Monday 1st February.

Moving day. Today was the first day of the package we booked up which means we had to move hostel to the Base Uptown Hostel. It was a ten minute walk from the YHA but closer to the centre so we moved our stuff down in the morning but couldn't check in. We decided to give the botanic gardens another go now that we both felt fresh. We took a walk down and wandered around the whole of the gardens. It was 34 degrees again so still really hot but we sat on a picnic bench and ate our subway. I've never had so many subway sandwiches but it's cheaper than most lunch places here so it just makes sense. We lay down on a grass bank facing the river and I read my book and chilled out. We could hear a bird squawking in a tree as though it was distressed so we went over to have a look. An Australian guy was sat near by and said he thinks it was just fighting another bird. I got talking to him about how he lived in England for a while and enjoyed it, but just couldn't cope with our winters. I agreed with him! We decided to head back about 3 o'clock to check in. We were put in a 6 bed dorm and when we walked in it was a full house. It was a bit crowded but we quickly got talking to everyone and weren't the only new ones that day. In the room there was Kim from Holland, Drew from Canada, Carl and his friend from Germany and Briana and Laura from Canada. We all got on really well straight away and decided to get changed and head out together. The hostel had a bar next door, which had deals on if you were staying in there, called the Guilty Rouge, so us girl went there for dinner. Carl and Drew met us afterwards in there for drinks but Carl's friend didn't come out. A couple more girls came along with them who they had met travelling too, so there were a big crowd of us around the table. We had so much fun getting to know everyone and were all laughing and talking like we had known each other for much longer! Drew told us he is coming to the UK in March for four weeks and visiting friends he's met whilst travelling. I told him he's always welcome to couch surf at my house on his way through. We decided to head to down under bar and have a couple more drinks. A few of us got up to dance, and then by about midnight headed back to get some sleep. It was a great night!