We arrived in Sydney at 15:25 and, after collecting our bags, caught a taxi to the hostel we had booked. Gareth was already there so we dropped our bags and headed straight out into the city as the evening was closing in. When Gareth was last in Sydney he had stumbled across an alleyway called 'Bird Cage alley' where, as the name suggests, lots of bird cages hang representing the breeds which have been driven out of the city as a result of the continuing building development, so he took us there to have a look. It is a beautiful piece of artwork with a sombre feeling, particularly as walking underneath triggers sound recordings of each bird song! From here we went to Darling Harbour, where the circus was in town! This isn't your average circus though as many of the acts have a comedy twist! We decided to watch some of the shows so bought tickets to one called, 'Russia's best kept secret' which was being performed in the Castello tent. This was a very silly skit of a TV infomercial host selling hula hooping as the latest form of exercise! It was very entertaining but, as there was a lot of audience participation, we were all glad when it finished and none of us had been called up on stage! Further along the harbour, a group of break dancers were performing so we stopped to watch them for a while. They were very good and it seemed all the more spectacular with the city back drop and harbour right behind them. We moved on to the next show on the programme that had caught our attention: a gymnastic performance called Mothlight. This can only be described as extremely bizarre and was very slow going so Matt and I lost interest and decided to go back and watch the end of the break dancing show! The break dancers had finished but a Moroccan fire dancer had now taken over. Once both shows had finished, we went to a nearby food court for dinner before heading back to the hostel.
 
The first of our busy days, Monday, saw us up and out at 6:15am . We were picked up at 7:10am by our tour guide for the day: Terry. There were a few more pick ups to be made before we made our way out of Sydney at about 7:50am. It takes quite a while to reach the Blue Mountains and we didn't reach our first stop, Echo Point, until 9:40am! Terry kept us entertained though with his knowledge of the sydney and the mountains along with interesting stories about his life and the people he has met as it seems he's had an amazing life and made some very interesting people. At Echo Point, you can see the Three Sisters, these are a rock formation which, according to the Dreamtime story, was created when 3 warriors had their wives (who happened to be sisters) turned to stone while they went to war so they couldn't be pursued by any other men! Unfortunately all 3 of them were killed in battle so were unable to return and turn their wives back into humans!! We walked over to the lookout and down to the lower level to take photos before completing the walk to the Three Sisters where you can touch the first of the rocks . Once back in the town, we had a look in the shops, bought postcards and muffins before we jumped back on the coach to drive to the Scenic Skyway.
 
The Skyway takes you between the cliff tops at 270m above the ground where you can see the rainforest canopy through the glass floor and offers beautiful views of Katoomba Falls, the Three Sisters and Jamison Valley. Terry was waiting for us at the other side where he led us to the Scenic Cableway so we could ride the 545m down into the Jamison Valley. We followed the Scenic Walkway through 2.4km of Jurassic rainforest with Terry guiding us and explaining all the different trees. I was named a British history expert when I answered Terry's question about Henry VIII! Matt was named Maths champion when he worked out the age of a tree based on how tall it was and much it grows each year. Terry took us to the old Katoomba coal mine before we climbed aboard the Scenic Railway which, with a 52 degree incline, is the steepest passenger railway in the world! We were heading 310m up to the escarpment, through a cliff side tunnel! It was a pretty scary ride particularly as we were in the bottom carriage so had an uninterrupted view of the drop below us! This wasn't built for tourism originally as it was for the miners but now the mines are shut it's been renovated and is a big tourist attraction . It's so steep so it must have been very scary for the miners before all the safety equipment was added. When we got out of the train station, Matt had noticed a man with a snake and a couple lizards on his shoulders. As Matt went to get a close up picture of the lizards, the man rather quickly put the snake around his neck, then as I came over to get a picture of him, to my shock he put a lizard on my shoulder as well! I managed to keep a brave face for a couple of photos but I was quite relieved when he took it back.  
 
The next stop on our tour was the Katoomba Golf course where we were stopping for lunch as the tour included a buffet dinner. From there we drove to the nearby town of Leura, where we had about an hour to wander about before jumping back on the coach and heading for Featherdale Wildlife Park. We only had 45 minutes there so we dashed around collecting the stamps for each animal in our 'passports' and stopping at the most interesting animals! Gareth was very excited as he finally got to see a cassowary, I was excited as we saw quokkas and Matt was excited as he bought a food cone and was giving lots of animals their lunch! Even though they seemed to like the cone more than the food inside it . To top this off, we were all excited as we saw joeys in their mum's pouches!!!! We had to leave at 16:35, Terry had been very clear about this, as we had to get to the ferry terminal in time for our river cruise! Once we were all back on the coach, we set off. I happened to turn back and spot an empty seat that I was fairly certain had been occupied during the rest of the trip! Terry stopped the coach as we saw the Russian lady running up to the coach!! We still made it to the ferry terminal in time and found seats at the back of the boat. It was a beautiful ride as we got to see the huge houses along the rivers edge, they must have been worth millions. Also seeing the sun set over the Sydney skyline and the sky scrapers appear up the river as we cruised closer, we all felt very relaxed! Once back on dry land we decided to treat ourselves to drinks and dinner at Maloneys Hotel before heading back to the hostel at about 10pm.
 
