Sydney

People who know us well would probably agree that we've all been in desperate need of a break lately. The combined effects of moving house, catching viruses, and two parents working full time over the last couple of months has all taken its toll and quite frankly we were buggered!

So we've just spent a few days in Sydney and it was just what we needed...

The 4 days were spent pretty much just relaxing and sleeping and enjoying not *having* to do anything. We had the added bonus that our very lovely friends who we met back in the Falkland Islands joined us there - they now live a few hours drive away from Sydney (BRILLIANT to see you again Johnson family!!).

Sydney is an awesome city, and is one of my favourite places. I've spent a lot of time there over the years and have a lot of good memories - I lived and worked there back in 95/96 as a backpacker, I visited for work in '98, I went on a luxury weekend in 2004.....but I'd never been back since we had kids.

And I can now confirm that it's not quite the same experience!

But it was absolutely brilliant in different ways. Manly Beach became our base - it's the perfect location for a family as you have the beach on your doorstep and public transport to see the sights is mostly possible by ferry. In fact, the ferry rides were one of our highlights and we spent a great deal of time on them, day and night, just cruising around the harbour getting to places...
 

The kids' highlight was going on the cable car to Taronga Zoo...

We played a lot on Manly Beach. Our kids were fascinated by the golden sand as we don't get yellow sand back home....and we also put the volleyball nets to good use! 

On the second day we had fish n chips at Watsons Bay and watched a beautiful sunset over the harbour...and I reminisced about doing exactly the same thing as a twenty-something during my backpacking era!

What a great trip! See you again next time Sydney!