Blog : Sydney

We arrived Sydney mid afternoon in a bit of a daze... We had all woken up from naps as the greyhound was just coming up and over the harbour bridge and we got our first (well my second) glimpse of the Opera house and the sprawling city in front of us! It was only a short walk from central station where the bus dropped us off, to our hostel on the outskirts of redfern (a slightly dodgey neighbourhood we later found out) but any distance over 100m with both front and back rucksacks on feels like a marathon and when we saw the walk was uphill we all pretty much wanted to cry! But we slogged on through and arrived at a crumbly looking old style house on the side of a pretty big road - it wasnt called Alfred park budget accommodation we supposed! We booked this hostel almost a year ago as so many people from work worried us about not being able to get any accomodation in the city around New Year's Eve. But after we checked in, with the lovely staff and made our way up about 70 sets of stairs to the very top, attic room we thought it was perfect! Our little dorm was just like a homely bedroom... With one bunk bed and two singles, a sink, fridge, TV and air con - score! And we had the room to ourselves to begin with so we spread out, unpacking our bags and generally treating the room like our bedrooms back home... Pretty soon they were a complete mess!!

We went straight out for a wander on our first afternoon... As we had driven to the station we passes China town and had seen a huge food court sign so we tried to navigate our way towards it, which eventually we managed... We walked down a street where we were almost the only non Asians to be seen and there was food stalls set up with Chinese and Japanese writing and loads of techno gadget stalls on the pavements flogging iPhone covers and batteries and others with cheap cartoon-esque jewellery! We found the food court and were bombarded with smells of different foods, picture of different foods, different nationalities and their foods and chopsticks galore! It took us a whole to do a full lap of all that was on offer and then a second lap was required to make out minds up! KV went for a Chinese looking stand and got sweet and sour pork balls and i went more Japanese-y and had chicken katsu which came with loads of salads and tempura prawn and rice and miso soup and randomly an orange quarter! It was absolutely delish and i polished the whole lot off as i was starving! As we walked back through china town towards the shops to continue exploring now our bellies were full and satisfied, we passed a Japanese pancake stand, selling weird sort of thick drop scone style pancakes with a ricotta style textured chocolate mousse in the middle for super cheap so we all thought f*** it and tried one each and they were really nice!!

I will just add in a little side note here to note that i am aware that this blog seems to comment on food more than anything else and as a NYE resolution i will be starting a food ramble separately so i wont make you feel constantly hungry or sick by talking only about food and i might even manage to write something else interesting about any of the actual places weve visited, rather than just their delicatessens!

So after the Japanese pancakes we took a walk up Pitt street and found all of the shops and a massive Westfield, which we had a scout around, looking for shoes and a handbag for al and her NYE party outfit! All the shops had more sales on, but everything i liked was full price as per usual! Shopping after you've just had to walk with your backpack on is great though because i absolutely flat refused to buy anything else as i didn't want it any heavier at all!!

On the way home from shopping we picked up some booze and headed home as wed been invited out to a swanky club night with some friends wed met in Fiji, the ones who's NYE penthouse party we had been invited to! So off home we went for a shower and a quick turn around... Even though we were meant to be going somewhere pretty smart i didn't bother shaving my legs or anything as i wanted to save it for NYE to feel pretty! We went to a club in kings cross that we would never have even noticed if we were out alone but it turned out to be a cool club like many in shoreditch/hoxton in London, with kooky decorations and fancy drinks. I was super tired from the long greyhound journey and not really sleeping very well so i was a complete granny and left pretty early to crawl into bed!

The next morning we were up early and headed out to go and meet one of KVs uni friends, also called Liv, who had just moved to sydney... We looked like complete tourists with our little day sacks on, with maps and water bottles in our hands! We navigated ourselves successfully to Bourke street in Surrey hills (the coolest place ever, i want to mive there!) and to the little Greek cafe that we were going to for brekky! I literally couldnt choose what to have on the menu and in the end i went for a vege frittata with a big Greek salad, minus the olives which the waiter thought was hilarious! And halluomi - it would be rude not to having seen it on the menu! We all chatted and KV and Liv reminisced over uni stuff whilst i read some of the free magazines on the table and ordered freshly squeezed juices - my new love!

We then walked to Paddys market, via Crown street in Surrey hills which had the biggest amount of cute independent cafes and higher up little second hand and vintage shops, which we just fell in love with and fantasised about living nearby! all of the guide books wed seen had recommended Paddys market, saying it was bustling and a good place for cheap souvineers... What we got was one indoor mess of cork hats, cuddly kangaroos and "real" uggs just made in china stands with hawkers and punters everywhere... Ugh no thank you! We walked round the corner to darling harbour instead and had to scrape our jaws off the floor with all the cool and pretty things we saw... First up the lovely park with lots of alfresco dining places and millions of people havin picnics all around and then there was the most amazing but packed kids play area which had little streams winding around rocks and dams and taps to turn on and off...f*** the kids, KV and i were straight in there changing the direction of the water flow and getting our feet wet! Darling harbour was massive and we walked around both sides of it, takin in all of the sights and the views... We had a little afternoon break with a fresh juice and sat on a step right near where some blokes had just started setting up a show or something...we had come at a perfect time as they turned on some loud music which stated pulling in the crowds and then this half break dance half comedy show unravelled before us, which was brilliant and we got some great pictures with the sydney skyline in the backdrop!

