Curley World Tour!

Green. I think that is the best way to describe how we felt getting up at 5.30am on Saturday 3rd to head off to the airport. As I've mentioned in our last entry, one or two Sambucas had been consumed the previous evening (along with one or two other drinks). Gavin spent the taxi journey to the airport telling me about everything I had been up to the night before - dancing on my knees (?), Michael Jackson impressions, the running man (an old favourite)....and all with a broken shoe (long story). Brekkie at the airport soon sorted out our thick heads and after a 3 1/2 hour flight we arrived at Connellan Airport. We picked up our little hire car and drove the short distance from the airport to the Ayers Rock Resort in Yulara.

The Ayers Rock Resort is pretty overpriced for the standard of accommodation available so rather then pay top whack for the higher end hotel rooms we opted to rough it a little and stayed in a cabin on the camp site (still $150 a night though!). We had no loo in the cabin and so shared the bathroom facilities with the campers but did have our own little kitchenette (handy as food in the resort restaurants was as overpriced as the accommodation).

Our cabin at the Ayers Rock Resort

Warning signs in the campsite and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

The best decision we made was to hire a car and see the sights independently rather than booking ourselves onto any organised tours. We therefore had as much time as we needed to see and do everything that we wanted to.

Sunset from a view point in the Ayers Rock Resort on our first evening

We dragged ourselves out of bed at 4.45am the following morning to watch sunrise at Uluru (Ayers Rock) which was, well, a little grey. After sunrise we walked the Liru and Uluru Base walks which took us from the visitor centre and around the base of Uluru, around 13.5km in total. Fortunately it was a cool day so great for walking and the low temperature kept the flies away (more on the flies later).

After nipping back to our cabin for a little rest and sustenance we headed back to Uluru for sunset that evening.

Monday 5th, day three at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park we visited Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). I have to say that we both thought it was more impressive than Uluru. We completed both the Valley of the Winds walk and the Walpa Gorge Walk, around 10km in total.

It was a much warmer day than the previous day and so the dreaded flies decided to make an appearance. We had been warned about the flies at Uluru but this was our first real taste of things come (although little did we know how bad it would get during the next few weeks).

Another downside to the much warmer weather was that I managed to get sun burnt! Quote annoying as I then had ridiculous tan/burn marks so it actually looked like I was still wearing my vest top even when I wasn't.

Uluru, Day Four

It was a terrible shame that we were unable to visit Kings Canyon during our stay in the red centre. Heavy rainfall in the previous few days had resulted in the only road from the Ayers Rock Resort to Kings Canyon park to be closed due to flooding. It was very frustrating to be so close (well, around a 4 hour drive away) and to be unable to get there. There was the option of getting a helicopter but we may have had to re-mortgage our house to be able to afford that method of transport so we decided against it.

Mount Conner, 2 hours drive from the resort

On Wednesday 7th we departed Uluru for our 3 1/2 hour journey to Perth in Western Australia. Our accommodation in Perth was a double room at a hostel called One World Backpackers, in the Northbridge district of Perth. We arrived feeling totally refreshed and relaxed (and a little sun burnt) after our four days at Uluru. Our refreshed feeling was short lived however as the double room we had booked was adjacent to the communal kitchen and the main reception area and so was very noisy until well into the evening and from around 6am the following morning. Not much sleep was had that evening - welcome back to hostel life Mr & Mrs Curley!

The following day we took ourselves on a walking tour of the city ending up in Kings Park, a 1000 acre park in the city which incorporates the Botanical Gardens.

Percy Button and Kangaroo statues

Barrack Street Jetty, Swan Bell Tower and Swan River

Views of Perth from Kings Park

On Friday 9th we headed out to Cottesloe Beach which is short a bus ride away from the city. It was a lovely day but pretty windy which meant we were sandblasted the whole time we were on the beach and having my freshly sun burnt skin sandblasted was a fairly unpleasant experience. We ended the day with a few drinks at the Cottesloe Hotel and the Ocean Beach Hotel which has great views of the beach.

Cottesloe Beach

Lizard at Cottesloe Beach

The 2007 Northbridge Festival was held on Saturday 10th and was just a short stroll from our hostel. After an hour or so wondering around on our own we met up with Roger and Tracey for drinks and dinner. Roger and Tracey have emigrated to Australia and arrived in Perth the day before we did and it was great to catch up with them both.

