Today was the NFL Grand Final. And to decode that for UK people, that's National Football League, or Aussie Rules Football. I was pretty excited about this, I've never seen Aussie Rules though I've heard about it, so it was a good time to watch, especially since the season is now over for 4 months.

We were watching it at Neil's friend's brother's house which is a fantastic pad in Manly. The guy gets a 6 digit bonus every year, so I can only imagine what he earns. Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the place, but take my word for it when I tell you it's gorgeous. Luke had invited about 30 or so people and his girfriend Sue was providing all the other food.

I'm fast learning that I am intimidated by large groups of people. At first I thought it was just a bit down, but although I would settle in at a house party, this isn't several groups of people that don't know each other, they all know each other and not me, so it's harder to get started I've found. I spent most of the afternoon sat on the huge sofas in the living room watching the 4 quarter game on the huge plasma screen.

It is a bizarre game that seems to incorporate elements of football, rugby, basketball and volleyball. You can't run more than 10 paces without either bouncing the rugby-shaped ball, or volleying or kicking it to another player. If you kick it to another team player over a distance of more than 15 metres that player can stop the game and take a sort of free-kick. Tackling has to take place between the neck and the waist, and players can scrum in small groups if the ball is on the ground and there is a struggle. The field itself is round, and the goals are 4 giant poles, like rugby, but with two bigger central ones (scoring here scores 6 points), and two outer smaller ones (scoring here is called a 'behind' and scores 1 point - the only game where you score if you miss!).

The teams playing were Geelong, and Port Adelaide. Sarah is a massive Geelong fan, and they hadn't won a final for 44 years. This game will probably go down in history as the biggest landslide victory ever, so it was a great match to see! The quarters are half an hour long and the game was sewed up by half time. Geelong ended up winning by 163 to 44!

I was disappointed by Aussie Rules, it seemed like a bit of a daft game. I don't follow football fanatically, but I do appreciate the skill involved in fancy-footwork, but this game didn't seem be obviously skillful. Sure, I couldn't do better, but there's nothing stylish about scrawny blokes cuddling each other round the waist or looking like they're doing a double-doggy-style in a scrum. Still it kept me busy most of the afternoon.

By 6pm I was feeling pretty done with the bbq, I was feeling a bit alone in a crowd and I wouldn't have said I was hungover exactly (sicked it up the night before, which I don't remember doing! - classy!). But people started heading off themselves and as the group diminished I suddenly felt much easier infiltrating the groups of friends to talk. Would you know it? Neil and I were still heading up the party at 4am after a trip with Luke to the pub to meet another friend Topaz and ended up going back to hers for a few hours to watch Simpsons Movie and play with her mad cat. Topaz's mum raises baby animals and her brother Matty showed me a photo of the latest baby wallaby which is just the cutest thing I've ever seen. He's only a tiny handful! They have offered to take me up to their mum's house next weekend, and I really want to go, but Megha arrives this Friday and we are planning to head off. I might go and see Topaz this week though anyway.

At 3am we left to get Luke home, as he was blind drunk and fiercely allergic to cats. He had kept us very amused though appearing to be so drunk as to not having a clue what was going on. But periodically getting up and delivering a staggering, slurring whirlwind of observations that seemed to make perfect sense and clearly showed he was still right on our wavelength. Very funny. We left him on his sofa (girlfriend wouldn't let him get in bed!) and caught a taxi home.

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For the tourists, a Daytripper ticket - unlimited use on trains, buses and ferries - is a pretty cheap way of getting around to see some sites. By using all three modes, we got our money's worth with a visit to the North shore of Sydney, to Manly.

It was good to take a step back and see the Sydney skyline as we did as the ferry pulled away from the harbour. The Opera House looks better round the back, I think, and the traffic on the bridge was back in business after taking a rest for the 75th birthday party.

As we sat by the beach on a hot and sunny day at Manly, Kyle had designs on sitting there most of the afternoon with her book. I wasn't having that, though, once I found out there was a good scenic coastal 10km walkway that took you from the port at Manly to the Spit Bridge, taking you through the Sydney Harbour National Park. Before we headed to the final point where we were to catch our bus back to the city centre, passing through woodland and across beaches, there was wildlife galore, from massive spiders to crazy lizards. It was a nice, pretty easy-going walk, but tiring enough to wear us out for an overnight bus journey to Byron Bay.

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Fran is currently reseaching accomodation for our big trip to Eastern Europe in June/July 2007.

We are flying Emirates from Brisbane to Dubai where we will stay with our friends John and Gill Howard for a couple of nights. Then it's on to Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Berlin, Prague, Salzburg, Graz, Zagreb and Split for our nephew's wedding. Then it's back to Vienna, Dubai, Singapore and home. Phew! We are going to be busy (well we are now).

While F is researching T is beavering away with the final preparations on our lovely yacht "sv Hamamas" ready for our offshore trip in October 2007 (more about that later.)

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We decided that a bit of exercise was the order of the day after so much eating and drinking. Up early to catch the ferry to Manly. This is the classic ferry ride to take for a great view of the city, Opera House and the bridge, and so it proved - we got some great photos. Had a look at Manly Beach, which is quite a bit bigger than Bondi and almost as legendary. Had breakfast in a little cafe on the waterfront - the choice on offer for breakfast here in Australia is mouth-watering - people back home just don't go out for breakfast, which is a pity, it can be the best meal of the day. Enough about food.

We left Pam to explore Manly and catch a ferry back, and we set off on our 10km 'Manly Scenic Walkway.' The route followed the coastline, sometimes taking us along the beach itself, and at other times threading through bushland and urban areas. The views of the coastline, harbours and Manly were stunning. Given the heat and our complete lack of fitness, 10km was just enough.  The walk finished at Spit Bridge. After some difficulty catching a bus, we eventually got back to the city and met Pam.

We had earned our meal out tonight, and we went to a Mediteranean restaurant, which was sort of Greek with Jewish influences - sounds strange but the food was good.

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