Update!

Soooo...

Sorry again for taking so long! I will pick up from where I left off (even though that's a long time ago)! My last blog ended just as I arrived in Sydney, so I will begin on Day 20, our first full day there....

Day 20

Shaun and Charlie were only able to book into Wake Up for one night, so we were up early to book all our buses before they had to leave, then it was on to the bag lock-up where S&C spent a while re-packing so they only had to carry one bag around with them all day! The rest of the morning was spent finding a tent so B and I can sleep rough too, and a rucksack so we can carry things sensibly – 'fun'.
Afternoon saw us visiting the botanic gardens next to the Sydney opera house, and a FREE meal at 'The Gaff'. The botanic gardens were lovely, especially as the day was cooling off! There are water fountains everywhere in Oz, which is a lifesaver, as even I am drinking more water than I can carry each day (and B is drinking more than a camel could carry!)

Day 21

Carrying our own bags is EFFORT! Sooooo heavy! Luckily today was predominantly spent on the famous Sydney harbour ferries... We visited Darling harbour, and then decided we'd rather go to the Zoo (so back to Circular Quay), and then found out there was an hour queue for the zoo, so went back to Darling harbour, and later it was another trip to Circular Quay, to get the ferry to Manly!
Anyway... Darling harbour is very touristy, with an aquarium etc. It also has the Maritime museum, which has a free cloak room for our bags and free entry :D It was also pretty cool inside, although most of our time was spent in the mythical creatures exhibition, which had nothing to do with the sea! Did you know the original unicorn was a goat, with a red black and white stripy horn??? No? Neither did I!
Manly is beautiful once we get there, we head to Shelly beach (which has free BBQ's – which are everywhere, but fantastic all the same!) I marinated some (cheeeap, and massive) prawns in a bag with some lemon juice, and felt very pleased with myself about it too! We also had a lot of bacon, and I cut my finger (but nowhere near as badly as the superglue incident, so I didn't feel too stupid :D).
Sleep time was on the beach, which was perfect white sand, and lovely and soft – I barely felt homeless at all!

Day 22

5.30 am: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sand tractor! Plus it is misty and cloudy and chilly – I have a hoody on!
Time to go to the Zoo, which is brilliant by the way; sun bears and tigers and lizzzards and all kinds of other animals (obviously). The clear highlight was seeing a baby elephant, even though we saw lots of eles in Thailand, baby ones are absolutely adorable!
It is New Years Eve, so we are in competition with the entire population of Sydney for a good spot to watch the fireworks! The harbour was packed at 10am, when we ferried past it to Taronga, so we were a little worried, however walking back to the quay, I happened to notice the view was, well, stunning! So we decided to stay on Taronga beach to watch the fireworks, which was cool as we could camp there (inside a real tent – woop), but had far less facilities than Manly (no toilets :-s).

The fireworks themselves were beyond description, the kids display at 9pm was the best fireworks display I had ever seen, and the ones at midnight were truly fantastic! Twelve minutes of amazement! (You'll see the photos!)

Day 23

Pity some redneck ***** were our neighbours last night... the only mar on an otherwise perfect New Years I'd say!
Shaun however made up for any disappointment with the night by providing some brilliant comedy during the day... Sleeping on Bondi beach for 3hrs with your arms crossed and no t-shirt on is the perfect advert for why suncream is an absolute necessity! Hahaha! Looked pretty painful though, in the worst affected areas his skin was bruising – OUCH!
Another night on Manly, and then on to the Blue mountains tomorrow we hope :D

Day 24

We decide the best way to see the Blue mountains was in a rented car (provides rain protection, bag storage, accommodation, and transport – bargain!). So Mark and Shaun pull up to collect me and Charlie in......
A tiny, white, automatic, Toyota Yaris hahaha!
Mark however does a fantastic job getting adjusted to the foreign roads and car, and were soon finding a beautiful waterfall to stop at and explore. Leura cascades is truly beautiful, but again I learn my lesson about wearing flipflops anywhere but the beach! Always, always, always, wear the boots if you have the chance Freyr!

Day 25

So - 4 people in a mini car equals stiff necks in the morning! But it did rain beyond whats reasonable during the night, so we are all glad of the car!
Today's adventure involves following Shaun's directions on a walk through the rainforest. In all fairness they were actually very good (apart from when he lead us 1k in the wrong direction!). The forest was stunning, massive trees towering above us as we climbed down thousands (and I'm not really exaggerating) of steps, and lovely waterfalls following us on our descent. However the rainfall of last night created the mother of all mists, which has reduced visibility somewhat!
We get to the halfway point of our circular walk, and it happens to be an awful looking railway (at a 45degree angle) or a cable car. Grr. I suck it up and get on the cable car. At the top it is all worth it... me and charlie have the most fantastic, $25, all you can eat buffet you can imagine – Salmon, roast potatoes, salad, pasta, kangaroo noodles, veggies, tiramasu, pavlova and strawberry cream cake!!! The boys didn't eat it because they are scrooges, which back fired on shaun quite considerably as he ended up eating deep fried noodles for dinner (which taste just as bad as they sound!)

Day 26

Still misty so no chance of seeing the 'Three Sisters', which is sad, and means were straight off to Sydney in the morning.
After washing ourselves and our clothes and feeling human again we try to see the opera house at night one last time – to take some photos. It's a nice evening but any photo opportunities are lost because a huge, and I mean huge, ocean liner is docked at circular quay, right where we'd need to stand to take photos!

Anyway, i must be going now - internet is about to run out! Love you all, and hope you're having fun in the snow! xxxx