquay where we found the frankly awesome ZEALLY BAY!!!! Then on to Anglesea - I was very amused by the names of all these places! There we spotted some kangaroos just off the side of the road which was great! Each or the bays were beautiful and you could have spent hours in each one, but in that we were trying to do the whole thing in just one day we had to press on! Next stop was Aireys Inlet where we saw the actual lighthouse from Round the Twist! For those of who who have no clue what that is, it was a TV show which everyone my age loved when they were about 9/10! Before we got to Lorne, the next bay, we spotted wild koalas sleeping in the trees and so speedily pulled over to take some pics - 100times better than any zoo seeing them in the wild! Lorne was gorgeous and so we stopped for a picnic lunch before heading off to Apollo Bay. There we had a tough decision to make, we had already be driving for at least 8hrs and the Twelve Apostles which are the highlight of the Ocean Rd were still 2hrs further on! Needless to say we just carried on and boy am I glad we did! Truly incredible! We arrived around 6pm and it really was breathtaking! Absolutely worth the long and very tiring drive back to Melbourne! The following day we pretty much just slept and packed ready for Sydney!

We arrived on Saturday 17th Jan in Sydney and checked into our pretty swich hostel with a jammy en-suite upgrade again!! Saturday evening we started in the Scary Canary Bar which is next door to the hostel! Over the 10 days we spent quite a lot of time there!! We visited a few other bars and clubs too, live bands and cheap drinks made for a pretty good night all round!!!

Sunday we strolled down to Darling Harbour - it is the lesser known harbour in Sydney but filled with restaurants and bars and was seemingly crested to be a 'playground for Sydneysiders'! They got it spot on!!!

Monday we couldn't wait any longer and headed down to Circular Quay to see the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Both although maybe a little smaller did live up to expectations! What did suprise me though was that the Opera House is tiled! I'm not sure what I had thought it was going to be made of but that shocked me! Nevertheless a fairly awesome backdrop for any photo!

Tuesday we took the ferry to a beach town called Manly on the other side of Sydney. The ferry went through the harbour and so it was worth going just for that! But the beach was a welcome break after a busy weekend! Sadly we couldn't go in the water because of a really strong tide and so many jellyfish! Scary! So instead we sat on the beach and frazzled! My what had been a pretty even tan was ruined after that day!

Wednesday was stupidly hot! Almost 40 and in the middle of the city you feel the heat even more! So somewhere with air-con was the only thing we could possibly do! Visited the National Museum of Australia which was so interesting! A huge section on Aboriginal culture and their struggle - being the history geek that I am, I was entranced by it and spent all day reading everything! Until such time that it had gotten so cold in the air-con we really had to go outside back into the heat!

Thursday we hired another car and drove up into the Blue Mountains. It was only a 3hr trip so not quite so tiring! It was an automatic car which took a few loops around the car park for me to get used to before we set off into rush hour Sydney traffic! Excellent fun!!! There was a big resort near the top which let you go on cable cars, and downthe side of the mountain in the steepest railway in the world EVER!!! We started off reasonably level but as we got further down the incline got steeper and steeper until we were almost standing up! Luckily it was caged but still pretty scary! There were viewing points too where you could see the Three Sisters and Orphan Rock both of which were pretty incredible rock formations!

Friday and Saturday were market days, Paddys market and the Rocks market both of which had far too many tempting things to buy! I only picked up a few things!!! Saturday night having met two girls from Belfast we naturally went to an Irish Pub!!! Scruffy Murphys was brilliant and full of backpackers! A must visit for anyone coming to Sydney!

Sunday we chilled out for most of the day but by the afternoon were getting pretty excited! Karl Kennedy from Neighbours or Fletch as he is now known was playing at the Scary Canary next door!!! It was the most intimate gig I've ever been to and we loved every min of it! I often have problems at gigs being so short but Karl and I made eye contact several times we were that close!!!! He even jumped into the crown and we got to touch him! We sound so sad but it was brilliant!! Australia Day tomorrow so everyone in Sydney is preparing for that - I'll be sure to update you soon!

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