Felt it was time to share some more of my tales.....

I arrived in Sydney, after a hideously early start and flight, and headed straight to Kings Cross, the drinking capital of Sydney....don't think I need to give any more explanation as to why it appealed to me! After a nice little jaunt around the city that took in Hyde Park, Sydney Opera House, the Botanical Gardens and Sydney Harbour Bridge (a fair few of the highlights!) I headed back to the hostel for an intended quiet one to recover from the lack of sleep the night before and get ready for what was to come.....2 litres of goon later and a quiet one was well and truly off the cards! My fellow hostel residents helped me christen my Kings Cross stay in style with some serious rooftop drinking!

The next day brought about a hefty recovery period, another city walk, this time around the area me and Ben stayed last time we were in Oz (it was weirdly familiar), followed by a surreal night out, it's official title was; The Oz Party Bus Pub Crawl.....don't quite know how to explain it and do it justice but I will have a go......

It involved a sizeable bus with strobe lights and rave music, you were not allowed to sit down and banging on the roof was mandatory. I didn't really get into this until after the second bar of the night where I rinsed the happy hour and got nice and merry. Bus fighting (I was the piece maker in such shenanigans), dance offs, bonding with some cockneys, crazy Germans, jägers, Jack Daniels, black lights and front flips all played their part in a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

The next night took me to one of the bars that may or may not have been on the pub crawl the night before (if it was it was towards the end of the night, not quite sure!) where I rediscovered snakebite and black after far too long without it, a beautiful concoction which I then introduced to some American girls (it's going global people!). This evening, a backpacker night, then saw volunteers degrading themselves for prizes in various games designed primarily to get the contestants playing (mainly girls!), out of their clothes, can't say I disapproved, gimmicky but comedy!

The next few days took in some more familiar sights, a trip to Manly for some Coastal wondering (the sunset boat ride back which lit up the harbour bridge was pretty spectacular), a day trip to Bondi beach and a walk along the the harbour front all kept my days full with my evenings devoted to depleting my goon supplies on the rooftop of our hostel. All of which happened with beautiful cloudless days and awesome weather, the temperature was also improving as spring had arrived!

A couple of other evening ventures saw me finish 4th in a 40-man killer pool tournament, solid effort I thought, especially as jugs of snakebite were flowing freely and it was a long contest to finish with so many people competing. My drunken pool skills past there peak a few rounds too early and I was well and truly on the downhill slope as I crashed out.

My final night out in The Cross was a weird and wonderful affair, the night the hostel put on was....interesting! Ring of fire was played, goon bags emptied, coyote dancers jiving on bars, a wet t-shirt contest witnessed (my offered participation was refused) and a cheeky kebab, the first of my travels so far!

That concluded my time in Sydney. My goal was to chill out and drink excessively after my adventures down the great ocean road, that were awesome but far to sensible and much like something a normal traveller would do......I think my goal was achieved with flying colours to be honest!

Unfortunately the Oz adventure came to an end all too quickly, it was an awesome visit, albeit fairly fleeting, i have already started planning my next incursion! I was unable to stay upset at leaving for too long however as Fiji was looming!

As I write this blog I have already planned a bit of an itinerary for my time here (I know it sounds far too organised for me! But it is looking pretty bloody good). I won't ruin the next blog but providing I stick to my plan the next few weeks are going to be silly good, so stay tuned!

Hope I didn't ramble too excessively and this blog finds you well!

Luke. X