So it was 00:30 early on 20th November and we were waiting at the bus stop ready to board the Greyhound coach for the 10 hour journey south to Sydney. 

The Coffs Harbour trip had proved to be a bit of a disappointment as it had rained pretty much non-stop for the entire day we were there. 

Anyway, the Greyhound was due at 00:55 so we could put the bad luck behind us. There were only 5 people at the bus stop and it was getting a little cold when the time approached 01:15. Suddenly there was a buzz on one of the girl's phones and she then broke the bad news. The coach is running 1 1/2 hours late......so won't arrive until 02:30!!! Gutted. It wasn't soon after one of the sleeping bags came out. So there we were sitting on a bench with our feet on our luggage underneath a sleeping bag looking like a couple of bogans (Australian for pikkies). You can imagine how relieved we were as 02:30 approached and then how disappointed we were as we sat staring at our watches at 03:00 with no sign of the coach. The Greyhound telephone number on the booking papers was called but this yielded no information. So we just had to sit there until the coach decided to turn up. 

The highlight of the wait was when a woman, who was waiting near the stop for a pick up, came over to say that she had found out that the bus had broken down earlier on the trip and was now only 15 minutes away. It arrived at 04:00 with the driver jumping off saying "alright?.......names?". Actually no we weren't "alright", as we had been sitting at an isolated bus stop in the feeezing cold being bitten all over by mosquitoes, so Mark said "I thought you would have at least started the sentence with an apology for being over 3 hours late". He responded by saying "no, it's not my problem". We stood there dumbfounded. "So no apology then?". "No" was the response. I swear to God that Mark was going to punch the guy all the way to Sydney. "it's not my fault, speak to them" was the follow on as he pointed to the livery on the side of the coach. A couple more words were exchanged before we got on. It was only due to the fact that the driver could have been even more of a k*** by saying we weren't allowed on which stopped the conversation from getting more heated. To say we were seething would be an understatement. 

So we settled into the seats running through what we were going to put in the complaint letter when the driver announces it's time for a scheduled stop. It was 04:15 and we had been on the bus for precisely 15 minutes and we were now stopping for a 40 minute break. This has got to be a joke!!! Once we got going again it was pretty uneventful. We pulled into Sydney 3 hours late but the sun was shining so we couldn't complain. 

We were now in a large bustling city and just needed to sort out some accommodation for 4 nights. Pretty simple, right? Hell no. We sat on the internet in a travel agent for an hour, looking for places to stay but all we managed to find was a YHA hostel for 3 of the nights but not tonight. So we decided to walk around the city after putting our rucksacks into storage. We started off together but kept getting the same response. "Sorry we're full". Time was running out so we decided to split up. After 20 or so efforts Mark finally got close to what we were looking for. However, a three bedroom apartment at Aud$995 (£675) per night with a minimum 2 night stay wasn't particular close to what we needed! It was now 4pm, nearly 3 hours after we arrived, and still no accommodation. We had walked about 2 miles and worryingly we still had to get back to the central station area by 6pm or we couldn't get our rucksacks til the next day. 

We went into McDonald's and decided to use their free wifi and try the online route. Everyone else had laptops on so we were hopeful of a good reception. Just our luck that neither Mark's laptop or either of our iPhones could connect. Frustrated was an
understatement. Finally, after 20 minutes, Mark got a connection and found a room at Aud$250 (£175). Not exactly backpacker prices but we were running out of options. Mark got as far as the credit card details when the internet and skype (which we were using to make the call) stopped working. We didn't have the building number but we had the street name so we walked there and got to check in. It was now 5pm. We would love to have relaxed with a shower and a change of clothes but we had to rush across the city to retrieve our rucksacks. The round trip to the storage took the best part of 2 hours as we bought train tickets to find out the trains weren't running so we had to get a replacement bus. On the way back to the hotel we were told to get a bus from a stop where they finished running for the day. We were there for 10/15 minutes before we were told they weren't running by which time the bus we needed had left so more of a wait. All the hassle was worth it as the room was really nice. Unfortunately, it had cost us a full day as it was now 7pm.

