After a long journey from Caloundra, passing through Brisbane and surfers, we were rather excited to be stopping at Byron Bay. Having been to this part of the world before and knowing it was an interesting place to be, we stepped off the coach with much enthusiasm. However, the reason we didn't stop in Noosa again was because we had such a fun first time around and we didn't think we would be lucky enough to reencounter the same experiences. We should have applied this rule to Byron as well. Having completed most of the tourist attractions before, we found ourselves at rather a loose end, wondering what to do. With the weather unpredictable and pretty cold, the beach was out of the question; well there were lots of people on the beach but it was far too cold for me! We did, however, undertake the long 6km walk up to the Cape Byron Lighthouse, which could never get boring. The walk passes the most beautiful scenery including beaches with golden sands, waters the colour of swimming pools, wildlife of all kinds (which Dan frequently ran away from) and points of interest such as 'Australia's Most Easterly Point'. After a long walk to the Cape we treated ourselves to a well deserved Australian version of a Cornish ice cream, which was (I hope) burnt off by the long walk back. Having spent a few days in Byron we started to feel like we were flittering our hard earned savings away because we weren't experiencing anything new and having not stayed anywhere longer than three nights was becoming exhausting and really tedious. We made the decision to head for Sydney to look for work and a place to live, thinking that if that didn't work out we would head for Melbourne. In mid September we boarded the coach bound to Sydney at 4.35 p.m. and after a long 13 hour journey we reached spectacular Sydney. Needless to say, at 5.30 a.m. and 9C, it really wasn't that spectacular. It was amazing to think that the temperature could drop so rapidly when travelling south for over 10 hours. Having pre booked a hostel for the next three nights we headed off with our heavy packs, on the train to a nearby suburb called 'Newtown'. After a short 7 minute journey, which always feels like hours when you have the big bag on your back, we reached the hostel and yes you've guessed it, it was conveniently closed; even though we were told we would be able to get in. After a small paddy on my part and about 7 pink wafer biscuits later, an unlucky working traveller staying at the hostel was leaving early for work and let us in. We waited in the lobby until the owner arrived a few hours later only to inform us that our room wouldn't be ready until 12.30 p.m. and we should wait in the TV room. To our astonishment, the TV room in this hostel encompassed a massive 50inch plasma and free internet, completely against the 'normal' standards of any other hostel. We got speaking to another traveller called Sophie, from Coventry, who had only just stepped off the plane from London and was planning to stop in Sydney to undertake a fashion work placement. We spent the rest of the day exploring, excited by the new prospects ahead of us and then headed to the local bar for food and beer.Newtown can only be described as an edgy but trendy suburb of Sydney, with lots of second hand book shops, bakeries, funky bars and pubs playing loads of live music and endless amounts of coffee shops. For those of you familiar with Portsmouth, it replicates Albert Road but on a much larger scale. The place is an eclectic mix of people from all walks of life, who just seem to go about their business, so it's far to say that the local 'townies' mix with the extreme 'gothic's'. That week we also caught up with Steph and Peter (family friends who very kindly showed us around Hong Kong on our last trip) who introduced us to the towns local night life and funky bars. We did nearly miss them as my phone decided to pack up and Dan had entered the incorrect number for Steph in his phone. How did people make plans to meet up before mobile phones? Anyway, after a rather stressful few hours we made contact and had the best night ever. On the way back to the hostel we scoffed down a kebab from the very ironic 'Istanbul Grill House' and caught up with fellow backpackers in the hostel. It's fair to say that not getting to bed until 4.30 a.m. entitled us to sleep for most of the next day! We wasted no time with our plans for Sydney and within two days we had a flat viewing and an interview with an agency for work. Everything seemed very positive; we were promised to be placed within a work placement in a week and we had been to view a flat in the lovely suburb Glebe, which housed its own rooftop swimming pool and BBQ area. How things can change in a week… On the following Monday we were informed that our application for the property in Glebe was unsuccessful. Luckily, we had been frantically searching and booked lots more viewings; unfortunately by this point Sydney was facing its worst rental shortage in thirty years, so we were starting to panic somewhat. Desperately applying for properties in areas we didn't even want to live in, I went to view a flat in Bondi. The details conveyed the property was fully furnished and available on a short term lease. When I arrived there were thirty other desperate people waiting outside; some with completed applications, some even with deposits in their hands. We all trundled in and I quickly ran out. The 'fully furnished property' was not what I had envisioned as properly equipped. The bathroom was so derelict and dirty it wasn't even fit for a rodent and the 'fully furnished kitchen' was the equivalent of a rusting hotplate, sitting on top of a termite infested chest-of-draws. This was not the flat for us!During the week of madness Dan and I caught up with my ex-bosses best friend, Lisa. I hadn't met Lisa before but had heard so much about her, I thought I had. It's always great catching up with Brits so that I can moan about how rubbish Australia is because it doesn't have Primark, proper rose and good Chicken Maddras. Lisa very kindly met us in Taylor Square, in town and took us on a