Sarah and I bagged some cheap flights for Sydney, and headed out in September, stopping off at Singapore on the way there and back to break up the long long flight.

On our first stop at Singapore, we were blown away by the heat - I was expecting it to be hot, but it was so unbearably hot and humid. We visited as many places as we could in the day that we were there, and managed to fit in a pleasant boat tour, a walk around the Orchid Gardens, and a Night Safari at the zoo. The safari was a unique experience, walking around the zoo in near darkness amongst the animals.

We then spent a week in Sydney, one of the more expensive cities we’ve been to. There were some spectacular scenery and sights to take in and I got a lot of photos here. I think we covered most of the main tourist items - the Darling Harbour, Sydney Tower for excellent views over the city (the included Oz Trek simulator ride was pretty poor though), the scenic Royal Botanic Gardens, the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon Lookout, etc.

We crossed over the bridge to North Sydney, and apart from views of the city, there was not much else there. We quickly turned back. We also spent a day in Bondi Beach and in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. The beach was lovely, full of surfers, sunbathers... A really lively yet chilled place to be, away from the city. The Blue Mountains were of course pretty spectacular, though there was not much in Katoomba itself, having walked through it from the train station to get to the mountains.

On our penultimate day in Sydney, we caught a huge red dust storm, which swept over the city. I woke up to a completely red view out of the hotel window. It was rather bizarre and a little bit spooky. I was pretty glad we caught the once-in-a-lifetime event though!

Leaving Sydney we headed back to Singapore, to explore the sites and watch the F1 Grand Prix. We stopped at the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel for the essential Singapore Sling cocktail. The most expensive drink I’ve ever had, but it was worth it. The food was pretty excellent in Singapore, totally authentic and stupidly cheap - we ate well for about £4 for two, a refreshing change to the expense of Sydney.

The Grand Prix was a really good experience. A rather uneventful race in itself, but it was nice to be there, to soak in the atmosphere in a truly massive crowd. We got to see the Backstreet Boys perform in the party afterwards.

Before long though, it was time to pack up our souvenirs and head for home and back to reality...