SYDNEY

Of course we couldn't visit Australia without spending some time in Sydney, my favourite city. This time we went on the train, it was safer. Only kidding, we went on the train because we all enjoy the journey. There is some lovely scenery between Wyong, where my aunt and uncle live, and Sydney. Also it gives my DH time to sit back and enjoy the scenery too. The train was very busy but we manged to find seats. I love the Australian trains, they are on 3 levels, although if you are looking for seats it can be a bit awkward on a moving train having to go up and down stairs.

Anyway we arrived in Sydney and it was a beautiful day, blue sky and the sun was shining. We didn't have any plans as to what we were going to do, just have a wander around. Amy wanted to go to the Opera House, it is her favourite place, probably because they always show it on TV. So we decided to walk through the city and make our way there.



We got to Darling Harbour and had a look round there. The Australian National Maritime Museum is situated here. There is a submarine to look around and a large ship, a destroyer. It all looked very interesting and certainly somewhere we would visit on another occasion.



We crossed over a bridge, I think it is called the Pyrmont Bridge, and carried on through the city to the Opera House.

We had a walk around the outside of the Opera House and stood and looked at the views over the harbour, the bridge and to where we had been at Taronga Zoo a couple of days earlier. It is a beautiful spot to just stand and take in the amazing scenes. I love it!


We got one of the ferries back to Darling Harbour, Amy spotted somewhere else for us to visit, I told her we would put it on our list for next time. We got on the tram from Darling Harbour to take us back to the station. We had had another amazing day but I was glad to get back on the train and sit down.

I took this photo as we went over the Hawkesbury River, I was amazed I caught the sunset through the bridge supports.

When we were getting closer to Wyong I phoned my aunt and told her we were nearly there. She said my uncle would meet us at the station, thank goodness, I don't think my feet would have made it back to their house.

LOOKING FOR TARONGA ZOO

We decided to drive to Taronga Zoo using my uncle's sat nav. This was a big mistake! Before we left the house I had had a look at the map with my uncle and he had pointed to where the zoo was and also told me about various buildings we would pass and areas we would drive through, so I had a rough idea of where we were going. But then we made the big mistake, we took his sat nav instead of taking the map. My uncle's sat nav was nothing like the one we have back home, it is very confusing, to us anyway. Once we got into the outskirts of Sydney it all started to go wrong. We seemed to drive around in circles, driving on and off motorways, paying tolls. We guessed he hadn't updated it for along time. We drove around streets and even pulled up and asked a couple of men for directions, mistake number 2. They seemed more confused than us.

We kept ending up on a road which was leading to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, I knew we didn't want to be on the other side of the harbour. So I made my poor husband turn around again and tried really hard to remember the names of the roads I had seen on the map.

We eventually found a hospital I remember my uncle saying we would pass and I instructed poor husband to carry on driving. At last I spotted a road name I remembered and from then we seemed to find our way. What a journey we had had. I am surprised we both stayed so calm.

OUR TRIP TO AUSTRALIA

We left home at 11.30 am on Monday, 8 June and drove to Heathrow airport. We got held up in roadworks but arrived at the airport in plenty of time. Whilst we were checking in I thought about how I would feel the day we did this when we were making our permanent move to Australia. I quickly pushed those thoughts aside and got on with feeling excited about our arrival in Australia and our time there.

A few hours later we were boarding our flight to Japan. The flight passed ok. The usual meals, drinks, in-flight entertainment, more drinks, try to sleep. And then it was midnight and Amy's 9th birthday had arrived. We were very tired but she had her present and card from us, the rest we had left at home. I am not sure what time we arrived in Japan as the time difference always confuses me. But we had a 5 hour wait at the airport for our next flight.

Whilst waiting I heard a strange announcement. It was a male voice (who seemed to be trying to hide a laugh as he spoke) and he was instructing passengers, for a different flight to ours, to visit the washrooms before they boarded due to the turbuluence they were going to have during their flight. At this point I said a little prayer, thanking God that was not our flight. Our flight was finally called and it was onto the plane for the final leg of our journey.



We arrived in Australia on at 6.40 am on Wednesday, 10 June. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, quite cool as it is their winter at this time of year. We got through immigration and that was our Visa's validated. A man approached us and asked if we had any food, we only had chocolate, so he sent us through another door, we didn't have to get into the next queue for the baggage check thank goodness and that was it through the arrivals and there were my relatives waiting for us. At last we had arrived!

NEW ITEM ARRIVED IN STORE

I have been making these amigurumi figures for quite a while now and I really love them. I am always trying to think of new ways to use them.  I have had a pink elephant in my sewing box for quite some time and I have been using it as a pin cushion.  So I thought why not make one and put it in my Etsy store, so here it is. Sydney is absolutely gorgeous and he makes a great pin cushion.  Always have needles and pins to hand with this cute guy.