I had emailed Helen and told her we were arriving in Sydney at 7am and she said we were welcome to come straight to the house at that time. We had left Dubllin 24 hours previously and being able to go the 20 minutes to her house from the airport to shower, have cup of tea and fruit, Helen had prepared for us and go to bed for a couple of hours was great. The appartment is beautiful overlooking Malabar beach and Randwick headland. You feel you are miles from anywhere but you are only 45 minutes by the great bus service to Circular Quay in the city. Helen and Sean suggested we get the weekly transport tickets and they gave us the bus timetables. These tickets are great. They cost 42 dollars but allow for unlimited use of bus, tram, metro and ferries for 7 days. On our first day we did the coastal walk from Malabar to Bondi beach and it was glorious. It takes about 4 hours and we got the bus back. Malabar is a lovely area with a small quite beach and a lovely little cafe at one end and an enclosed rock swimming pool at the other beside the golf course. The apartment is great and has everything a person needs, down to a great selection of books to read. It is really spacious and I don't think the view from the balcony can be beaten. Helen and Sean are great hosts and we came away feeling like we had stayed with friends.