Hi Bloggers,

well, here we are on our last day in Sydney, and in Oz. We fly out at 7.10am (urgh) arriving in New Zealand at lunch time, ready for our next 6 week leg of the journey.

We've had a great few days in Sydney, and have stayed with a really lovely couple who have made us feel so welcomed and at home - thanks SO MUCH to Gus & Jen. So, what have we done whilst we've been here? We've seen the Opera House, walked over the Harbour Bridge, strolled through the Botanical Gardens, had lunch by the harbour at Circular Quay. One day we headed out to Katoomba to the Blue Mountains, took a trolley trip around the area, walked down to the spectacular Three Sisters rocks, had cups of tea and fancy cakes and almost felt like we were back home for a bit!

We also spent quite a lot of time trying to sort out flights, tours in S America, bus and camper van travel in NZ etc etc etc....we're very thankful for the extensive use of Gus & Jen's broadband... and then went to Manly Beach (where all the locals go to hang out, surf etc...leaving Bondi Beach for the tourists) which was lovely. Today we went over to Darling Harbour and spent an enthralled few hours at the Aquarium.....the largest in the world, and very impressive. Our favourite moments there were watching a giant stingray from a viewing tunnel, which was incredible, and sitting on some steps watching a huge array of fish, including sharks, rays etc swimming around a HUGE tank whilst lovely music played in the background. What a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

So, now we're almost packed and ready to go, so this is just to update you a bit on the last few days. Hopefully we'll both get to post some highlights and low lights of Oz over the next week, but in a nutshell it's been a fantastic, varied and wonderful time.

Hope you're all well, and we look forward to the next blog encounters soon.

G'day cobbers, now over to the Kiwis.....

lots of love, Penny & Linda x ;-)