We got our first of many long overnight buses from Melbourne to Sydney - it was 12 hours from 8pm - 8am! Both of us were really dreading the journey but actually it was so much easier than we expected! The buses are quite spacious and comfortable with reclining chairs so it was pretty easy to fall asleep for most of the journey. We arrived in Sydney at 8am so weren't able to check in yet, we just dropped our bags off at the hostel and headed straight out to explore! The weather was beautiful so we went to Darling Harbour for some cocktails and food which was lovely. The next day we went to see the Sydney harbour bridge and the opera house which was exciting! The opera house was a lot smaller than I expected, but really cool to see in real life after seeing so many pictures over the years! We met Oddy's old housemate Ellie who now lives here for lunch at a bar/restaurant underneath the opera house, we all got a glass of sparkling wine and sat in the sun enjoying the view of the opera house and the bridge! We feel like such flashpackers sometimes!
On Thursday we took a walk around Hyde park and the botanical gardens which were really stunning, we followed a track up to a viewing point of the opera house which was a much more impressive view than we had seen the day before so we got loads of photos!
In the evening we met up with the couple who we had made friends with in the outback called Alice and Selby. They took us to a really cool club called The Ivy which has a big outdoor swimming pool in the middle of the club! It was a really good night although it was ridiculously busy in there, we could hardly move!
On Friday morning we went to Surry Hills for brunch at a cafe Selby recommended which was delicious, then we caught a ferry over to Manly beach for a chilled day in the sun! On Saturday we hired a car with Alice and Selby and went to Hunter Valley to visit some vineyards and do wine tasting! It was my favourite trip so far! Hunter Valley is so beautiful and all the vineyards are so grand and all really different. We could just rock up at anyone that took our fancy and they immediately start pouring tasters out for you! We tried so many amazing wines. The views there were also really stunning and we were able to sit overlooking the vineyard of the wine we were trying in some. Luckily Selby was happy to be the designated driver so we didn't have to spit any of the yummy wines out! On Saturday evening we went to Star Casino which has a cool rooftop bar with really good views over Sydney and of the harbour bridge by night. The casino was massive so it was like being back in Vegas for an evening!
Sunday was our last day in Sydney so we made the most of the sunshine and went to Bondi beach for the day. Bondi is really nice but the lifeguards wouldn't allow anyone to go in the sea because it was so choppy! So it got very hot lying there all day! In the afternoon we did the coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee beach which is a really lovely scenic walk. Next stop, Byron bay!