Warming up in Sunny Sydney

Flying into the Sydney airport we got some fantastic views of the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Bondi Beach and the bright sunny skies were just what the doctor ordered. After a bit of time trying to get a hotel we checked in and after a wander round the local streets (which were......interesting!) we got an early nights sleep ready for the next day.

Our first stop was the botanical gardens and we were blown away by the array of wildlife on show - Ibis, Fruit Bats, Parakeets, Kookaburras and the list goes on. It was such a lovely setting as well with superb views of the harbour. Afterwards we headed to Circular Quay to catch a ferry to Taronga Zoo - The ferry ride was almost worth the price of admission alone and to get to the entrance we took a cable car which goes right over the elephants. The zoo was fantastic and we took in a spider show and seal display as well as taking loads of pictures of the various wildlife on display.

The next day we booked some whale watching for the afternoon and decided to check on our emails. Ben discovered one from the travel agent informing us that we had missed our flight to Singapore the previous day (which we had changed in Auckland) - more on that later. Anyways, we didn't have time to sort it so we jumped on the boat to see some whales! After missing out in NZ we were well excited and it didn't take long to see some dolphins playing beside the boat, a few minutes later we spotted some telltale spray in the distance and we soon found ourselves our first whale - several whales later we were about to head back to shore when we witnessed a whale breaching - it was unbelievable to see something that big propel itself out the water. Brilliant!

In the evening we had arranged to meet up with our Czech friends Lucie and Jan (from the sailing trip in Fiji) at Bondi Beach. We had a great evening at a local Czech restaurant and even met Jan's (non-english speaking) mum who was over visiting. Despite the language barrier Kat and her got on really well. It was a really super evening and it was sad to say goodbye but hopefully we'll meet up again some time in the future.

Late night packing ensued before an early flight to Bangkok via Singapore (even though we got to the airport to find our names were not down for the flight).

Forty-four days down, 36 to go!