Hey everyone!!

Sorry its been a while, Sydney is a bit of a crazy place!! We arrived all safe and sound, however not feeling so lively after little sleep on the plane!! Headed to our hostel which is on a street called Kent Street in the city centre and its called BASE. Due to a bit of a mess up in our booking we ended up being in a different room to the one we were suposed to be in!! which actually worked out quite cool as we were in a all girl dorm in an all girl zone which is usually much more expensive but we got it for free!!

After a bit of a rest and a nap we went down to a place called Darling Harbour, its incredible there, so modern and clean, there are lots of boats and ferrys there too which just adds to the perfect-ness of the whole place!! We went to the chinese garden of friendship which they have built there which was so relaxing and bizzare!! To feel totally peaceful and quiet in a place that is shadowed by huge sky scrapers was really surreal!!

We went back to BASE and met our roomie charlotte from Nottingham and we all headed out for some good english Bangers 'n' Mash, it was ice to have some proper fod finally!! We went for a 'quiet night out' in the BASE club, Scary Canary. Here we very bizzarely met Alice, a girl from Morpeth!! and ended up having quite a big night out with her friends from the hostel, lots of crazy dancing and fun was had, I had my first proper Ozzie pint, which im told im going to have to get used to if I want a cheap night out!! Woke up late the next day feeling a little worse for wear!! HOWEVER!! we have sight seeing to do so we managed to drag ourself's down to the opera house and the harbour bridge, which I have to say, is possibly the most overrated place EVER!! We were less than impressed!! We went to an art gallery which as very cultural and then headed back to BASE again, an exhausting walk which took us ages, however we had a jacket potato stop on the way, which was WONDERFUL!! Bearing in mind we have been searching for Jacket potatoes pretty much since we left England!! We went for a quiet night at Scary Canary after having Spagetti and Pizza at Mommas kitchen (a cheap and cheerful reasturant near base). Met up with our friend Pete and talked lots about home and things that we have to do whilst we are over here in OZ, being as he is all experienced and 9 months in to his travels!! We went to bed early and were finally allowed to catch up on some sleep!!

Woke up late the next day feeling more awake than I have in weeks!! we went to the station to sort out tickets for trains and chilled in a park for a while eating apples, but me and Saz didnt quite have the ozzie look, quckly getting horribly red and sweaty!! We went to the Aquarium today (we seem to have spent more time in Aquariums and Zoos in these 2 weeks than we have in our whole lives!!) Got our first glimpse of a big crock and some sharks, I liked them from behind glass!! But I cant imagine I would like them in any other scenario. Today we also purchased the best flip flops in the world, our Havaianas, which are seriously the most comfortable things ever!! All Ozzies have pairs in like EVERY colour so me and Saz are keen to folow their trend!!

Back at BASE we decided to have a big night out for our last night. Charlotte came out and we headed down to Canary, where we also found Pete and our 2 new american friends Conor and Craig. Pete insisted we do some weird shots combined with red bull, which reminded me terribly of A-Bombs and the Red Bull, George, Ed and Ben you will all understand why this is a bad thing!! Anyway, we all decided to head to side bar where Craig took the dance floor by storm. This boy can DANCE and after alerting me that his wife was my weight I decided to trust him and go for the big jump!! A hilarious picture was taken which im sure you will all see in good time!! Me, Pete and Saz went to MacD's and then I had a nice long chat with Alex, whilst sarah and Pete watched wrestling. Got to bed TOO LATE!!

Next morning we had to be packed and out by 10 for our train, which was not good bearing in mind we had had about 4 hours sleep!! Ended up getting a taxi with the worlds most annoying Turk, whom just talked about Michael Owen, which is seriously not what you need with a hangover as bad as ours were!! By some miracle we ended up on our train, which BY THE WAY had three layers and the most coumfy seats EVER!!

After a really nice train journey we arrived here in Acova, where we are now, met up with Rach and went back to Her & Seans house, which is SO beautiful!! We went to the beach straight away and explored Acova a little. Its such a cute little seaside-y place! We had the house to ourselves so chilled out loads and cooked up some good grub (jacket pots & corn!!) and watched High School Musical (know this will make you happy fran!!) The next day Rach was at work so me and sarah decided to get the bus to the beach, soon realised we couldnt work out how to so luckily got home in time to meet Sean who drove us over to the beach. Being typically english we fried, despire the fact we were wearing SO much sun cream and were covered by clothes!! Tonight we had dinner with Rach, Sean and Rachs sister Jess and watched the final of OZ Idol!! taken very seriously by Rach and her family!! Today we went to the reptile part and saw a massive crock!! And I got my nose pierced by possibly the craziest person in the whole of New South Wales, but I promise you all she was very clean and thus far my nose is still attatched to my face and has not yet gone black!! Just relaxing here tonight and heading back to BASE tomorrow, looking forward to getting back in to the swing of the city before heading to Dubbo in a few days!!

Sorry this has had to be so quick!! I shall return ASAP to tell you of us escaping being killed by venomous spiders whilst sleeping and being attacked by giant crickets. But now I must go and pack, as sarah has just pointed out she cant even see my bag under all my mess and we have a train to catch in the morning!!

Love to you all, Amy xxx