Woke to another day of rain, but this didn’t put us off as we had plans in Sydney.

After early FaceTime calls with our families back in the Uk, we braved the elements and headed for the Manly ferry to Circular Quay.

Our first stop on arrival in this magnificent city was the cultural restaurant chain of McDonald’s for brunch!

We then left the others to go off to the botanical gardens for an aboriginal tour guide to the plants and habitation.

On the way we passed through Martins Place and the old city hospital before we entered the gardens.

The fauna and vegetation in the botanical gardens is other worldly and is a real juxtaposition to the rest of the ever changing and modern part of the city.

After finishing the tour, we had a quick walk around the gardens before heading back to meet with Caroline and the rest of the gang.

As a shop lover, we had a general look around Westfield scheme and marvelled at the extent of the high end brands and stores, including Sorry thanks I love you.

We then moved on to QVB and the amazing internal Xmas tree.

After working up a hunger, it was soon coffee and cake time.

After a bit more retail therapy, we returned back to Manly on the ferry with Charlie and Andy working up their footie skills with the purchase of a new football.

We decided on a more relaxing finish to the day, and picked up a healthy dinner option from Cole’s before returning to Caroline’s to watch the classic movie Mr & Mrs Smith aided by a couple of cool Pale Ales from our friends at Brewdog.

We are having an early night, with a 5.30am start tomorrow with the Xmas Boot Camp down at Manly beach from 6am.