23/12/08

Got up early to shower and help Kerry with the washing before leaving the house at 10 to get to Maze backpackers on Pitt St. in time for check in. We couldn't leave without being fed beans on toast first though. As we put all our stuff outside along the fence, David showed up with a friend to give us a lift to the station with all our stuff. His friend was a nutter, he had an awful car, the complete opposite to the Getz, you could tell from about 2 blocks away that the engine was ticking over on this monstrosity. When he pulled away the entire thing rumbled and shook up and down. Needless to say it was an awful ride, but at least it saved us the bus fare. The guy was wearing the strangest clothes as well, he had pinstripe trousers with grey socks and shoes on but with a normal T-shirt and a baseball cap to go with it, he looked stupid, just hope he's not been given the link to read this.

Got to Maze backpackers at around 11 and were told that check in wasn't until 2pm, luckily our room was ready for us, so we all went and got cash out to pay, the rates had changed and where I could get $650 for 300 quid a week or so ago I could now only get $540! Settled in to the room, a nice 6 bed dorm to ourselves, and then went out for a walk around the city. Explored The Rocks next to Circular Quay and then Millers Point for obvious reasons. We then couldn't resist going to the pie shop, and eating them in the Library, Burns and I went for seconds. Wandered back down the street and people did last minute secret santa shopping while me and Rich waited for them at Woolworths.

On the way to Woolworths we saw a drunk guy sitting in the street holding a bottle and attempting to stand up, he wasn't having any luck. Woolworths cafe wasn't open so we decided to go the McD's for a shake, as we were leaving we noticed that the drunk guy had been successful in standing up, he looked a complete state, he was staggering all across the pavement. When we'd finished our shakes and went to meet everyone at Woolworths we walked back past him, he was now passed out in the doorway and had clearly wet himself. Got some food in for dinner.

Chilled out in the room for a bit before the girls cooked a very good chicken stir fry. Spent the evening deligating roles to people to get the next week organised and went on the internet get info for everything.

24/12/08

Walked down to Circular Quay, bumped in to Peter on the way and wished him a Merry Christmas. Walked past the Pie Shop and fed ourselves on the way to the Opera House, expecting to be able to go on a tour but discovered that it was closed so as the weather wasn't up to much we went to starbucks. Had the most expensive and awful frap. Found out that starbucks are open longer on Christmas day than on Christmas eve, 8am 'til 8pm christmas day and are also open until 2am on New Years eve/day. Walked back to the hostel and monged around for a bit waiting to go for a free meal that we were all skeptical of.

The time finally came for everyone in the hostel to head over to the Shark Hotel for the meal. we had to buy a drink to qualify for the meal and then queued up for the buffet. Best meal ever!! s*** loads of spuds and three types of meat on one stacked plate. What a bargain. Spent the rest of the evening playing pool and chilling out in the bar, some Christmas games were introduced towards the end of the night and some random guys started stripping off on stage, one guy took of his trousers and then this other guy was about to but the security guard wasn't having any of it and told him he didn't want to see it so told him to get off the stage. The girls joined in with pass-the-parcel later and came very close to winning the final price of free drinks, shame. Stayed until midnight to wish everyone a merry christmas while singing 'Like a Lightbulb' to every other lyric in Rudolf the red nose reindeer. Went back to room and slept.

25/12/08

Woke up at about 10, apparently it's Christmas Day, didn't feel like it at all, its hot and looked sunny. Got up and showered, had cheesy bread for breakfast and went to the rooms to do the whole secret santa thing (which was no longer secret due to the girls and they're slack chatting). Pat got a wristband/bracelet thing and a tootpick dispenser, Burns got some drinking game dice, a backscratcher and a pair of authentic Oakleys, Coops got a book full of cake and coffee recipes as well as an iPod shuffle pouch which can also be used as an ear ring pouch, Helen got a novel a hand fan, some ear rings and some word-snap-cards. I got a travel draughts set and the best present of all...2 entire litres of chocolate milk. We went to the kitchen and picked up our pre-made baps and headed to Bondi Beach.

