Wednesday 14th July - Saturday 17th June

Kids up at the crack of dawn and another set of strange surroundings can guarantee plenty of noise to get your day started. The family Reed decided to grab breakfast in the hotel and what a pleasant surprise it was. After making the most of the sugarless bread in Rarotonga and gorging ourselves each day with toast and jam/marmalade we plumped for egg on toast for the first time in donkeys. Leigh could not have been happier and the kids fortunately had pancakes and maple syrup to direct their American tastes towards. Add tasty pastries (again not so sweet) and plenty of fresh fruit to go around and we were all as happy as pigs in the proverbial.

After our early start compared to most others in our hotel we decided to head for Taronga Zoo for the day. Considering we arrived as the evening was coming on and the sights were not so clear the proximity of our hotel down in "The Rocks" to all the major landmarks came as a big surprise to everyone bar myself. Luckily Leigh had paid special attention to my former Sydney experience when booking our latest place and a short wander through the historic alleyways and lanes straight towards the harbour bridge and opera house left all with wide smiles. The ferry out of the harbour on our way topped it off for the kids gawping at Sydney Opera House. We even managed to fit in a decent curry finding India Quay and some modern Brit-like cuisine.

The zoo was a brilliant Aussie winter day with plenty to see and a new pair of cuddly toys to show for it. Molly and Amelia were the proud owners of Henry the Koala and Peter the Panda, happily showing them off while we rode the Safari Cable Car to the bottom of the hill followed by the ferry back to Sydney Circular Quay. Sydney is such a scenic place with plenty to see and do that it was a great flip side city break after our Rarotonga island paradise.

The following days included a more detailed look at the main sights and a couple of other ferries. The kids made a point of counting all seventy two steps from the harbour walkway to the opera house doors. The only disappointment was going to Luna Park where it was a complete rip off and rubbish to boot. We made up for it with the Harbour Bridge Lookout, Darling Harbour, the

Botanic Gardens, the Aquarium and plenty of quality ice cream. Sydney was great, although expensive, with lots of Brit reminders and links to the old maritime past. In no time at all we were grabbing our final breakfast, catching the taxi to the airport and jumping our next flight heading to Brisbane.

With hindsight when planning we should have flown to Coolangatta as it was a lot closer to Louise and Terence's house in Mudgeeraba, but the extra distance was not a big deal and once again the kids were perfect travellers making the journey a real breeze.

Making our way to Mudgeeraba was easy enough and

getting reacquainted with old friends was great. Between us we had a fine old time for the rest of the day - Leigh and Louise making up for the last six years when they last saw each other, Molly, Amelia, Rosie and Alfie finding their way having great fun and myself and Terence heading into Brisbane with a couple of his footballing mates to catch the glorious Everton FC on pre-season tour against Brisbane Roar. The kids were great, going to bed well after their evening meal and no time zone variations for a change so far, while Leigh and Louise demolished plenty of wine.

Fair play to Terence being a Newcastle supporter and sorting out the footy match where just under 20,000 fans turned up (about a third blues) as it was complete coincidence that we had made it. After just a couple of hours we knew that during our stay we were going to have plenty of time to catch up and relax (again!).