Our final day in Sydney had arrived, after scoring some free luggage storage at the YHA (rather than paying hourly for a locker) we headed out. We went to find the free city walking tour so we could learn a little more about Sydney's history. This was run by a lady named Lily who was born in Sydney (although she had the strongest European accent I had heard outside of Europe!). The tour started in Hyde Park which is named after the one in London but theirs is co...

We decided to catch the bus to Bondi beach today as we were told it was a must do when in Sydney. The weather was fairly overcast but tempture wise it was fairly warm, so this led to a lovely walk on the beach with hardly any tourists. Even though it was overcast it was still very bright and someone did not bring sunglasses or a hat. This led to another hat purchase so far this person now has...1 - Original black hat from home, 2 - Dragon hat in China, 3 - Replac...

After the search for the elusive tall ship was over today was the day we would finally get to sail on the ship itself. Originally named the Svanen, the Southern Swan is a magnificent three-masted barquentine, built in Denmark in 1922. Made of Danish oak she is a unique vessel, while not classified as an icebreaker, her hull is extraordinarily strong. Enabling her to handle light ice that may have built up in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, Denmark and Gree...

Today was my Mum's birthday, so I was feeling a little homesick as it dawned on me just how far away I was. I had arranged some flowers to arrive at the house and Dad was due to deliver the birthday card. For us in Sydney it was a rather leisurely day, we went to the market to buy some cheap veg and had a walk round Sydney dropping in to some tour offices. We mainly used the day to book trips for Brisbane and Cairns. After listening to the tour sales pitches we f...

Today started with us needing to move rooms as we had increased our time in Sydney YHA but had needed to change to a double ensuite (yay our own bathroom) as all the cheaper rooms were taken. We stored our luggage until check in opened and headed off to the weekend market in The Rocks. The Rocks was the area of Sydney where the convicts use to live as it was an area covered in...you guessed it rocks! The convicts cleared the rock in order to build there and over ...