Upon arrival at our hostel at 8.30am, we were unsurprised to find out that check-in wasn't until 2pm. Since Sydney was approximately 50 degrees colder than Brisbane (or so it felt) we went coat shopping on the Pitt Street Mall. Now this was meant to be the best shopping in Sydney, but in all honesty I was very disappointed! Not only did neither of us find anything but the clothes in general were pretty rubbish. Give me Leeds or Manchester any day of the week! Since that was so disappointing we walked over to Darling Harbour where the Maritime Museum is and wandered around the old ships docked there to pass time before check in was finally available. By then we were flagging so went for a nice nap and hot shower, I think you'll agree after about an hours sleep the previous night a nap was well deserved!

Waking up early evening we went for a look around World Square, the area we were staying in. We have generally been pretty lucky with all our hostels and this was no exception. It was one of the cheapest in Sydney, about a 10 minute walk from the CBD, 25 minutes from the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, and 2 minutes from a train station. Now the dorm room we were in had 18 beds, I think the largest we have stayed in anywhere, but the beds were super comfy, had nice clean sheets and had lovely red chandeliers too. The kitchen left a lot to be desired but when other backpackers are using the facilities and generally don't know the business end of a washing up sponge from a stick, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The staff in this hostel were brilliant too, very informative and friendly, miles better than some up the East Coast who seemed to think they were doing you a favour by doing their job. See now I just sound like I'm writing an advert for the hostel!

The area we were in was near Chinatown so there was a lot of Asian people around - apparently 17% of Sydney's population is of Asian descent, so in some ways it was a lot like being back in SE Asia; I felt taller than normal, the clothes didn't go higher than a size 14 and a lot of the shops had signs in Mandarin. Anyway all that aside we wandered down to the St. Paddy's markets, which were closed themselves but did have a shopping centre upstairs where I found an Esprit jacket in the sale for $90 down from $249. Bargain of the year! A couple of hours later found me snuggled in bed for an early night ready for a days sightseeing.

The next day dawned…rainy and grey so spoiling our ideas for some sightseeing. When I say rainy it was of Kuala Lumpur proportions and didn't offer any opportunity for outdoors pursuits. Instead we went looking for coats for Nina with no luck, then decided to give in for a while and visit the Narnia exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. Now I really enjoyed it, big kid that I am I love seeing film props and that kind of thing, but Nina found it a bit preachy which I can understand but I loved it nonetheless. It did also make me feel very festive, particularly as it is winter here and it gets dark early. The rest of the museum was OK, it's a science and technology museum so there were displays on space and making fireworks and stuff. Nina and I tried our hand at making a virtual firework with no luck! We were pretty terrible at it to be fair, they all kept blowing up. And not in a proper firework way. A walk over to King's Cross occupied our evening, and we were pretty glad we hadn't booked a hostel there! All in all it was a day consisting of walking backwards and forwards across the city so there isn't much of a tale to tell!

Day 3 in Sydney dawned and, whilst dry, wasn't particularly bright, so we decided to take ourselves off to Bondi Beach, the home of surfing and primetime tv show Bondi Rescue. Bondi was a lovely little beach, lots of surfers out despite the weather and some pretty big waves, but sadly no film crews or indeed topless lifeguards. We were very disappointed! The town itself was pretty much like most of Australia's other little seaside towns, albeit a little more populated and expensive due to its proximity to Sydney. On our way back into the city on the bus we stopped off at Bondi Junction, a massive shopping centre and where the people in the hostel should probably have sent us in the first place! I stayed for a bit then went back to the hostel leaving Nina to her shopping in peace! The evening found us at Scary Canary bar to meet Julien and Laurie, the French couple from our Uluru trip. They had just been to Darwin and Julien had a lovely cowboy hat for his troubles. Nina had serious hat envy as hers is made of paper. Since Nina and I seem to have lost our party hats we weren't late back to the hostel and instead went to Woolworths to get ingredients for chicken satay, truly living the high life!

Our final day and night in the hostel was a real tourist bonanza to make up for our general uselessness in this area the previous three days. Obviously the main draw for Sydney is the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, so off we set down Anzac Parade to find these architectural gems. On the way we stopped off at the Anzac Memorial which was a lot more impressive than anything I've seen at home - Aussies seem to have taken the American approach to their Armed Forces and are a lot more patriotic towards them than we are at home. We also went into the St. Mary's Cathedral which was very impressive and gave us a few minutes quiet contemplation…apart from my squeaky trainers ruining everyone in the pews prayers and Nina being barged by a muttering Catholic. I still find it odd that Australia doesn't have any history in its cities before the early 1800's, Aboriginal culture and history aside the cities are all so new even the churches don't have much of an atmosphere about them. Still look pretty though. On the way through the Botanic Gardens we found a random collection of old carved building stones and gravestones, one of which was for a 'Lady Forster' which I was very excited about!

