When Nikki's parents came to visit.

We had booked a car to pick up Annette and Clive from the airport, little did we realise it was knight rider in disguise. The car was automatic, which I´d never driven before and it was in the 6th basement level of a car park. It only took an hour to get get, but all the time a warning error was flashing. Nikki went to find out what it meant - I´d left the foot brake on the whole time! We then got very lost getting back to the hostel and stressing out about dinging the car, so we had to spend the evening relaxing to calm our nerves.



We picked Annette and Clive up from the airport early the following day and drove across to North Sydney to the awesome apartment with views across Sydney harbour that would be our home for the next five nights. We spent the following days exploring Sydney and making use of the great boat system there. We went to see comedienne Judith Lucy at the opera house, she "sang" at the end, so we´ve seen a opera performance at Sydney Opera house! Clive, Nikki and I got up early one morning to go to the Sydney fish market (the second largest in the world, the first being Tokyo). It was pretty organised with Dutch silent auctions for most of the fish, walk along bidding for the shellfish and a big room that housed tuna, marlin and groupers. I got some sushi for breakfast while Clive & Nikki got us some mussels and prawns for dinner. We also went to Sydney Wildlife World and Aquarium. The wildlife world was great, with kangaroos, koalas, wombats and a big weird blue bird thing.



Also on the agenda was a trip out to Manly, we took the boat out, and almost as soon as we´d stepped onto land it started chucking it down and didn´t stop! It died down long enough to watch the surfers but came back strong so we headed back to the apartment. The boat ride back was pretty rocky, and every time the boat crashed over a wave it soaked anyone on the decks.

The remaining 10 days we spent exploring New South Wales, from Sydney we headed north spending a night in The Entrance and then a long drive up to the Hunter Valley wine region. Whilst driving around we eventually saw some kangaroos in the wild, we visited a few cellar doors and tasted some smelly cheese. The accommodation there was great, we were a little wary at first as it looked like stables, but the rooms were great, the peace & quiet was welcome and we had an awesome meal at the Shaky Tables restaurant.



After a couple of days indulgence in Hunter Valley we headed in land and south to the Blue Mountains, so called for the blue mist that rises from all the eucalyptus trees. We were staying just a stones throw from Echo Point and the famous 3 Sisters rock formation. We were treated to some great BBQ meals by Clive on the hot plate in the garden area including kangaroo meat, which is quite tasty and apparently better for the environment that beef. We spent a day doing a walk near the town of Wentworth Falls in the rain forest to go and see the Wentworth Falls which were pretty spectacular. We visited scenic world which, through a combination of a sky way, a cable car and the world´s steepest train, took us over, around, down and up the rain forest valley. Surprisingly for a rain forest it rained while we were down at the bottom, and we got soaked. Every evening we also made it our goal to do some star gazing at and see the 3 Sisters lit up at night. Every evening after dark we went down armed with blankets to Echo point and every evening we got clouded over! Although it was quite fun walking around inside a cloud.



From the blue mountains we set off for the coast to get in some beach action. On the way to a place called Huskisson we stopped in a nice little town called Kiama where we saw a boat that had just reeled in a huge Marlin. When we got to Huskisson we noticed an abundance of mullets and strange looks as we weren´t locals, so the following day we headed back to Kiama, but not before Clive had his drink poured on him by the waitress at the local Indian restaurant.

On the way back to Kiama we stopped off in the Booderee national park, which has some awesome white sand beaches. Once we arrived back at Kiama Clive booked a fishing trip for the following day just before a big lightning storm came across the town. We Went to a local Chinese restaurant and while we were eating there was a total power cut, so we ate by torchlight. On the way back to our villa we stopped at the blowhole point to watch the lightning storm out at sea. Clive brought back a few different fish for us to try from his trip and had tried to sort out another trip to catch some big game fish, but the boat captains were all a bit dodgy and greedy. It was also Clive´s birthday while we were in Kiama, so while I dropped him off at the tackle shop Annette and Nikki made him a birthday cake. We went out onto the rocky head in the park we were staying in and Clive tested out some squid jigs he´d purchased and managed to catch one. While he was trying to show me it´s beak it sneezed ink all over him, so we cooked it and had it as a starter before going out for a meal! We´d just sat down in a restaurant which we were already having doubts about due to some slack service when the woman at the table next to us mouthed 'Don´t eat here!', so we made our excuses and after an exhausting search ended up back at the same Chinese restaurant.



And that was the end of our Australian adventure. Nikki & I had rearranged our flights so that they left just a couple of hours after Annette and Clive´s. So while they boarded for an exhausting 24 hour trip back to the UK we got our 3 hour flight to Auckland, New Zealand.