Tuesday 4th December 2007

We woke up on our final morning in the Blue Mountains and all the clouds from yesterday had cleared and it was nice and bright outside. After checking out of our room, and then having some breakfast, we hung around in the huge living room - waiting for the right time to leave and catch our train. This time the train came direct into Sydney, and when we got off we couldn't believe how warm it was! There was no nice fresh air like in the Mountains. We left the station and took the short walk up Pitt Street to our new hostel, called MAZE, which is a right dump! Luckily, me, Nikki and the Beave' are in a dorm on our own - but it's not very nice, and we definitely won't be staying any longer than the 2 nights we've booked in for. The place is falling apart.

This afternoon me and Nikki went down to the Big! Hostel (the one we left to go to the Blue Mountains) where we walked in, smiled at the guys at reception, and then went on to use their free internet - to which we still had the password (ha ha). After a while Nikki went out to see if she could find me some more presents and I followed shortly afterwards. I was pretty bored walking round on my own, so it didn't take long to meet back at the hostel.

Last Christmas my Mum and Keith had bought us a gift voucher for an online company called VIATOR, and the other day me and Nikki booked to go for a meal up the Sydney Sky Tower... tonight was the night! We got ourselves all dressed up (well, as best we could - I wore jeans, but Nikki looked gorgeous) and went round at about 7.30pm. We caught the lift up to the Sky Tower Restaurant and were shown to our seats... right next to the window.

The Sky Tower is one of the tallest structures in the Southern hemisphere, and the views were amazing! We were seated at about 8pm and the sun was just starting to set behind some clouds - turning the sky a brilliant orange colour. The restaurant was a revolving one, and we started by looking out towards Darling Harbour. It takes 70 minutes to do a complete turn and by the time we were back at our starting point, the sunlight had gone and the city was just lit by thousand of lights. We could see everything from our seats - including the Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

We were in the buffet restaurant... and the food was... SUPERB! Guests are given an hour and a half before their supposed to leave (allowing others to sit down), but because we were at the late sitting - there was no rush for us, which suited us just fine - and gave us longer to try ALL the food. We started with a potato and caramelised leek soup, followed by a salad (from a choice of about 5) with prawns, mussels, oysters, spring rolls and pasta. For our (first) main course we had curry. We both had a lamb sagg and Nikki also had a spoonful of the butter-chicken. For our second main course we both had meats from the cavery. We had salmon, kangaroo & lamb with vegetables and potatoes. We could've had pork, gammon, beef and turkey too if we wanted - but we're not THAT greedy... plus we still had dessert to work our way through.

Our meal was made especially exciting because it was at the same time as a huge electrical storm. Apparently, the Sydney Tower gets struck by lightning about 220 times a year - and it wouldn't surprised me if it was struck tonight. There were flashes and forks at least once a minute, for about 2 hours. Like true soldiers, we put the excitement outside to the back of minds and concentrated on the matter in hand... the food. For dessert, there was a selection of fine cakes to choose from including chocolate profiteroles, caramel slices and strawberry coconut slices - as well as fresh yoghurt and ice cream. At the end of a very good night, we wobbled home and collapsed on our beds... very full and very happy.

Thanks Mum and Keith for our Sky Tower meal!

Happy Birthday Dad Coombe!