It had been a hectic couple of days so had a complete day of relaxation on Friday (I am on holiday as well had to remember!). Everything is so much cheaper here and there are some really good natural health practitioners so booked in for a very long massage, and manicure/pedicure. Feeling very chilled out I wandered around all the shops and went to the cinema - bliss! I haven't really been out or drunk any booze since Steve went home so my liver is very appreciative after 2.5 weeks continuous drinking!

Another early start for Billy Teas Rainforest trek!! We travelled in a huge 4x4 up to the Daintree River and had a long boat cruise searching for saltwater crocs (the ones Steve Irwin used to wressle that like to eat plump white English women!!) - and we were really lucky to see a 5m male and amazingly a 4m female up on a bank on an island with her nest - they were sooo frightening in the water as the male just came up from nowhere reminded me a bit of Jaws!! From there were did a couple of walks through the rain forest and went up to Cape Tribulation which had a fantastic beach (couldn't swim though due to jellyfish and no royal blue lycra suits!!). There are no monkeys etc in the rainforest here but the noise is incredible from the birds and insects so loud but quite mesmorizing. The day ended with a bbq and swim in a freshwater creek where the water was so clear you could see the jungle perch swimming about and eels too!! I wasn't scared at all this time and think at the end of a very hot tiring day it was just so fantastic and I felt really free if you know what I mean - sorry gone all hippy there for a minute man!! Again the guide really made it telling us all sorts of things and then just as we were leaving a cassowary crossed the road in front of us - we were so shocked as there are only 1500 in Australia in total and only about 50 in the whole of North Queensland so very rare - look them up on Wikipedia they are like a cross between Ostrich, Turkey and Peacock so scary!!

Last day today and I book the cable car up 23km to Kuranda - absolutley stunning views going over the top of the rainforest canopy and then through Barron Gorge and the waterfalls that are used for hydro electric power. The town at the top doesn't have a lot going on apart from markets, and various tropical type animal, bird and butterfly places. They put Tropical World in Leeds to shame though - I've never seen so many butterflies in one place it was amazing!

The journey down to Cairns was by railway - the Pioneers spent 15 years building the railway and the 15 tunnels - although it's now a diesel engine the original carriages are used and it's the original tracks. It was amazing to see the flying fox that was used to transport people, materials, food everything across the gorge you just can't imagine how hard it was to build.

So I'm writing this on my last night of the journey - can't believe I did my trip of a lifetime - and although I can't wait to get home and see everyone, I can't believe it's over too! Feel really lucky to have seen so many fantastic things. Really frustrating not to be able to load up the photos but I'm sure I'll bore you silly with them when I get back. Thanks for all your emails and texts while I've been away it's so good to keep up with news from home - see you all very soon am back in UK Tuesday morning.

Lots of love
Susy
xxx

Arriving in Cairns was such a shock to the system as it couldn't be more different to Ayers Rock - just like two completely different countried. The terrain is quite mountainous and very lush green rainforest vegetation on the hills. And it really feels like you're in a greenhouse very steamy at 90% humidity at the mo. There is some wierd weather going on as the winds were coming from the west (so following me from Ayers Rock!) rather than from the Southwest which means the temperature is up at 100 degrees. So forget sweaty top lip - sweaty everything! Drinking so much water!

Cairns is also pretty busy with loads to do so very good after the quiet few days in the desert. Loads of backpackers but a lot of older people too phew! The place I'm staying is really fab - a series of apartments some turned into dorms, all around a pool and common area that is up on stilts. There's free t'internet and breakfast too woo hoo!

The days of long lie-ins are over too as pick up time is 7:30 for diving. I had booked the PADI Open Water qualification which was 2 days theory and pool diving then 2 separate day's on the Barrier Reef. It was good studying again actually altho it was completely new to me and really focussing on the safety side of things. We were all paired up with a diving buddy - mine was 6' 2"..... and a lesbian from Florida - alright high fives all round :-) We learned how to check all the equipment, put it together and take it to bits again, and then had to do some fitness tests - swim 800m and tread water for 10 mins. We had about 4 hours in the pool each day learning lots of techniques like how to get your weight neutral so you could just float under water, through to taking your mask off underwater and putting it back on again while clearing the water; and having your air turned off and having to swap to breath through your buddies spare air.

