11. Sydney, Australia

So we arrived in Australia, Sydney to be exact. What a magnificient city, truly a gem. We ended up in a less-than-perfect hotel, though, one that we had booked online while in New Zealand. There was a building site outside, plus a major road. So off we went and found a superb hotel

in the middle of the city, the Menzies Four Seasons. After 2 weeks of cheap motels and B&B's, it was quite a change.

There's little we can tell you about Sydney that's new: we went to see all the famous sights and explored the

central part of the city quite extensively. Úna braved the waves on Bondi Beach and we saw one of the funniest shows ever at the Sydney Opera House: the complete works of William Shakespeare in 97 minutes. Hilarious and strongly recommended.

We caught up with Tammy Rockett, who had relocated to Sydney from Dublin in 2002. Can't for the life of me explain why you'd want to live in Sydney, Tammy! ;o)

Another highlight was a trip out to the Blue Mountains.

We stopped off at the Olympic Park, had a chance to stroke a koala in a wildlife park, and got a chance to throw a boomerang (v. difficult). The Three Sisters is the iconic rock formation in the Blue Mountains, which get their name from the blue-tinged air.

This is due to accumulations of vapours given off by the eucalyptus trees. The calmer the weather, the bluer the mountains.

Australia is so big, it warrants another visit. But our time was up and we moved on to Cape Town.