Today we left our hostel late morning to catch our bus to Sydney. We've really liked Canberra and we're glad we decided to come - apparently lots of backpackers miss it out but we thought we had to see the capital of the country and there was plenty to keep us occupied!
The bus to Sydney wasn't as bad as the bus to Canberra - only took about 3 and a half hours this time and we'd had a proper night's sleep!

When we arrived at Central Station, we caught a local train to Wynyard - a little further away than the nearest stop at Circular Quay, but it meant we didn't have lots of steps to conquer with our backpacks on! We're staying in The Rocks, the oldest part of Sydney that was settled by the First Fleet back in 1788. They were quickly followed by ships of British convicts - one of the information boards near the hostel describes the area at the beginning of the 19th century as a huge 'open-air gaol'! Thankfully, it's improved a lot since then!

We were immediately impressed with our hostel - a massive, comfortable lounge, clean kitchen, an en-suite bathroom in our 4-bed dorm, plus a spectacular view of the Harbour Bridge (which is at the end of our street!) and the Opera House from our roof terrace…think we'll be ok here til the New Year!

We spent some time online and booked a Christmas Eve party cruise for tomorrow night, then headed out into The Rocks. We found an open air market nearby with lots of street entertainment happening, and we stopped to eat in an Italian restaurant where we could watch the people over the road dancing at the silent disco! After dinner, we joined them for a while so we could take photos, then we walked down to the harbour for a look at the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge by night.

It was strange to actually see for real the view we've seen on telly and on postcards hundreds of times - we loved it! We stopped at a bar for a drink on the harbour front to admire the view for a bit longer. Then we headed back to our hostel through The Rocks and stopped at Sydney's oldest pub, The Fortune of War, for another drink!

A good first day in Sydney!