When we got there it was a little overcast but you could see the gap in the clouds coming our way. The whole place was fenced off with security checking everyones bags on the way in as Bondi is an alocohol free zone on Christmas day, just our lucl. We had to sit on the grass in front of the beach and drink our beer before we could get down, Burns and I spent a good hour attempting to get more than 10 reps in head tennis, we were very unsuccessful. The police had a word with Pat and told him not to open any more beer so we finished them off and went down to the beach. Spent the whole day sunbathing and swimming in the sea. So weird sun bathing on Christmas day! Burns and I started a frisbee sesh but had to retire early after hitting a Japanese girl in the back and then kicking another bloke in the back. Had our lunch which consisted of 2 giant, and I mean giant, baps with beef and s*** loads of salad in. At about 4/5 a plane wrote a message in the sky reminding us all to phone Mum. Went in the sea for the last time for a few crazy waves, my nuts were starting to chaffe with all the sand being rubbed against them so I had to get out. It got to about 6 and the Sun was starting to go in behind the buildings and the temperature dropped, it was then that Pat and I realised that we were a little burnt so we headed home.

Got back home and all showered and got the Aloe on. The girls went off to cook dinner while we started back on the beers. Had a quality Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, beans, carrots and gravy. We all spent about an hour phoning home and then chilled out in the room playing cards with Ben, the other guy in the dorm.

26/12/08

Got up early to go and see the Sydney to Hobart boat race start from the harbour. When we got there we soon realised that we had either missed the start of the race or we weren't at the right place, so we consoled ourselves with a trip to the pie shop. Ben was dissing the sausage rolls saying they were the dryest things he'd ever eaten. Walked all the way back to the hostel and packed to go to Coogee bay. Got there and chilled out on the beach for a bit and then saw the boats go past on the horizon. Decided to go and use the Barbies to cook our sausages but there were massive queues for all of them so we got Chish and Fips instead. Went for a wander around Coogee and ended up buying another pair of shorts. When we got back we cooked the sausages from earlier, the girls and I spent the evening sorting out washing while the lads went to watch football all night.

27/12/08

Woke up by Burns at 6.40am, after he and Pat had stumbled in from the pub, poking me in the arm and whispering "what time to you want me to wake you up?", I told him 7 and then got up. Walked to the Swifty car hire place and sorted out a car, Swifty were much more organised than RentForLess, we were in the car with in 15 minutes of getting there. The only car in the entire catalogue that wasn't automatic was the Hyundai Getz which they had none of so we ended up with another automatic, a Suzuki Swift. We were even provided with detailed instructions on exactly how to get out of the city and to the Blue Mountains from the car park.

Headed towards the Blue mountains, everyone dosed on the way. Helen was in a weird mood all day and was constantly saying Peter in an Aussie accent. Got to Wentworth Point and ate saussage sandwiches at the picnick spot before checking out the view. The mountains certainly were blue. Walked down hundreds of steps to check out a waterfall, Burns joked that his camera had facial recognition and could photograph the face of a guy we could see that was miles away and Coops believed him. Drove to Echo lookout and saw the Three Sisters. Then drove in to a place called Scenic World, drove in and asked the parking attendant how much it was to go on the Cable Cars and railways, he said in a mumbly voice "I don't know I just do the cars" we all laughed and drove off. Found a lookout down the road and decided that it might be worth checking out the cable cars so we drove back and asked the same guy the same question on the way in, he looked really pissed off. Got in the queue for Scenic World which was out the door and in to the road. Helen spotted a Nestle ice cream stand that said Peter on it and that set her off again. When we finally got our tickets Burns and Pat decided that they needed a drink becuase they were still dehydrated from staying up all night drinking. Ended up spening $4.50 on a milkshake, which I finished in under 20 seconds, but to be fair it was very good.

Got on the world steepest railway and rode it down to the bottom, worth every penny, this thing was seriously steep, it was like a ride from Alton Towers. Walked around a bit at the bottom and then took the CableCar back up to the top. After 20 minutes of queueing for it Burns and I got on when there was still plenty of room left, the other retards thought it would be a good idea to wait for the next one so they could get a better view. Got to the top and Burns decided to buy a T-Shirt, to add to his grand collection of 3. I told him I was going to the toilet so went and waited outside for him. After what seemed like and eternity they all came out at once, turns out they were waiting for me inside, t***!

Drove to Blackheath, well we started to drive there, couldn't quite get our bearings the to start with and ended up in the middle of Katoomba driving past people slowly and asking where to go. Finally found someone helpful who set us straight just before we came to a cross junction with no lights and no way of telling who had priority. I got pissed off with it in the end and didn't know who was supposed to go and when so I thought I'd edge out slowly, some guy didn't seem too happy with my manouver but he can just go f*** himself. Got to Blackheath and had coffee in a nice littel cafe which had a TV showing some kind of Red Bull alternative sports channel which was awesome.

Went and checked out Govetts Leap, best view of the day, also best sign of the day. On the way out I drove back the way we came, the road seemed awfuly narrow and every one was giving rather rude hand guestures as we were going past, yup, we'd just done another one way street the wrong way.