The sun was shining on Tuesday so we decided to make the most of this by taking Gareth to one of our most treasured places Manly, for a day at the beach . We had a lovely time relaxing and sun bathing before moving round to Shelly Beach. Matt had been desperate to have a go at paddle boarding and, as there is a paddle board shop between Manly and Shelly beach, he decided today was the day! It was absolutely hilarious watching him try to get the board into the water and stand up on it as no sooner had he stood up he fell off, this happened several times much to the amusement of us and quite a few others nearby, but eventually his perseverance paid off and he managed to get his balance long enough to enjoy himself as he paddled off around the bay! Once he had returned the board and dried off, we popped into a bar along the sea front for a couple of drinks before grabbing food and jumping back on the ferry to Sydney! Matt & I absolutely love Manly so it was brilliant to be able to share it with Gareth especially as on the ferry he said how much he had liked it there too! It seems no one can escape Manly's charm!
 
On Wednesday morning we checked out of the hostel and got a taxi to Jen and Josh's house . We were greeted by Josh and Reef rather than Irene as we were expecting because it was pouring with rain so Josh couldn't work! It was so lovely to see them both again and it suddenly felt like we'd hardly been away. We quickly caught up on the past few weeks before we headed out again to catch a train to Parramatta. By now it was raining really hard so we were trying our hardest to stay under cover and hiding under umbrellas but this didn't help us when a lorry drove straight through a huge puddle and splashed us, soaking our shoes and trousers right through! The plan was to catch a bus into the centre of Sydney then walk to the train station, from there we had to catch a train to Paramatta. We then discovered that we then needed to jump on another bus to our destination... Suzie Q HQ!!!!! This was the present Matt had arranged for my birthday and I was ridiculously excited! While we were on the train, Matt received a message saying I needed leggings as I was going to be learning the Lyra (aerial hoop!) and would get bad bruises and burns if I only wore shorts! This was a slight problem as I didn't own any let alone have them with me! Luckily, there was a sports shop in the shopping centre at Paramatta train station so I was able to buy a pair before heading to the studio!
 
We arrived at Suzie's studio at about 2:45pm giving us time to have a cuppa and catch up with Suzie while she set up the lyra and the silks . She was so warm and friendly it seemed hard to believe she's as much of a star that she is. She talked about how she loved Kathy and her time in Norwich so it was nice she remembered us. Matt was allowed to stay and watch the class so he became chief photographer! First up was the silks, Suzie taught me to secure a foot into the silks giving you a solid base for all moves. I learnt to hang sideways and also on my back as well as climbing a little way. The most exciting move though saw me roll up on the silks and hold an arabesque pose before tumbling back down!! The final move was the splits which saw me drop lower than expected as I didn't control the silks too well! But luckily no damage was caused. Then it was time to move on to the Lyra: and I soon found out that the hardest thing was actually getting up on to the hoop! It was also pretty uncomfortable sitting in it because its quite thin compared to a pole and made of steel! Nevertheless, I managed to get up into it and sit as beautifully as I could manage!! From there I learnt the 'Lady in the moon' position which was even more painful than sitting!! Suzie then taught me 'Man in the moon' which is a lovely, comfy and pretty position!!! The last move I learnt saw me hanging from the hoop by my neck before pulling back up and forward rolling off the hoop and landing gracefully! Suzie then announced the plan was to put all of these moves together into a mini routine which Matt kindly filmed!! I had an absolutely brilliant lesson and have definitely caught the silks and Lyra bug! I can't wait to have another go already . Thank you sooooooo much Matt for such a brilliant birthday present! Xx
 
After my class, we decided to walk back to the train station rather than catch the bus as it gave me a chance to stretch out a bit and now the rain had stopped it had actually turned into a nice day! We managed to get the train back a bit closer to Mosman so only had a short bus ride and walk back to Josh & Jen's house! Gareth was already back from his afternoon exploring the city and Jen was home from work so, after a quick shower, we told them all about my class and cooked sausages and mash for dinner!
 
On Thursday we had to get up at 6am in order to get into the city in time for our Harbour Bridge Climb: our Christmas present from my parents! It was another rainy day so we were feeling a little disheartened and worried that such an amazing experience was going to be ruined by the weather! We were actually running ahead of schedule so we had time to look around The Rocks, this was cut short due to the pouring rain so we made our way to the Climb Centre . As we were early, we were able to go on a slightly earlier climb which seemed great until we discovered the other people on our climb. Two of the most annoying things on trips, other than hordes of Asians, are Americans and kids and, yep, we now had a group of annoying American kids! Getting ready for the climb seemed to take forever: in actual fact it took about an hour before we set off on our climb! We had to fill in some disclaimer forms, get fitted for our overalls, change into our new outfit, attach our harness belt, practise climbing up and down the steps with the harness attached, set up our radio packs and headphones and collect our warm weather gear!!! Eventually, we were ready to start the climb so made our way out onto the first pylon. It was clear the kids were already getting to the guide with their constant messing about but luckily Matt managed to get himself to the front of the queue, right behind our guide, so Gareth and I slipped in behind him meaning we could focus on the climb and stay away from the increasingly loud and excitable Americans!
 
