Stunning Sydney

Do the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee beach, stopping to swim along the way.
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So here I am in Sydney, where my Sidneysider friends Lisa and Craig who have been the most fabulous hosts, along with their 2 month old gorgeous daughter Mackenzie (see photo). Craig's just gone back to train for international routes with Jetstar (owned by Qantas) so it's been good timing for Lisa, Mackenzie and I to hang out. We've been to several of Sydney's beaches, I did a fabulous coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee with a quick dip in a cliffside pool partway along. It was a good way to work off the seafood platter Lisa and I shared at the fish market beforehand. We went to the Blue Mountains where mostly I checked out the views while Lisa looked after Mackenzie's needs, but as a pilot, she's seen it all before from the air, so she didn't feel like she was missing out. Yesterday was a day for me to explore some of Sydney's harbour icons while my hosts headed off to Tasmania for a wedding. I started off at Harry's Cafe, an institution reknowned for its meat pies, then made my way through the Royal Botanical Gardens to the Sydney Opera House for a tour. The main concert hall is as beautiful inside as the building is from the outside with incredible design features and wood harvested from Queensland's rainforests. I even got to see a bit of the Australian Ballet's rehearsal of Don Quixote. Then after exploring the historic Rocks, which contains Siydney's oldest buildings, I met Lisa's mom Judy to celebrate her new job at one of Darling Harbour's trendy wharfside restaurants. This afternoon I head off for a section of the epic Indian Pacific railway which crosses the country east to west ( www.trainways.com.au ). I'm only going as far as Broken Hill, an old mining town in the outback which has become a bit of an artist's colony. Then I'll be flying over to Perth on the west coast to begin a whole other adventure involving vineyards, wild dolphins, whale sharks, beautiful beaches and rock formations. I''ll keep you all posted. Bye for now, Diana