Hotel Formule 1 Wentworthville

... to spend half an hour negotiating the tortuous web site, not always easy if you are travelling.

Arriving in Camden I checked into the only camp site, The Poplars, which fortunately was very pleasant. I made contact with Lucy’s friends, lovely people, and spent three evenings with them, it was very enjoyable to have some company in the evenings.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the ...

... creatures I have ever had the displeasure to see, proprietors of such vile looks that, like a car crash they counter-intuitively hold your gaze yet as you continue to stare you feel your very soul being sucked out of you. Disgusting. On the positive side, I saw Nemo after this... which was nice.

Once we'd done the Aquarium we emerged into the light three or four hours later and went for lunch at Pontoon. As it had ...

... also be on my way to Europe in summer for the first time in my life. "Mmmmm sun will be nice" I say to myself.

This trip, or a trip at this time, had been on the cards for over two years. Cut to January 2006 when my daughter receives better than expected results in her HSC (final school exams to all non- New South Welshmen out there). Having absorbed the pride and glory of producing at least ...

Hey peeps!!
So thanks to a bunch of ****** up Germans in the room next to us... my lovely room mantes and i were woken up at 4:30am to the booming sounds of MIKA , Lollypop..(Dolly it made me think of you ha ha ) playing ON REPEAT for an hour!!!! Couldnt really sleep well after that so up at 7am ,breakfast at Starbucks and off to see the sights. Walked from the hostel to Circular Quay...saw the bridge..you know that famous one..not a sniff i was climbing it!! Saw the Opera house ...

... the bus back to my hosts to await their return from work. A chilled evening was had with a quick trip out to a local Tapas Bar, El Bulli (as for the Fat Duck in Te Anau not being very Heston, this was not quite Ferran Adrià but pretty cool). Then in a valiant effort to help reduce my heinous excess baggage which was bankrupting my return trip, we polished off a great bottle of Trinity Hill before turning in for the night.

... indoors by the warm fire with a large mug of cider wine). However, upon stepping off the plane in Sydney to grey skies and brrrrrrrr temps, we realize we might have been a little too confident in our winter-enduring capabilities; even in Sydney, our flip-flops and thin sweatshirts are not going to be enough (especially now that we’ve acclimatized to humid, South East Asian weather). A wintry shopping trip is in order and ...

today was so much fun!! we went to see anita at work, she works in the recovery theatre in the queen elizabeth II unit! when we got there, an aneasthetist (maria) said we could scrub up and have a look around, so we did!it was so exciting, we got to lie on the operating table and we took loads of photos (as ...

... back, or a credit against a bar tab if we'd like. An hour further on, we found an unmemorable, but well lit room. Sadly, we missed the section of coast we were looking forward to, but gained new insight into the lower bounds of our travel expectations...probably a great trade;-)) [Author's note- Julie insists that she started to refuse to stay about the time we rounded the dumpsters, and wants no consent implied by the above tale.]

... the next ferry, taking some photo's of the harbour bridge and opera-house from the water as we go. On arrival in Manly we explore the town area before hunting for lunch. This is followed by a walk to Shelley Bay, which would be lovely for swimming if we'd come prepared for it. Nevertheless, it is a really lovely spot. We attempt a short 'bush-walk' 'from here but turn around due to spiders. Big one's - when we noticed them they were all around us, not liking ...

... beneath you!
After Luna park came
the Rocks, and then the Opera House. Which cost way too much to look
inside the auditorium, so we checked out the foyer and sat on the steps
while I had a couple of emotional melt downs (that Andre was very good
about) and then we moved onto the gardens, highlights being (for me)
the dead fish in the pond, next to the abandoned rubber duckie, and the
Flying Foxes/Bats.
Mark arrived back in time ...