3 days, and 20 pre-packed meals later!

Well, Gday!

In a strange twist it's 2006 here and not there, if you're reading this from back in blighty, we'll wherever you happen to be happy New Year!
God, there not kidding when they call it Long Haul. Eleven and 1/2 hours to get to the Neon capital of the world Hong Kong(sorry Vegas), 9 hours eating noodles and then back on the plane for another dose of 9 hours flying. We'll that's all over now and we're here, and not to disappoint anyone it's very very sunny and very very hot, aroung 32 degrees to be slightly inexact. I must admit for the dredge that is flying to the other side of the world, you can do much worse than the nice people at Cathay Pacific, always there with a friendly smile, an interesting choice of meal and god aren't they so well turned out.
Given that we, for the best part hadn't slept in 2 days, we slightly annoyingly arrive in Sydney at 12.00 noon, immediately causing the the problem, do we go to bed because we can't physically move with exhaustion or do we try to beat the jet lag and stay up for another 12 hours. We choose the later and what a mistake that turns out to be. Given the time frame we're dealing with here, arrive - next day new year fireworks - next day 12 hour rave, there wasn't much room for things to go wrong. Inevitably in true Gary fashion, what happens, yes I manage to get a bad bought of food poisoning from a dodgy Dim Sum. Yes give me 12 hours in any foreign country and I'll find away to inflict myself to the worst possible torture I can. Seeping head in Equador, altitude sickness in Peru, and now add to the list intense vomitting and stomach cramps in Sydney. So new Years eve was to be spent wandering this lovely city, sampling the culture and soaking the atmosphere, what I got was wandereing the space between our room and the toilet, sampling the taste of toothpaste to mask other tastes, and soaking up both sweat and vomit with my towel. Jules to her credit did a brilliant impression of florence and almost hand fed me fruit and bread.
Well not to be beaten by this inconvenience(imagine coming to Sydney for New Year and not seeing New Year, morale was a bit low for a while) and with aid of some nursing, I dragged myself up and by the time the evening came around I could just about move without puking, and we got ourselves down to the harbour to witness a fantastic firwork display(really good co-ordination), and mark our first real day in Sydney with a New Year, how lucky was that.
Tomorrow(well today for us, trying to compinsate for the time difference) we're off to a rave festival, that should be good for my tender stomach!
I will in the next couple of days fill in more details of our experiences in the city, but for now they have been mostly the inside of a hostel dorm with a slightly broken fan.
Never fear we have arrived and we are safe and we are ready to start having a fantastic time.