I got through it all but felt really panicky doing the stuff down at 4m bottom and couldn't really relax and get into it. So I swapped to snorkel on the reef instead - in retrospect I should really not have booked the qualification course but just an intro dive which doesn't get you doing any of the exercises and just gets you down there not too deep. But I really enjoyed the snorkelling and saw some amazing things. There were jellyfish around and although the water was too hot for wetsuits it was too cold to stay out for a long time so we all wore full body royal blue lycra suits - we were a smurf cult for the day!! We stopped in two different locations on the Reef about 1 hour 45 mins out from Cairns - there were floats you could use so you could keep really still and the fish were all over you!! So glad I took the sea sickness tablets they recommended as it was a pretty rough trip bouncing off the waves and lots of chunder bags were used especially by the group of American blokes who had obviously been out til about 4am the night before!! Met some really nice people too on the day - my snorkelling buddy was a 21 year old Austrian girl who was really lovely. She'd only been there 3 weeks and already had her heart broken bless! Massive massive tick I've been to the Great Barrier Reef - only 4 days to go now - to the Rainforest!!

Was a bit upset saying bye at the airport today, but onwards to Uluru! Had to take a flight first to Alice Springs and then onto Uluru - progressively smaller aircraft and airports - and progressively more turbulence!!

When not keeping my eyes shut to avoid vomiting and looking at the landscape out of the window I started to realise the vastness of it alla nd you could start to see the red soil and the bush scrub. There was an amazing view of both Uluru and Kaja Tjuta - which save a 100 quid helicopter flight anyway :-) The transfer to the resort is very short - it's all self-contained with 5 different places to stay from campsite to 5*. I was at the Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge - had my own room with communal loo, shower and kitchens. There was an outdoor bar and bbq area with live music each night too. Huge spiders in the loos and showers meant no hanging around!!

It was quite weird being in the resort as apart from the organized trips there's not a lot else to see and do so started to get a bit of cabin fever by the end of the 3 days. Did some fantastic trips for sunset and sunrise at Uluru (4:30am pick up for that one argh!). It was really magical looking at all the colours and hearing nothing but dingo's howling . I learned a lot more about aboriginal culture which was quite hard as they are very private people but have a lot of rules about how to behave and what you can and can't see etc. As I'm writing this in my little travelogue book (will type it up later on the free t'internet at my next stop in Cairns!) there are 3 aboriginal toddlers playing in the fountain in the shopping square. Would love to take a photo as they look so cute but you're not allowed to take any photos of an aboriginal person without permission - no paparazzi for them!

Last night I went for dinner in the middle of nowhere in the desert - we watched the sun go down and were up on a sandhill with a bloke playing his didgeridoo (stop it!) - it needs more lung capacity than a free diver fascinating fact fans! The tables were set-up with just an hurricane lamp on them so as the sun went down it was like the stars just sprang out of the sky and an astronomer talked us through what we could see in the Southern Sky like Mars and they had really good telescopes so could look closely. I've really acclimatised to the heat and flies now (although was wearing attractive net headgear for a couple of days!) - it's been an amazing experience and I met a couple of nice women to chat to who were pretty inspiring with everything that had happened int heir lives.

Cairns is the last leg of the journey - new experience tropical rain and mossies! Looking forward very much to diving now. Am determiend to overcome the fear of water I seem to have developed

Sorry no more photos now as the t'internet cafe machines don't let you load anything on - bore you to tears by loading them on Flickr when I get back :-)

Cairns is the last

The drive from Robe to Kangaroo Island (KI) was probably the least exciting one so far as we travelled further inland away from the coast, and didn’t do too many stops as were worried we wouldn’t make it to the ferry on time! We did make one lovely stop in Strathhalben which had a great organic healthfood café and shop. It’s very easy to eat healthily over here (as well as easy to eat complete crap as well!) so we have hit our 5 a day so far!

Along the journey the map didn’t show that in the middle of no where we hit a river but there was no bridge! So as well as getting the big car ferry across the ‘Backstairs Passage’ (honestly that’s what it’s called!) to KI, we found ourselves on a little mini ferry to cross the river! Another little driving challenge is that none of the railway level crossings have barriers on them – just a really helpful sign saying ‘Give way to trains’ – argh! We assume that trains go once a week as haven’t seen any yet but it’s a bit scary.