DJ Kentaro at the Northbridge Festival

We had moved from the double room into a dorm room and thankfully were able to get some kip that evening as on Sunday 11th we were up at 5.45am for a day swimming with dolphins in an area called Rockingham. Neither of us knew exactly what to expect but the day far surpassed anything we had imagined. We basically get set up with wetsuits and snorkels and then spend a while searching around the bay for the dolphins. Once the skipper spotted dolphins, we took it in turns to get into the sea, one small group at a time. A staff member lead the group, pulling us along with an underwater scooter and unbelievably we were able to get within touching distance of wild Bottlenose dolphins. At one point we had 6 dolphins swimming and playing around us, all around 7ft in length. We had 6 drops into the water and each time the dolphins were more than happy to come and play. It was amazing. We were both in agreement that it was once of the best experiences we have ever had.

On Monday 12th we were packed up again and were picked up at 7am for our Western Exposure tour to Exmouth and back to Perth. The tour itself was 7 days although we had decided to spend a little longer in Exmouth in order to do a couple of Scuba dives and planned to travel back to Perth with another group.

We were both a little apprehensive about being on an organised tour for so long but the company had been recommended to us and we decided it was too far to drive independently with the amount of time we had available. We need not have worried. It was brilliant. We were fortunate enough to have a great group of people who all got on like a house on fire. There was 9 nationalities, with ages ranging from 22 to grandparents (we were too polite to ask but I'd imagine mid 60's). I have to say the way the group gelled was a lot to do with a Scouser called Casper who was one of the funniest guys I've met. He got us all talking by setting up quizzes and things to pass the time on the bus and generally entertained us all non-stop. Another factor of course was alcohol!

It was pretty early on in the tour, ie day 1, that we realised how bad the flies were going to be. We stepped out of the minibus at the Pinnacles Desert and were absolutely swarmed by flies. Jeez, I had complained about the few in Sydney and Uluru, they were small fry compared to these bad boys! Our tour guide, Nathan, said it was the shortest visit to the Pinnacles he had ever conducted as we all piled back into the bus after just 10 minutes. We depleted the entire stock of fly nets at the next service station.

The Pinnacles Desert

Sandboarding at Kalbarri

Us abseiling and 'Natures Window' in Kalbarri National Park

Gorge Walk, Kalbarri National Park

Flynets 'R' Us

Stromatolites and Shell Beach in Shark Bay

Joey at our Denham Hostel, daybreak and Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Gorge and Torquoise Bay in Cape Range National Park

The 'Western Exposure' Group

During the tour we had the option on booking an additional one day 'Swim with Manta Rays' tour in Coral Bay. Gavin and I were hesitant to book as we had already spent a fair amount on the Rockingham Dolphins day and also knew that we wanted to go scuba diving during our stay in Exmouth which is another fairly pricey activity. However, the rest of the group persuaded us to go along. It was quite different to the swimming with dolphins experience as we were not pulled along with a scooter and so it was pretty tough going to keep up with the 4 1/2 meter Manta ray that we spotted - they are pretty damned fast. I was fortunate enough on the second drop to have got myself into a great position and was able to swim directly above the ray, having the most amazing view for what felt like ages before it decided it had had enough and swam away from us. To make the day even better we were also taken to a shark 'cleaning station' where the sharks hang around to get a good old clean by all the little fish. We snorkelled 5 metres above around 7 Whitetip reef sharks. We had to leave however when some of the staff noticed a shark that they were unable to identify arrived. The fact that the new shark made the reef sharks skittish and nervous was enough for them to get us out of the water pretty sharpish. There were no complaints from us! (Pictures to follow once we've had the underwater camera developed)

Coral Bay

It actually felt a little sad when we were all saying our goodbyes on the last evening together. One of the American girls said it was a bit like the end of summer camp when you are saying good-bye to all your new friends. Luckily two of the girls in the group had done the same as us and decided to stay on in Exmouth to dive so we were able to book together to dive at the Murion islands.

