MONDAY NOVEMBER 2nd

We woke up early at about 5.30am and the excitement seemed to lift us and drag us out of bed and down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast where we made a lovely mistake by ordering the most gigantic breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, steak (yes steak!) potatoes and toast.

Nicely full bellies, it was time to explore. We walked through Darling Harbour and into the City Centre towards Circular Quay, taking in the sights and sounds of what was to most people around us, was an ordinary Sydney Monday morning rush hour.

After taking a few snaps of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House etc, we decided to pick up our 5 day Sydney pass and take the 10.00am one hour cruise around the harbour. We must have used nearly a whole film taking pictures of the bridge, Opera House, and Skyline.

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Our family and friends, we feel sure, will really enjoy wading through all the snaps showing all the different angles of the best Sydney has to offer (Not!).

The cruise took us up past the Opera House and along and round by Rose Bay and Watsons Bay. Then back round and under the Harbour Bridge before heading back to the Quayside at Circular Quay. The weather, by the way, was not exactly the best, with heavy showers and strong winds.

Within 5 minutes of getting back to shore, we were aboard another ferry taking us to Toronga Zoo. At the Zoo, we were delighted to see for the first time in our lives, Koala bears, a Duck Billed Platypus and big grizzly bears.

Half way round we stopped for something to eat and ordered two chicken burgers but poor ol' Keefy didn't get any of his because it had been covered in apricot sauce and he wasn't a very happy person. Arhh!

By the time we came out of the Zoo, the long journey and jet lag had begun to take its toll so when we got back to the Hotel at 3.30pm, we decided to take an hours nap. At 6.30pm, after a struggle, we managed to force ourselves up, only for the fact that we didn't want to waste any of our precious time in Sydney.

We walked off our tiredness and ended up at The Sydney Hard Rock Cafe where we had a meal and a few drinks before buying the obligatory HRC T-shirts and having a few snaps taken.

We decided then that we were far too tired to walk all the way back to the hotel, so we hopped on a bus and flopped onto our beds ready for sleep.