Well G'Day Sydney, How You Going?

Arrived in Sydney off our flight from Alice Springs and checked into our 12Bed Hostel room on the Saturday evening. Hostel room was actually not too bad but were both looking forward to a hot shower and sleeping in a bed after our 3nights in the Outback. That night we both got a surprisingly good sleep as we were expecting drunkards to keep us awake being Sat night in Sydney but both were prob a bit shattered so would have slept through an earthquake.

First full day we went out on our usual sightseeing. Having been in Sydney last Dec for New Years eve we had seen the Harbour area from a far so was good to get up close and see it. In morning we left our Hostel in Kings Cross and walked around the botanical garden reaching the Harbour area to see the beautiful sights of the City, Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Having seen it before it was not as magical as seeing them for first time but none the less is still such a beautiful sight to look at. Headed around the Harbour Area taking alot of pics then headed across to The Rocks area of town to check it out. Area was very old school cobble streets with a Sunday Market on. Wandered around the market almost buying a few things but resisted being back on the Backpacking budget :). After the rocks we caught a train from the Quay and headed towards Sydney's famous Bondi beach. The beach was not as crowded as when Brishay had first seen it with Anna but was still heaving none the less. We just walked the length of the beach looking at a range of Kites gliding as there was a 'Festival of The Winds' on. Jonny wasn't to taken by the beach, maybe showing our ages as would much rather be chilling at a remote beach in S E Asia. After Bondi we headed back to our Hostel and just chilled chatting with our roommates with a few ciders.

Our second day we headed back down to the Quay for our climb over the Harbour Bridge. This was brilliant, climbed up to the summit of the bridge which had stunning views over the harbour and City areas. Our guide over the bridge was pretty funny but also really informative so learnt alot about the bridge and its history. Was also good in the Climb Centre seeing the photos of the numerous celebs that have done the climb and the signed photo messages that they have left. We climbed at 6pm which was perfect as we saw the sunset in the distance which is always a nice thing to see. After finishing the climb we headed to a Pizza restaurant for dinner where we had bought vouchers from Cudo.com.au. Was $29 for Starters, Pizza Each, Salad to Share, 2glasses of wine and a Dessert. The food was very good, even more so at the price we paid so feel it is just fair that we right up a good review on the restaurant. That night we did our washing and rearranged our bags (Moving Cold Weather clothes to the bottom) in preparation for Fiji.

Our last full day we rented a car and headed the 2hours drive West of Sydney to see The Blue Mountains. The traffic getting out of the city was a nightmare and really could not been done with doing that everyday to get to work. The 2hour drive took us near enough 3 but was worth it to see the lookout over the Blue Mountains Canyon. We were feeling a bit lazy however so that is all we did at The Blue Mountains. Was good to see but The Grampians in Victoria were far better so decided to just head back after seeing the main view points. We got back in Sydney and went to Manly to have our lunch. Manly is beautiful, for sure Jonnys fav place in Sydney. It is a big surfing beach and has plenty bars and shops the whole stretch of the promenade. We left Manly mid afternoon and headed up to Eleanora Heights to see Jonnys Auntie Elsie. Spent the whole of the afternoon chatting and catching up and ended up being treated to dinner by Elsie which was really kind of her. We did offer to pay but didn't really have a say in the option. All 3 of us had steaks which Elsie had pre warned us were some of the best in Sydney and she wasn't wrong. Said our goodbyes after and headed back to our hostel where we chilled out watching the highlights of Murrays Epic first major win with a few ciders.

Woke up following morning at 5:45am in prep for our 9am flight to Nadi in Fiji. The traffic and roads were quite bad getting to the airport but somehow we navigated well enough to arrive there on time.

Sydney has been good to see up close and personal but b***** living here or maybe just not anywhere near the CBD. Both far prefer Melbourne's way of life and both gave ourselves a pat on the back for choosing the right city to spend our working year in. Sydneys New Year festivities far trump Melbournes but the ease of getting around and relaxed feel to Melbourne in our view wins the battle hands down. That is our 1Year Holiday Working Visa up for Australia. We will be back for 1day in transit between Fiji and New Zealand but wont be for another 4/5weeks that we are back to travel what the parts we have missed.

Next its Fiji on the list which we are both super excited about and cant wait to see the beauty it has to offer. Until then

J + B