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.....