G'day Sydney

Kate & I arrived in Sydney after a boring flight which only had one TV screen which we couldn't see. We were met by her parents who we'd be spending the week with.

I wasn't able to climb the bridge (due to circumstances beyond my control) so I went and climbed one of the pylons that support the bridge. They don't really support the bridge - they're just to make it look good!! They had an exhibition which detailed the history of the bridge being built and a hundred and one statistics about the bridge (such as 16 people died during its construction and that there are almost 2 million rivets at the bottom of the harbour that got dropped!)

The view at the top was amazing - with the city laid out in front of us with a great view of the Opera House and the Bridge. We then took a ferry round to Darling Harbour just so that we could go under the bridge!

The next day, we met up with friends of Kate's parents - John, Sue, Kevin & Julie - who took us out to the Blue Mountains. On the way, we stopped at Featherdale Wildlife Park where we got our first sightings of Aussie wildlife - we were greeted by a man holding a joey!

We got to see a variety of birds, including a Galah (but not a flaming one!), got to hold a Olive Python, which decided to try and slither away when I was holding it, stroke a Koala called Macca and feed some Kangaroos! We also watched them feed a saltwater crocodile and saw some Dingos and a Tasmanian Devil!

We then headed off into the Blue Mountains for the rest of the day. Our first stop was at Wentworth Falls - which gave us a panoramic view of the area. There was nothing to see for miles! We stopped off at Leura (a picturesque village) for lunch and browsed the shops, including an old fashioned sweet shop with sweets in bottles! It brought me back to my childhood! We carried on to Katoomba.

Later that afternoon, we saw the Three Sisters and strolled down to sit beneath the ledge of one of them. From here, we drove to the Scenic Railway - the world's steepest railway at a 51 degree incline - and strolled around the Jamison Valley before getting the cable car back up to the top.

The next day we were taken out on John and Sue's boat. We left from Killarney Heights and we worked our way slowly round the harbour towards Manly. We spent the day sunbathing and swimming in gorgeous blue waters! We were treated to lunch (of chicken, fresh oysters and prawns) and were then had another view of the Opera House and the Bridge from the water. We moored up at Darling Harbour and were had an afternoon snack before going home. It was a great day and we felt very spoilt!