Week two of our Sydney adventure...

Well we have been here for a whole two weeks now and are settling in very well. The weather has been okay this week but quite a few cloudy days and a little bit of rain. On Monday we had planned to meet up with our friends Kath and Chris in Bronte (a beach near to Bondi) The weather was overcast when we headed off so we weren't expecting any sunbathing.

Kath was a bridesmaid at a wedding this week so she was in town getting the alterations done to her dress. We did a coastal walk from Bronte to Bondi and then had lunch in a lovely little cafe. We then headed to Paddington and went for a drink. It was really nice to catch up with them both and we were able to get excited about our road trip to Melbourne next week!


I have been trying to get up to speed on my Australian history (at least this has been quite easy as there is not much of it!) I went to the library on Tuesday and did some reading and then we decided to visit some of the museums that Sydney has to offer. First up was the Hyde Park Barracks museum. 50,000 convicts transported to NSW spent some time here. The Hyde Park Barracks was home to convict men and a place of punishment between 1819and 1848. Later it became an Immigration Depot for young girls and a Government Asylum for women. We had a great tour guide who told us all about the artefact's that were on display and how it was all thanks to the rats that they were still around! Apparently the rats used to steal things from the convicts and then hide them, they dug underground tunnels under the floor boards and then covered them over...clever little naughty rats even they broke the law! was sent to solitary confinement! We also saw the hammocks where the convicts would have to sleep, we found out later that you could actually get in them but I'm not sure I would have as they didn't look that secure and I may have fallen out! Next we went to have a look at the display on the Irish orphan women that were sent over from the age of 14 after the potato famine to help the gender balance and provide wives for the ex convict men. I had a play in the dress up box in the clothing that the women would have worn and you can see the result. Finally we went to have a look at the list of names of the convicts, we could not find any Mintern's but worryingly enough there appeared to be a lot of Mason's! Perhaps I have grounds for citizenship after all!

Next we went to the Mint but it wasn't really that exciting. I have been to the Perth Mint and that is a working museum and much better. On Thursday we we decided to go to the Police and Justice Museum to see who Sydney's most notorious criminals were....and a lot of them were women! Having set out on a visit like any other I suddenly found myself in a bit of trouble... I was called for mug shots

....Nigel was thrown in jail!

I needn't have worried as it turns out they were after Nigel so I was released without charge and Nigel had to start his trial proceedings. It wasn't looking good...



Then things got worse when he saw who the judge was.............!!!










The court heard his pleas and delibertated for a long time over what sentence to give him after hearing of the crimes he had committed. They made their decision and the judges decision was 2 years hard service in Sydney.... so we may be hear for so time!! We had lots of fun playing around in the court room but more importantly we made it out alive without any actaul convictions!! Great way to spend a cloudy day.

On Friday night we headed to the rocks markets by the harbour for some live music and great food. They had a moonlight market with lots of stalls. We had a little taste of most of the food...Japanese,Turkish and even Ethiopian...which was fantastic....for dessert chocolate covered strawberries...mmm..... then Nigel spotted the free massage sign and stopped by the get rip of those travelling shoulder knots!

We finished the evening by watching the live bands in the market square.



Yesterday we headed back to Glebe for the Saturday morning markets...one of the best that I have been too! Lots of lovely clothes, trinkets and yummy food. Nigel sat himself in the sun reading the paper while I investigated the many stalls (and no Mum I didn't spend all my money!) Then we went to find a hairdressers to get Nigel's hair cut...one of his better haircuts I think and really cheap too. In the evening we had prepared a picnic to take to the Domain park to watch the free concert of African music as part of the Sydney festival. We had seen lots of people doing the same last week so this time we came prepared! The evening was really good and we both enjoyed the music and dancing that it had to offer. At one point there looked to be some rain but we braved it out in our hand made ponchos and it soon cleared up!


We checked out of our hostel this morning and are heading to Tascott this evening to Kath's parents house. We have to get the train and have been told that its a really scenic journey with lots of pretty coastal views. So in the meantime we are in the library (free internet access!) and planning on going for a swim in a while and then heading to the train station. We begin our trip to Melbourne tomorrow morning apparently we will be camping at a place called Potato Head Point! We arrive in Melbourne on Tuesday afternoon/evening and we are going to go for dinner with my friend Sharna and her boyfriend. Then on Wednesday we will be at the tennis. The weather forecast is set for a sunny day at 24 degrees so not too hot to be sitting outside all day. We will be back to Sydney next Saturday and contactable then. Bye for now. Keep posting your comments we love to see them!