G'Day from Down Under! The Globetrotter lands in Sydney...

Hey Everyone!

Wow I cannot believe we're finally here! The connecting flight from Brisbane was quite short, only an hour, but on descent we flew straight over the harbour, with clear views of the Bridge and the Opera House, and I actually squealed I was so excited. Stu and Craig neglected to meet us at Arrivals as they went to the wrong terminal, but we met them at the Train Station and caught a train to Central Station which is only across the road from their flat. We got there about 12pm on Sunday and after getting showered and changed we all set out to the market to do some much needed mooching. Then we walked all the way through the centre of Sydney to Circular Quay, and there stood the infamous Bridge and Opera House. My it was beautiful. It was just a great feeling to see them in real life cos then it really felt like we had landed! Next we strolled and lazed in the Botanical Gardens, and walked back through Sydney past the Parliament Houses and Museums and Galleries and such, then through Hyde Park. After coming back to the flat (which is cosy, with a total of around 17 occupants, not much space and a LOT of mess) and having some pasta and wine, Claire, Craig and I set out to Darling Harbour around 8:30pm for drinks. It was a lovely first day and I think I may have fallen in love with Aussie already!

Woke up at quarter to 7 this morning (5:45pm 9/1/05 GMT) - we really have not got adjusted yet! Me and Claire set out to the 7/11 to get some bread and cheese for breakfast and dinner, then visited Oz Experience to pick up our coach passes. Then we hit our first "challenge"! STA Travel have neglected to put the name of our Coach Pass on our vouchers, so the company can't exchange them. So now we need to contact STA and get them to send Oz Exp a confirmation fax. Man that's annoying. But the upside is we planned to stay here till the end of the week anyway, I just hope it's not taken up with trying to sort this out now! Ah well, something had to go wrong eventually didn't it!

Well the plan for today is to sightsee and do the usual touristy things. We're gonna start at Darling Harbour with the Maritime Musuem and the Sydney Aquarium, and make our way around the quays to the Observatory, The Rocks (the oldest site where convicts were held), the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Musuem of Sydney, the usual tourist-ridden hotspots! Then we'll probably just mosey around the gardens and things. We plan to go to Manly on the ferry for a day at the beach on Wednesday as the weather is supposed to be sunny and at 33C. Anything we don't do this week we can always do on our way back anyway as we fly out of Sydney on our way home.

Tis all for now, will keep you posted on our progress! Hope everything is ok at home, email me and let me know what you're all up to!