is that you sydney?

HI
Once again we have done too much to write about succinctly since my last post so i apologise in advance for more rushed waffle if that is indeed what comes out of my fingers now...
Had much fun driving around the snowy mountains and going on charilifts, which I might have mentiooned last time. We have enjoyed the English place names. This one was quite funny. This one will only mean something to certain members of my family. On the subject of dodgy names, check out this cheese.
Our next stop on the way to sydney was out-of-the-way Bateman's bay (where we made kebabs and used our first coin-operated barbecue) and the surrounding beaches; the most exciting of which was pebbly beach, where we were inundated by kangaroos trying to eat our crisps and steal Zoe's phone. It was really cool, you could touch them and everything. I took the opportunity to cuddle one, although in the tussle for the crisps one stood on Zoe's foot and drew blood. We are telling people she has been mauled by a wild kangaroo.
After that it was quite a dull 4 day's drive to sydney, arriving in which was VERY exciting. This far into the trip my hair was beginning to malfunction so I bought some scissors from a service station and cut it all off over the bin in a backpackers hostel. How times have changed. After that we spent the evening checking out the obvious sights, (Obvious sight 2), climbing the tower (here's sydney by night and here is a picture of luna park) and getting ready for Australia day. I'm not sure how we have fluked being in the right place for all these major events (thailand at new year, melbourne for the open, sydney for australia day) but despite the acomodation issues, it's been amazing. For thos of you that aren't australian, or happen to work with any, australia day is a day when millions of australians get pissed, watch bands, (That was Dan Sultan, we liked him. He is indiginous) and watch fireworks (My fireworks photos are shit but you know what fireworks look like). We were both a bit freaked out by the large amounts of giant bats in Sydney. They also had a big car rally which is why there's millions of car photos on flickr - I'm not sure what I thought I was doing there.
Later that evening I took this photo of the Opera house which I am pleased with.
The rest of our time in Sydney has been an opportunity to catch up with those of you who have emigrated, ALL of whom have sickeningly jealous-makingly great lives. Dufty took me in her jeep to a cool bay where you can go swimming and look at the skyline. Yesterday we met up with Christiane who's living in a huge old beach house (with the world's biggest bathroom) on a hill in Coogee with a view of the sea. (grrr). From her house it's a really nice walk to bondi past a few beaches where we went snorkelling. I should say thanks to the very helpful Mark for finding me a giant blue grouper (? spelling) and taking Zoe her glasses. And in Bondi we had an ice cream then bumped into suzy and Luke. So here we all are post-beach and pre-drinks.
So Sydney life is very agreeable and civilised. We have been at the beach again today. My favourite thing is the swimming pools that fill up with sea water when the tide comes in. I think I am going to live here for ever. Or I would were it not for the fact that we are going to Uluru tomorrow. Yes folks in a moment of madness we are going off-itinerary and visiting The Rock at a mere cost of *cough* million pounds. Apparently it's, erm, quite hot at this time of year so the next blog post might be written by a charred corpse... (At least the cemetary here is a beautiful place to hang out. Ooh - Lee - we even saw your tomb.)
So that's all for now, I am, for once, fully up to date. I am now going for a shower followed by a bowl of pasta by the beach. As always, missing you all xxx

[PS. This last photo is for people who worked at BBC broadcast. We saw some australian dead-ringer lookalikes for Paul Marsh and Andrew Davies in a bar. I took this surreptitious photo. W.E.I.R.D]