We're in Sydney!

Hello from Sydney! It's an amazing city, small enough to wander around and see all the sights but big enough to to feel a part of something. So many of the places we've seen have had so few people there it's been a bit of a joke!

Anyway, we've been round the harbour, took pictures of the bridge, opera house and techno Aboriginies, and then hopped on a ferry to Manly, mainly for the photos of the city from on the water. Manly itself was nice, with beaches in the harbour and onto the ocean - the surfers beach. We watched volleyball and surf types for a while which was cool, and then got some barrumundi and chips to take on the ferry back.

The ferry back...one of our more ridiculous moments occued on the ferry back. Queuing up, we got there early and to the front so we could rab seats outside (of which there aren't many) at the front of the boat. The gate was opened and we raced on, heading to the front, and there we sat, front row central, still facing Manly but ready for the boat to turn around and head to Sydney central.

It didn't.

We went backwards for about ten minutes, both of us keeping each other's hopes up for the big turnaround that never came. It was only as the other ferry came past us, we realised that the boat was double-ended, like a train, and like a pair of buffoons we'd ran on to grab seats at the back of the boat! We sheepishly walked up the front to join the standing masses all snapping away as we once again passed the opera house and the harbour bridge. We're glad it happened because we laughed about it the whole way once we'd realised we were eejits.

That evening, we went to a place which served free pizza from 8pm, so being cheapo backpackers we popped in and had what turned out to be a good sized pizza! Then we went to meet Laura, a friend from university who's working here and some of her chums at a bar overlooking Darling harbour for some cheap cocktails. Apparently Prince Wills visited the very same bar recently. We might've even sat in his seat, who knows!

Yesterday we went to Bondi beach with Laura, for a glorious early afternoon and stormy evening. The waves weren't too crazy and the sea was perfectly clear, you could see your feet on the bottom even a chest height, and the sun was beating down - it was the hottest we've felt since we've been here. It was a case of swim, dry off, heat up in 60 seconds and swim again until the first clouds started to show up.

At first they were a welcome relief, shading us a bit and then letting the sun back out, but then things became much greyer as a storm rolled in. We watched the lightning fork out to sea which was incredible while we waited for the bus home.

Our plans to see the opera house at night were foiled as the rain came down in torrents, the streets flooded and the water running like a river down the middle of the roads. The storm lasted all night, although was at its worst just as Laura wanted to head home. She left, came back soaking and stayed until it had eased off hours later!

Today the plan is to avoid the rain and explore a bit more, and also have a look at some of the Chinese New Year celebrations which have started already. The official date is the 14th so hopefully there'll be some stuff going on - there's quite a large Asian population. We'll keep you posted...

ps. Loads more photos are up...