Firstly I think I should apologise for the lack of updates since I have been in Sydney. I think I have been enjoying myself too much and have neglected to keep you all informed of my antics. And so without further ado I will endeavour to give you a flavour of what I have been up to. I am hoping that this blog post will provide a snap shot of my time in Sydney, and I have picked out some of my favourite memories as well as tried to give an overview of the past couple of months living in the 'almost capital' of the land down under.

Since staying (and now working*) at 'The Blue Parrot Backpackers', I have met an incredible bunch of people (including a few along the way that perhaps were not so incredible, but have left their mark nonetheless). Some of whom I am sure will remain lifelong friends, some of whom will remain drinking buddies and travelling companions, some of whom I would never perhaps befriend under normal circumstances (but whom I feel all the better for taking the time to get to know) and some of whom I hope never to lay eyes on ever again. Travelling has, in the clichéd sense, already broadened my mind.

*My intention before arriving in Sydney was to get a PR job and an apartment, but seeing as neither of these things happened despite endless searching, I have ended up working in the reception for the backpackers and receiving free accommodation in remuneration. It means I have an instant social life and get to encounter strange incidents that I otherwise would have nothing to do with. For example, turning away local alcoholics, homeless and prostitutes looking for a room for the night, as well as dealing with some of the guests already staying. One example that springs to mind is a young Swedish guy who returned to the hostel blind drunk and then argued with me for a good 20 minutes because I was going to wash his glass up for him to avoid any breakages, and he was embarrassed that I was doing this for him. Unsurprisingly enough, he had no recollection of this in the morning, following his night's sleep hugging the toilet in Room 8's bathroom.

Needless to say that my time here in Sydney has resulted in the consumption of a lot of alcohol on my behalf too, but I am proud to report that I have steered clear from 'goon' (the cheap wine boxes), and as such have perhaps earned somewhat of a reputation as a 'flashpacker'. This has not been helped by mine and Jess' (my favourite female friend here in Sydney) regular weekend nights out specifically with the intention of being as non-backpacker-esque as possible. So far this has included nights out in some of the more exclusive bars of Kings Cross, the city, Bondi and Darling Harbour. I doubt our 'rainy day out' consisting of brunch, a museum visit, dinner in Chinatown, and a theatre trip to see Wicked helped this image much either…

In some drinking sessions more true to form of a backpacker, I have learnt, and messily played, an array of drinking games, which by the way does everything and nothing for international relations, when one minute we love each other and the next we are backing up our fellow countrymen and insisting the offending nation drink. I have also naively attempted to play drinking poker, betting with seconds of alcohol consumption as part of the old regular Sunday sessions at Kiwi John's place in Pyrmont. I can't tell you much more about this as my memory is a little hazy, but I do recall a few of the group jumping off of a big red boat in to Darling Harbour. I elected to take pictures instead of jumping in, since I heard rumours of sharks in the harbour waters.

Kiwi John (a good sport that now simply raises his eyebrows when I tease him with my terrible New Zealand accent), along with a few of the other regulars, has also been involved in some of my other memorable occasions here in Sydney. These have included a night out to see Groove Armada where Fiona paid $85 for a ticket, then got so drunk that they wouldn't let her back in; a night out to see Chase and Status at a club called The Chinese Laundry, where the heavens opened and we arrived like drowned rats wringing out our hair and clothes and then leaving before their set started due to being tired, soaked, freezing cold and sober; a couple of BBQ's in Pyrmont park using the public grills; and a few house parties along the way featuring shots in the infamous shopping trolley which has pride of place in his apartment.

The funny thing about staying still in one place is then catching up with 'old friends', well old in terms of backpacker timescales anyway. I have met up with Blue Parroter's of old, such as Mel, who is now a promoter for bars and special events, and an Irish girl Roisin, whom I accompanied on an emergency trip to hospital. The pair of us have met up a couple of times, and the last time we made the most of the free events that Sydney was putting on; Tropfest (short film festival) and the Chinese New Year parade.

The weekend after Chinese New Year there was the Sydney Mardi Gras party and I somehow stumbled upon a free ticket. I was in Bondi enjoying a couple of quiet drinks at The Beach Road Hotel, when I got the phonecall offering me a ticket, and so rushed back to get changed, and turned up at the event at 1am just in time to see David Guetta and Kelly Rowland appear. This helped to make up for missing a couple of festivals so far this year, and has made me determined to go to Creamfields when it hits Sydney in May.

Sydney was turned a shade of green last week for St Patrick's Day (the Opera House was literally lit up green to represent Australian Irish heritage), and although I had to work in the evening, I joined a few of the others on a lunchtime trip to one of the Irish pubs along one of Sydney's main streets to see the festivities for myself.

As hard as it is to believe given the basis of this blog post, I promise I have also been exploring the city and taking part in activites which does not include alcohol. I ventured to Palm Beach in the Northern Beaches to visit the set of Home & Away. I also visited Cronulla beach. And most sunbathing days are spent in nearby Elizabeth or Rushcutter's Bay, Bondi beach, the Botanical Gardens or Centennial Park, where I have read more books than I care to remember. Surfing, or at least learning to, has also been on my agenda, and I have taken a trip a couple of times to a National Park in Botany Bay, which has consisted of a full day surfing in a quiet spot on the beach and an Aussie BBQ lunch.

Sydney also has a habit of putting on a number of free or relatively inexpensive events, and so I have made the most of the Sydney Festival, where I saw a didgeridoo beat boxer, the open air cinema where we went to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's, the Chinese New Year Markets and Valentine's Day fireworks which I watched from a bar in Darling Harbour with Jess and Caroline.

I have also tried exceptionally hard to keep up my running, and I never get bored of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House view that I take in during my regular route. The sheer number of runners in Sydney is also a great motivator for me, and I certainly feel at home here.

This weekend myself, Kiwi John, English John, Isle of Man Neil, and American Jordan are hiring a car and heading out of the city to the Jenolan Caves near the Blue Mountains on Saturday, and a National Park near Wollongong on Sunday.