well we're certainly keeping busy! We've now experienced every mode of public transport available in Sydney. We went on the monorail & did a circuit of the city centre which gave us good views of all the streets from above. We've taken the train across the bridge & we hop on & off buses & ferries all over the place. Puts our transport system to shame!

Yesterday we went on a tour to the Blue Mountains wow! They really do look blue - caused by the light striking droplets of oil from the eucalyptus (gum) trees. The views are absolutely stunning. We caught a cable car down into the rainforest & walked along the boardwalks on the Jamison valley floor, then caught the railway back upto the top. It's the steepest passenger railway in the world at 58degrees. That seems almost vertical & it's SCARY! Good job we ate after & not before! On the way back we walked in Blackheath where they had bush fires last november - some houses escaped the fire by the width of a path! We've also seen lots of native wildlife such as amazing birds, kangaroos, wombats, dingoes & of course dozy koalas clinging to eucalyptus trees whilst asleep.

We have been to the Rocks where the first europeans settled & were tempted to buy opals in the market. Caught a ferry to Watson's Bay which is on a peninsula so has views across Sydney harbour one way & the Pacific the other. We could live there if we could cope with the heat!! We've had rain 2 days running, but although very heavy it only lasted a short time. It was still hot though. Apparantly it's much hotter here than usual for Feb. the temperature has been above 26 all this week - and very humid. Today is our last so we're taking it easy - will go up Sydney Tower & just chill. Next stop New Zealand - hope to post photos on here when we get there. Love to you all - & keep on sending those messages!