We relaxed for a whole 15 minutes before having showers and hitting a few bars.  

It was just before midnight and we had an attack of the munchies. We stopped at an historic district known as the Rocks, where early Australian settlers dropped anchor. We walked into a Cafe where we were seated for 15 minutes with no menu, drinks or indeed service so we walked out. We decided to hit another bar instead. After standing in a line that hadn't moved for 30 minutes people started to give up and leave. Understandable as in excess of 50 people had left and no one had been let in. We too left and decided to head back to the room for some shut eye.

We woke the next morning, checked out the hotel and left our luggage in storage to pick up later in the day. We headed back towards the central station to a travel agent so we could book some tours and use their free internet. It seemed to take an age to get two simple tours booked as the guy was a bit hopeless. It was getting a bit frustrating as we wanted to soak up the nice weather at Bondi beach (about 45 minutes away by bus). Frustrations continued when we tried to buy bus tickets. You have to pre-purchase these from shops as you cannot buy a ticket on the bus (ridiculous). The first licensed bus ticket vendor had run out so told us to go to another. When we got there we encountered a guy who would probably struggle to remember his own name. He couldnt understand what we meant by a return ticket despite explaining the concept. Instead we tried to buy a single. This didn't yield much success as there are three different zone tickets. He didn't know which one we needed. Pay peanuts and you get monkeys sprang to mind. On our third attempt the next shopkeeper was much more help so we got the tickets we needed. We got to the beach at 14:30 (4 hours after checking out).

After a couple of hours of sunbathing and people watching on Bondi beach we headed to a bar for a drink. The first one had wifi so we thought great as Mark wanted to make a skype call to a girl he used to work with (Kirstan Hughes) who now works in Sydney. Unbelieveably, the waiter said they had wifi but customers can only use it on weekdays......it was Saturday!!! You have got to be kidding. We said we were going to have food and drink but he didn't relent. Have you ever heard of such a stupid policy? What is the difference between using the internet on a Friday and Saturday? We moved to another bar where Mark made the call and left a message. 20 minutes later Kirstan turned up and the 3 of us chatted for another hour or so. Kirstan then took us for a coastal walk, known as the Bondi to Bronte walk, before we had to say goodbye. It was great to catch up and Kirstan was on good form making us laugh with a few stories. 

For a change, we were fortunate that a bus was at the stop when we arrived. Unfortuately, we needed to buy a ticket which you can't do on this bus at this time (you can on some buses in the evening). Just to make sure it is as difficult as possible there is also no machine at the stops.......genius. Nothing like making life difficult. So we had to let the bus go. We got on the next bus though, went to the hotel we had checked out of earlier in the day to retrieve our bags and headed to the YHA hostel that we had managed to book for our last three nights in Sydney. 

We got to our new room and it was like a hotel; the best hostel we have ever stayed in. It was also just a stone's throw from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Result!!!

It was late by the time we checked in so we got showered and had a good nights sleep. 

We woke early the next day to go on a group wine tour of the Hunter Valley wine region. This is one of Australia's premier wine growing districts. We were picked up by mini bus and taken to many wineries including Iron Gates, Ernest Hill and Pepper Hill. We purchased a bottle of wine at Ernest Hill but it didn't last long as we drunk it during our lunch stop! 

It was a great day out with approximately 20 wines tasted. We visited a cheese shop on the way back where we purchased some strong cheddar and an ice cream each. 

We soon arrived back into Sydney city around 6pm. As it was light and a nice sunny evening we took a slow walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge taking in the fabulous views of the Sydney Opera House. We had already walked around this area earlier in our travels, when we had to wait for our connecting flight to New Zealand. Anyway, the walk across the bridge was free to do as we couldn't justify spending aud$260 each (almost £200 per head) to walk across the top during the early evening. You can't even take your camera so have to buy photos from the bridge walk operators!!!  

After the pleasant walk we spent the evening in the pub next to our hostel drinking beer and relaxing after the many wines we had drunk throughout the day.