I have now completed 6 dives but have a long way to go before I'm any good at it I think. I managed to shake myself up a little bit when I started having a coughing fit 15 feet underwater. Not a great feeling but I did mange not to panic too much and complete the dive. Gav had a few issues with his buoyancy and seem to keep floating up towards the surface. I wouldn't say we are naturals in the water!

South Murion Island

The best part of the day was when we had finished our dives and were given the opportunity to snorkel for a while. The crew kept it quiet until the last minute that we were going to be able to snorkel with turtles. It was turtle mating season and the area that we were dropped off, South Murion Island, was just swarming with them (some of them were, ahem, a little busy though). Visibility was not brilliant so once our faces were in the water we were not aware how close we were to a turtle until we were literally face to face with one. They are huge! I'd guess they were around 1 1/2 meters long and around a meter across. They are so chilled out (just like there are in Finding Nemo) that they just let us swim alongside them for ages. The ones that were 'getting jiggy with it' were understandably a little less patient with us and would swim off is we got too close. We could see all the tracks on the beach were the females had climbed up to lay their eggs. To be that close to so many turtles in the wild is pretty special. Another absolutely amazing experience. (Again, pictures to follow once we have developed the underwater cameras)

On Monday 19th we started our 2 day bus journey back to Perth. Lots of road and lots of sleeping were involved. We did have a stop off at the Hutt River Province which was quite interesting.

Basically a wheat farmer in Western Australia decided that he wasn't happy paying taxes to the government and, after much debate, he used a loophole in the law (which has now been closed) and declared his land a sovereign state. He and his wife are know Prince Leonard and Princess Shirley of Hutt. He has his own currency and stamps and you can have you passport stamped upon arrival as you are effectively entering another country that is within Australia (yep, we had our passports stamped).

Hutt River Province - Us with His Royal Highness Prince Leonard I

After one night back at One World Backpackers in Perth we collected our hire car for a 3 day trip to the Margaret River area, stopping off at Bunbury and Bussleton en-route. We had to juggle our itinerary a little to fit it in but are both very glad that we did. The wine tasting tour that we had booked ended up only having one other couple on which meant it was a pretty subdued tour although it didn't stop Gav and I getting sloshed on all of the wine we tried. We ended up coming away with 3 bottles of wine and bottle of white port (surprisingly good), all of which have now been consumed!

Our hire car

Bussleton

Wine Tasting Tour, Margaret River

Prevelly Beach, Margaret River

Freemantle, 15km from Perth

We decided not to head back to Perth City and instead booked into Ocean Beach Backpackers in Cottesloe Beach. The room we had was pretty disgusting, I mean really messy and dirty, and don't start me on the bathroom! I was the only girl in a room with 7 guys. We had to sleep with the windows open all night as the smell in the room was too bad if you closed them. All of that aside, we had the best time there. It was such a laugh and we met some great people. It was a shame to have to move on as we had had such fun staying there although I was glad to see the back of the dirtiest kitchen I have seen in ages.

Sunset at Cottesloe Beach

On Saturday 24th we jumped on a ferry from Barrick Street Jetty to Rottnest Island where we hired bikes for a 3 hour ride around the island. It's pretty hilly and I did have to stop once or twice and push my bike up the hill. It didn't help that we had arrived too late to get a bike with any gears which made navigating the hills a little more difficult, downhill was great though. It was also great to be able to stop and jump into the sea in one of the lovely bays to cool down when it all got a bit too hot and sweaty. We even managed to spot a Quokka and her Joey.

Rottnest Island

On Sunday 25th we met up with Roger and Tracey again and were joined by a couple of girls from the hostel, Amy and Rachel, for the Cottesloe 'Sunday Session'. We ended the evening with more drinks at the hostel. Another big session the evening before a flight!

Cottesloe Sunday Sesh

Drinking games at Ocean Beach Backpackers

This entry doesn't take you right up to the end of November but I'm afraid I have blog fatigue, as I fear you have too after reading this lengthy entry. In addition to my blog fatigue the internet cafe that we are in keeps playing heavy rock which I'm sure could cause ones head to explode. I therefore have to leave as a head explosion may be difficult to explain at the local A&E and claiming on my travel insurance would be a nightmare.

Melbourne here we come!

