Wednesday 5th December 2007

Nikki woke me up at just after 7am this morning... to sing me Happy Birthday... yippee - i'm 27 today! After giving me my card and letting me open my first present (which was 2 large bars of chocolate) she took me out for my BIG present - she'd paid for me to do the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. She walked me down to the site, gave me a kiss and then left me to go and get her hair cut.

The Bridge Climb was superb! Before you can start you have to take a breath-test and then, once you've removed all loose items and dressed in your 'boiler suit', your given some safety instructions before going out to start the climb underneath. Straight away, you're quite high above the road and after walking along some very narrow catwalks you go up onto the Arch. Even though it was quite cloudy today, (there was no rain - just plenty of wind), the views were amazing. Looking down on the Opera House or out towards the Blue Mountains. The climb took about 3 hours in total. We walked up one side, across the middle and then back down the other. It wasn't at all scary - just really good fun - the group even sang me Happy Birthday when we were at the top! As we were on the way back, and walking along one of the lower catwalks again I spotted Nikki down below - with her new haircut, and she managed to get some pics of me.

Once i'd changed back in to my day clothes and collected my certificate and photo, me and Nikki walked back in to town. As we were passing one particular bar, called 333, we spotted that Bristol City were on the TV - so we went in for a beer and to watch the match. It was City versus Watford and they won 2-1... today was getting better and better all the time!

When we'd finished our beers, Nikki took me to McDonalds for some lunch and then to a small café down near Darling Harbour - where she bought me an absolutely HUGE vanilla, chocolate and walnut ice cream - all covered in chocolate sauce. It was the size of a small fish bowl... and yes, I finished the lot. Afterwards we had a walk around Darling Harbour trying to find somewhere to eat tonight and we spotted Jade, our friend from Magnetic Island and Cairns. We chatted for a couple of minutes (she was working) and then booked a table for later before heading back towards the hostel.

We had a new bloke in our room tonight, called Luke - and he was a really cool guy. He'd flown in from Thailand this morning and was sleeping when we got in. When he woke up we got chatting and got on really well - so we invited him out with us tonight. As we were all getting ready, he played some songs to us with his guitar - he was really good, playing Oasis and Stereophonic hits.

When we were finally on the streets of Sydney me, Nikki, Steve the Beave' and Luke went to a couple of bars for some free beers and, after an hour or so, found ourselves down at Baia (Jade's restaurant in Darling Harbour). When we walked in Nikki said that Jade had reserved us a table and the waitress tried sitting us in the back - until Jade spotted us and sat us at the correct table, the best table in the restaurant - right at the front, looking over the lights of the harbour. We all had AMAZING meals - they were delicious. I had a huge sea food platter and Nikki had a chicken and pasta dish. When she'd finished her shift, Jade joined us and she bought me a slice of New York cheesecake, which came out with a sparkler in it and chocolate sauce around the edge - spelling Happy Birthday!

After a few hours, and possibly the best meal i've had since I left England, we left Baia and met Glen before going on to another bar called the Shark Hotel, where the 6 of us sat chatting, laughing and drinking until the wee hours.

Happy Birthday me! Thank you Nikki for making it the best!