So we drove to Cape Jervis which was a bit like the end of the world as the road just stops in the sea! The ferry really reminded me of getting the ferry to the Isle of Wight when I was little – except that the Isle of Wight doesn’t have Fairy penguins, koalas and kangaroos running around! We are staying at the Seafront Resort in Penneshaw in a little chalet which is gorgeous surrounded by tropical plants and flowers.

There is so much to do in KI we really needed a few more days (common theme throughout this holiday!) so we even packed some wildlife watching David Attenborough style into our first night. It was a really clear sky and there are very few lights on the island so we wandered down to the beach and sat and looked at the stars (including some shooting ones) which was absolutely magical; but then joined a group to watch the Fairy Penguins come in from the sea onto the rocks and into their burrows. We had a torch with a red light in it so we could see them but it wouldn’t affect their eyes and it was really amazing to see the little things hop out of the sea and make their way slowly up the rocks. It was the end of the breeding season so there were still some chicks around that were very cute – was a really special thing to do.

KI is only 155km long but fascinating fact – it’s 7 times as big as Singapore – wow! Day 2 was all about trying to see as much wildlife as possible. Unfortunately 3 months ago the island was hit by 13 bushfires in 1 day which really devastated a lot of the vegetation (and some of the animals) in the Flinders National park area – the smell of burning was everywhere and was a bit upsetting. Because of the massive fire risk the walk to the river with the platypus in it was closed which was a shame as we wanted to see them in the wild after seeing them in the aquarium in Sydney.

But there was still a whole lot of things to see and there is a huge Australian Fur Seal community down at Admirals Arch which is an astounding natural arch in the rocks caused by thousands of years of waves.

It was pup season as well as we watched this tiny little thing shuffling around the rocks calling for it’s mum, and when she came out of the water they had a good cuddle – tears to the eye for sure! We also took a walk amongst eucalyptus trees and saw loads of koala bears in the trees – they were just waking up as it was getting to the late afternoon and made these huge snoring type noises that we thought was a lion or camel or something!! Feel very lucky to have see these in the wild. At the end of the koala walk Steve spotted a young wallaby eating under a bush so we watched that for a while too. Finally we climbed up Prospect Hill which was the first point that the English Captain that discovered KI came to – amazing view of the island and we saw some kangaroo and echinus tracks – as well as a kangaroo by the side of the road but not the real thing.

So after a fab evening sitting by the tea with a beer and pizza we are heading off to Adelaide for the last bit of Steve’s journey. It’s 41 degrees there today so I’m preparing for the sweaty top lip and frizzy hair scenario again!

We were up and at em early by our holiday standards after our early night Sounds a bit weird but when you’re away for this long it gets a bit much eating out all the time so a pizza and tv was great. We grabbed another picnic from the super market, had a quick dip down at the beach (although I’m still really scared of the waves!) and then continued on the rest of the Great Ocean Road and onto the Princes Highway.

We had a quick stop in Port Fairy just outside Warannbool which was an old whaling town. Lots of historic buildings here and then drove a long stretch through Mount Gambier and onto Portland. The terrain change as we went inland for a while and it became much more deserty with loads of pine plantations. We saw a lot of kangaroos and koala warning signs on the roads but didn’t see the real thing (alive or roadkill!). We stopped at Bridgewater Bay which had a beautiful white sand beach and some amazing blowholes in the cliffs and a petrified forest which was quite amazing

Finally we made it into Robe and it is a fab spot to stay for a couple of days of proper R&R. Confusingly now we are in South Australia the time moves back by half an hour (we need to get this right to avoid missing flights from Adelaide in a few days!!). We are staying at a traditional Australian Victorian hotel and have a lovely terrace overlooking the sea.

We have spent all day on the beach so are a bit pink but extremely relaxed and happy. Hoki and Red Snapper and chips for lunch – how exotic!! Tonight we are off to the pictures the crazy middle-aged kids we are. Missing home, friends and family a bit – hope you are all doing ok and hear from you soon! xxx

We’d booked a little Toyota Corolla for our road trip to keep the costs down and knew it would also be ok to drive too. Avis did their usual of giving us an ‘upgrade’ to the heady heights of a Hyundai Elantra……. We should have said no thanks as we realised they probably wanted to get rid of one of their crappy cars up to Adelaide!! So we set off feeling a bit like ‘Stars in a Reasonably Priced Car’ trying to avoid trams and cope with the crazy ‘hook turns’ that people do in Melbourne (basically you turn right from the left hand lane argh!).
Here’s Steve looking very proud of the great motor.

