Sydney Part One....

G'day! Our Australian adventure began with....jetlag!! Having set off in the evening, by the time the air staff had served our food we had only about 10 minutes to sleep before landing! Upon landing we were then told that it was now 7am and therefore we had had no sleep whatsoever! So as soon as we had got a bus to the hostel (this somehow took 2 hours!) we went straight to bed! Feeling refreshed we awoke in the afternoon and spent a few hours in an internet cafe before finding tea and heading back to bed!

Our second day in Sydney began a little bit more productively, and the morning was spent walking around the city taking in sites such as Martin's Place, the Royal Botanical Gardens, City Hall, the Supreme Courts etc... After returning to the hostel for lunch we wandered over to Darling Harbour where we enjoyed the view and an icecream! In an effort to save money (Sydney is very expensive compared to South East Asia!) we decided to cook for ourselves as much as possible during our stay in Australia and so it was a nice evening in!

The third day in Sydney happened to fall onto Valentines day and so we decided to spend the day in the harbour. First on the agenda was the historic area of The Rocks where we enjoyed impressive views of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Then it was up onto the bridge itself for a short walk across before heading back down to the harbour at Circular Quay for a nice hour and a half cruise around the harbour. Finally it was round to the famous Sydney Opera House! For tea we decided to treat ourselves to an Italian (well the restaurant next door to the hostel and also the cheapest we could find!!), but it made a nice change from cooking! In the evening we went back to Darling Harbour to enjoy fudge and icecream before calling it a night!

With it being the sunniest day yet we decided to visit Bondi Beach on friday. On the way we stopped off at King's Cross (to admire the coca-cola sign and many brothels..!) and to grab some lunch. Being a week day the beach wasn't as busy as normal and so we plonked ourselves down to soak up the sun! Despite plastering myself in suncream i managed to burn, and because i hadn't put the suncream on evenly it left me with strange patches of burnt skin on my white chest! Along with the really bad vest-shaped tan and stripey feet (and the 'beard-tan' i'm going to have once i get home and shave!) i'm starting to look rather odd!! After a quick paddle (the water was freezing; colder even than in the UK!!) we decided to head back, just in time it seemed as the rain clouds once again returned!

For our last day in Sydney (for now...) we decided to hop on the ferry over to Manly. After a look around the shops and craft market, and a wander along the beach, we sat down and enjoyed fish and chips on the promenade. Then it was back to the hostel to collect our small bags and some food, before making our way to the bus station for an overnight bus to Melbourne in Victoria, the home of Neighbours!!!