Not bad for a youth hostel terrace.

And Alfie at the wheel!

On the way to Goat Island with Sophie.

Dougal with Peter, his surf guru.

Amazing trees in Lamington.

The boys cuddled this Koala but we were too stingy to pay $40 for a photo!

Alfie eating the Kangaroo snacks!

Some more pics

Sydney on Twin's Birthday.

Hi everyone, making contact again 2 weeks into our trip.  We managed to forget one thing - the wee cable that connects camera to computer - so no mug shots yet.

We are currently in the most amazing youth hostel in the world overlooking Sydney harbour.  We've had a 12 day tour of the east coast of Oz which of course just gives us a taster.  After 2 nights in the bizarre world of Dubai we were given a perfect welcome by Billy and Becky in Brisbane.  We loved seeing them again and the boys loved their TV and pool! The perfect intro was to cuddle Koalas and Kangaroos at the local sanctuary. We had 2 nights on a 4WD tour of Moreton Island, the second biggest sand island in the world.  Quite an experience standing in the pouring rain watching the boys turn blue while boogie boarding.  You wouldn't expect that in Oz but it even rains here! Then when it stopped raining we all got sunburnt.

Next up was Byron Bay where we camped coutesy of camping gear donated by Billy and Becky.  Beautiful place by the beach.  Dougal caught his first wave on a surf board and to celebrate we went to the pub - they all promptly fell asleep in the middle of this huge bar - what shocking parents we are.

Sydney has been amazing.  Our new friends Sophie and Ben welcomed us to their island in the middle of Sydney harbour where we sat out watching the city light up. Our old friend Tara is now a firefighter in Sydney and brought her fire engine round to the hostel for the boys to see!  All totally unforgettable for all of us.

That said, we thought it a bit cruel of Mick to serve up baked Kiwi at the party last night.  Did taste good though.

Well at least Rory is packed and ready to go.  Presumably those 3 rucsacs are full of sun cream - he'll need it!  Thank-you so much to all you lovely friends, family and colleagues who have been incredibly supportive and just done and said some really nice things in recent days.  Going away makes us appreciate all the more this great community that we live in.