Children cooling off in a fountain in Sydney's Darling Harbour

Oh my word we have been hit by a plague of Bogong Moths!

It's made the news here as it has been such a problem. At one point we must have had 20 in our apartment alone. There were thousands upon thousands of them in Sydney itself. They migrate through South East Australia during the spring but this year Sydney was hit with massive numbers of them. Some buildings were literally covered in a complete wall of moths. Sitting in the park or even just walking down the street was a traumatic experience let me tell you.

Gavin "I aint scared of no moths fool" Curley came to my rescue on numerous occasions with his cat like ability to catch the little blighters mid flight. Not surprising given that his only alternative would have been to listen to three girls in the apartment squealing and running around like lunatics every time we were confronted with one.

Apparently they are delicious, there have been loads of recipes doing the rounds. You have to remove their wings and fur though......(vom).

Talking of insects, is it just me or are flies in hot countries a bit, well, 'harder' than flies in the UK? In the UK if a fly finds it's way into your home all its looking for is left over food. It will then relentlessly fly against a window pane (regardless of whether said window is open or not) until it dies. Here, forget food, they want to take you on! They repeatedly try to fly into your mouth, your ears or your eyes. They don't care that you are feverishly batting them way and doing that crazy dance that we tend to do when something is flying at us - you know sort of 'spinning around on the spot whilst swinging your arms around your head' dance? Nope, these flies are saying "C'MON, HIT ME. IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT!" (for some reason in my head that's a Cockney accent when of course it couldn't be because these are Aussie flies, but go with me on this).

They are ASBO flies. They want to fly into your eye and then steal your car.

I don't like Bogong Moths or ASBO Flies.

Moving on......

Sydney has completely come alive now that the sun has arrived. Every weekend seems to have a free festival or event taking place. Here's what we have been up to for the last few weeks.

Wallabies v England, Rugby World Cup - Saturday 6th

Later that evening.......

Those of you in Birmingham think 'Flares' and that will give you an idea of what The Retro Hotel was like which was the venue for our PwC Retro night out. Full on cheesy, I don’t care that I'm dancing to ABBA, kinda place. I managed to get lost on my way home even though the club is on the same street as our apartment. You'll be pleased to know I found my way back eventually!

PwC Retro Night Out - Friday 12th October

The Surry Hills Festival included stalls selling clothes, jewellery, arts & crafts, food and beer, three stages with live bands and performances and a dance tent. Not bad for a free event! Fortunately the dance tent stopped playing at 6pm as had it of carried on we would not have made it to the fancy dress party that evening.

Surry Hills Festival - Saturday 13th October

Vicky invited us along to a fancy dress party where everyone had to dress up as something beginning with the letter P. Gav and I decided against dressing up but those that did really put a lot of effort into their costumes and looked great.

Patrick's ‘P’ Party - Saturday 13th October

I attended a drinks evening with the agency that placed me at PwC on Thursday 18th. Copious amounts of 'bubbles' (as in not really champers but it'll do anyway, especially as it's free) was drunk. I came away very merry with a lots of new friends.

On Friday 19th I attended a charity lunch at PwC to raise money for The National Breast Cancer Foundation. The team at PwC put on truly excellent events. The room was beautifully decorated - it was obvious that a lot of time and effort had been put into making sure it was a successful event. Around 150 people attended and lots of money was raised for the charity. Again the champers flowed....and I drank it.

A couple of the girls that I had met on Thursday evening invited Gavin and I out to a works drinks evening on Friday night and so after my long boozy lunch I left the office to rush home, get changed, pick up the Hubby, and start all over again. We had a great night but I have to say it all caught up with us by Saturday. DVDs and a Thai takeaway was all we could manage. Little Miss Sunshine, have you seen it? It's worth watching just for the dance routine at the end, hilarious!

Another day another festival. Dank Street festival is part of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month. There were numerous stalls selling all kinds of food and wine along with two stages with DJs and live performances. Well here's the thing, we started off very civilised, tasting wine, eating freshly cooked seafood whilst listening to the music. However, once we had 'done' the festival we decided to move on to a nearby pub where we met with a group of guys who had been out since 4am (watching South Africa beat England in the Rugby World Cup but enough said about that). Sambuca shots and Irish dancing followed.

