Pics for those without Facebook

Us 'meeting' Dr Karl








The Blue Mountains trip








Bondi Beach








The steepest train in the world








The view from the office









My attempts at break-dancing








Closer each day...................

Finally an update!

I've decided to update the blog after a request from a 'friend' to see photos of how 'fat' i've become.
Only 3 weeks now before we return to England. Can't believe how quick it's gone, but we are both also looking forward to seeing everyone.

More pictures

	The lounge/kitchen of our new flat
	Syndey Harbour Bridge from the Ferry
	Manly Beach at the weekend
	Introducing Suzy, my friend from work, to English cooking
	Jenny's Birthday Party
	View at night from our balcony
	The "Snake" from under the bed!
	View from the balcony in the day

Sleep Tight.......

Well, it's bucketing it down outside so that means blog time.

We have recently moved into our new flat which is located on the corner of Oxford Street next to Hyde Park (yes, we are still in Sydney!). For those who don't know Sydney too well, Oxford Street is the Gay section and is littered with bars like The Tool Shed, The Tool Box, The Lick-Her Store and so on - very classy! The flat has 1 bedroom and is located on the 15th (top) floor of the building. We have a nice view of the Botanical gardens and Opera house, and at night the bats (flying foxes) fly past our balcony. There's plenty of room for vistors to so if anyone fancies a trip to Sydney you'll have free accomodation and tour guides.

Prior to our move into the flat, and our last week or so in the hostels we managed to pick up some nasty little bed bugs that took a liking to nikki's blood while I don't think I got bitten once. The YHA threw us out so we spent a night washing everything we owned in hot water and moved to another hostel.

We are really enjoying our time in Sydney and have been spending lots of time with Nikki's friend Jenny who's also found work and a flat here. We spent last weekend at Manly beach and hired surf and body boards attempting to fit in with the locals, however, after being stung by a blue bottle (http://www.australianfauna.com/bluebottlejellyfish.php) in a particularly sensitive place, I decided I had enough of the water for the day.

Its the 75th anniversary of the Harbour bridge this Sunday so we will be going out to watch some fireworks for the night followed by the Liverpool - Aston Villa game which starts at 12:45am!

Pictures to follow.

How to save a life....................

- Cute
- Wow. Nikki, an elephant and Sydney skyline.
- Found this 8 legged cutie in our bedroom...........
- Fireworks over the harbour for the arrival of the QE2 and Queen Mary.
- Harbour bridge.

Sydney life.........

Hi. It has been a while since our last blog and since then we have been spending our time in Sydney working to earn back some of the money we've been spending. With the travelling life now over, things are slowing down.

Anyway, here's an update.

My first interview while in Sydney was for an Experienced Mercury QuickTest Tester. Although I didn't have the experience the agency said they would still have a check. The interview was with Optus and for people who know Sydney, Optus is the large building on the Northshore. The interview seemed to start OK but went to pot once the interviewer started asking questions that I didn't understand. He kept speaking in a funny language (I guess is Australian) and I just couldn't understand him. It turns out he was asking me questions that I did know the answer too, just I couldn't understand him. Anyway, he proceeded to joke about how useless my knowledge was, and even though I had completed the advanced course in training, it didn't mean I had any intelligence. With my confidence shattered and my new life goal to curse every Optus shop I passed, I had to start work as a Customer Service 'guy' for Woolworths short term.

Nikki, on the other hand, managed to get herself an interview on the 30th floor of the the Axa building on the harbour front. With the views of the bridge and the opera house she would have loved to work there, however, the company (Credit Swiss) decided she was 'over qualified' and would get bored so she has ended up working for a Recruitment company on the 5th floor of a building near the Rocks area working as a HR Officer.

Eventually though, I managed to find a more interesting sounding job (After a week without work). Getting to desparation point and thinking about giving up and coming home, I managed to get myself a job working for . . . . . . .Optus. This time it is on the 17th floor for the Comissions department and starts on Wednesday.

Hope this keeps people up-to-date and we will put some photos of our 'new adventures' soon.

Some photos for the below entry.

And so . . . . . . . .

Since the last blog we've headed onto Lake Taupo, Rotorua, Waitomi Caves and the Bay of Islands. We particularly enjoyed the caving where we drifted through underwater caverns on a rubber ring looking at the glow worms.

Rotorua was a nice stop and the thermal pools were great. The public parks within the town actually have smoking pools of boiling mud and water.

The Bay of Islands were a nice finish to the travels as the weather was amazingly perfect. Extremely hot and hot enough for us to go snorkelling in the ice cold waters. Unfortunately the visibility wasn't great (a few meters at best) so we didn't see a lot, but it certainly spooked Nikki!

The final excursion was saved 'til last. It was to be one of the best one of the trip as we had been told by many people that swimming with the dolphins was the best thing they'd done. The day was great and we found a pod of over 50 dolphins playing around the boat, however there were several babies so we couldn't go in with them. So dissappointing. Maybe we'll do it in Australia (the water is so much warmer as well), and maybe we'll finally see those Manta Rays as well!!!

We are on our final few days of Auckland where we will be flying to Sydney. Our original itinery included a flight to Hong Kong via Sydney then on home, however we have amended the itinery to include another stop in sydney. We are planning to get some work and earn back some of the money spent. Wow, time to start working again. I just hope I haven't forgotten how to!