We arrived in Sydney on Tuesday evening and saw the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the sky as it was so clear! We are staying with Dad's old flatmate (he has friends all over the world!), Liz, and her husband Ian (Cuddles!) and their 2 boys in a suburb called Turramurra just north of the city. They have been very welcoming and given us lots of information on what 'Sydneysiders' do around the city!

On our first full day we went into the city and did some tourist sight seeing! The Opera House, The Royal Botanic Gardens, The Rocks (which is the old quarter of Sydney), the CBD etc, not forgetting of course the Harbour Bridge! But this we decided to climb! I climbed it with Dad and Luke about 8 years ago so i was classed as an expert :-) The bridge climb is very professional, they breathalise you to check your not hammered, kit you out, strap you on to the bridge and off you go! We did not appreciate our leader telling us that the expected life of the bridge was 70 years and we were climbing it in its 77th! Climbing the ladders between lane 5 and 6 on the busiest highway in Oz was scarier than i remember!! We reached the summit in about and hour and the views were unbelievable! It was cloudy but thankfully not pouring down like a few hours before! Someone even proposed to their girlfriend in our group (Before you even think about it...No not Jack!). As our climb was the last day climb we got to see the city lights start to come on during the climb down which was pretty cool!

The following day our next sight seeing adventure was up to the Blue Mountains which is about and hour and a half west of the city. From a distance the mountains give off a blue haze because of the euculyptus trees hence the name! We saw the famous 3 sisters rock formation and Katoomba falls which is a beautiful waterfall with cascades. We also went on the worlds steepest railway down into the mountains and on a skywalk where the floor goes seethrough as you walk on it high above the mountains! The weather held out for us so the scenery was just amazing.

Yesterday we took a trip to the famous Bondi Beach (Dad i can hear you sighing with jealousy now!) but the weather wasnt so great so we went and had fish and chips in Watsons Bay which is very pretty (Thanks Kate!). I will admit we did do a bit of shopping in the Bondi Junction Westfield (Only because it was raining tho!). We went back to the beach for dusk before making our way home. During the evening Cuddles and Liz took us to the Kirribilli club for dinner which has harbour views over Luna park and the bridge. The youngsters (As they call us!) then went into Kings Cross to World Bar to have a couple of teapots worth of cocktails! (Yes guys who have never been, you drink from small white teapots!). We were then lucky enough on the way home to catch the last 5 minutes of the Opera House lit up as there is a festival on at the moment where they light the harbour up with lasers!!

Today we are heading to the Northern beaches, Palm beach and Manly, before going back into the city for a harbour cruise. Next Stop tomorrow is NZ South Island where we will be meeting our crazy and bestest friends Em and James for a road trip!

Dad- We can see why you lived here for so long! Better go as Jack is shouting 'Round up the Sheilas'?!! x