First week in the land downunder...

Well... we have successfully completed our first week in Sydney! We landed last Staurday morning after two rather long plane journeys but both of us seem to be ok for it. This may have had something to do with the 5 hour stop over in Singapore airport where we discovered the out door swimming pool....yes, that right we did in fact say out door pool... and if it wasn’t for the planes flying over head we could have quite easily have convinced ourself that our holiday in Australia had already begun... well ok, not quite but still it was a nice way to relax and prepare ourselves for the dreaded jet-lag. ( On that note I would like to point out that it was in fact only I that ended up with jet-lag. Nigel seems to have some built in sleeping device that allows him to set the time to 18 hours and then wake up as fresh as a daisy! Did my days of travelling not count for anything! Well at least that was what I was asking myself at 3am when he was snoring soundly and I was tossing and turning!)

Our first full week has been productive and relaxing all at the same time. We spent our first couple of days wandering around the centre of Sydney getting our bearings and setting up our bank accounts and sending off applications etc. We also have visited the Rocks which is a lovely area down by the harbour which has little market stalls selling delicious food and lots of touristy type things. We also went and had a look at the Sydney harbour bridge and the Opera house which of course is obligatory when coming to Austrailia. We took advantange of the sunshine on Tuesday and headed along with the masses to Manly beach. Having been to Bondi last time I was in Australia I wasn’t going to get my hopes up too much! (I really was not very impressed with Bondi) But on arrival I really liked what I saw... stretches of sandy beach with of course all the beautiful ones... those of you that have been to Australia will of course understand this sentiment and for those of you wondering what on earth we are talking about it is quite clear. There is no where else in the world where you can be surrounded with so many physically perfect people its enough to make you sick! Anyway, Nigel tested out the Aussie waters and realised that the heat is here for a reason...to make you want to go into the icy cold water to cool down! After having a lovely lunch we headed back on the ferry towards central Sydney.
We spent a day in Glebe. This is just west of the CBD (central business district) and an easy route on the tram... until we had to get off and walk up the masses of steps up to the main street! No wonder these Aussies are so fit! So what was Glebe like...? Well much like a hippy town, smelling like incense sticks and hemp.. but once you get past that actually very nice and laid back community. Nigel was particularly impressed with the indoor shopping centre and the steak sandwich he had, not to mention the sighs of delight when he saw the butchers shop... the phrase “this place is incredible!” comes to mind..forget the Opera house and the bridge..that got a simple “yeah its nice” take him to a butchers and he is in his element....why did he decide to come again when there are so many perfectly good butchers at home? ...well I know exactly why he came....for the beer!!
We have also emarked on a Sydney complusory fitness regime which includes a morning run down to the harbour, past the Opera house and through the beautiful botanical gardens. Thats more than enough to make you want to get out of bed in the morning. We have also found an aquatics centre at the end of our road where we have been swimming. Nigel particularly likes the wave machine and had lots of fun trying to drown me. Anyway the hope is that we too will look like these bronzed beauties by the end of our stay.
A day at the aquarium was an eye opener....Nigel loves fish and especially sharks! We have pictures of every fish in the place and there were alot! Hopefully you will enjoy the ones we have selected for you!







Yesterday was an amazing day. The first day of the Sydney three week festival that builds up to Australia day and the sun was out in all its glory. (33 degrees!!) We had arranged to meet up with our friend Chris who we worked with at our school back in London. He and his girlfriend Kath had arrived on Wednesday. Chris doesn’t seem to have accepted his new destination yet and turned up sporting a pair of denim jeans and shoes! We on the other had had a minimal amount of clothing due to the sun beaming down on us. ( we had been up for an early morning run and sweltered in the heat!) Anyway we headed towards Darling Harbour and sunk a couple of schooners of Tooheys, had lunch and headed for the piano bar under the Opera House. After a good catch up we headed to the botanical gardens to show Chris our new found beauty spot and the bats! Yes there are hundreds of flying fox bats hanging from the trees! They are really impressive. After this we headed to Hyde Park and enjoyed the sunshine while watching the festival acts... we settled for the flying acrobats...must have been inspired by the bats! Later on came the best part of the evening, festival first night... thousands gathered to watch a free concert by the Reverend Al Green.... what a voice....”Let stay together...” “la la” Amazing night and the atmospehere was so relaxed.
Today started at 5.30am and very abruptly as the fire alarm went off due to a fault in the bar below and we all had to stand out on the street in our pj’s. Not exactely fun! In the afternoon we headed towards Watsons Bay which has fast become our favourite sunbathing spot. Quiet, realxed and absolutely stunning views in every direction. What a way of life...so many Aussies enjoying their weekend by the water... we could both get very used to this! Tomorrow we head to Paddington (Yes, we are in Australia) to meet up with our friends Chris and Kath. At the weekend are off to Melbourne to watch the Australian open...tennis and are having a little road trip on the way with some camping thrown in... should be great! Hoping to catch up with my friend Sharna while we are there and see some great tennis.... could it be Federer this time.....mmm... I do hope so.