Sydney Harbour Bridge

Due to the mistake made with the dates for the hotel in Sydney, we arrived a day earlier than originally planned. This worked out quite well as we did not need 2 nights in Canberra as we managed to see all we wanted to in 1 afternoon!We were very lucky to get a fine afternoon to explore as the previous day Canberra had suffered from terrible storms.
The weather in Sydney has also been kind to us. Most of Australia seems to have had the worst start to summer than ever before. They now have full reservoirs for the 1st time in years.Sydney has suffered high winds and storms so the prospect of climbing the bridge was not something we were looking forward to. However from the time we drove into the city the sun shone and we were able to spend a couple of 'happy hour' sessions overlooking Darling Harbour and watching many groups celebrating their Christmas 'do's'. We used our time on Wednesday to work out how long it would take us to walk to the start of the bridge climb so that we could be sure to get there on time on Thursday. The rest of the day was spent doing things and seeing places that we had missed in October.
Thursday morning was just about as good as it could get - not too hot, not too cold, not too windy and no rain. We were in a group of 10 - all but 2 were from the UK. We were a bit apprehensive at first but once we had climbed the upright steps to get onto the arch, we felt completely safe and were able to enjoy the views. What an experience! (Brought to us courtesy of Ceri and Rich. We are really grateful to them for giving us the gift vouchers as a present for putting up with them - or should that have been putting them up - for 16 months.)We were at the front of the group so were able to ask many questions. It's unfortunate that no one is allowed to take a camera up but the group leader took several photos and we were given a complementary group photo with the certificate that we received at the end.
The climb was the last memorable thing we did in Australia.
Singapore tomorrow.
No more blogs for this trip.
BUT - WATCH THIS SPACE! We will return in April when we will be travelling to Chicago, San Antonio, the Grand Canyon (another dream place) and San Francisco.

Final Blog

Lakes Entrance

2 nights here before moving up to the mountains. Spending our last day by the sea - apart from the Harbours in Sydney. Weather is fine today although thunderstorms are forecast. Have not been able to get into Virgin Media recently so have not caught up on any emails.

Off Again

We are on the move again today. Leaving the Melbourne area and heading along the coast on our 4 day trip up to Sydney. 1st stop is on the coast at a place called Lakes Entrance. After that into the mountains to Jindabyne, then on to Canberra. My first 'cock-up' was realised yesterday when I was ringing all the motels to confirm our booking and discovered that I had given the very last hotel (and the most expensive) in Sydney the wrong dates. As I had already paid and part of the agreement was a no change, no cancellation, no money back deal, I had to frantically rethink the week. It was all sorted though as we had planned 2 nights in Canberra and were able to cancel one of them with no charge and then we found a chaeper hotel in Sydney for our last night - one near the airport. Bit of a palava but all sorted. Everything had been going so smoothly - the internet is a wonderful thing.

Penguin Parade

Yes - we did it - along with all the other weekend tourists. Our excuse was that we had to take Charlotte although I have to admit it was the one thing I really wanted to do on Phillip Island. We had already been to see some of the chicks in their nests in an area called The Nobbies (where we also saw our first snake. Anyway we dutifully joined the throngs and managed to get on the front row near the beach to await the arrival of the birds. It gradually got darker and colder, we took bets on what time they would actually set foot on the beach, and eventually they began to arrive in their hoards. What an amazing spectacle - a race for life up he beach with thousands of baby chicks croaking away to attract their attention. One chick near to us decided that he was fwd up with the nest and as soon as the parent birds arrived he was off down the beach - parents getting very frustrated trying to get him back to safety. He wasn't having it though. He was playing to the crowd and seemed to have no fear - possibly because his nest was so close to the audience every night.
We later walked up the boardwalks and many adult birds were being attacked by babies waiting for their own parents. The adults were well focussed though and only their own would do. Some of them walked a good 20 minutes off the beach. Their walkways were lit up so we could see them all the time. All this took about an hour before the wardens were ushering us off back to the car park. We were told that over a thousand penquins came in that night. Amazing how so many survive.

The Dongle is working again!!!

Well what more do you want from life than your dongle working!
After 20 minutes on the phone to someone who could not repeat back the numbers i was giving him correctly,and who could not understand that I did not want a permenant contract because I am only here for 2 more weeks, the $15 credit was eventually added on - however, it did not register properly for 24 hours. Why was I surprised considering the time it took the man on the 'help' line to understand what was needed. Anyway, all is well and we are back on line.
The weather at last has changed for the better and so we are no longer needing to wear a fleece. Ieuan has continued to wear his shorts throughout the whole holiday however.I understand we will be in for a bit of a shock when we get back to UK.
Two weeks today we wil be home.

Melbourne

The dongle has run out and so far we have been unable to add more credit so we are now sitting in the local library using their wifi (free of course.) We are with the pre-school group and suspect that the lady reading the story is an 'x' headteacher as she read it loud enough for everyone in the library to hear. Needless to say, very few of the 3 year olds were listening.
We had a great itme with Nerae and Damian - they took us everywhere and showed us everything. They then joined us in our place on Phillip Island. We took charlotte to see the Penquin Parade on saturday night. It was really good.
The weather has been up and down - more down than up and we have had some cold and wet days. Today however, the wind has dropped and the sun is shining - hopefully from now until we leave Aus on the 16th
Ieuan is now getting very bored now - story time has finished!
Hope all at Edgware have recovered from OFSTED.
See you all soon