A warm Sydney welcome!

Jetlag has kicked in, hence my delay in uploading these recent blogs. Another long, sleepless flight provided an opportunity for watching more films and the veggie food options were slightly better - the meals had been defrosted although they were still not entirely edible. This time I left my watch in the security scanner and forgot to retrieve it. Which is a pain, but I like to see it as an opportunity for the purchase of a newer model. 

We touched down in Sydney at 7am and were met at the terminal by gorgeous Lise and Eliana - best greeting party ever! We squeezed into the car along with our bags and headed to the northern suburbs for a bit of r & r in their fabulous house. 

We decided to push through the tiredness and carry on as long as we could so the kids showered and rehydrated whilst Lise and I went round the corner to pick up the keys to the house we were renting in Bondi Junction, a stone's throw from her place. After dropping off the luggage and collecting the others,we set off on a quick tour  of the neighbourhood in the glorious sunshine. 

We caught a bus into the CBD and found an office block with an awesome food court where we could fuel up before sightseeing. We passed by a string quartet playing melodious Xmas music, a welcome change from the tinny, lift-music-style versions we'd gotten used to in Singapore. 

Next stop, Circular Quay and the kids' first view of the Harbour Bridge, which did not disappoint. In fact, Louis was so busy snapping the landmark that he failed to notice the Opera House looming over him! His reaction was priceless. Awe-struck! Having looked at so many pictures and talked about it so much, this was an exciting moment. 

It was getting hot and we wanted to see a bit more of the bridge from closer up, so we hopped onto a ferry heading for Darling Harbour to rest our legs and see the sights from a different viewpoint. 

The trip was brilliant fun and the highlight... free WIFI in the boat! I promised Cantor Zoe I'd get in touch once we hit Sydney so I wrote the message. Guess where she was? Darling Harbour of all places!! And she had s couple of hours to spare. We stayed on the boat, met up with lovely Zoe, and went for some much needed ice cream and a catch up!  

A bus ride back to Lise's and some downtime with Eliana and Jacob before a truly splendid BBQ courtesy of Lise and Cahn. A great Aussie welcome! The kids (and we) were struggling to stay awake by this point so we went to our temporary home and crashed out, hopefully for a long sleep!