Final weekend before starting work.

Went out to Balmain yesterday to look at potential areas that Roger and Allen will live in. I see it as basically inner suburbia of Sydney. Kind of like the Kingswood of Bristol for those who know Bristol. Didn't quite convince me to want to live there but it was a pleasant enough neighbourhood all the same.

I did see a few S2000's over there though, having not seen one in the city centre and then seeing three on the trot outside of Sydney. I was beginning to think that they weren't sold over here.

This is a view of from the ferry which we took to get out to Balmain. As you can see it was yet another sunny day and the ferry trip was very picturesque.

As the ferry went around the harbour you got a good view of the Sydney skyline. I'm amazed how much cleaner the air was around Sydney. I guess the better weather conditions helped but even so, Sydney doesn't have the same haze that other large cities have such as London, Hong Kong or New York.

In the picture you can see a yellow boat, these are water taxis that can be used to get you around the harbour. They are expensive to use though.

I went to the gym this morning (Sunday) for another work out. I was very surprised to find out that the local Fitness First didn't open till 11am on a Sunday! I guess Sydneysiders prefer to work out later on a Sunday. Even worse is that the nearest Fitness First to my potential apartment is only open on Monday to Friday. What's wrong with these Australians, don't they like to get up early or work out on weekends?

For our last day of "holiday" before starting work, we went out to Watson's Bay. Since Allen wasn't feeling very well only Roger (on the left) and Andrew came along. One thing that is very strange with the trains around Sydney is that they are all double decker trains. You can see the top and bottom deck windows on the right of the image. Having the double decks makes the trains look like cattle carts to me!

Watson's Bay is Sydney's oldest fishing village apparently. Well so the sign said at the village. We went to a famous fish restaurant overlooking the bay. I had some fantastic seafood for lunch and an even better desert. Remember that I went to the gym this morning so the desert made up for it. Ying and yang and all that.

Went for a walk after a long lunch and there are several beaches around the bay. One called Lady Bay was even a nudist beach. No pictures I'm afraid. As you walk around the bay you can see Sydney harbour's widest point as it opens out into the Pacific Ocean.

I've never seen the Pacific so I can now tick that box on things that I've seen now. Looked like any other large ocean to be honest, but it was nice to know that further out would be New Zealand and even further out from that would be South America.

Finally ate in my own apartment hotel this evening. After eating out for over a week or so it was really nice to be able to cook my own evening meal. I'd already had lunch a couple of times but not having to eat out at night and to be able to chill out on my own made a nice break.

They appear to getting ready to show the second series of Lost over here so that's possibly a good thing. Possibly as I'm not convinced that the first series was that great really. In this serviced apartment I have a portable TV in my bedroom which I don't have at home. I'm now convinced that having a TV in the bedroom is a very bad thing. I've hardly read any books since I've been here, it's all to easy to watch TV before going to bed rather than read a book.

Finally starting work tomorrow morning. Looking forward to a change of pace and some more structure to my week now. The sooner I get to move into my more permanent accommodation the better really. Then I can really start to settle down and find my own way around Sydney and Australia. More new stuff and changes but I'm looking forward to it though...