AUSTRALIA
Sydney
Blue Mountains
I stayed in 2 places in Australia; Elizabth Bay Catered Apartments and the Deverre Hotel.  Elizabeth Bay was a ok place, clean and owners were friendly, if overtly talkative.  I liked that I was almost living in a house of my own and it was good value at 100AUD per night. The Deverre was better thought with a good breakfast included in the 99AUD per night price and the room was clean and comfortable.   However, there is a reason these places were so reasonable in price- we discovered the first night that we had inadvertantly picked hotels in Sydneys notorious Kings Cross, the red light district, which was teeming in skanky hos and strip bars with extremly pushy bouncers.  Great!
What did I eat in Sydney?  Macdonalds, pizza and kebabs mostly.  I couldnt really afford anything else, the prices were steep compared to Asia and there were none of the little food places I liked.  One night I ate kangaroo steak- tasty but kinda tough.  I also had a burger which I thought was very tasty until I got sick the next day.
Bondi beach
The Land Down Under
Sydney was a cool place, I did hope to go to some other places in Australia such as the Gold Coast but unfortunatly I couldn't as it was both too expensive (even on the supposed cheap airline Virgin Blue) and took too long (3 days by train!)  So I found myself stuck in Sydney for a week.  At first I liked it, being Down Under, seeing the famous Sydney harbour but by the 4th day I was getting bored of it all and getting skint as it's extremely expensive compared to Asia.  As well as seeing all the sights, I went fishing (was sick thanks to a dodgy burger- the first food icky I had)  and saw the zoo, which was a good chance to see all the Aussie wildlife.  I also saw the Olympic 2000 stadium, which was pretty cool.
Wonderland
Australia is a great place, I did enjoy being there but didnt enjoy the prices, the people (no offence Aussies but you're all total bastards!) and the fact I couldn't go anywhere but the general area of Sydney.  I loved the Blue Mountains though, being in the bush was totally fantastic and I cant wait to go back to Australia to see more of the inner outback bit.  I don't like cities.
Wonderland, which was supposed to be the "biggest theme park in the world" (bollocks!) was ok, but extremely quiet.  And one of the best rides 'The Bush Beast' was shut so there were only two other decent rides- the vertical drop ride (brilliant fun!) and a roller coaster (which made me feel sick after the 4th time)  Most of the time I spent on the bumper cars waging war against these freaky Arabs- they were taking it too seriously, saying "I'm going to kill you" and stuff like that.  Kinda scary considering the current political climate!
Bondi Beach.  Supposedly the home of bronzed, buff surfer bodies and topless chicks was a disapointment.  There was no surfers except learners and next to no topless babes much to James' disapointment  Cheeky!


*I may or may not be topless in this photo*
I loved the Blue Mountains.  They were just outside Sydney and so a great place for us to go in order to get a taste of the outback.  We saw wild cockatiels, kangaroos, kookoburras, lots of cool gum and eucalyptus trees, some recently burned by the massive bushfires at that time, and of couse the famous blue mist that gives the mountains their name, cause by masses of eucalyptus oil in the air.  I also went on the steepest railway in the world and saw some great veiws.  It was all pretty amazing, add to the mix a Polish dissing bus driver and you can be sure a good time was had by all.
Where I Stayed
What I Ate
The QE2 (very lucky to see her in Oz, its the last time she's going there) and Sydney Bridge
Sydney Bridge and the Opera House
A Komodo Dragon (not Aussie but I've always wanted to see one) and a Koala at Sydney zoo.
Me buried in the sand
Wildlife in the Blue Mountains; Kangaroos, Cockatiels and some other bird.
The steepest railway in the world and some scenic shots of the mountains.  Note the blue haze in the bottom one.