Australia

So what have we been up to since our last update other than working......

We had a great day on Saturday 11th and headed to Bondi Junction for some retail therapy. No really, I had to go shopping. I imagine the chaps at the office would be less than impressed if I were to turn up in my combats and flip-flops so attire suitable for the office was called for. After shopping we headed to the RSL Club on Bondi Beach to meet up with Vicky, Zena and friends for cheap beers. The RSL Club is an ex-service men's club that's right on the Beach and has excellent views from the balcony.

Bondi Beach

After the RSL we headed to the Beach Road Hotel where it all got a little messy!

The Beach Road Hotel, Bondi

Ouch!

Who's ya mate?

Sunday 12th was spent at Manly Beach. We were lucky as the weather that weekend was gorgeous, there were people sunbathing on as it was so warm. We ate fish and chips on the beach and walked part of the Manly scenic walkway. We both felt a little rough from the previous days drinking and could not face trying out any of the pubs.

Ferry to Manly - Views of the City

Manly Beach

Fish & Chips on the Beach!

Manly Scenic Walkway

Paddington Market was our destination on On Saturday 18th. Its a cute little market on Oxford Street that has vintage clothes, gorgeous jewellery, modern art and the like. It was far too girlie for Gav so he headed off to the shops on Oxford Street whilst I hunted around the market for bargains. Oh dear Gav... leaving me shopping....on my own.....schoolboy error! We both spent too much. The Paddington Inn is a great pub on Oxford Street and as we were on it's door step it was a shame not to go in and so thats where we spent the evening.

Rain, rain go away come back another day.....on Sunday 19th we had torrential rain all day so we took advantage of our apartment block having a gym and spent a couple of hours in there. Now when I say I was in serious pain as a result I'm not exaggerating. If I coughed or sneezed it brought tears to my eyes as my tummy was so sore from the small number sit-ups I managed. We were supposed to use the pool the following night although I decided the risk of sinking to the bottom was too great due to the fact that I couldn't move my arms more than a couple of inches following my mini weights session.

It seems that everyone in Sydney is fitness crazy, everyone goes to the gym, goes running, blah, blah, blah, (vom). There was a really good run that thousands of people took part in, 65,000 to be exact, the City to Shore charity fun run. It's the largest fun run in the world apparently. It was a spectacular sight seeing all those people running through the city streets, some serious runners and others dressed in fancy dress. I'd love to show you some pictures however we were too lazy to even get up to watch it and watched it on TV in bed!

Work is going really well for both of us. Gav has changed jobs as his first contract came to an end. He is now working on a new house build and is really enjoying it. It's hard work though and he has been pretty tired some nights but as it's a $3million house that is being built, it's really interesting to work on and the guys he is working with are good fun.

I am really enjoying my job. It's quite busy at times and involves a bit of working late here and there but that's fine, especially as I only have a minutes walk to get home.

Our House, In the Middle of Our Street...where we live

I had a lovely welcome lunch on my first day with all the PA's that had joined during the previous 3 months, a nice way to say hi to everyone. On Thursday 23 August, I was taken for another welcome lunch this time with the admin team from my floor. We went to Nick’s Seafood Restaurant in Darling Harbour which was gorgeous. Drinking wine at lunchtime is never a good idea, luckily I didn’t have too much work to do during the afternoon!

Saturday 25th was Wendy's leaving bash. After drinks at Zena and Vicky’s flat we went to the Paddington Inn although we had to leave as the girls said it was “dry” (translated that means it was severely lacking in attractive males). We then made our way to the Beach Road Hotel from where I had to make a sneaky emergency exit at around midnight and put myself into a cab home - it was the Zambuka that did it.

Wendy's Leaving Bash

On Sunday 26th Gav went to the Leichhardt Oval to watch the West Tigers play against South Sydney. It’s nearing the finals so everyone is talking about it here. Disappointingly the Tigers lost 37-12 although on the plus side he did manage to get himself a number of pictures of the very attractive cheer leaders (I wondered why he was suddenly so interested in rugby).

West Tigers v South Sydney

The Cheerleaders

Whilst Gav was watching the rugby match I met up with Vicky for an afternoon in an area called Newtown. Newtown was a total no go area in the 60’s but has been rejuvenated in recent years and now has a cool, arty feel to it. It has lots of little shops, funky cafés and coffee bars and smart gay friendly pubs. I found a quote about the area which I thought was hilarious, “an arty-farty suburb filled with freaks, poofs, junkies and weirdoes”. My kinda place! After mooching around the shops, Vicky and I spent the afternoon in the garden of the Bank Hotel where Gav joined us after the rugby match. The company was great, the sun was shining, the tunes were playing and I had a glass of vino in my hand....heaven!

Just incase you are wondering why we are drinking in so many ‘hotels’ - pubs here are called hotels although most no longer offer accommodation. We think it’s to do with the old licensing laws in that to serve alcohol an establishment offer rooms (although we may be wrong).

What is going on with the weather in the UK? Every email we have received has mentioned it. We obviously picked a good year to go away! I was going to make you all feel better by saying that the weather was bad here at the moment and in fairness it has been pretty cold and wet over the last few weeks but people, recently it’s been gorgeous. On Tuesday 28th it was 27 degrees! Not bad for winter eh. I went out for yet another work lunch (who at all the pies, who ate all the pies......you can fill in the rest yourselves) this time with my 'POD'. We sat on the roof terrace of a local bar soaking up the sun. It's a hard life!