Anyway, onto the main event, which I know everyone is dying to hear about…the Sydney Opera House. I don't really know what to say about it if I'm being wholly truthful, It was just like I looks in the postcards and in films, and was a little surreal to be standing next to such a landmark. All I kept thinking in my head was the bit in Finding Nemo when the silver fish make the Opera House to guide Marlin and Dory to Sydney. What a child haha. I was a bit sad to find that there were some building works going on on the stairs at the front so we couldn't get the traditional touristy snap in front of it but we managed OK I think…there were enough photos on my camera anyway! We had to walk around to get a proper view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House together, and I think I can safely say I prefer the Opera House. There is just something about the way it's put together is really interesting - apparently the architect was inspired by the segments of an orange or something…he left before it was completed though - artistic temperaments eh!

In order to get (yet more) photos Nina and I decided to act on advice I'd been given from several quarters and get the Manly Ferry across to Manly. Now if you ever go to Sydney it is something I can recommend, the views across the harbour are amazing, and if you come back around sunset/nightfall when Nina and I did you get some amazing photos. Manly itself is cute, we watched some surfers again and wandered round for an hour before returning to Sydney and filling our cameras to bursting with numerous photos which all look the same! We finished our tourist day off with a glass of sparkling wine (can't afford the real deal) overlooking the Harbour Bridge before a wander back to the hostel once the shower that had been threatening all day finally stopped.

Awaking giddy with excitement on our last full day in Sydney could mean only one thing - our long awaited night in the *5 star* Shangri-La hotel was finally upon us. HOORAY! What made it even better was the fact that it was free since we had vouchers from Round the World Experts for messing up our flights. Travelling in style! After checking out of the hostel we went to a nearby shoe shop for Nina to try find some boots, which she did and promptly bought - the day was starting well - then walked up to the bus stop, waiting at the wrong one for ten minutes before realising and having to find the right one. I find we tend to get lost in one way or another at least once per city, and Sydney was no exception. This trend continued when we missed the bus stop we were meant to get off at as we didn't recognise where we were and ended up going across the Harbour Bridge to North Sydney 555. This was soon remedied though and we returned across the bridge slightly sheepishly and *FINALLY* got to the Shangri-La. Cue funny looks from the valets and bellhops outside as I don't think they are used to backpackers staying in their swanky hotel. We definitely stood out, and in all honesty I don't think that they knew quite what to make of us rocking up and claiming we had a room booked. I enjoyed the uncomfortable looks on their faces anyway. Thankfully our room was ready so we could check in straight away - no waiting for your bed like in a hostel, what a refreshing change.

Up we went in the lift, excitement building as we went up to floor 13 - unlucky for some but definitely not for us - got to our room and opened the door to find literal heaven waiting for us. I believe we actually squealed with delight and maybe even bounced around a bit as well. I seem to recall jumping on the bed, it was all a bit hazy with the excitement. I actually thought Nina was going to have a coronary at one point she was so giddy. The view was spectacular and I don't think we could have asked for a better one - right over the Harbour with perfect views of the Bridge and Opera House, with the sun glinting off both it was like the sun had come out just for us! After calming down we got changed into something more befitting the Shangri-La and went down to the Rocks, the oldest area of Sydney where the convicts originally arrived, so it is all narrow lanes and old buildings, I actually think it was my favourite part of Sydney and was sad that the walking tour we wanted to do had been rained off the previous night. Anyway we went for pancakes in a little pancake house then went for a wander to find a bottle of wine for the evening. On the way the unthinkable happened. The heel on Nina's brand new boots broke, turns out the heels were made of polystyrene and they had cracked. They evidently weren't the brand they claimed to be and were some fake Chinese knock off. Outrageous. Since Nina couldn't hobble along in her broken books we went into a nearby shop and managed to find some cheap boots that were actually a lot more comfortable than the broken ones and had a fancy leopard print on too. Whilst walking back to the original boot shop for a refund we found Karise Eden, winner of the Voice AU 2012, doing a signing in the city centre. First celeb I've seen in Australia! Feeling righteously indignant we walked into the original shoe shop - right by the hostel which we hadn't planned on seeing again - where Nina demanded her money back and I hid in a corner to avoid the confrontation. All that solved we finally went back to the hotel a lot later than we had originally planned, on the way in the lift meeting a drunk tv exec who babbled on hilariously and then gave us some kind of club card which would apparently get us free breakfast, but it was still a joy to loll on the feather topped mattresses, have a sauna and Jacuzzi (in the spa not our room) and finish off with a BATH, yes an actual bath and not a hurried shower in the cold hostel. It was generally amazing and a wonderful treat after hostels and the place I was staying in Katanning. We lazed about, watched a film, ate pizza and chilled out ready to pick up our camper for the next stage in our journey - the Road Trip!

Becca