Sunday 20th June - Alice Springs - Sydney
Our final day in the 'Outback' - we will miss all those blokes with big bushy beards (just like you'd imagine) not to mention the many camels and kangaroos we've spotted . Our journey to the airport and flight to Sydney were uneventful. We arrived at 4.30pm just as it was getting dark. Grabbed a bus to take us to our apartment. When we got there we were handed our keys and found ourselves on the top floor of the building. The only slight issues we had were that the toilet has to be sat on sideways(!) and the only heating is via the air-conditioner - still we like it lots. Promptly bought ourselves the equivalent of 10 bottles of red and white wine for about 10 pounds. The temptation of a Chinese takeaway was too much for us and the Mongolian lamb dish went down a treat!

Monday 21st June - Sydney
Failure to buy some breakfast last night meant we dined on a couple of fried breakfasts for less tahn 2 pounds each. Made our way on up to Sydney Opera House for our first look at this supposed architectural wonder - not quite as big as we expected somehow. Lunchtime seemed to bring all the keep-fit fanatics from their office desks for a quick jog around the harbour . After a tea/coffee and muffins we headed up and accross the Sydney Harbour Bridge road. The view from the lower level confirmed to us we wanted to do the real thing and climb it so we booked our climb for tomorrow. Bumped into Lucy and Fran again from our Ayer's Rock trip on their way up the bridge. Spoke to Derek's cousin Joe on the phone and planned to head up their direction on Sunday. Caught the first day of Wimbledon on telly before drifting off to sleep.

Tuesday 22nd June
We had a quick check of the car rental company rates for next week and a small place called Bayswater won by a mile being cheaper overall and also having an excess of only $200 compared with $2,750 elsewhere! Headed down to the harbour and jumped on board a 'coffee and cake' cruise around the magnificant Sydney harbour - made use of our 'student' cards for the first time that we picked up in Bangkok. On the cruise we spotted Kylie Minogue's, Tom Cruise's and Nicole's Kidman's residences not to mention a nudist beach in between scoffing tea, carrot and chocolate cake . Had a quick sandwich and chips in a cafe before heading to our 'Bridgeclimb' of the Sydney harbour bridge. We were kitted out in boilersuits and given a climb briefing before we were on our way. The climb itself was quite easy to get to the top but the views at the top were brilliant. Photos were taken and the walk down was the most nerve jangling bit for the most of us. We bought our photos of the 2 of us as the group photos that were included gave no indication we were in Sydney! Still, we really enjoyed the climb and were glad we did it. Had a drink in the pub on the way home (mostly so Derek could see the football highlights!) and dined in Hungry Jack's which is the Australian version of Burger King but it has a jukebox and some 50's decor which make it feel like Eddie Rocket's in Ireland.

Wednesday 23rd June
A stroll down to the harbourside this morning in the warm sunshine took us to 'Harry's Cafe de Wheels' which is supposedly a tourist attraction in it's own right but we just settled for a couple of pies . Walked through Wooloomooloo Bay area and the harbour-side's Botanical Gardens observing a far-reaching choice of dress-codes from shorts and t-shirts brigade to those with 3 or 4 layers, a coat and a scarf! The temperature was 22C! A walk through the Victorian design of houses in Paddington took us to a bar in King's Cross. After a drink Derek had a haircut from a nice Italian man who was upset with the football results. We observed a lorry lift a tree upwards as it tried to park before coming back to the apartment for an early night. On her way to get some change Sue momentarily thought herself lost until she realised a new 'Woolworth's' supermarket has literally just opened for business tomorrow morning.

Thursday 24th June
Derek was up early to talk to John before the match tomorrow to get some idea of how Euro 2004 is going (as TV coverage here is non-existent). Crossed the road to Woolworths on their first day of business - Sue got a rose and Derek got some coleslaw and potato salad on their 'freebie' list . Booked our car-hire for Sunday and a hotel for our last night in Sydney before Adelaide. Went to the i-Max cinemas (largest screen in the world apparently) but decided against seeing the film that was showing. Sydney must be the greatest city in the world for eating and it's no exagaration to say every 2nd premises seems to be a restaurant, bar, cafe or deli - however, this wasn't much use to us as we spent the afternoon first looking for some clothes and shoe shops and then for clothes and shoes themselves with no luck. A phonecall to Nationwide has finally sorted out the credit card stuff before we had a tasty dinner of potatoes, brocolli with chicken, wine and mushroom sauce.

Friday 25th June
Our day at the zoo! On the way to catch the boat to Taronga zoo we managed to find Derek a chunky winter coat to see him through the next few months - a new coat for 19 quid is not bad! The day was perfect weatherwise for walking around. The 'bird show' was excellent and had such things as trained owls swooping low over the audience's heads before landing - and all with Sydney harbour as the spectacular backdrop . We saw Red Pandas which were very cute, Da Brazza Guenon monkeys (no, we'd never heard of them either!), Andean Condors and of course Koala bears which had been our main reason for going. Sue loved them and still can't help laughing (in a nice way!) at kangaroos when they hop off in their chosen direction. A really enjoyable day all in then! Our evening tea (Mexican again!) was interrupted by the fire alarm going off. Once we'd grabbed our bags and headed downstairs we found out it was only a false alarm.

Saturday 26th June - Sydney
Lazy morning, then walked to China Town as there's a a shopping centre there and Paddy's Market. Needed some warm clothes for the Blue Mountains and New Zealand. Sue got a coat and also some black trousers from Esprit and some jeans from the market. Over here they seem to make all the trousers legs too long so Sue had to take them up after buying them. Derek spent his time in the internet cafe whilst Sue shopped - it's a perfect combination! Made some calls to folks at home. Australia beat England at the rugby today and don't they like to keep on about it! We've like Sydney very much - wouldn't have minded being here even longer but our time is up. The weather's been great for getting around on foot thought today was the coldest yet - about 17C we reckon!