We are trying to visit somewhere new each weekend and so on Saturday 1st September we went to an area called the Glebe with Vicky and Zena. The Glebe has a real Bohemian, hippy feel to it, with a vintage market, shops, cafes and bars. We wondered around the markets for a couple fo hours and finished the day in a little cafe that served delicious seafood. From The Glebe we walked along the river front, visiting the Syndey Fish Markets on the way home.

The Anzac Bridge, Johnstone Bay

Views of the City

A Pelican Outside the Sydney Fish Markets

On Sunday 2nd September we took a stroll across to Darling Harbour where we had a 1pm pickup for our whale watching trip. The outward journey on our little boat was hilarious, the sea was very choppy and the boat was going very fast so we were bouncing up and down on the waves getting absolutely drenched. It was great, like being on a cross between a Pirate Ship and the Log Flume at an amusement park. Luckily we had taken sea sickness tablets before getting on the boat and so did not feel in the slightest bit queasy. Judging by the amount of sick bags being passed around and the very green looking faces, very few people had done the same.

Darling Harbour

We were both a little apprehensive as it would have been so disappointing if we were to see no whales at all. We needn't have worried. We saw four humpback whales and tonnes of dolphins. Gav was lucky enough to see one of the whales breaching, jumping right out of the water and flipping over in the air (unfortunately I was facing the other way and also had the camera...oops). The dolphins were so playful and raced over when they heard the boat approaching. They then swam along side the boat for ages jumping out of the water. It was amazing - probably one of the best things we have done so far this trip. I honestly think we were more excited than the children that were there. Our camera isn't really good enough to capture wildlife on the move so the pictures don't do the day justice at all.

If you look very closely and you might see whales and dolphins in these pictures

On the way out to see the whales we saw this message written in the sky.....is someone tying to tell us something?

On the way we saw something quite different....a nudist beach! Not sure if you can see the bare bottoms on this picture - we certainly could from our boat.

That's all for now folks!

We'll update again in a few weeks. Take care all of you xxx

We love the fact that you now have the equivalent of Sky+ on flights now. You can now badger the stewardess for another free wine without missing any of the film you are watching. Back to back episodes of The Office kept Gavin and I in fits of giggles for most of the flight from Singapore to Sydney.

It's Monday 6th and we have been in Sydney for just over 2 weeks. It's winter! Who allowed Australia to have cold weather? When we arrived at Sydney airport I was wearing flip-flops but realised I was underdressed when I saw people coming into the airport wearing hats and scarves. To be fair we have had some really lovely days. In fact there have been a couple of days where we have been sat in Hyde Park in shorts and tee shirts. The days are beautiful and sunny with clear blue skys but a cold wind - nights are plain cold!

Our first destination in Sydney was D.Lux Hostel in Kings Cross. We arrived pretty tired after our 8 hour, overnight flight and were lucky enough to be put into a dorm on our own. Aaaaah sleeeeeep.

The hostel had a really good social atmosphere and arranged free drinks sessions in local bars every evening. On Saturday 21st, after catching up on our sleep during the day we headed to The Gaff for an hour of free beer. Ever been to a Ritzy nightclub? It doesn't matter in which city, they were all the same. Yes, well then you know what the Gaff was like. Prizes for the couple that act out the best sexual position on stage and that sort of thing. Once the free beer stopped flowing we left. We did join them for one or two other free drinks session though - well, we are backpackers!

We met up with the Birmingham Crew, Vicky and Zena on Sunday 22nd. I wont go into details about the night although needless to say carnage ensued. We have some good nights with Vic and Zena since and they have introduced us to some really good bars (sadly we have also introduced ourselves to the local kebab shop).

On Monday 30th Gav headed off to the Wests Tigers home ground for the rugby match against the Queensland Cowboys (anyone else think that sounds gay?). He went with Aussie Greg, the guy we met in Hanoi, Vietnam. We had both met up with Greg for beers on the previous Friday which was good fun.

It was our third wedding anniversary on 31st July so we treated ourselves to a meal and a bottle of wine (or two) at a restaurant we visited when we were here on our honeymoon.

As well as sampling Sydney's nightlife we have actually got our acts together and managed to find ourselves a flat and jobs! Our apartment is right by Darling Harbour and we are sharing with two lovely girls. The joy of having a room to ourselves being able to unpack our rucksacks! The apartment block also has a gym and pool that we can use. Gav is using the gym this evening.......how many times do you think I'll make it to the gym? Oh but ER is on tonight. Some of the apartments we went to view before finding this one were unbelievable - real dumps. I think we have been really lucky to find the one we are in.

We had to get out of hostels for a bit as I suspect we would have been driven to murder if we'd have stayed where we were for much longer. The last guy we were sharing our dorm with thought it was perfectly acceptable to repeatedly and violently break wind and to use the bathroom with the door open. And guess what? He only bloody snored too!!! I'm not sure what was worse, his trumping, snoring or the sound of his knuckles dragging on the floor. He was disgusting.

Gav started his new job today working with an electrician refurbishing shops and offices. He very much enjoyed his 10 minutes train journey over Sydney Harbour Bridge this morning as opposed to driving for 3 hours to London as he would have done at home. I start my role as an Executive Assistant for 2 Partners at PwC tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in (remind me I said that when I'm moaning about the hard work!) and a bonus is that the PwC offices are at the end of the street that we are now living on.

We both plan to work for the next three months before we go off on our travels again so I can't promise much exciting news during that time as it will be back to early to bed, early to rise........yeah, WHATEVER!