walking tour through the City Centre, Kings Cross, Woolamaloo and she even showed us where Russel Crow's lives. We went for a drink at Lisa's flat and stood amazed on her balcony at the incredible view overlooking Sydney. To the left, you could see the skyline of the City; a mixture and maze of towering skyscrapers mixed in with older colonial buildings such as the cathedral. Out of the front window the dominant and recognisable landmarks stood strong, Sydney Bridge and the Opera House. It was a beautiful view, the sort that you could stare at all evening! Dan on the other hand was starring at the 50inch flat screen, which Lisa informed him was watched at 5 a.m. by her husband Burn for the footy. I seriously thought Dan might cry at this point. We had a quick nose around the building, which also housed a gym, swimming pool, sauna and Jacuzzi and then went for a quick bite to eat. Lisa was lovely (thanks for introducing us Vicky!) and we hope to meet up with her again whilst staying in here.Within the space of a week everything had changed again, this time for the better. On the next Friday Dan and I went to view a flat in Newtown just down the road from our hostel. We loved it, bartered on the weekly rent and deposit and waited to hear back. On the Monday, however, we still hadn't heard back from the dodgy lettings agency and I was preoccupied with a job interview at the Cancer Institute NSW. However, as I came out of the interview, which I was successful with Dan updated me with news that we were the new tenants of Flat 2, Unit 14 Margaret Street Newtown - what a day!Starting work was a little daunting not only because it was new but because it was in a different country with different processes and procedures. Nevertheless, after purchasing some smart clothes and with my Pink Lady apple in hand I headed off for my first day. To the outside world the Cancer Institute NSW is know for producing explicit advertisements, which attempt to encourage and educate the public to stop doing anything which is the cause of cancer, especially smoking. My role is 'administration support officer' and I am directly responsible for looking after five managers in the division and soon to be appointed director. I had a great hand-over period with my predecessor who taught me the ropes. Like with any new job there was lots to take in and lots of acronyms to learn. Working at BUPA many years ago certainly paid off; lots of terminology that I have managed to retained. The hours are great and everyone is super friendly and highly intelligent with PHDs, Doctorates and qualifications I didn't even know existed. The office is based in a technology park just outside of the City called Eveleigh. Its only a 30 minute walk from the flat so I have managed to walk there and back everyday, which has been very enjoyable since the weather is starting to warm up. I walk through some beautiful streets, with classic Australian, Edwardian homes that are mostly covered with giant pink Azalea plants, which are juxtaposed against trailing Wisteria. One of the real differences is the smells. In the UK when it's cold and wet you just get that rancid dandelion smell but over here front gardens are filled with Jasmine and plants that smell like lemon grass. The walks really are lovely. A week or so later Dan's friend from home who works for a media company IML kindly contacted the sister organisation based in Australia. They asked Dan to work with them for a day, which he was quite excited about because a week of Australian day-time television will drive anyone mad. He was also starting to feel a bit disheartened to the fact that it was taking slightly longer for him to find work. However, looking back it only took us a maximum of three weeks to settle in jobs and find a home in a different continent so that's not bad really! Anyway, after a days work, IML passed Dan's details onto one of their partner agencies who offered him a job for the UBS Bank in the heart of the city. He started the next day undertaking data entry work and seems to be getting along well. There are two elements of Dan's role I find hillerious the first is the fact that everyone calls him 'Danzel', apparently the security guard misheard him and printed his pass as 'Danzel Mccafferty'. Dan felt too embarrassed tocorrect him so now he has to put up with the entire organisation calling him 'Danzel Mccafferty Washington'. The second part of Dan's job, which is amazing, is his social Friday afternoons. At 5 p.m. the office are invited to help themselves to alcohol - as much as they like - for one hour. For those of you that know Dan, you can appreciate that this is either a massive mistake or it's a brilliant incentive to keep him working until 6 p.m. Now, Dan pretty much lives for Friday at 5 p.m. I wonder how many places back home would take this up?!Since we have moved in and settled at work we have been doing lots of socialising, saving and still take in as many tourist attractions as possible. At work I belong to a culture club and next week join a book club - Dan thinks I'm a complete nerd! The week before last we went to see Little Women the musical, which was great and next week we head to a suburb called 'Glebe' for dinner and a discussion about our top ten reads.

We still catch up with the friends we made back at the hostel; Diana (from Germany) and Sophie (from Coventry) live round the corner from us and James and Anna (from the UK) live just outside of Kings Cross. We tried a curry but it was just rubbish; we have had a few drunken nights in local pubs in Newtown; on the weekends where money is tight we head to each others homes for a meal; we have been to the beach a few times but the weather still isn't great yet or we head out for a walk and a bit of sight-seeing. We've also joined a gym so I'm back to my 7 (sometimes 6) gym classes a week), which is a nice way to break up the evenings. Dan mainly goes to watch Neighbours! We have also joined this brilliant DVD shop - it's like an Alladin's cave of goodies. It has 20 different genres so you can go back and pick loads of DVD's you missed the first time around!