Drove back and it started to rain, we'd luckily had none of the storms that the forecast promised during the day, on the way back there was a serious electrical storm. For some reason I kept needing to piss all the time, so had to pull over in someones drive and piss in their bush. Dropped the girls and Burns off as near to the Hostel as we could get as for some reason you can't seem to turn right anywhere in Sydney, and then Pat and I took the car back. Dropped it off and the storm was still going strong. stood under cover at Thrifty for a while waiting for it to let up, after a while we noticed a brollie on the side just in reach, the rain wasn't letting up and at the right moment I swiped it and we ran.

Got back and the girls and I went to the shops to get potatoes and beans for a cheap meal. When we got back from the shops I asked Burns if he fancied a beer, he didn't need much persuading and a few minutes later we were back at the shop. Got a 24 pack of VB and headed cracked them open the moment we got back. Decided to use the Christmas dice that santa had so thoughfully bought Burns the other day. It took us a good half hour to suss out how to actually use them, I think that whoever invented it, for a 2 dice game they have been very successful in making it the hardest drinking game to understand. Pat, Burns, Ben and I all started drinking but then we remembered that we needed to eat and the girls didn't seem to happy that we hadn't started cooking. Took the beers to the kitchen and prepared the spuds for the microwave. Once I'd finished that I saw Ben using an pen knife to open 2 giant tins of beans, he'd done it completely wrong and we had a hole all the way around the middle of the tin rather than the edge. One of the microwaves was really powerful so the spud in there was done while the others were all still rock hard, so we switched them around, for some reason Burns thought it would be a good idea to pick up the cooked one and ended up chucking it across the floor towards the bin. We finally managed to get into the beans just as the potatoes were done, and then we struggled to find a pan to put them in, so had to use 3 bowls and 3 microwaves. On the whole, the meal was a rip-roaring success.

Pat hit the sack and Burns and I decided to stay sitting in the hall playing black jack and drinking each time we had to pick up a card. Not sure how long we were sitting there drinking but a guy asked us to move because we weren't allowed to drink there after 11pm, we didn't move a muscle and he just walked off. After about an hour we were in the dining room drinking, not sure why we were there but the same guard came up to us again and told us we weren't supposed to be drinking in there after 11pm and that if we moved to the living room it would be fine. We stayed put and later he found us still drinking back in the hall. Not sure what time we finished the crate or how many times that guy told us to stop drinking and to move along but I've been informed that I wasn't in bed by 12.30 like I thought I was.

28/12/08

Woke up as Ben and Coops were leaving to go find a present for his girlfriend who was arriving the next morning. Helen and Pat went off shopping so Burns and I went to the Botanical Gardens for a bit of frisbee. Got to Martin Place and read the scrolling weather report for Sydney on the way, the UV index for the day wasn't just high, it was extreme. The moment we got to the gardens we both applied copius amounts of sun cream and I donned my hat. Had a good half hour stint before the heat got to us and we had to move a bench into some shade to sit down. Started reading as Coops and Ben showed up. Shortly afterwards Coops recieved a phone call from Eli and we aranged to meet at Myer on Pitt street, so I went over there to pick him up and we went back to the gardens. Spent pretty much the entire time talking about how tight Steve is and how he just seems to have a "hundred grand lying around" to chip in on a house, before the conversation inevitably moved on to s*** patterns and how much we've all been sweating. Eli wanted to get some new shorts, so we went back to the Myer place so he could pick some up, as he was trying a pair on I tore the curtain back as Burns stood poised with the camera, for some reason he had the new shorts in his mouth and was only just unbuttoning his own, an amusing photo anyway.

Went back to the room and showered before getting ready to go out for a meal at a Thai restaurant with Peter and Kerry. Got there a bit early so decided to go into an Irish pub across the road for a drink. Peter and Kerry were already in the pub so we had a drink with them and then headed off to the restaurant. After much deliberating we all ended up ordering curries, although Peter and Kerry went for sweet and sour and lamb chops or something. The meal came with never-ending rice so we made full use of it. After I had been through 2 plates full of rice with my curry I attempted putting more on my plate myself, the waiter wasn't having any of it though and laughed at me as he took it away and dished it himself. Got kind of slack toward the end of the meal, kind of forgetting we were with actual grown ups and the conversation started sliding toward toilet humour and talk of giant phalic tatoos. I don't think Peter and Kerry quite understood what any of us were laughing about but at least they weren't offended.

