Just Across the Ditch

We landed in Sydney at about 8pm and were met by our tour guide for the weekend, Lizzy "Tim-Tam" Vining. After checking out her flat in St. Leonards, we headed down to the local for a quiet beer, followed by a pizza and a bottle of NZ sav. Turned in pretty early that night, all fired up for the next day.

Day two started with a morning run (in honour of the Buller half marathoners and Coast to Coasters) down to the Harbour Bridge. Beautiful view but pretty warm to be running, despite the early start. A bit later on we headed out to The Spit where we hired some kayaks and made our way round to Chinaman's Bay. It was great swimming in the nice warm water, which apparently was too cold for any of the Aussies to bother getting in. A nice lunch overlooking the marina rounded off the afternoon's activities. The night was spent drinking down by the water at the Manly Wharf Bar.

Yet again, Lizzy had an action packed day planned for us on Sunday, starting with a ferry ride out to Watson's Bay. We went for a walk out to the Harbour Heads, then had the world's most expensive fish and chips at a beer garden on the beach. Plenty of action to watch as the new US Head of Defense was in town (got my paparazzi shot below). This meant there were SAS and Police vehicles all over the water and roads, just to get him from a car to a boat 50m away. Could've rocked up in a plain old Falcon or something, wandered on to the wharf and nobody would've known the difference. That night we had a delicious Thai meal and then wandered down to see the Harbour Bridge at night.

Kev and I spent Monday wandering round Sydney since Lizzy had to work. We made it from the Naval Base, round the waterfront, to Darling Harbour, so it was a decent wee trek. In between torrential downpours we checked out a few sights and took care of a few errands. Then we jumped on a 747 bound for Bangkok that evening.