Hey everyone,

My apologies for taking so long to update my site again. I am currently in Sydney and have been very busy for the past week.

Last monday all I did during the day was sort out various things like my bag, clothes and this website (which takes forever to do each time so be thankful). In the evening I went to the Neighbours night in St Kilda where I met Steph, Fraiser (new gambling guy) and the legend Harold Bishop. There was a big group of us which was cool and we joined in the quiz and watched a few competitions take place. Dr.Karl and his band came on later and sang a load of tunes that everyone danced and sang along to which was awesome.

After a 3 hour sleep we got a taxi across town to get on the oz experience bus up to Sydney and was going to take 4 days to get there. There was about 20+ of us on the bus which included someone from Jersey (from the East...not good) and a guy that did geography with me at Plymouth uni so was a small world, our driver was Luke. We went down the South Coast to Wilsons Promontory National Park which was mostly uninhabitated and simply lush green hills everywhere. We had a hike near the coast and headed down to this amazing beach called squeaky beach as the sand squeaked loads; there were very few people, no human activities around, white sand and crystal clear water. We went for a swim, played frisbee and had a good game of cricket then went back to a town called Foster where we were staying the night in a caravan park. After a meal and some drinks and pool in the pub some of us (including Dave the guy from uni and his mates Dan and Caz) played poker and drank some cans till the early hours.

The next day we drove around for a bit with everyone being very tired and stopped off in a temperate rainforest for a little walk around the went to Lakes Entrance which is the only opening to the sea in which a load of lakes goes into it; The town there was pretty good and I got a nice burger and chips. 90 mile beach runs parallel to the Lakes so we took a walk down there and sat on the beach but the waves were too big to swim around in and there wasn't much to look at. Our next stop was a winery run by this cool but really sleazy guy called Jeff which wernt good considering most of the bus was female.haha. We tried various wines and mucked around a bit before Dan downed the leftover bucket and we bought a few bottles for the night after. We stayed at a Buddhist school in the hills so was really secluded; the rooms were nice and the food was good. We had to take our shoes off everywhere and had a basic meditation in the temple which was an experience although everyones legs were hurting from not moving them for half an hour. After a sit round a campfire we went to bed early for once for some much needed sleep.

The day after we drove to Kosciuszko National Park via a random place with loads of odd objects and skulls ran by a guy named 'dangerous' Dave. We drove along a long windy mountain path for a couple of hours overlooking some amazing scenary and saw some wild horses and crossed the Victoria/New South Wales border. We entered Jindabyne, bought some food and headed up into the mountains to Charlotte's Pass which has a good view of Australia's highest peak. Here we went for a walk down to Snowy River where we rock hopped a fair way down and saw some cool structures and pools. Once back in Jindabyne we went to the lake and did some watersports for the afternoon which included mini bananna boating and some of us wakeboarding (I stood up and it was the first time I have tried it!).We were staying in this awesome hotel by the lake which had a pool and sauna and massive bar so took full advantage of all of them. We made our own steaks on a BBQ (very tasty) and had a few drinks while playing a few games of pool on some free tables. Once everyone was a bit drunk we went into the park and drank some booze we bought from the shop and chilled with some Australians for a while. After, we had a party in our room with about 30 people (locals and from the bus) and just got really drunk and mucked around till gone 4am so was a really good night!

In the morning me, Dave, Dan and some others missed breakfast and woke up late and felt a little worse for wear. Once everyone was on the bus we drove to the capital of Australia- Canberra; The drive took over an hour but we managed to get some food on the way. Our main stop was the Parliment Building where we walked around most of the rooms including the House of Representatives and the Senate before sitting on the grassy room beneath a massive flagpole looking over the city. We got some lunch after a brief tour of the city and even though there are loads of public building and memorials it seems very boring and wouldn't want to live there. The drive to Sydney took almost 4 hours in which time me, Dave, Dan and Gemma (the rest were asleep) watcheda funny film called Kenny and chatted for ages. We got to Sydney after 6 and after dropping everyone off I got off at my hostel in King's Cross called the Asylum (was sharing with 4 girls!). After some free dinner I spent 20 minutes walking across the city to meet some of the guys off the coach. We went to a bar near their hostel which wasn't very good and then walked up to the Opera House and back down past 3am.

On Saturday I chilled in the hostel till lunchtime and sorted my bag out and wrote in my journal then met up with Dan and Dave at their hostel nearby (they moved in the morning). We went to Central station sorted out the next leg of the bus and got some food before meeting Alex and spending a while walking up George Street (the main street) stopping at the market and Chinatown. We eventually got to the bridge and walked along it then got some food (and relaxed for a while) and walked around circular quay and the opera house. In the evening we went to a drum and bass night to meet Caz (last night) and was pretty good besides some girl spilling saucs on my white shirt.

Yesterday I had a bit of a lie in and walked around king's Cross to see what it was like during the day (very seedy and full of hookers at night). Bondi Beach was my next stop and as it was a Sunday was extremely busy; I went on the beach and a quick swim before getting the bus and train back. I got the train to Darling Harbour and looked around then went on the internet for a bit before getting the train from Central Station to get changed. I met the guys near central and we yet again walked along George Street to near the Opera House to go in the Ice Bar which was very cold and a bit of a rip off (30 dollars) but managed to get some photos even though we wern't allowed. We walked to Darling Harbour and to the IMAX, watched a rubbish 3D film, grabbed a drink at a well expensive bar (turned out to be an insanely expensive night) and headed home across town for the third night in a row.

Today I woke up early to leave the hostel early as I had booked into the Wake Up hostel near Central Station with Dan and Dave (was meant to stay in Asylum another night but didn't want to due to the walk and the smallness of it). I then left them to go up the Sydney Tower to get a decent view of the city which again cost a fair bit; everything in the city costs a bomb. I wanted to go to Manley Beach but everyone wanted to go to Bondi so for the second day in a row I went to Bondi Beach. We got the bus and sat on the sand for ages with me getting burnt yet again despite the fact I put loads of cream on for once...I swear the sun don't like me. After a shower in the hostel we headed to Scruffy Murphy's pub for some 5 dollar steak and a few drinks then came back and went to bed.

I will put photos on tomorrow or Thursday I promise...it just takes so long to sort them out and upload them that a week's worth could take forever.

Anyways I had better go as I got to get up at 6-20 to go to the Blue Mountains

Speak to you soon

Antony