Hello
Back half of Australia felt like real travelling again (except when we stayed with Jane because that was bliss!). Sharing bathrooms, kitchens etc, damp rooms, smokey hallways has taken its toll and I won't be sorry to put an end to that for a while!
Went to see a school of mine form the Grange, Gary Smith and had a BBQ with his delightful children (!) before staying with Jane for a few more days. Quite sad to say goodbye to her but glad we're close enough now to keep in touch.
We flew into Sydney and noticed the drop in temperature straight away! Hard to remember that we're in Oz's winter when the lowest temp is somthing like 24 degrees! It's like UK summertime but everyone else is walking around in thermals! Still we felt the cold and promptly bought some winter warmers. We spent our first day around the Harbour which was absoluteky awesome! We went for a ride on the Thunder Jet boat on the rough waters and that was thrilling to say the least! He took us right underneath the Harbour Bridge and all around the Opera House. Took loads of pictures of the sights trying not to get into a scrap with the bloody Asian tourists who always take sooo long to take pictures of each other - they should set a time limit for tourists to stay in one place at any time!
Second day was spent around the city before we met up with Mick and Jamie (friends we made in Phuket back in March). They took us for a few drinks around the Rocks and we ended up in a German bar banging our Stein's of Lowenbrau on the table and singing old folk songs!
Our last day on the road felt sad and we'd be lying if we were excited about going to NZ on that day! We plodded around the streets of Sydney (ensuring we got back at a reasonable time as our digs were in the Red Light District!) and tried to stay warm as the westerly winds picked up. We packed out bags for the last time and prepared to start the first day of the rest of our lives - scary stuff!
We flew to NZ on 18th May 2009 - now the real hard work starts!!
Licci
xx