Said our goodbyes and took the bus back to the Shark Hotel. They had some live music on the go, but it was far too loud again as you literally couldn't speak to someone sat next to you unless you wait for a break in the song. They really need to find a happy medium of volume in bars and pubs round here. Rich and Pat spent watched the football whilst Helen, Coops and I played pool. Coops was on fire and whipped beat Helen then me before some random 50 year old man asked her to play in his doubles game, a bit creepy, but we sensed that he wasn't going to leave us alone until he got 1 game out of her. We then watched some Asian girl being taught how to play pool for about an hour, it was hillarious, she was awful. The guys were literally placing her yellow ball over the pocket and lining up the while and she still couldn't pot the ball. Fair play to her though, she did improve slightly towards the end.

29/12/08

Woken up by Helen poking me in the face. Got up and attempted to get the free shuttle bus that we

recently found out about that picks up from 1 block away and takes you straight to our favourite pie shop. One drove past as we were approaching so we tried running after it, realising that it was getting stopped at each set of lights, but twice as we got near it pulled away so we decided to just walk it again. Got another pie and then took the ferry from Circular Quay to Manly.

The waves on this beach were massive and there were s*** loads of surfers, some doing some pretty amazing tricks. The sun dissapeared behind some rather dark clouds about an hour after we got there so the girls and I went for a wander around the shops. We had fish and chips from the shop that was voted best fish and chips in Sydney 2008, the queue for it was huge though, took about 20 minutes to get the food. The lads had a kebab for lunch the crazy b******s. After that we noticed a load of people circling some act in the middle of the street so we decided to watch, some guy was chatting a load of bull s*** and making the crowd exited, in the end all he did was dive roll over 4 people, bit of a waste of my time.

Got back to the beach and had a nap while listening to some music. Woke up to Pat saying check this out. There were a load of guys doing really high gainer backs in the sand. On closer inspection it turned out they had some massive inflatable ball, like on of those excercise balls buried 3/4 in to the sand, and were using it like a trampet. Some of the stuff they were doing was amazing, one of them was doing tripple twisting gyros. I had a couple of goes but wasn't quite like anything in the gym, you have to hit hte ball perfectly to get the right height off it, I nearly landed a double front and and another guy and I were preparing to get some double backs on it but the guy had to put it away because he thought it was going to pop. Rich Pat and I then went in the sea for a bit, the waves really were epic! They were about twice the height of me and if they crashed right on your back they really stung, the phrase 'backslapper!' was soon coined. The girls had had a really lazy day and just slept on the beach the whole time. We headed back but saw and ice-cream shop on the way, we couldn't resist. They were massive, 2 giant scoops of ice-cream in a massive chocolate cone with all the sprinkles and chocolate sauce you wanted. My cone broke on the first lick and I ended up with it all over my face and hands. Took the ferry back and noticed a mammoth tan line on my upper right thigh, I have no idea how I got it because it was overcast all day.

Got back and waited for the 555 free shuttle bus to take us back to the hostel. After about 15 minutes of waiting with Coops desperate for the loo and us all poking her to try to get her to wet herself she remembered that the shuttle stopped running at 4.30, so we had to walk it again.

Stopped in at the Apple store on the way and all pikeyed their internet for about half an hour. Pat Rich and I were in charge of shopping for the meal and cooking it, so we went to coles and picked up a kilo of mince, a kilo of pasta, a kilo of sauce an onion, some mushrooms, a pepper and some cheese. When we finally got back we started cooking, it didn't start off very well as we had somehow managed to pick up 2 different 500g bags of pasta, one really thin pasta that cooked in 8 mins and one fat that took about 20. We soon ended up with a kilo of raw meat in a giant frying pan and spent ages attempting to cook it through. Needless to say a lot of people were laughing at our attempt, but the end product turned out okay. Spent the evening playing boggle and I won for the first time, get in!

30/12/08

Did all the shopping for New Years Eve at Coles in the morning. Went to the book shop and got some new books. Went to the Botanical Gardens at about 1pm and caught some rays while waiting to meet up with the Dans at 2pm. I had drunk loads of water so was bursting for a slash when we got to the steps in front of the Opera House, so had to go immediately. Stood on the steps waiting for the Dans and it got really hot, the Sun was starting to burn so I had to get Burns to cream on my back, he definately did not enjoy it, it must have been the quickest anyone has ever applied sun cream.