Dank Street Festival – Sunday 21st

Hungry?

Oh dear, here we go again...

On Wednesday 24th the team I work for at PwC took Gav and I to a restaurant called Wildfire in Circular Quay for a farewell dinner. It was a lovely evening, Gav got to meet the people I have been working with for the last three months and we all got to meet each others's partners. We received our third invitation to Christmas dinner that evening too. I think for someone to invite two people that they hardly know into their homes for Christmas is an exceptionally kind thing to do.

Also part of The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month was the Sydney Food and Wine Fair held in Hyde Park with all proceeds donated to the AIDS Trust. It was an extremely popular event with lots of queues for the various food and wine stalls. After we'd had a good feed we sat in the sun for an hour or two just watching the world go by.

Sydney Food & Wine Fair – Saturday 27th

More drink, I actually need to detox now I think. Well let me just explain, we didn't set out to go to the Drink Pink Rosé Festival at The Argyle. We spent the first part of our day, as planned, visiting Paddys Market and then the Rocks Market looking for little gifts to send home. We had heard that the Argle was a good bar so when we spotted near to the Rocks Market area we decided to pop in for a spot of lunch. It was then that we realised there was a Rosé tasting day. For $20 you could have unlimited tastings of over 50 wines and three full glasses of your favorites. When it was coming to the end of the day the gentlemen serving were more than generous with the amounts they were pouring.

Drink Pink Rosé Festival at The Argyle, The Rocks - Sunday 28th

Wednesday 31st. Our last day at work! We've both been so lucky with the jobs we found and are fortunate enough to have really enjoyed working for the last three months. Having said that, we are both very excited about donning our backpacks and hitting the road again and having no more work until at least April 2008! We have two months of travelling around Oz ahead of us and it's just over four weeks until my Sister, Sylvia, joins us in Melbourne. We also get to see our friends Roger and Tracey when we are in Perth.

Cardie's leaving lunch with some of the PwC support team

Ladies and gentlemen, he is bringing sexy back! Oh yeah, I dragged Gavin along to see JT at the Acer Arena on 1st November and it was absolutely brilliant!

Justin Timberlake Concert

We arranged to have farewell drinks on our last night in Sydney. I honestly do not remember a thing past the second Sambuca, however, judging by the photographs I had a great time!

Leaving Drinks, Cargo Bar - Friday 2nd November

You can guess that I felt less than well getting up at 6am for our flight to Uluru but more on that in our next installment.

Ta-ta for now xxx

Vicky's birthday night out No.1. The Cricketers Arms, Surry Hills - Wednesday 5th September

Friday 7th September was a public holiday due to the APEC summit which was being held in Sydney (George Bush and his entourage whizzing past our offices the previous day had caused hysteria). Gavin and I went to see Snow Patrol perform at the ACER Arena on the evening. They were absolutely brilliant. Unfortunately we have no pictures as we were the only two people out of thousands that abided by the no cameras rule. It's a little strange going to a concert in Sydney though as the crowd are so subdued. We have spoken to a number of people about it since and that simply seems to be the way people are at concerts here. I found it odd that the people in the seated area stayed seated for the entire concert - we were in the standing area and bounced around like lunatics as you would expect. I hope the crowd are a little more enthusiastic when I go to see Justin Timberlake next month! He's bringing sexy back!

Vicky's main birthday night out was on Saturday 8th. it was a great evening although I realised it was time to go home when I found myself in a 'dance-off' which involved me break-dancing, spinning around on the floor like a mad woman. Sadly I did not win said dance off as my opponent wiped the floor with me with her double commando roll. Note to self: must learn more moves.

Vicky's birthday night out No.2. Cargo Bar, Kings Wharf - Saturday 8th September

The following weekend was spent walking some of Sydney beautiful costal walks. It's excellent as we can jump on a bus or a ferry and be at a beach in less than 30 minutes.

The Bondi to Coogee Coastal Walk - Saturday 15th September

The South Head Coastal Walk - Sunday 16th September

The South Head Coastal walk ends at Watson’s Bay where it would be simply rude not to sample the fish and chips from the famous Doyles restaurant.

