Sydney here we come!

Hi all, just arrived in Sydney after a really great week in Tasmania with Theresa, Keith, Hannah and Sarah. Mark will no doubt put up lots of good photos all in good time. We were really well looked after and felt very at home. Tasmania is disturbingly like England in some ways but in others shockingly far away. For instance the weather, the countryside and the people all looked very British - but then there were kangeroos, strange plants and the sun went the wrong way!!! OK I know it still goes East to West but it travels anti-clockwise rather than clockwise and it really threw me when we were trying to ensure the parked car stayed in the shade for a few hours. And it's morning in the evening, autumn in the spring and other funny things like that. Mind you, contrary to popular myth the water DOESN'T go the other way down the plug hole - we conducted an experiment with one tap and two sinks next to each other and the water went down clockwise down one of them and anti-clockwise down the other, so its more to do with the direction of flow and other things like that.

We saw (and walked in) some amazing Tasmanian countryside and I learned never to believe a word that Keith says as far as walking is concerned. He (and Sarah) must have the genes of a mountain goat somewhere in there and when Keith says we are going on a really easy four hour walk,what he means is that we will be walking at a fast pace, constantly up over a mountain and back down the other side and back again for five hours - Melissa and I managed it without too much wingeing but we made up for it later! Keith says things like "that was the hardest bit" after we have just strolled up the gentle slope leading to the mountain at the beginning, and "just twenty more minutes" all the way through, and "you're doing really well, you're obviously much fitter than you think" as we are about to collapse and die!

It was great getting to know them all more and seeing their new life in Auz and we also met some other immigrants from none other than Coventry! The guy (David) was my age, went to Caledon Castle and worked at the same job as Mark in a partnering college - so it was chance really that we hadn't met them in Coventry. Life seems pretty good there but I wouldn't like to be so far away from home myself (but that doesn't mean I'm ready to come home yet!).

Anyway we arrived at Sydney Youth Hostel after a very bumpy flight(thank God I have discovered the miracle that is "motion sickness pills" - why didn't anyone tell me about them before?!), had a rest and came directly to these very fast internet connections in the hostel. Starting to plan our sightseeing itinery, the weather is great - 30 degrees and sunny but we're due for rain and 22 degrees tomorrow and the next day - still we've all got our woolies so we'll be fine.

Hope you're all fine and well,

lots of love

- Heather