Ok folks - we'll try and keep this as brief and compact as possible but we have 6 ½ months worth of info to get through so pour yourselves a cuppa and settle into your favourite chair before starting this one!!

We arrived into Sydney on 20th December 2010 - we couldn't have been happier to see the Harbour Bridge after our 13 hour bus journey from Byron Bay! Checked into the hostel and that first afternoon was spent down at Circular Quay to get the snaps of the bridge and Opera House. We immediately felt comfortable in the city and the decision was made on that first day to try and get work and stay for 6 months………..both of us just couldn't wait to get back to work - ha ha aye right!! The hostel www.wakeup.com.au we were staying at was dead on and we were lucky to get decent people in our room most of the time but a hostel at Christmas in Sydney sucks!! They don't seem to celebrate Christmas much out here so after bit of a party on Xmas Eve we ended up opening our presents on the bottom bunk in the dorm room and going to Bondi beach with a bit of a hangover on Christmas Day in 30 degree heat (no snow for us)….it was different but we really missed being at home but sure Xmas 2011 will be even better because of it!! We were also at a loss as to what to do on NYE 2010 - it was a toss up between the David Guetta concert on Bondi Beach or the fireworks at the Opera House and Bridge…..we went for the 2nd option and it was class but I'll come back to that in a minute…..

Now that we'd decided to stay here the number one priority was to find a place to live! We looked at a few apartments in the CBD (convinced we were going to get work in the city) but they were rotten with most of them having bunk beds or people sleeping in the living room - not for us! Luckily we found a place we liked right beside Hyde Park and after a viewing we decided the room fitted our "flash packing" philosophy perfectly! A 3 bedroom, sub-penthouse 31st floor apartment with pool, gym, sauna, hot tub, the works………did I mention neither of us had jobs at this stage - ah well sure it's easy to get work in Sydney isn't it???? We moved in on 30th December and ended up having 6 brilliant months there - we'll never forget our first place together or the people we lived with including Aaron (the only original member still left there from when we initially moved in) and Max & Kayleigh who are there now until Xmas 2011. The last 2 months with you 3 was the best period we had in Sydney - hopefully see you all again at some stage!

So anyway…back to NYE. We had spoken to numerous people about the best vantage points around the Harbour for seeing the fireworks and one firm answer came back…..it doesn't matter where you go just make sure it's early! Now we didn't know quite how early but we thought we'd catch everyone out and head down there around 6am to get to the front of the queue, have our pick of the spots and after a bit of a sleep in the sun we would then wake up refreshed and ready for the evenings celebrations……how wrong we were!! We arrived down to Botanic Gardens at 6am and there must have been at least a couple thousand people in front of us - turns out some people go down the day before and camp out - we were the one's that had been caught out! The 3 of us (Me, Laura and Jimmy from the Hostel) eventually got our spot at around 10:30am - this was going to be a long day!! We sat there in the direct sun with no shade all day but don't feel too sorry for us because the fireworks were amazing - see the photo's which still look rubbish in comparison!

It was now 2011 and wee needed jobs - Happy New Year! The Apartment didn't have internet yet so we were pretty much living in the Internet Café in World Square (shopping mall beside us) sending job applications and CV's to anyone who would read them…..which turned out to be very little! After both of us sampled brief career's as sign holders in Sydney CBD (mine for a Pharmacy & Laura's for a boutique fashion store who either dressed her up as a ballerina or a stripper!!!) we struck it lucky with jobs after about 2 weeks of looking! Laura was first, landing a job working for French Connection in Sydney airport and I got an administrators job with Volkswagen helping to manage their company fleet. This was the start of our time in Sydney really flying - once we were into a routine of work the weeks just flew by! The unfortunate thing for us was that I worked set hours, Mon-Fri 08:30 - 17:30 and was off every weekend whereas Laura was in pretty much in work every weekend and off days during the week….the joys of working in retail!! This meant we didn't have much time to see or do the things in Sydney we wanted like going to the beach at the weekends or just exploring the city a bit more…that would have to wait until our last week!