The first part of the climb saw us walking through lots of scaffolding to get to the first tower . Matt, in particular, had to watch his head a number of times and had quite a few near misses!! The walk was along walkways on the beams underneath the bridge to start with but we were still over 50 metres above the ground. We got to look down over The Rocks and a rather expensive hotel which is right next to the bridge but looks over the harbour at the opera house, our guide said these penthouse rooms cost $16,000 a night!!!! This seems excessive but they're still a busy hotel somehow. Once we reached the first tower we had to climb up a few ladders to get to the start of the arch. This was really cool as the ladders go right up next to the road so as we were climbing, the cars came whistling past. The climb itself wasn't very demanding as it was steps up rather than a slope. Luckily the rain had stopped still and the sky wasn't too bad. We walked some of the way then stopped for photos doing the same again once we reached the top. It was beautiful looking back on a city we love so much, it's such an amazing area and so picturesque from every angle . It was very strange looking straight down on 8 lanes of very busy traffic though, especially as we hadn't noticed before how the lanes don't have dividing barriers meaning the 2 centre lanes are going head on right next to each other in very tight lanes, it's no wonder there's so many accidents on there. We got to spend a while taking in the views as we had a quick group photo and everyone had individual ones. We then walked across to the other side of the bridge to start our descent. After another quick photo we started heading down. Looking over the city was rather interesting as the biggest blackest cloud was making it way over, we had seen it before but hoped it wasn't coming near but it certainly had got closer. Although it had got closer it was definitely staying on the other side of the city almost making it disappear behind a wall of thick black rain. As we had to go back down the ladders on the tower it was like before how you climb right between the traffic, this time though we were sandwiched between 8 lanes of traffic and 2 train tracks . As we climbed down we all hoped for a train to go past as it would be amazing to see it go right past us with all the passengers literally just the other side of the window. Unfortunately one never came! Nevertheless, we carried on underneath some scaffolding and along the beams again. We were shown an area where workmen had been painting the steel work. It wasn't a very large area but they had taken 7 years to grit blast and paint so I think they'll have a job for life painting the whole bridge if it takes that long. There were areas that were waiting to be done and it was clear to see the erosion from the weather and old age as rust was flaking off in several places. I'm glad they didn't show us that until right at the end as I'm not sure I'd have been so keen to climb to the top if I'd known the supports were so decayed!!
 
Unbelievably, it started to rain again just as we made our way back into the pylon and through to the prep room! We had been so lucky! If we had stuck to the climb time we had booked, we would have been caught in the rain for the last 20 minutes or so! Putting up with the annoying kids was a small price to pay for the beautiful weather and perfect climb conditions! Once we were back in our normal clothes and had collected our photos, we made our way into the city centre to get food . By now it was absolutely pouring with rain so, after avoiding it for the whole tour, we got totally soaked anyway!! We found a food court where we quickly ate a small lunch before popping up to the Telstra shop to try and get rid of those annoying text messages (yep I was still receiving them every hour!!!!). From there, we caught a bus back to Mosman to dry off and get ready to go out for the evening.
 
We had booked a table at the Sky Tower revolving buffet restaurant as we wanted to treat Josh & Jen as a thank you for having us stay and for all their help organising our upcoming trip to Norfolk Island. You pay per head at this restaurant as it's all you can eat, so we paid as we arrived. We then got whisked into a small lift which quickly took us up the tower, we all just about fitted with Reef comfily taking up most of the space in his buggy. As soon as we stepped into the restaurant itself, we were all wowed by the lovely looking decor but even more so by the amazing view right next to the tables. Although we had been up the tower before and seen all these views it felt so much different and spectacular sat right by the huge windows for dinner . No sooner had we sat down did the eating commence as we were under the impression you only got a 1 hour and a half slot at your table, so with Josh being a seriously big eater he led the way! There was so much food to choose from including lots of different types of seafood, beef dishes, pork dishes, curries, salads, crocodile and emu sausages and lots of vegetarian options which was good for Jen. The funny thing was every time you went to get some food, the table would be in a completely different place to when you left or the food would actually come to you as you sat at the table, making it all the more tempting to go get some more. After about 3 plates worth and trying most of the delicious food on offer suddenly everyone was feeling rather stuffed so that meant dessert was next. Everyone was particularly excited about dessert as we'd seen it go past several times and it looked incredible. There was a lovely big selection of all sorts of cakes, mousses, tapioca and ice creams, of course we had to try them all so we filled our plates again. Gareth and Josh even managed to go back for seconds as it was so good. The only trouble was their eyes were bigger than their bellies and they were struggling. We tried to egg them into an eating competition to finish but no sooner had they crammed a couple of cakes in they had stopped again. We'd all had a lovely evening but it was time to take our extremely full bellies home to bed and to get ready to leave again in the morning.