Sydney

Stayed at the Sebel Hotel in Manly Beach for 4 nights. We were going to give Sydney a miss because I was scared of the traffic but we thought if we drove to Manly and stayed there we could catch the ferry into the city and not drive at all. Thats what we did but we still managed to stuff up the drive into and out of Sydney!!! No amount of preparation or sat navs can prepare you for the overwhelming choice of lanes when nearing the harbour bridge and tunnel.
We have been really lucky with the weather, no rain at all really, that could have made life miserable.
I love Sydney, it is so interesting and has so much character. So many places to go to, not enough time.
Manly Ferry was a breeze straight into Circular Quay. Walked thru city and went up the Sydney Tower. Now, I did'nt give much thought to the lift going up which was just as well or I'd have chickened out!!! I got a bad dose of claustrophobia going up, not helped by being stuck in a corner with a lift full of people. But the views were worth it, absolutely breathtaking. We watched lots of planes landing at Botany Bay and we were higher than the planes!! Lift back down was much better as I made sure I was at the front near the door. Later we went to Paddys Markets - yep more markets! But this time even I had had enough!!!! I think I'll leave them alone now till we get to Melbourne and go to the Victoria Markets.
We walked through Darling Harbour and saw one of the guys from 'Chasers war on everything'. I think it was Chris Licciardello and he was dressed as some sort of magician with a big red cape - he had a camera crew with him, but we did'nt hang around to see what he got up to. So if you are watching Chasers this week or next have a look out for that one.
Next day we were back in the city for lunch at Aria restaurant near the Opera House. We had a good look around the Rocks and the Opera House first, it is a pretty awesome place.
Lunch at Aria was absolutely fabulous - the food was exquisite and the wine was divine!!! We won't talk about the bill!!!
When we watched the Masterchef final on TV last night we noticed that the dessert the 2 finalists had to make was the same one Peter had at Aria! We bought Matt Moran's cookbook too.
It was lovely staying at Manly Beach. Apart from our apartment being really comfortable, Manly itself is great for walking around - it has a good shopping area (nice cake shops and bakeries)and lots of lovely walks along the beach and coast. It is very popular and there are lots of apartment blocks here. People obviously live here and catch the ferry to work in the city. It looks like it would be quite an expensive place to live.