A Claw-tionary Tale

Not an auspicious start to the trip when I left New Zealand carrying battle scars on my nose, following an encounter with a usually mild mannered cat bearing the ferocious name of Smitten. Still a lesson to be learned that engagement with any animal with claws should be handled with caution no matter the size!! Other than this incident departure was relatively smooth.

Must say that completely rate Emirates airline for service, food and entertainment. The only bad point was they had so many movies to choose from that by the time I decided on one, didn't actually have time to finish it before landing! However am sure can catch up on the next leg. Am almost looking forward to the flight even - as much as one can look forward to sitting for hours on a flying metal tube.

Sydney has been fab so far... strange taxi ride screaming through the back streets and was wondering if I had arrived in the city at all as didn't pass through any well-lit areas as headed towards Leichhardt, a suburb in the inner west with a strong Italian influence. Upon arrival had a few wines, followed by my forth meal of the day at a great little Italian place down the road, imaginatively called Bar Italia. The food was cheap, basic and delicious and the ice-cream was melt-in-your-mouth fantasic - can definitley recommend Tiramisu flavour!! Actually seem to have spent the last few days eating... lots of ice-cream, fresh fish-n-chips over in Watsons Bay overlooking the water (never mind fighting off the pesky seagulls), potato scallops at Manly and today's foodie highlight was Harvey's pie cart with a tiger curry pie (beef not tiger!) with spud and mashy peas!

Liz and Mark have been great showing me the sights and been through quite a few of the different suburbs, from Kings Cross, Bondi, Paddington, Balmain.. People say that Sydney is quite like London or Auckland and while I can see that there are some similarities, it seems to have a style all of its own with a realy eclectic mix of people and architecture. Also with iconic Aussie landmarks like the harbour bridge and the opera house you certainly can't mistake where in the world you are! Travelled up to Manly beach plus a bit further up the coast and over to Bondi which are pretty impressive for city beaches. Unfortunately not quite swimming temperature however the weather has been fantastic, warm and sunny - t-shirt weather in July which is quite surreal!! Liz has just reported that tomorrow will be around 22 degrees.

Did a walking tour round 'The Rocks' this morning which was really interesting passing through cute alleyways and the sandstone streets and buildings. Yesterday did a leisurely 8km walk round the bays locally, passing through the doggy park with all the owners and pets out for their Sunday strolls, though no time to stop at the Dog Bones cafe for a puppachino this time round... Tried out my Nordic walking traveller poles which thankfully the dogs ignored but not so the witty Australians who like their kiwi counterparts couldn't help themselves making smart comments about snow and skiing...

This morning got up early (yes this meant 4am start!!) to watch the football world cup final and then afterward walked down to Norton street (closed for the occasion) where seemingly every Italian in Sydney was celebrating the win with flags, flares and a lot of car horns and shouting. Couldn't have slept through it if I tried!! On the subject of sport, of course watched the All Blacks vs. Wallabies on Saturday night at the very same Harlequin pub where Mary met the Prince of Denmark not so long ago. No royalty there to my knowledge, mostly filled with sad faced Australians... though surprising number of smiling silver-ferns could be seen in the crowd. In true kiwi style stayed and drank to our success to the wee hours.

Have another few days in Sydney to explore a bit more. Having already been over and under it, tomorrow will attempt the climb over the harbour bridge provided I pass the breath test..