November 12th 2010 --- Sydney

What a bus ride!We finally arrived in Sydney this morning just before 11am.Al and I were both pretty tired and really couldn't be bothered to find a map and sort our where our hostel was in comparison to the Greyhound station, so instead we grabbed a cab and were on our way to Sydney Base Hostel.We couldn't check in until 2pm, so we put our gear in storage and hit the showers.The hostel had an organized beach walk along Bondi and Bronte Beach to check out the "Sculptures by the Sea" exhibit that was running, so we decided to join in.The group ended at Bronte and had a BBQ and goon party, but we had to leave before all that started because we had plans arranged for the evening.After looking at some strange sculpture exhibits, we caught a bus back to our hostel.We checked into our room (6 bed mixed dorm) and fancied ourselves up for our cocktail lessons at Kudu Lounge Bar.We had found a 2-for-1 deal on the internet when we were planning our trip and thought we should check it out.I'm glad we did, because it was good fun and included 2 cocktails and delicious tapas.We learned how to properly use a variety of bar tools and the basics of how to tweak a cocktail for specific individuals.The two drinks we made were:

Brambie

2 shots Gin

1 shot lemon juice

1 shot sugar water

Shake

½ shot Raspberry Liquor

Mojito

5 limes

1 shot sugar water

Mint leaves

Muddle and add ice

2 shots rum

Stir and ice

Top with soda water and garnish with a mint leaf

The bartender/manager of the lounge was an amazing bartender!He had just placed 25th out of 1000 across Australia for the best original cocktail.He made a few drinks for people after the lesson was over.He'd always let Allie and I try a bit of the other people's orders!When we finally decided what type of alcohol we wanted (vodka and tequila) he concocted us specialized drinks.Delicious!The other people taking the course with us were from an accounting firm and were doing this as a team building activity.They were all young and friendly, so they invited us out to a Piano Bar with them.We turned up once we had finished our cocktails at Kudu.The Piano Bar was a really classy and laid back venue.A pianist was playing accompanied by a guitarist who played their own versions of top 40 songs.After a guitar duo came on with a singer and they lit up the place!So good and entertaining, I wish words could explain how talented they are!After trying to leave unsuccessfully (one of the accountants insisted on buying us a drink), we finally made it back to the hostel by around 10:30.Now we couldn't just go to bed (even though we were beyond tired), so we hit up the "Scary Canary" --- the hostel bar.Drinks were super cheap here, so we grabbed a couple more.Definitely made for a hilarious night!