March 19th and 20th

All went smoothly with the departure from New Zealand a three hour flight and an amazing film (Slumdog Millionaire) later I landed at Sydney airport. The shuttle I booked didn't arrive which was no bad thing as I had been chatting to a Australian lady on the way to the airport and she had explained how to get to my lodgings via the train. I stayed in Kirribilli which is just over the Sydney Harbour Bridge so I just had to walk across that to get to central Sydney.

Lodgings were good, more of an older crowd which I was aiming for and there was an ace breakfast included! I even got treated to dinner by some rich Canadian who was lonely when I arrived, nice guy (not like that though - he was older, a bit porky and a little on the sad side but a genuine nice chap).

The following day I headed over the bridge and looked round the botanical gardens which had the most amazing flying foxes (massive fruit bats with a fox like faces). They were just all hanging there in broad daylight - making a bit of a racket as it was mating season. You could see there massive wings as they flew from tree to tree. Then I walked round to the Opera house and Circular key where I stopped for yummy chocolate shake as it was a beautiful sunny day. I then wandered in to the area called the Rocks where there are a load of historic buildings and expensive shops. I needed the internet so I headed into Central Sydney to see if I could find any cheaper then the 4 quid per hour in my hostel, I found one place which was 3 quid per hour and gave up. Central Sydney really not for me, it's pretty claustraphobic, narrow streets with really tall buildings and really busy pavements - I didn't wanna spoil my day so I headed back out to the botanical gardens and read my book in the sunshine!

As I am flying out of Sydney I only spent the one day there this time and hopefully will spend a bit more time there when I go back for my flight out of the country. First impressions of Australia: very very expensive!