Just said goodbye to Lyndsay and Jane in Sydney after an awesome week in Canberra - thank you to the Curries we had such a good time and we will miss you.

We got to Melbourne on 13th June after a long flight but we managed to sleep during most of it. Still jetlagged however so went to bed early on the first night after getting the tram into town for a quick look around then to the pier near our hostel in St Kilda where we saw some cute penguins. The hostel was quite good fun but smelt like feet! The next day we went to the Melborne aquarium, then went on the free tourist bus to see some of the sights such as the war memorial and some gardens. We were still tired so we had another early night after a nice chinese meal in Chinatown! The next day we took the tourist bus again and went round the Napolean art gallery and the Australian Centre for the moving image museum which had lots of Australian film memorabilia and computer games both of which were really good. That evening we met up with Anna's third cousin(?!) and his friends on the southbank and went for a drink in the posh casino then onto a weird club which had a hospital bed in the toilet. Ailsa unfortunately fell asleep on the toilet and then again in the cab on the way home! Had to get up early the next day to catch a 6 hour train to cootamundra. Melbourne was very classy and reminded us of London.

Lyndsay met us at the train station and we made our way to Canberra (about a 2.5hr drive - thanks Lynds for picking us up). Met up with all cousins and went out with Andrew and Jane in Canberra. Following day we went out with Lyndsay, Andrew and David to the centre of Canberra - saw the parliament buildings, sculpture gardens around the art gallery, and the bus depot market where we got to taste lots of free food. The following day Lyndsay took us to Tidbinbilla national park (may be spelt wrong sorry?!). We saw very many kangaroos, 4 duck billed platapuses/platapi(?) (which got lyndsay very excited as she hadn't ever seen one in the wild), a family of black swans, koala and other really cool wildlife (too much to list). Also visited Canberra's space centre.

During our stay with the curries we went round the national gallery and war memorial with Jane - war memorial was the most impressive have seen all trip. We also visited the coast - pebbly beach, about a 2hr drive from Canberra. Had a picnic on the beach and, despite the 'DO NOT FEED THE KANGAROO' signs, tried to share some of our food with them. Andrew got the closest until one bounded at us and we ran away. Scared. We then went to a bird park where we were able to hold snakes, a baby wombat, and feed the kangaroos; and also a deer who thought it was a kangaroo. Aww. For the rest of the week we went out for lunch, shopping, cinema, clubbing and just relaxed.

On Saturday Jane and Lyndsay drove us up to Sydney and booked in at the same accommodation (a nice, very cheap 3 star hotel in Kirribilli with views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House). We went to the northern beaches - Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed, a favourite place of Anna's). Jane and Anna went in the water but Ailsa decided it was too cold. Wimp. That evening we had a lovely tapas meal off Chinatown and went to a bar - Three Wise Monkeys - where they had a live band. A very good night. The next morning we all had cooked breakfast in the htoel and headed to Bondi Beach - where the tv documentary series Bondi Rescue is filmed. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the TV lifeguards, but Ailsa and Anna had fun in the waves and didn't get stuck in any rips. We had fish and chips and then it was time to say goodbye to Lyndsay and Jane. That evening we both went to the cinema on George St to see Rock of Ages.

Today we took the ferry to Darling Harbour, passed Russell Crowe's apartment. We looked around the shops then went to the Justice and Crime museum and the Opera House. Had champagne on Circular Quay looking out at the bridge and opera house. We then went back to Darling Harbour, had sushi for dinner, and walked into this mall where we are currently blogging. All in all good times in Oz so far. Canberra was awesome. We pick up the van tomorrow and are heading north of Sydney to the Blue Mountains National Park before heading up to Brisbane. Hope everyone is well, hoping to blog again when we get to Brizzy!