Sydney

We've had 5 active days here in Sydney and seem to have caught up on our sleep now. Kirstin met us at the airport on Wednesday morning, and we made our way to Bondi (a Sydney suburb). We are staying in a quirky guesthouse with a bathroom inspired by Gaudi - just like the Parc Guell in Barcelona. It's a nice enough place if you don't mind the odd insect or two!

We've seen a fair bit of the city, its harbours and beaches. Despite a population of over 4 million and a central business district full of skyscrapers, it has a very laid-back kind of feel about it. People get out of the buildings as much as possible and enjoy the sun in the parks, cafes, restaurants and bars. Every kind of food is available here (except perhaps brunost!) and everythng tastes so good. The gardens are full of plants that we only see in pots - clivia, jasmine and bird of paradise plants - as well as trees and bushes that we've never seen the like of before.


We spent a day wandering through the botanical gardens looking at the spring flowers and then went to the Australian museum to see the exhibition "surviving Australia" - what to avoid being stung or eaten by!

Among other things we have had drinks by the Opera house, visited family friends in the suburbs and been kayaking round an area called "the Spit", which looks a lot like Oslo Fjord, except for the Palm trees. On Sunday we went to Bondi Market and then to the Opera house to hear Dr. Jane Goodall (the English woman who worked with chimpanzees in Africa) talk about "Hope for the future" of the planet. Very inspiring!

The weather is like Norway in May/June - the air is still cool especially when the wind blows, but the sun is very hot. It gives us time to get acclimatised before flying north to Cairns on Monday.