Wine wine wine - thats all you ever do ... And Sydney
So we dropped down to Newcastle, an industrial city 3hours outside of Sydney. We were here to get off the backpacker beaten track and to get to the Hunter Valley.

We met some lovely locals at Mayfield Baptist Church including a guy called Cameron who kindly invited us round for a meal and to homegroup with him. Its was great to experience the Ozzie hospitality again and we had a fun time with the group.

The Hunter Valley is an area of land where wineries are plentiful. From the large commercial to the small boutiques there are hundreds of kilometers of green fields growing grapes. We took a day trip to experience this place as well as sample some of its wares. It was surprising how much wine we consumed through the day, sipping up to 6 or 7 wines in the 5 wineries we went to. There were many different reds and whites that we liked but were mostly impressed with the whites that we tried.


Sydney
And so we took the last 3hour leg of the Greyhound journey down to Sydney.
We stayed in a small backpackers that wasn't up to the usual YHA standard that we had become accustomed. It was Ok but had quite a different feel to other hostels as most of the backpackers were long-termers who were working.

Our first day took us on a trip out to the Blue Mountains. During the 2hour train journey we chatted to a guy who told us about the Wentworth falls, a couple of stops before Katoomba. Supposedly 20mins each way, he thought we could do the falls in the hour and a bit that we had between trains. We set off at a cracking pace and stormed down to the falls. Even at our blistering pace it took a good 45mins so we slowed down realising that we wern't going to catch the next train. The falls were beautiful and the scenery from the cliff edge looking out over the forest was astounding. Arriving in Katoomba we didn't have much time and set about 'bagging' the 3-sisters rocks and various other dramatic views. It was quite a scream tearing around the sights but we made it.



We had a few funny looks and giggles on the train on the way back as we discovered that the seat backs could be moved to afford a rear or front facing view. Forward and back ... Forward and back ... He he ...


Back in Sydney Jon did the Harbour Bridge climb and Nat took a trip to the pylon from which you also get a fantastic view. We went for a jaunt round the harbour on a boat, took a walk through the city (including the beautiful, tree lined, Hyde Park) and took a trip out to Bondi Beach. Sydney is a really beautiful city and blends the practicality of the skyscrapers with the natural tree-lined parks and the beautiful harbour.


Tomorrows our last day in Sydney and we plan to make it to the guided tour of St Mary's Cathedral and to Church somewhere. Its also our last Day in Oz as we fly out to New Zealand on Monday. Whilst we are very excited at moving on, we realise that there is so much more you could do here!

New Zealand here we come ...