We arrived in Austrailia on Tuesday morning after what felt like a very long flight from Bangkok. Neither of us got any sleep. Arrived at the hostel to find our room wasn't ready, so just had to mooch round asleep on our feet. Eventually got our room, this was our first proper "hostel," no more extravaganse now it's back to "normal prices." We were pleasantly suprised, the hostel is a converted house - a big old style house, was very pretty with a nice courtyard outside. We had to share a bathroom - which didn't go down too well with Clare at first, after the 5* luxery in Thailand, but soon became normal. We spent the day asleep after the long flight. That night however the hostel has an organised kareoke night at a club near by, we figured this was a good place to meet people so went along. Had a really good night, they served cocktails in teapots much to our amusement, so we sank a couple of those. Also free Champange for girls - hurrah! You will be pleased to know not enough teapots where consumed for us to do any singing tho!
The next day we managed to drag ourselves out of bed and do the ole tourist trail. Headed straight to Syney Harbour. The Opera House is just as impressive in real life. The whole harbour is very pretty and clean, lots of little cafes and street entertainers. We had a walk through the Botanical Gardens. We then went to The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney, was very quaint. We had a walk on the harbour bridge, views were amazing. Didn't quite pluck up the courage to do the walk along the top tho!! We headed over to Darling Harbour next, here is a lot more cosmapolitan, more shops and bars etc.. we visted the aquarium which was really cool. The batteries on our camera ran out half way round so not many photos from there we're afraid. Next we headed over to the Observortory, 250m high, got great panaramic views of the City. Then went on this dodgy thing called Oz Trek (included in the ticket), advertised as a "ride around Austrailia," was acually a dodgy promo film of where to go in Austrailia - very odd! So as you can see we had a very busy day, so headed home for an early night.
Next day we headed to Bondi beach. Was really cool, a lot smaller and less commercial than we had expected. Had a nice mix of Tourists and locals. Got to see some surfers hitting the waves. We went in and had a swim - the waves were SO strong - Jim was amusing himself by diving through them and trying to body surf them. Clare slowly crept out while wimpering as it was too cold, and then nearly drowned whilst trying to participate in one of Jims games. So she spent the rest of the time paddling - rock and roll! That night we headed into town for a nice meal, we went back to the Opera house but not much about, so headed back over to Darling harbour. We had left our map at home, so after a few wrong turns took us considerably longer than first anticipated! Eventually we found a nice place right in the harbour. Amazing view of the skyline.
Today we had another wander round the city - we're heading to Melbourne tonight on a first class train... well we have been in a hostel!?!?! While wandering we headed to"Wildlife World." was really good, and the camera worked this time - hurrah! So plenty of pics.
We have both loved Sydney, looking forward to our time in Melbourne.