We regularly met up with Brian and Caoimhe (from the Whitsunday's cruise) who were now living in Sydney as well and the general theme was that we were living for the weekends (well 3 of us were - poor Laura)! One Friday night we arranged to meet up in the downstairs bar of the Tokyo Hotel known as Home Bar for "1 or 2" drinks - a bar that turned out to be a bit of a regular spot thanks to it's $4 drinks before 8pm! Needless to say 1 or 2 turned into 11 or 12 and although it was an excellent nights craic the next day was one of the worst I think the 4 of us have ever experienced!! "Death Day" as Brian has now coined it was 42 degrees Celsius in the city and with a rather large hangover I can tell you it felt like it was 142!! It made the front of most of the newspapers out here as the hottest day in the city for 50 years or something stupid like that. Bondi was empty, there were rolling blackouts because the amount of air conditioners running was overloading the electricity supply and there were queues to get into shopping malls to get out of the sun - even in the shade it was unbearable! I managed to survive this day by lying curled up in a ball on the sofa with the a/c blasting - I still felt awful but at least I had a/c!! Brian and Caoimhe were ready to get a plane back to N.Ireland that day apparently lying on the sofa with ice packs all over them trying to cool off………….and Laura……Laura went to work and still to this day I don't know how she did it! Throughout our 6 months we had plenty of brilliant nights out with Brian and Caoimhe as well as my weekend away in Newcastle (separate blog). We've made 2 great friends out here who we will hopefully meet up with regularly back in Belfast when we can all celebrate a proper Xmas this year - City Hall Xmas Market 2011 look out!!

We did get a few weekends when Laura managed to get a day off work and we could head out for the day and luckily one of the perks of my job was being able to get the loan of some beautiful brand new VW's to drive thanks to my manager Sue-Ellen who looked after me well! We took trips to Wollongong, Palm Beach (where they film Home and Away) and the Blue Mountains which were all fantastic - thanks again SE for sorting me out - you made it very easy for us to see a few extra places over here that we may not have otherwise seen!

I was flying solo for a while out here when Laura went back home for 3 weeks to see our niece Erin who I will hopefully get to meet in Prague later this year! She flew back without telling anyone in her family and needless to say I think they all nearly had heart attacks when she turned up at the front door! Still wish I could have been there to see Dorothy and Miranda in particular - would have been priceless!! It was weird being out here on my own but the plus was I got the bed all to myself so at least I got 3 weeks of spreading out before it was back to elbows and knees in the back!! I did have one of the best weekends away with Brian, Caoimhe and Sean while Laura was away but you can read all about that in the Newcastle Blog!

With Laura back in Sydney we were on the countdown - it was now our last 7 weeks!! We were trying our best to get everything fitted in that we wanted to do and once we finished work we able to go back to being tourists and exploring the city a bit! We finally got to go up Sydney Tower - the tallest building in Sydney where the views of the city were spectacular (see photos). We went out to Manly one last time and sampled a few restaurants and bars that had manage to give us the slip the previous 5 months! We also had Laura's birthday at the beginning of our last week which turned out to be a fantastic night - a triple celebration in fact with Laura finishing work and turning 26 and me finishing work all at the same time! Thanks to everyone who showed up and made it such a great night and a special thanks to Kayleigh who decorated the apartment with balloons and banners and made jelly shots for the party - as usual you did too much!!

Our last 3 days were hectic to say the least but we somehow managed to get through the list of things to do with a few hours to spare!! Sydney has been so good to us - it has been a fantastic place to live and we have made lots of great friends while we have been here! Aaron, Kayleigh & Max, Brian and Caoimhe, Carly and Jan, Karina, Sue-Ellen, Kirsten, Jimmy & Mark - meeting you guys, socializing and working with you has made our time out here so much better - thanks a million!

As for our highlights of Sydney, here goes:

NYE firework at the Harbour, our apartment, our flat mates (most of 'them anyway), our friends, numerous visits to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge including our 4th Anniversary meal and drinks, Brian and Caoimhe's engagement party (congrats again guys), numerous visits to Home Bar, Tuesday night Domino's Pizza and cheap movies, day trips up and down the coast, Friday night impromptu parties in the flat with you tube playlists and drinking games, going to the beach in December - February, meeting celebrities at the airport including Usher (Laura), driving brand new Volkwagen's every day (Craig), discovering King's Cross - what a place (just watch out for the vampires after dark), Discovering the shop Big Bargains (Laura), Discovering the Kebab Stall on George Street (Craig), jet boating round Sydney harbour for Craig's birthday, The Lowenbrau Beer Hall, getting a full body scrub and massage in Myers spa and a manicure/pedicure for my birthday (Laura), getting numerous cupcakes for special occasions (Laura), hanging out at Darling Harbour, Mexican Restaurant at Broadway, going to Max Brenners Chocolate Bar,the Light Festival, walking round the rocks and loads more that we probably forgetting!

And our very few lowlights:

Working weekends (Laura), some members of the French Connection staff, some members of the Volkswagen staff, some historic flat mates and their associates, constant sirens day and night and Mohammed the most ignorant person never mind security guard I have ever met who worked in our building - my feelings for him were made clear as we left for the last time!!

Next stop is Jervis Bay for a spot of Whale and Dolphin watching on the way to Melbourne for our last week in Australia! Keep checking in as we'll have a bit more to write about now we are on the move again.

Craig and Laura = )