Daniela and I decided that today was the day we were to do the coastal walk, with our Boosters (frozen smoothies) in hand.

We get to take in some beautiful views along the walk, which took us a few hours... The pictures speak for themselves....

Another must on the Sydney todo list, is a coastal walk from Bondi to Tamarama. But I have been continuosly attempting to do this walk and continue down to Coogee, which is just one beach up from Maroubra. Along the way you can see Bronte and Clovelly beach as well.

As much as it sounds appealing, for some reason I can't get past Bondi. I love Bondi beach, it's amazing. It's picture perfect, the home of Bondi Rescue, full of hotties, and cool bars and eateries. So you can imagine it's not hard to get distracted. 

Last week I did get further than before, and there was some gorgeous views. We were slightly hungover so we ended up curling into a hangover ball on the top of the hill. Dropping in to a shallow sleep and then waking up on Bondi.. mindblowing. 

I am now on a few week countdown to coming home... So I WILL do the walk within the next week.

Since arriving in Oz, I have been trying to organise a trip up to the Blue Mountains. I finally get around to going with Torie and Caitlin, two fellow Poms.

We get the train up to Katoomba. It's a 2 hour journey, and it seemed to be crazy slow and stop at every tree and lampost. Compared to everything else in Sydney it's super cheap 11 Bucks return... We find out later that NSW actually loose money on every trip, but they just need to keep the tourists going up... Crazy.

After eating our body weight in lasagne at a quaint little diner, we head up the high street to the National Park.

Katoomba is the hotspot to see the Blue Mountains. But weirdly, they look less blue from here. I visited Bilpin, a small town, a month or so ago, and from there the mountains look much bluer. No the grass is not blue, apparently they appear blue because of the haze from the Eucalyptus plants.

When packing my suitcase, I didn't really pack sensible clothes or shoes... I was walking through the boggy blue mountains with sandals on... woops. We walk along the various look out points and we have fantastic views of the landscape and the famous Three Sisters (see pic above). We picked a perfect day and the sky was clear and crystal blue. It's cooler up here than Sydney, about 15 degrees. We head back at 5pm, an hour before sunset, so it was pretty cold, we huddle around some hot drinks and wait for the long journey back to Sydney. 

The plan was to go up the Sydney Tower, but technology failed us getting cheap tickets, so we head to Scruffy Murphy's of all places.

Had an amazing day!

Another place in Sydney with a stolen London name, Paddington is a pretty cool place and just a short walk out of the city. Down Oxford Street, there are some quirky, super cool shops and some super expensive designer boutiques. 

The 30 minute stroll seemed longer than usual. After a late night, and lack of sleep, I made my way from the hostel, back home via Paddington. It's a Saturday so the Market is on.  

Every Saturday, the Churchyard becomes buzzing with market stalls and visitors. From food, to souveneirs, clothes and art, the market definitely fits in with the quirky area. This week there was a little old man playing the guitar too... which was quite sweet. 

Naturally, I saw a million things I wanted to buy, but one, I don't have much room in my suitcase and two, I'm running out of funds!

When the sun is shining, it's a perfect way to fill a Saturday morning. And the walk made me fell less guilty about the bad food from the night before. Although it was pretty hot, and I was too tired for life, I decided to carry on walking before giving in and getting the bus. 

I stumbled across an outdoor gallery, which was once a reservoir... I'm not usually big on this sort of stuff but it was really beautiful. And of course, the place was crawling with artsy-fartsy types.

I knew, if I went home at this point I would simply spend all day in bed feeling sorry for myself or watching Bondi Rescue on Foxtel. Last stop for me was Centennial Park. I've been a few times before and it's always full of Sydney's elite. Sydney is the home of the beautiful people, and Centennial Park is where they exercise. 

I decide life is too short for more exercise, rather than walking around the vast parklands, I decide to park myself next to the water and read my book. Eventually, my throbbing head decided to pipe down, luckily. After an hour, I decided that that was quite enough excitement for one Saturday and make my way back to Maroubra. 

I'm going to have such a shock returning to Manchester... there's nothing to walk around!!!

Whilst most may not have heard of Palm Beach, many of you will have heard of Summer Bay, the fictional place in Home and Away.

After not bothering with a bus tour to the Neighbours set when we were in Melbourne, it would be rude not to see the set of the cities rival Soap.

An hour or so drive from Sydney, we stop off at Newport at an amazing pub with a brilliant beer garden and equally brilliant view. 

I've not watched Home and Away in about 10 years... I stopped watching it when it was bumped from ITV to Channel 5. I remember watching it thinking, wow that is paradise.

It's a beautiful beach. We visited on a Sunday afternoon, it's so much quieter than the beaches in the Eastern Suburbs. The houses surrounding this place are beautiful, but I wouldn't want to be so close to Sydney, but an hours drive away, if that makes sense... You might as well live in Bondi.

A fan of the show or not, if you like gorgeous, peaceful beaches its worth checking it out if you are in this neck of the woods.

If you read the posts below, I'm sure you will take from this blog that I adore Melbourne, and by the end of the trip I'm still not exactly sure why. It's much cooler than in Sydney and St. Kilda's beach has nothing on any of the many Sydney beaches. It's quirky and relaxed. If I was to make the big move to Oz in the future, if it were during my twenties I'd head to Melbourne, but any older and I'd have to say Sydney. On paper, Sydney hands down beats Melbourne, the sites, lifestyle beaches, culture etc. 

A fantastic, and in my opinion underrated place. Add it to your holiday wishlist... Mine for that matter is getting longer by the day. I need to get a job as cabin crew or something.