The roads were very busy leaving Melbourne heading towards the Great Ocean Road as it is in the middle of the long school holidays and a lot of people are off work until Australia Day on Jan 26th.

It took a couple of hours to get out of the traffic and onto the Great Ocean Road proper which starts at Torquay properly. It was a very beautiful drive through lots of little seaside town up twisty hill roads (which reminded me of Lake Tahoe in Nevada!). We briefly stopped at Split Point lighthouse which was beautiful, and in Lorne for our market picnic lunch we’d bought that morning. The next stop we made was at Gibsons Steps which led down to Gibsons beach the most magical beach at the start of the Twelve Apostles. It was a bit dusky and hazy and it just had this ethereal feel about it. I loved it and could literally have just camped out down there for the night!

We took a proper stop at the Twelve Apostles viewing point – just stunning. The flies take a bit of getting used to here but a bit of grass makes a good swat! We got into Warannbool pretty late around 6ish – it had been a long drive, probably the longest leg of the 4. Our motel was dead basic and we were really tired so had a ‘quiet night in’ and did our washing, got two yummy pizzas and watched the Bill!! Warannbool is very 50’s like town with lots of original shop fronts a few nice restaurants and not a lot else really. We’re even a bit sick of boozing after 15 consecutive nights!

It was quite sad to be leaving Sydney as I absolutely loved it – probably my favourite city in the world so far along with New York. We flew over to Melbourne around lunchtime – my BA Exec Club Silver card really had come in handy and made travelling so easy. No queuing at bag drop as you can use the Business Class check in and then can go into the lounge. Completely stress free!

We stayed at the Radisson in Melbourne which was in a great spot right opposite Flagstaff Gardens and the Queen Victoria market on a tramline. We arrived around 2pm and the first thing that hit us was the heat and humidity – 35 degrees! I’ll be honest I really struggled with it it just makes you feel like you’ve got no energy and a bit claustrophobic.

Melbourne has a totally different feel to it than Sydney. It’s hard to explain but there are a lot more older historic buildings while still having a lot of sky scrapers and it sort of felt more arty and ‘hippyfied’. On our first night we took the tram out to St. Kilda which certainly was hippy like and full of backpackers and pubs. We had drink in the famous Espy pub and grabbed a bite to eat in a little bistro with open windows so we could watch the world go by and do a bit of people watching. We only had 1 full day really so made the most of it, up early and spent a few hours wandering around the market which was amazing. Absolutely huge full of clothes, fruit, veg, meat, fish, cheese and fantastic deli stuff etc etc. Didn’t buy much but made a list of goodies for the card on Day 1 of our road trip. We also went to Melbourne Gaol which was fascinating – it’s one of the original cell blocks with lots of profiles of the prisoners including Ned Kelly, and really gave you a feel for what a dangerous place Oz was in those time.

We also took a comedy boat cruise on the Yarra River – wasn’t meant to be comedy but the boat was skippered by the Oz version of Paul Calf mullet and all, the tide was too low to see Herries Island which was the main reason we chose it – and then the boat broke down!! After about an hour in the heat we were finally rescued by another boat!!

On our last night we had a ‘fabalus’ meal at a restaurant Italy 1 that was recommended by Stuart. Absolutely gorgeous food and wine – a Christmas prez from my Dad – thanks Bill!! By the time we left on Saturday morning to pick up the hire car and start our road trip we had packed a lot in, but riding the free Circular Tram down to the car pick up we felt there was still a lot more to see of Melbourne. But 800km of road awaited us……

Urgh hangover city!!! Didn't feel our best this morning so rather than going for a wander and going to one of the amazing food courts that are all around the city for some amazing food, we just about managed to stumble down to the restaurant for all you can eat brunch in the hotel :-) It really did the job - well for about an hour anyway and I went back to sleep until the afternoon! That afternoon we managed to get out and about and walked all around the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful but full of flying foxes argh they were horrid massive bat like things, and also massive spider webs with Orb spiders in them argh again!! From there we wandered to the Opera House which was a pretty amazing building. We met up with some more of Steve's friends Brett and Liv and sat in the sun and had a few hair of the dog drinks which went down surprisingly well (I'm trying to drink all the Aussie Sauvignon Blancs I can while I'm here just for research purposes obviously!!) and then Liv (whose family is Chinese) took us up to Chinatown and we went very adventurous in our meal - we had pigeon (served in quarters all crisped up and you dip it in pepper and soy sauce - was really nice), and jelly fish which looked awful but tasted really nice as was marinated in chilli. For desert they served kidney bean soup which I wasn't quite as keen on but it was great to eat some different things.

