WooHoo.. an absolutely great day. Headed to immigration, and they granted me my Work Permit. It was an incredibly painless process, took just 15 mins before my passport was stamped. Reckoned it was going to go well, when after less than a minutes conversation with the officer we were chatting about her trip last year to Ireland :) hehehe. So yes, now I can stay until July, but if I want to get it extended it’s not a biggie. Though I’m kinda tempted by residency too.. will have to look into that one. Takes just 2 years (well 180 days for 2 consecutive years) before you get permanent residency..

Finally, the culmination of months of hard work here in the Ministry of Economic Development.

Today, I cleared the table at pool, while my friend David hadn’t managed to pot a single ball.

Then on Friday, headed to the Blue Mountains, a short (hour and a half) train ride from Sydney. Did get some tramping done on the Saturday and Sunday. I would really like to get back for some climbing though. Looks like a great place.

Here’s a pic of Aoife, half way along the Prince Henry Cliff Walk

Still, there was a nice view of the 3 sisters (used to be 7 of them, but a few just needed to break away (ba boom))

And all too soon it was back to ChCh. Now I just have to sort out my visa extension and all will be cruisey from here on!

From Tuesday->Friday I stayed with my friend from ChCh, Yvonne. Which was great – over in a place called Manly. A really chilled out place about a 30 min boat ride from Circular Quay. Great feel to the place, where more smoothies were consumed!

The flat itself was very nice. Though I was slightly unnerved by the sign



I mean just how many calls do these companies get that they think the phone might already be engaged?! (it was a pretty rickety lift!)

Cockatiels fly all around the place (and come to your 7th floor balcony to disturb ones reading of ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’.

But what can you do! Well, for one, you can try to scare them away. But this doesn’t work. I’m obviously not scary enough.

Also managed to meet my a friend from Openet, who is over doing contract work in Oz for the next few months (rolling out for the national service provider). Working crazy hours, but thriving. So thanks Graham for buying me a pink cocktail ;) Might meet up again in NZ if he comes to tour, which would be great fun!

And on Thursday, met up with Aoife again, and headed to the observatory, for their evening tour. That I would highly recommend. We lucked out a little bit with the weather – it was still a bit cloudy, but not too bad. Got to see some really nice constellations the Jewel Box was beautiful, and got to see that the brightest star of the southern cross – Alpha Crucis, which is actually a binary star system. Our Guide, Ian, was excellent. Really fun.. there was a wee 3D film presentation where they whizz you round the solar system. Ian happily told us, that if we were thinking of heading to Venus for a summer holiday it would be a pretty bad idea. He explained (gleefully) that if we went there, as soon as we stepped out we’d be crushed by the atmosphere, squished completely. But he then went on to say, that before that happened, the extreme temperature of Venus would probably have boiled our blood away, and he finished by saying that there’d not be much left of us as we’d be utterly dissolved by the Sulphuric Acid that would have rained down on us.

A cheery fellow :). So all in all an excellent tour, would really recommend it. Also has a good exhibition on the Transit of Venus (which Captain Cooks was ordered to record, before heading on to discover the Great South Land – what is now Australia).

So yes, arrived in Sydney, for what was a very lazy week indeed. Stayed in town for the first three nights, and hung out with my friend Aoife. Headed over to Bondi to have a look at the beach that 1/2 of Ireland seems to stay at when they travel to OZ. And you can see why.. well, if the sky had been bluer you could see why. Still, there were quite a few people out surfing.

Checked out the markets (pretty cool) the Chinese Gardens (very nice place right in the centre of town) and also headed to the powerhouse museum. Still, once you’ve visited the science museum in London I reckon you’re pretty spoilt.. But generally spent my time drinking smoothies and catching up on reading and postcards.

Did of course have a look at the Opera House

and also had a wee walk across the Harbour Bridge, but did not do the climb to the top (at $180 I decided not to)