i got to sydney about half seven in the morning, already had my place in wake up hostel booked since i knew ben from thailand was alreadyb there and he reccomended it. since i kept staying places down teh east coast longer than intedend and i had arranged to stay with cobein and michael in melbourne and also hire  a camper in nz, i was left with only three day and nights in sydney. so all that was left to do was make the most out of the time there, i think i succeeded!

went to the travel desk in the hostel and it was an engloish lady who had gone travelling when her kids grew up and hasnt gone home after 8n years. she knew her stuff and was very helpful in making sure i did the main things. she booked me on teh things i weanted to do and gave me somne advice on getting around and how lond things take to do.

sicne i had no clean clothes or shoes to go out in decided to go shopping on the first day, this had two benefits, first i got a feel for the city and where everything was but most importantly i got talking to people. i couldnt have been more fed up with backpacker bars and since i only had three nights in sydney i wanted to make sure i had some good nights out, only problem being i had no one to go with and didnt know where to go, problem solved. shopstaff are always clubbers, it seems to just go hand in hand. so got chatting to all the shop staff as i went around spedning two weeks budget and finding out where is good to go, eventually i found someone who seemed friendly enough and was going to a rave at the sydney olympic vilage the next night so with nothing to loose i overly hinted im travelling alone bla bla and we swapped numbers, sorted - a place to go and people to go with!

this was friday morning, by friday afternoon id done my shopping mad made it down to the harbour to see the opera house and bridge etc, walking up to the operah house to take some pictures and someone shouts my name, two girls that wokred in the london office for deloitte on teh same scheme as me, turns out we're in the same hostel as are three others! small world. wen to the botanical gardens with them and then i had to make my way back to the bridge for the sunset/nighttime bridge climb.

byb the time we'd started making our way up the brisge the sun had set but you could still see all the colours falling behind the horizon, there was  pretty much a rainbow. as it got darker and al the lights came on the views are incredible of the city, harbour and opera house. it takes about 2 hours in total to do the climb as they take it really dlowly, take picutres of you and let you stop and look at the citty etc. it is fairly procy but i think its worth it, its one of those on off things.

went for a few drinks that night and then met the people id swapped numbers with to ensure my invite to the rave the next day. got back in about 3 and had to be up at 7 to go ont eh blue mountain tour. this turned out to be my only 4 hours sleep for the whole of my time in sydney.

the blue mountains are about and hour or so out of the city. on the way we went to an animal park thing which i thought was going to be boring but there were loads of kangaroos hopping about that were so tame you could drop kick them and they wouldnt care. so that was fun playing with them (not that i actualkly drop kicked them). then we headed up to the blue mountains and did all teh main stes, so we saw the big canyon which is apparantly the same as the gradn canyon in formation but not as big, alot older and obviously more blue with eucalytous vegeataion rather than ornage.

went to the three sisters and saw some of the garden villages which make up teh blue mountain city and the went to the cable car to take us down into the forest where you do a walk to look at all the trees etc and they talk about the history orf the area and the coal mining etc. the forest walk is basically a wooden walk wayh above the forest floor so its accessable for wheel chairs. the slogan at the moment is 'dont dis my ability'! then you get a fanicular railway back up, the steepest in the world apparantly, if it was faster it would be quite a good ride.

on the way home we went to a winery and did some wine tasting and had cheese and biscuits and then drove through the olypic village down to pier and got a boat up the harbour into darling harbour.

got a thai meal with some poeple id met on that trip which was quite nice and certainly authentic in that the staters came after the main course, everyones came at different times and one started didnt come at all!

then i headed off to meet the people to go the rave with.

its about A 20-30 MIN trrain ride out of the city to get to the village and then another good walk to the stadium so i was a bit gutted when i got there and the tickets had doubled in price. i just told the others to go in and id hang around outside and see if there were and touts or poepl selling unwanted tickets. no luck and after trying to get hold of some other people i knew were out in the city without success i weighed up the options, either pay it or go back to teh city and trisk not finding anyone, obviously i paid. i looked at the sign for a bit then just went for it, id alreadyh spent $ridiculous amount since arriving so what was some more going to do? when i go to the cashier she asked how i was doing so told her how gutted i was about paying spo much, she smiled at me and gave me more change than she should have and said get your ticket earlier next time, result!

ive decided that australia as actuallMy just britain with nicer weather, the culture is the same in so many ways. even to the gangs of chavs hanging around outside places trying to intimidate people and then acting as cocky as possible when they get done. anyway, made it inside and met up with the others and went on to have one of the best nights in a long time, not quite fullmoon status but it was worth it. basically, it was at the indoor stadium so think MEN type thing but a fair bit smaller, it was all open so there people in all the seating area and then the main floor area was packed as the main dancefloor bit. it was mainly a trance event so this bit wasnt really doing much for me but there were some smaller rooms round the back and outside with good music and a better atmosphere. it finshed sometime after 7 but took me two hours to get back.

the train timetable was pissed so didnt make any sense and the ticket machine didnt work, there was 10 of us so just anough for a maxi cab which would have been cheap. after ringin one number that didint have one instead of ringing more numbers or looking at other options everyone just sat around shivering not really getting any further, basically it came down to me asking the station staff about the trains, turns out there was one every 20 minutes andf we'd just missed two, perfect!

eventually got home and it being my last day in the city i went straight back out, since you cant take cameras up the bridge you get a fre pass to go up the tower to take piucture of the city so that whrere i headed, got my picutres and headed back to meet some people and go ont eh beach walk. got the beach to coogee and walked along the coast to Bondi beach, didnt have timet o go to manly but apparantly im not missing that much.

went back and got changed and then we went to see circus oz and the opera house, was cool to go and see something there i guess but my god the show was aload of crap. it started out really good but when the first act is by the far the best you know its a poor do.

went out in King Cross after that which is renouned for being the red light district, full of drugs, bla bla. its just like anywhere else, its there but your hardly unsafe.

went to hugos which in all honesty was too expensive for everyone but we still stayed a while as it was really nice and then went a couple of other places in attempt to find cheap drinks before making it to lady luck or something along those line, awesome club, low roof, dingy, good music, packed sunday night!

got back for some time after 5 and then got my things and waited for the sirport bus to get my plane to melbourne. nealy was late due to being told the airport guy comes in to get me when infact you have to sit on teh street and wait for him but nevermind, i got there in the end, sad to say goodbye to sydney!