On the 2nd we headed up to the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for the first day of the 2nd test between Australia and India - so far I had avoided any major third degree sunburns but did already have a whole load of strap marks and a seriously red forehead and nose, so was a bit nervous about a whole day in the blaring sunshine!! Our seats were great - quite low down nearly behind the bowlers arm (which is a good thing apparently :-) - here's a view of the Members and Ladies stands from our seats.

I came prepared with factor 50, hat, long sleeved top etc but by lunch our seats were in teh shade was brilliant and quite a relief. It was quite a small ground but very similar to watching cricket in the UK lots of beer, lots of atmosphere. We were really hoping that India would put up a bit of a fight as the First test was a bit of a walkover and we weren't disappointed - they took a really early wicket and a few more too - plus were robbed as Ponting and Symonds should have been given out but didn't walk the naughty boys just not cricket!

We left around 4pm and went out to Bondi on the bus which took about 30 mins. Bondi is really touristy and busy lots of backpackers and because the North Sydney coast was suffering from the back end of a massive storm most of those beaches were closed as the surf was so massive, so everyone in the whole world had descended on Bondi that day!! The waves were still huge and there was a massive pull back into the sea so yet again I didn't manage to get anywhere deeper than waist deep!! Lots of men in 'budgie smugglers' as the Aussies delightfully call Speedos!! and generally a great place for people watching with the surfers, body boarders and lots of Japanese people fully clothed with umbrellas to keep the sun off getting washed over in the first wave - oops.

Off to Melbourne tomorrow - we feel a bit sad to be leaving Sydney as just love it, but time to move on and see more of Australia!!

After our tactical sleep and purchase of a really nice bottle of Cloudy Bay fizz we started the New Years Eve celebrations! The hotel had put on a band and then were serving champagne up on the roof top pool area for each of the two firework shows. the 9pm one was the family on for the kids and then the main event was at midnight.
George Street is has loads of pubs on it and they were all playing music and you could drink in the street. Check out the view from our hotel window of the amount of people that were out in the road. What amazed us is that there were so many people families, young people, middle aged like us, and older, so much to drink and we didn't see one bit of aggro or fighting it was such a good atmosphere.

We joined in the fun in the street and watched the 9pm fireworks from down there which were amazing - then we had ordered some room service hot seafood platter to have with our fizz and watched more of the street party and headed up to the roof around 10:45. The view was just fantastic and it really was the most amazing New Years Eve we've ever had - can't really explain how good the fireworks were - they went on for 15 minutes and I didn't want it to stop! Hundreds of boats were in the harbour all covered in lights and it was just magical - here's a really rubbish picture we tried to take just doesn't do it justice but you can see one of the tall ships covered in red lights as well as a firework!!

We eventually collapsed into bed at 2:30am after talking to Dave and Sally in New Zealand and trying to text everyone but as usual the phone network crashing!! - big tick for New Years Eve in Sydney :-)

Today we set off into Sydney itself. Manley is up the coast a little bit to the North and the easiest and definitely best way to travel into Sydney is the ferry which runs every half an hour and for £3 gives you an amazing view into the harbour as you turn the corner round the headland - look at the view!

Our hotel was just a short walk from Circular Quay where all the boats come in and was literally right at the end of The Rocks. We had booked the room on Steve's Holiday Inn points and were amazed that they allowed us to do this over New Year - so were a bit nervous when we got there that there would be something wrong! Luckily everything was good and we got a fantastic room overlooking George Street and can see the bridge right from our window!!
That afternoon Stuart gave us a little walking tour of the Rocks which we really appreciated. We went to Sydney's oldest pub where Steve had Kangaroo pie walked all round the wharfside and up to Observatory Hill which is a really peaceful area where you get a great view of the Bridge and the Opera House

On New Years Eve we had a proper walk around the city and did loads of things - we walked up to Darling Harbour which is a lovely wharfside area with loads of bars and restaurants, the maritime museum and aquarium which was really good - got a taste of hopefully what I'm going to see when I go diving - amazing fish, turtles, rays and sharks - don't worry good sharks not man-eating ones! We also went up Centre Point which is a huge tower which gives panoramic view of the whole of Sydney. You can really see that the whole area is surrounded by ocean which is really unusual and so beautiful. In the afternoon we went back to the hotel for a tactical sleep before the New Years Eve celebrations started - it was really exciting as all the roads started to be closed off, and people started flooding into The Rocks area.....

