Sydney

Very early on Friday morning we were awoken by an alarm call booked for 0500 - we were being picked up from the hotel in Singapore at 0700 to be at the airport for the 0905 flight to Sydney. Sensibly all of the packing had been done the night before and we all got up and dressed in plenty of time - even Claire who had never seen this time of the morning before!

We had booked baggage collection at 0615 and were ready to check out at that time as well, once checked out we just had to wait for the car to collect us. We were at the airport before 0730 and checked in, we made our way to the gate where Luke decided that he would run around the seats of bleary eyed passengers, which kept everyone amused.

I think it's fair to say that this was one of the flights that we were not looking forward to - we had to keep an awake Luke amused for seven and a half hours in one seat. As we took off we couldn't believe what happened - Luke fell asleep and slept for almost an hour. After his power nap we introduced him to the TV for his seat which thankfully had Playhouse Disney on. Between this and the green game we kept him amused and watched with delight as his face lit up when Mummy produced a new Backyardigans cartridge for the game.

The one lasting impression of a Qantas flight is the food, we had presumed that we would be having breakfast as soon as we were in the air as we took off at 0905, however lunch was promptly served at just after 1000! Following this was a round of bananas, then choc ices, then more bananas and more choc ices until 2 hours before landing another meal for Luke was produced followed by a further hot snack for us. We landed just after 1930 Sydney time, flying in past both the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House to the sound of Luke snoring again as he had fallen asleep during landing!

Kay met us from the plane and greeted Luke with a welcome to Sydney balloon and 'Gumdrop' the koala bear. The taxi ride to Kay's took us over the Harbour Bridge and a short while later we were in Manly. Kevin and Alex (Kay's flatmate and girlfriend) welcomed us with cool beer and hot pizzas. After a while it was time for Luke to leave his new found playmate (Kevin) and have a bath ready for bed, and pretty soon after we followed Luke.

Our first day in Sydney has been spent here in Manly dodging the rain, we have had a good wander about getting to know the shops that we may need while here. Lunch was in a bar overlooking Manly wharf watching the ferries come and go to the city. The rest of the day passed leisurely as we settled into life beside the sea - the view from Kay's apartment is amazing, the beach is just across the road and the noise of the waves crashing against the sand is extremely relaxing. There is much that awaits us in Sydney, the choice of what to do first is taking more time than expected, naturally we will keep you posted..............