Discovering Sydney....

PC290113, originally uploaded by Frickley.

Having recovered from our Christmas and Boxing day gluttony, we decided to go to Manly with some hostel friends (Kate and Jess) - just over the other side of Sydney Harbour. The journey there took quite a while and involved a bus journey and then a ferry which gave us some excellent views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Once we arrived, we had a look around and got some fish and chips to eat while looking a the stunning views out to see. The beach itself was rammed with people so instead of joining the masses we got a bus to Milson's Point and walked back across the bridge to Circular Quay taking photos of the scenic harbour all the way!

The following day - J and I joined Kate to have lunch in Dulwich Hill, and then Kate and I decided to do a spot of window shopping in Newtown while J popped into town to go to Qantas to finalise our flight plans. We have now cancelled going to Fiji (recommended due to the coup that is currently ongoing there) and will spend three weeks in New Zealand before flying to New York - with a two day stop-over in LA in between. That will mean that we arrive bach in the UK early on 2nd Feb.

On 29th we once again joined a gang of mates from the hostel to do the walk between Coogee and Bondi beaches. It was a 3 hour walk, but with stunning views and hot sunny weather, the time flew and we really enjoyed it. Once we got to Bondi, I was on the lookout for Paris Hilton as she was supposedly there, but as the beach was so packed with people I had no chance! Our friends wanted to spend some time at Bondi, so we left them there we were keen to get the bus back to town in order to catch a tour of the Sydney Opera House - so much to see, so little time...! We learnt that the building was originally supposed to take 4 years to build, but ended up taking 14 and cost 102 million dollars! There are 1,000 rooms in total under the domed roof tops and we got to see the best one of all - the grand theatre. It seats 2,700 people and uses the electricity equivalent to a town of 20,000 people to power it - quite awesome!

Next Day, J, Kate and I went to Darling Harbour to have an explore and do some sightseeing before having lunch. We chose a cafe on the harbour-side overlooking the boats sailing in and out. After that, we went to Paddy's Market to do some food shopping for a group meal we had planned that evening. The markets we really crowded, hot and noisy - not the gentle saunter we had in mind (!) so we left there and got the bus to Woolworths (supermarket) to get stuff there instead. That evening we all commandeered the hostel kitchen to cook up a feast of king prawns and smoked salmon with mango salsa (prepared by J and I), roast lamb with loads of trimmings (cooked by Kate) and fruit salad, cream and shortbread pie (an original creation by Maggie and Chris). It was great fun and the best meal we'd all had since being away!