Manley is officially the most laid back place I've ever been. We are managing not to suffer much jetlag at all and got straight into the lifestyle - which mostly involves getting up around 8ish and wandering barefoot over the road onto the beach and going in the water for a swim! Then wandering in our 'thongs' (flipflops don't be scared!) down the road into the town centre to one of a million different cafes serving brunch. Another couple of hours sat around chatting and then wander round the shops, another coffee and it's about time for a bit more beach action and dinner! Just what we needed for our first few days after the hectic run up to Christmas.

Some things that O've really noticed about Australia - it is incredibly American - from road signs to food portion sizes and there are adverts every 8 minutes during TV programs! Apparently the Aussies hate people saying that but it seems really true. We met up with another friend of Steve and Stuart's today called Lee. He has the best lifestyle in the world - works Tues, Wed, Thurs for the Maritime Museum as an accountant and has a part-share in the Manley Toni and Guy so in between volunteering at the surf club and riding his bike around the coast he does a bit of helping out there too - very nice!

Stuart has very kindly given up his bed for us so we are sleeping really well and being woken up to the sound of the waves on the beach. We've both bought a 'rashie' which is a long sleeved top that blocks out all the UV and is supposed to be worn under a wetsuit to prevent chaffing - but also means us lily-livered UK types don't get sunburned or cold in the water - it's beautiful weather - about 27 with a fantastic breeze but the sun is sooo strong it really is different. I'm to scared to go completely into the water as the waves are massive and I don't want to repeat a very unfortunate incident in Portugal that happened once where I got knocked over by two successive waves and lost my bikini top and ended up with sand in the stranges places :-)

After a fantastic Boxing Day buffet courtesy of Mrs. Laws we were chauffeured to the airport in the magnificent Ford Fusion which delivered us door to door of Manchester T3. Everything seemed to be going well as we took advantage of the BA Silver card perk of using the Club World check-in queue.

The day before I'd had some trouble checking in on-line and the flight was so full we couldn't get seats together on the Heathrow to Sydney flights - which although wasn't the end of the world would have made it more fun. I got the shock of my life when I was told that I had been offloaded from the flight as BA had been notified by Virgin that my credit card had been used fraudulently (which was true but noone had bothered to mention this to me!).

Anyway after a couple of valiums I managed to stay calm and they got me back on the flight - can you imagine if Steve had been able to go but I hadn't been able to! Mid-life crisis trip of a lifetime over!

So after a couple of drinks to calm down in the Manchester lounge we were off - the lady on the desk said that if we asked in Heathrown they might be able to move our seats together. So down in Heathrow we wandered up to the desk in the lounge and asked nicely if there was any chance of two seats together - 3 milliseconds later were were upgraded to Club World - flat beds here we come!!!

We were so excited and pleased as it would just make the journey so fantastic.

When we were boarding I looked up and saw what I thought was a tramp pushing in at the front of the queue - double take later and I realised that it was Sting!!!! Mr. and Mrs. Sting and the kids and two hangers on friends of the kids. When we got on and all sorted out in our seats Mr. Sting came through from First Class to check his kids were ok who were on the row behind us in Club World - we thought this was quite amusing that they were in the 'relatively cheap seats' while they were up front!! Ladies the rumours are true he is very handsome (and judging by the leg stretch he was doing when we got off at Singapore also very flexible!!).

Anyway enough excitement we set off and enjoyed the first leg by eating a fantastic meal and Mr. 'I never sleep on planes' Davis and I both got over 8 hours sleep!! Second leg was almost too short - no time for any of my planned reading, writing, playing games and ipod listening just more eating and sleeping (but we are good at that!).

So we arrived fresh as daisies into Sydney airport first thing on 28th December after a lot of excitement and a just brilliant journey. Hopped in a taxi and within a few mins we were in Manley at the rubbish apartment of Mr. Stuart Murray - check out the view from his balcony....