Sydney, Australia

We've now been in Sydney for a good few days, and its our last day tomorrow. Time seems to be flying so quickly. Perhaps it'll slow down once we get to the Solomon Islands and have a lot less to do.

I formed my opinion on Sydney rather quickly. I love it, its AMAZING! My favourite city in the world so far, although Paris is nice too (We've still got a few places to go so you never know that might change.) On our last day in Thailand we went for a traditional Thai massage which was very, very relaxing (if a bit hard), this set us up for our flight to Aus which was again long, and this time we got very little sleep and arrived at 6:00am, we couldn't get into our hotel room so we went for some breakfast to a local cafe. Soon after we sat down, a group of people sat down next to us and began moaning about MTAS and the UK. A couple of them were doctors who've come over to Aus. I CAN'T ESCAPE!

Anyway, we caught up on some well deserved sleep and were ready for a wander by the early evening. We've packed a lot of wandering into our days in Sydney which has been really nice. It is rather cold at the moment obviously as its Aussie winter, although its still about as warm as some summer days in the UK. I like it.

I love how the birds here are so different, walking around the botanical gardens the noise is incredible. Mainly from the cockatoos who are just walking around being birds. That sounds silly but its just normal but for us its new and interesting. Then there are the parrots which are just floating around in the trees, as are the flying foxes which are HUGE and just hang from trees in the park. A walk in the park is like being in the zoo. We've also been to various places to sample other bits of the local wildlife such as kangaroos, koalas and crocs.

And then there is the Opera House, I suppose it is the typical aus tourist attraction but I love it. I can't really explain why. I know I'm just another tourist and one of millions to have taken photos of it (when I say photos I mean loads! But I've whittled them down). I think the city looks amazing at night (especially the Opera House!). The city is rather quiet but quite busy at the same time and it is so clean. It is like my favourite city in the UK but bigger and a lot lot cleaner. I definitely want to come back sometime in the future (even though its miles away!)

So yeah, we're having a great time so far. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Bangkok but Sydney is completely different and I love it.

Tomorrow we move on to Fiji, a final bit of relaxation before we head towards the Solomon Islands. I'm starting to get a touch nervous about all that but I'll be enjoying the rest of my holiday first of all.