Well today we said a fond goodbye to Sydney, with a final walk across the bridge, or coat hanger, as the locals call it. Then there was our goodbyes to George at the hotel 59. He has been a terrific host for us and his daily chats will be sorely missed. The whole day passed with the anticipation and excitement of joining the Aurora. Finally at 3 pm we arrived at the terminus for check in. What I liked most about this is that at our age there is so little that ...

February 16th, Firstly and sadly this is the first anniversary of Dad, may he rest in peace. My thoughts are with Mum and my two sisters on this day. Today was a visit to the Zoo. Now there is not much I can say about a Zoo trip save to say there were lots of animals involved and as per usual most of them were sleeping under trees or bushes just out of sight. None the less we pressed on in the extreme heat with the 'wild' animals looking on at us fools baking ...

So the sixth day started with a jog, and I am keen not to gloss over the splendour of a jog around Sydney harbour area. Setting off at around 8am after an early morning rain shower I jog around 1 mile into the botanical Gardens, there I am met with the most beautiful petrichoral aroma, I then jog for about 1 ½ miles around the gardens in full bloom large fruit bats overhead and singing insects in the bushes. Then I arrive at the opera house the bay glistenin...

Day five and a day off jogging phew! It's getting harder to carry my belly up and down the hills of Sydney. On a serious note today was a day to reflect that it was 1 year ago today that Pete fell ill, we are all so pleased of the recovery you have made so far take care mate. We set off to see the three sisters in the Blue Mountains. It was a two hour train ride, which was very interesting. You get to see the suburbs and the locals going about their business a...

Following my early morning jog it was off to the fish market near darling bay. There was almost as many Chinese as there were fish, and it's fair to say they were excited to see - and eat - all the fish there! Fortunately for you reading this you can't smell it, the fish market on a hot summer morning is a real nasal cleanser. In the afternoon we headed off to shark bay aka Neilson Park. What a gem, tree lined park with a secluded beach. We spent a lovely afterno...