Sydney

Opera House
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Left Wellington bathed in sunshine a shame it wasn’t shining whilst we were they, never mind, it certainly looked better when the sun was shining.

Arrived in a sunny Sydney ahead of schedule and took the train to the city. Wow!

Us & Opera House
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What a welcome, we came out of the station and were met by a view of the Harbour Bridge, Queen Victoria Cruise Liner and the Opera House. Brilliant. Found our hotel and on looking out of our bedroom window found we were overlooking the Queen Victoria, unfortunately this was blocking out the view of the Opera House. Good job this is moveable scenery! Went for a walk to familiarise ourselves and to get a quick bite, there must be a 100,000 covers in this harbour and not one available without queuing, crazy. Mark doesn’t queue to eat so decided to have a burger, couldn’t believe it had to wait 15 mins for that.

View from Hotel Pool Deck, where's Wally(Mark)
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Saturday 20^th February, today we caught the Sydney Harbour Explorer hop on hop off boat with Captain Cook cruises. This took us around the harbour with commentary passing by the Opera House, along the coastline where the multimillionaires live to Watson’s Bay. This is a lovely little cove where we got off the boat, climbed up the cliff to look over the Tasman sea and then had lunch in Doyle’s  on the Beach, a famous family run fish restaurant with a 124 year history. This was a great lunch looking back over the Sydney skyline with great food (yes Deb is eating fish!). We then caught the boat to Darling Harbour passing under the Harbour Bridge. Darling Harbour is very well designed, impressive, lots of restaurants and loads going on, entertainment wise. Then returned back to Circular Quay and The Rocks, to our hotel for a swim. Watched the cruise liner leave the harbour from our swimming pool deck, very cool. Mark looking forward to his Harbour Bridge climb in the morning.

Deb in Summer Bay
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Hi everyone thought I had better contribute to this one as I’m the one doing the Bridge Climb. Looked out of the window first thing and saw the Diamond Princess cruise ship had replaced the gap left by the Queen Victoria, wow this ship is even bigger and better. (Must get round to trying a cruise). Left sleepy in bed at 8.00am to go check in at the Bridge Climb. Everyone there was doing the climb in couples so I was Billy No Mates. When presenting the group with their climb suits the lady was explaining to get the motif on the front, this seemed a bit strange until I went to put it on then discovered it was like a hospital gown which had a big zip up the back. Slightly embarrassing as the advice was to just leave underwear on as it would be so hot. Girls came out zipped up as they were used to doing this, guys came out unzipped, and asked their partners to zip them up, Billy No Mates had no-one. Had to ask a stranger! We were then kitted out with radios, caps, handkerchiefs for those emotional moments and of course the most important of all, the safety belt.

Summer Bay Wharf
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At this point getting slightly nervous about the need of a safety harness. There is also an obligatory alcohol test (breathaliser) before we were allowed to ascend the bridge. They take this very seriously and applies to staff also. We set off on the tour and reached the ladder to get up to the main arch, at this point I realised Deb would not have been able to do this climb as we were already at 100ft and then had to climb 4/5 vertical ladders at a combined height of about 40 feet (this was before we actually started to ascend the arch of the bridge). Once out on the main structure the views just blew you away and got better the higher you went. The whole time the climb leader gave you commentary about the climb, the bay and construction of the bridge. The construction was pretty amazing considering the workers didn’t have harnesses and had to manually hammer 6 million rivets. Whilst at the top of the bridge an aeroplane appeared in the sky writing “Marry Me Sally”. I was stood next to a Sally and her boyfriend on a Valentines trip however they wouldn’t admit it was them, but I turned my back so they could have a cuddle anyway. We then crossed the top of the bridge looking down 460ft and started our descent which was equally as panoramic. Back in the changing rooms again suffered the embarrassment of having to ask to be unzipped! Wow, unforgettable experience.

Deb again in Summer Bay!
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 Once Mark got back I had my height fix of the day by us going up the Pylon Lookout, this is 1 of 4 granite non supporting structures either side of the bridge. There are 200 stairs to the top and it is 89 meters high. The views were spectacular, obviously not as good as from the top of the bridge but good enough for me. Can’t compare photos as Mark wasn’t allowed to take a camera up the bridge, just have official photo taken. We also visited the Rocks Museum which told the story of the first inhabitants of the Rocks area, being convicts transported from England. We are exhausted, and you don’t want to hear this but wow, it’s too hot!!! This evening ate by the quayside and watched the Diamond Princess leave port as we ate our kangaroo fillet and crocodile tail medallions! Since being on this holiday have enjoyed fish more than the meat, wonders will never cease, wonder if it will continue on our return home. Tomorrow off to Palm Beach aka “Summer Bay” by bus.

Deb at Summer Bay Life Saving Club
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Woke up very excited this morning as off to “Summer Bay”. On arrival, was not disappointed. Got off the bus a bit before we should have done, but this worked in our favour as we ended up the right end of the beach for all beach locations for Home & Away. As we got closer noticed lots of lorries near the beach, and then realised they were film crew vehicles. Got very excited then as realised they were actually filming. As we got nearer we saw some of the actors waiting around in the shade and then we walked to the beach and saw them filming there. They were quite happy for us to hang around and even when we went down to the beach and the sea one of the crew came over as they  were filming in our direction. He said we were welcome to stay where we were splashing around just not to stare at the filming, it would look more authentic if we were looking out to sea as we could end up in some of the shots. At that point we breathed in sharply and tried to hold our breaths as the extras standing next to us were very chiselled surfer dudes and dudesses. We stayed round and about the beach and surf club watching for a while and when the crew came up from the beach Deb asked ‘Nicole’ for a picture, she was in her school uniform, made Mark’s day. Also saw some other actors and actresses. We then walked further along the beach, getting burnt feet, god it was hot, Mark had a swim in the sea, had fish and chips and a bottle of wine for lunch. Star struck. See you in Cairns.