In December we will be leaving Newtown to house sit for Peter and Steph, while they travel back for a break in Europe. We both plan to finish up at work at the end of January and head to Melbourne. From Melbourne we head to Tasmania (managed to buy flights for $49 that's about 20 quid!) and from Tazzy we head to Adelaide then onto Perth. So watch this space as there are a lot more adventures planned and from January onwards lots more travelling!

December 2008 What a month December was in Sydney! We moved out of the flat in Newtown and into Steph and Peter's apartment in Carlton (about 20minutes from the CBD) to flat sit and look after their cats whilst they had a holiday back in the UK and Europe. The flat was lovely and spacious and even had its own balcony and washing room - heaven!! Special thanks to Steph and Peter for letting us stay in the flat! We had a wicked Christmas and interesting New Year. We were both off work so we had a good couple of weeks as tourists again. Christmas was very sociable on Coogee beach with friends and the evening was spent opening presents and watching lots of festive films and eating the English selection pack mum sent over. On Boxing day we drove over to Watson's Bay to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart boat race; it was a beautiful day and a lovely part of the city to watch hundreds of boats fight their way out of the harbour into the expanse of ocean. Other fun activities during the holiday's included; spending an afternoon at a friends Serina and Greg's to play boardgames (great fun, thanks Serina and Greg!); partying in Kings Cross; taking a road trip to Canberra to see the nations capital and enjoying Christmas work parties such as the Christmas BBQ - oxymoron? For NYE we thought the best way to see the fireworks would be from the harbour so we did some research on boat cruises. We found a cruise for $350 each, which was cheap in comparison to others and decided to book it up, encouraging our friends to book it too. The cruise offered a four course buffet meal, a free bar, disco and great view of the NYE fireworks so it sounded like a good deal. However, when we made our way to Darling Harbour the dock looked rather busy. We assumed all of these people would be waiting for other boats but low and behold, all of these people were queuing for our boat; about 300! The boat was heaving and the only bits of food left over were a few peanuts, carrot sticks and frankfurters. There were no tables for us to eat our four course buffet on and the 'free bar' was restricted to one drink per person. Bearing in mind 300 people wanted a drink, it took roughly took 45 minutes to queue for one drink. Feeling awful that Diana and Georg had rushed their trip down the east coast especially for the evening and James' mum had travelled from the UK to be with him and Anna to see in the New Year, we decided to make the best of a bad situation. After a couple of hours people were so disgusted that they had called water taxi's and disembarked the vessel, which meant less of a queue for our drinks. We decided that the bar was a complete joke so we made up a game: 'who can get more than one drink', to make our evening slightly more entertaining. It worked too, we created a pool of cheap wine and beer and decided to party the night away. I would obviously write more if I could remember more but I'm afraid I don't; well apart from what Dan has told me! Having not eaten, walking around in the heat and drinking very cheap plonk, I completely missed the fireworks (which was the whole purpose for going on the cruise) and paid for it the next morning, I won't go into details, you can imagine! The evening, although a complete disaster on our part, was really good fun and we have lots of funny pictures to prove it. So for anyone reading this blog and thinking of spending NYE on the Sydney Harbour do not book with the Lady Wakehurst or the Harbour Queen, the company are complete rip off merchants and we will be formally complaining. We also spent the last weekend, before going back to work, on Cockatoo Island, an island in the Sydney Harbour which used to house convicts in the 1800's and was then turned into a giant shipping yard. It is now a bit of a tourist spot for campers but I don't think many people have heard about it yet so it was pretty dead when we arrived. It was a brilliant evening; we hired our camping spot, which came complete with tent, sleeping mat, chairs and lantern. We did however, forget to take sleeping bags but luckily it was a pretty cool night. We spent the evening exploring the tunnels, shipping yards and very old prison cells, trying to scare each other to death telling horror stories. The island had lovely BBQ facilities and washing areas so we had a very comfortable camping stay. In the New Year Dan and I went to see the Kooks in concert; Dan went to see the cricket and we also went to the Opera House with friends from work to see the Cirque de Solei an aerial circus performance, which was amazing. Towards the end January we moved out of Steph and Peter's and into a hostel back in Newtown. I was busy finishing up a work, which involved lots of lovely lunches and afternoon tea's. It was very sad, saying goodbye to my new friends and work mates who had made me feel very much part of the team and welcome in a city, so far away from home. Hi to everyone in the Cancer Information and Registries Division at the CI NSW and a big thanks once again. We then made the most of our last few evenings in the city having dinner with friends before hitting the road again. On Thursday 22nd January Dan and I spent our last day in Sydney checking out the Monet and Impressionists exhibition at the NSW Art Gallery, which was great and then heading to the bus depot ready for our 17 hour bus journey to Melbourne. The bus journey was very very very very long. We didn't sleep for the first part of the journey but after a bag of Maltesers at 4.30 a.m. we slowly started to fall to sleep, arriving in Melbourne at 9 a.m. the next day. We both felt quite sad to leave the city that had been our home for the past four and a half months, where we had made a great network of friends and really enjoyed working and living abroad.