The moment the sun cream was out people walking past were all asking to use a little splodge, pikeys. Could easily set up a business there creaming people up for $1 a piece. The girls and I bought lollies, bad idea, we couldn't eat them at a leisurely pace as they were dripping within seconds. I then had to go for another piss 20 minutes after my last one. The Dans finally arrived, my god are they white. We waled to the Harbour bridge and walked to the top of the pylon, 16 people in total died during the construction of the bridge, only 2 of which fell. Found a rooftop bar to sit at while we had a couple of beers. Wandered down George St. and stole some free internet from the AppleStore again. Went back to the room and attempted playing P&A with 7 people, doesn't really work because you don't get enough cards, so Fraser brought the classic would you rather game back in force with some never before heard rathers mostly involving licking of body parts or drinking of body fluids. Went out to have a meal, the Chinese next to the hostel seemed like a good cheap option but as we approached the stench put us all off so we went to Scruffy Murphys, unfortunatley we were about 2 seconds too slow at getting the last table so we went to the Shark Hotel again. I got the banners and mash as did Fraser and Helen, Wall got the steak, Pat a massive Burger that looked awesome, Burns Chicken Schnitzel and Coops some kind of chicken and veg. The Dans couldn't believe it when Burns and I went 2's up on Frasers left over sausage and mash, they've a lot to learn about the traveling ways! Both the Dans looked shattered so they headed off home. We went back to the room, I attempted to watch Heroes but had to sleep and prepare for the early start.

31/12/08

The alarm went off at 3:45am to wake Pat and I up so we could go smuggle our alcohol in to the New Years Eve site and secure a good view point. Attempted to get a McD's shake on the way but the machine wasn't turned on at 4am. Finally got to Mrs Macquaries Chair point at about 4:30 but to our dispare you couldn't just walk in a save a spot, the gates opened at 10am and there were already around 100 peopole camped out in the queue. We then found out that only 20 000 people would be allowed in so Pat went to get the others. It was quite cold when I was waiting in the queue and I had a damp arse, Bobby was sat next to me and I challenged him to a couple of games of Draughts to pass the time, he spanked me both times the b******. Pat finally showed up with the others at around 6:30 and by this time both my feet were like blocks of ice. The sun rose at around 7 and instantly heated everything up and sudenly we were all applying sun cream, that has to be the earliest I have ever applied STL. I had to go to the loo which was miles away, they had P-Bars, Rings and a Chin Up bar set up outside the mens toilets so I had a good play around on those before I went back. We were asked to stand up at 9:15 and everyone started getting ID'd. We were stood up for about an hour like sardines in the heat waiting for them to open the gates and worrying that we were going to have our bags searched for alcohol. Don't know what we were worrying about, the security were pretty slack, everyone got all their alcohol in. The moment we were through the gates we sprinted as fast as possible to Macquaries Chair and managed to get a really good spot. Chilled out all day playing cards and drinking. Don't think a litre of Gin was quite necessary. They put on a fireworks show at 9pm for families which was pretty good, but nothing compared to the midnight show, and the complete s*** that Burns was talking. Bought a chicken kebab on the way back and ate it in bed.

01/01/09

Woke up really early and couldn't sleep so sat in the hall and read for a few hours, during which time 3 gin/kebab turds managed to work their way out. Had a shower and was feeling better by about 10/11am when everyone else woke up. The Dans met us at about 12:30 and we got the bus to Bronti beach. The bus was packed out, and at each stop we were having to mush up further and further towards the back. It took about 45 minutes to get there and when we got there we were all starving so we ordered food from the nearest chippy. Went down to the beach and got a bit of tan on the go while continuing with the would you rather game. Eventually went for a swim, we all hoffed it in expecting to get fairly far considering the amount of practice we've had, but this beach was different from the others, it just goes from ankle deep to neck deep in 1 step, so we were all got a face full of salt water the moment we started running. The waves were big but nothing compared to the ones at Manly. It clouded over as we were in the sea and got really cold so we got out. Laid around on the beach until 6:30 then got the bus back. Again, the bus was rammed, this time we eventually got seats after loads of squishing up. At one point the driver was going up a steep hill and managed to stall the bus, there was the classic roar and cheer from all the passengers on the bus as we heard him turning the key in the ignition and starting it up again. The Dans left us to go out for a nice meal as I think they were getting pretty sick of scrimping it on the food front.

We went back to the hostel via Coles and picked up ingredients for Tacos which the girls did an excelent job of cooking, they were awesome, I still don't think they should be crispy though, the ones in Mexico that were soft were much easier to eat. Spent hours online booking our next Greyhound trip to Newcastle and attempting to book a hostel to stay at unsuccessfully.