Beach Bum's gone very RED!

G'Day Folks!

Well after I left you on Tuesday we went to the cinema as it was 'Cheap Night' (same price as normal days in the UK - the flicks are very expensive over here) and saw 'Ladder 49', and unless your into cheesy American drama of the Sky Moviemax variety I wouldn't badger you to go and see it. Mum you'd love it. We got some Mix-Up M&Ms too, which are regular, peanut and crispy M&Ms all in one packet. I'm telling you the variety of flavours of different things over here is mesmerising - they have Raspberry Fanta and Diet Coke with Lime, and so many different kinds of Cadbury's Dairy Milk it's scary. They also still call Snickers Marathons and have old packaging on their chocolate. Not tried any yet though as it's quite expensive.

Anyway, yesterday (Weds) we got up early and caught the 9:30 ferry to Manly, a beach resort north-east of the Harbour. The area was quite touristy, with the usual tat shops and stuff that you tend to find around Blackpool, Morecambe and Canary Island beach resorts, but the beach was divine. I didn't go in the sea though, as the lifeguards moving the flags every 30 mins didn't really fill me with confidence! I got to work tanning myself about 10:30, and despite regular top-ups of factor 25, by 2:30 I was burnt to a frazzle! I must have missed a few spots. My ass and feet are the worst (let's just say my feet look like they've been whacked with a blunt instrument and it's left a hefty bruise, and I'm wearing a white bikini no matter what clothes I'm wearing) but my chest and belly are coming in a close second. It's not pretty, let alone painless! So after admitting that the beach was too much for our fair skin we trotted down the main street for a 'Boost' - smoothies sold at Starbucks-stylee outlets - as I'd heard so much about them (a guy in the flat can tell you whereabouts any smoothie is on the menu!). I had a 'Strawberry Squeeze' and it was lovely. I think I may be hooked! For tea we met Craig at a pub that has a $5 menu, so I had fish and chips and a coke which came to $8 altogether - about 3 quid so you can't whack it really! Then we went back to the flat and chilled out cos my bum didn't really feel up to going out!

Today we got up quite late and headed out to the Australian Museum (inside! shade! no burning!), via the indoor market. I'd been looking for some flip-flops that would be suitable for going out in, cos I'm not really sure that the dress code for most bars would accommodate trainers or sandals! I found some for $3 (about 1.20) so you can pretty much guarantee they'll only last me about a week! But I couldn't resist the bargain. Once Claire had found some sunglasses we carried on to the museum, passing the ANZAC War Memorial. Inside the building was a dome ceiling, which had a gold star engraved into it for every Australian or New Zealand soldier who died in WW1. I swear there was more than a million up there, so it was very humbling. The museum was thought-provoking too, as they had an exhibition about Australia's Indigenous Peoples (Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders). This is going to sound really thick, but I seriously thought the Indigenous Peoples weren't integrated into modern society and still lived primatively until today. I also didn't know that the 'Aborigine Protection Board' took thousands of Aborigine children away from their families until 1969 in an attempt to 'make them white'. The exhibition actually made me want to cry in parts, especially the display of art that a 'stolen child' Kevin Butler had done to express his childhood experiences. Cruel acts like that make you ashamed to be white.

Anyway, on a higher note, the museum also had a cool display of skeletons (half of which were animals I've never heard of!), minerals, animals, birds and insects. If I wasn't worried about encountering any spiders on this trip before, I am now! Some were huge with hairy legs and stuff. Urgh!

Our Blue Mountains day trip is tomorrow, and after reading Martin's advisory email of what to do when we get there I hope we're not gonna be too restricted with the Oz Exp bus. And if we are I hope we hit the good spots, like the Three Sisters. I suppose it'll be good to get out of the city and see some country! Only problem is we're supposed to be riding bikes when we do our bush walk there, so I hope my bum's better by tomorrow!

Tis all for now!