Views from the ferry port in Watson’s Bay

On Friday 14th we jumped on the train after work and headed to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains for a weekend break (I know, a weekend break during a year long break!). The mountains are spectacular. We had such a lovely time. It's fair to say we had to drag ourselves away on the Sunday. We stayed at the cutest little hostel called No. 14 which is a restored mountain guesthouse with lots of character and a lovely fire burning in the communal area (it's pretty cold in the mountains at night).

On Saturday we walked from our hostel to Echo Point, the starting point for our Echo Point to Scenic Park bush walk which incorporates The Three Sisters and the Giants Stairway along its 2 1/2 hour duration.

Blue Mountains bush walk - Echo Point to Scenic Park

Like the big kids that we are we had to buy the unlimited pass for the two cable cars and the funicular railway at Scenic Park so that we could go on everything in both directions!

Scenic Park at the Blue Mountains

Views of the mountains from Scenic Park

On the way home from the mountains we decided to visit the Zig Zag railway which is also in the Blue Mountains. Unfortunately we missed our connecting train for our return journey and had to wait for over two hours at the Zig Zag's Bottom Points station with the company of an exceptionally annoying family - Mr Know-it-all, his wife, Mrs Man-Woman, and their kids, Rudee and Ruder. (shudder)

The Zig Zag railway

On Thursday 25th PwC hosted an event for PAs and clients PAs. It was a such a fun night with a fashion show and lots of champagne. I'm pleased to say that I was relatively well behaved and was not one of the girls that got locked in the stairwell whilst having a cheeky ciggie, or the girl that knocked a whole table of drinks over - twice, or the girl that was placed into the sick bay by a Partner who had found her slumped over her desk in a drunken stupor. The same girl woke up at 3am and called the police as she had no idea where she was (she rang in sick the following day unsurprisingly). No siree, not me. I was of course one of the ones who insisted that the night could not end when they closed the free bar and switched on the lights. "Who's up for carrying on?" - said in a loud Brummie accent

One of the guys at work invited us along to a private party that was being held at Bungalow 8's bar in Kings Wharf on Thursday 27th. It was a great do that had attracted a huge crowd and had DJs, live PAs, entertainers and a free bar. We managed to get our photo in the social pages of the Sunday Herald which my work colleagues found very entertaining! Fortunately the photographer managed to take our picture before we commenced our drunken dance routine to Salt 'n' Pepa's "Push It".

The Sun Herald, 30 September 2007

On Saturday 29th Sarah, Conor and their gorgeous little son Finn invited us over to their home for our first Aussie BBQ. I think they were a little surprised that our contribution to the BBQ was kangaroo meat. But we wanted to try it! It's a bit like tough lamb and I probably wouldn't buy it again. Following the BBQ Gavin and I headed to their local pub which Sarah had promised served the best Guinness in Sydney - Gavin is in full agreement. There was an Irish Band playing and lots of dancing too which made it a great evening.

As it was a bank holiday weekend, on Sunday 30th we headed to a night called Godskitchen at Home Club with Vicky. The club went on until 7am....we did not. Why, why, oh why do people bring glow sticks to clubs? You look silly, stop it! We left at around 2am.

The weather on Monday 1st was gorgeous. We spent the whole day in Darling Harbour for the Darling Harbour 'Fiesta' which was a celebration of all things Latin American. There were three different stages with performances from dancers and musicians along with stalls selling crafts and food. The children's Flamenco performance was excellent, however, the funniest thing I have seen in ages was the 'Learn to Salsa' session. Two dancers on stage gave instructions to the crowd and we all had a go at learning a few Salsa steps. We were really surprised at how many people got involved. Everyone was really up for a laugh and didn't care how silly they looked and boy did they look silly. It was very funny indeed.

These two little darlings were having an excellent time dancing to the salsa music (yep, still obsessed with Asian kids!)

And so the end of the bank holiday weekend and the end of this installment.

We'll update again at the end of October by which time we'll be finishing up at work and set to head off on our travels again (can't wait!).

It's Wallabies v England in the Rugby World Cup on Saturday. I do hope England win as we've been getting no end of stick from the Aussies. C'MON ENGLAND!.

Ta-ta for now.

Gav & Cardie xxx

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!