We then headed over towards the opera house for some super touristy pictures and wandered around the outside. It so big in real life as i didn't realise it was split into three virtually seperate buildings, although i did think it would be a much better spectator experience and really good way to promote opera to have some buskers showcasing the music from new shows or something...i then got a bit carried away and starting thinking about what i would do if i could work for the opera house and then that would mean i could live in Surrey hills and have hallumi breakfast everyday from the Greek place!! Sorry Ed!

Then we had a walk around the rocks, which was the area by the harbour bridge for more piccys an window shopping in the snazzy shops! And our tummys started rumbling so we wandered around looking for a cheap eat... We ended up back suprise suprise in Surrey hills on crown street and went to a cheap and cheerful thai resturant called lemon grass an i ordered the most delishious tofu red thai curry...it was so so good and really spicey which was funny as i made KV try a chilli and it blew her head off and she was crying for milk! It made my nose run a little but i loved it! I we so hungry and craving calamari that i ordered two dinners and had salt and pepper squid too... Nom nom nom! The girls had some noodle dish that they couldn't finish so the thai place packed it into take away boxes for them and we carried them home to have for brekky! We had a quite night that evening, watching the wire, our face series on Als iPad and sorting out our plans to see friends the following day...

We woke up pretty late after a good lie in, as we were all shattered and had some breakfast in the hostel, the girls noodles and me marmite on rice crackers and then we went for another wander into the city. Back up crown street we went, we spent a lot of time in Surrey hills and else treated outselves to a freshly squeeze boost juice - yummy and we went via a vintage shop where KV had fallen in love with a handbag the day before. We were heading towards the harbour to catch the ferry to manly for the day, as wed been told it was a nice place to go to the beach, although the weather was a little over cast. We had arranged to meet some friends from our frazer island trip but when we saw the Q to get on the boat and the cost of a return ticket... Almost £10!! We decided to go and chill in the botanic gardens instead and see if the boys wanted to meet us for dinner later in, you guessed it, Surrey hills! We had walked past a cute looking pizza place earlier in the day that had a sign outside saying $10 pizza so it was cheap too! They were up for it and i booked a table for ten people!! When we got there later, we found to our disappointment that the pizza deal at mad pizza e restaurant was only at lunch time so i wamst very popular with all of the backpacker that we had dragged half way across the town on the pretence of $10 pizza - whoops! But everyone enjoyed themselves and it was nice to meet some new people and Kate's friend Liv came again too so we had a good chat to we about her adventures in asia. We save half of our pizzas for breakfast the following day so that we felt like effectively we were only buying ten dollar dinners and then a ten dollar brekky!!

On NYE we woke up and headed into town to central station and caught a bus to coogee beach, the one next door to bondi (we wanted to be tourists and go to bondi even though there are nicer beaches apparently but it was closed because they were setting up for the festival that night so we settled for coogee instead.) coogee was really nice and it was lovely to chill out an lie on the beach working on a last minute tan before the penthouse party that evenig, but we were all terrfied of burning and looking like a tomato so we were slathered in suncream and all protecting our newly washed hair so couldn't go in the sea! We had a little walk round the beach town as well and got a slutty lunch of calamari and chips to line our stomachs for later, whilst having enough time to digest it before having to put my skin tight dress on! We headed home around 3pm with a couple of bottles i very cheap fizz in tow so that we could enjoy a few drinks whilst we were getting ready! We noshed down a quick dinner of vege frittata and salad and set to, beautifying ourselves and elaborate hair dos! I squeezed myself into my sausage skin dress and fluffed up my hair so much i looked like id been dragged through a hedge backwards and gave a nod to the black and red theme with a slick of pillar box coloured lippy!

We hailed a cab and off we went on our merry way! We got to the building and the guy on the door dont the guest list asked for our surnames but looked so out of it and just said something like yeah three chicks, in you go! The penthouse was amazing, three levels of pure swank... There was a Dj set up in one room and a vodka bar in another but most people were gathered on the little balcony, to watch the 9pm warmup fireworks down the river. There was an excellent view of the whole city so we were very impressed! It was nice to wander round and see all of the incredibly expensive dresses on Chelsea-esque girls and funny to know that we were really backpackers and not part of this elite crowd at all!! There want any furniture in the rooms though, which meant we had to stand all night, which when in heals and after a few drinks becomes a little more difficult and painful so we started doing loops of the bar, balcony, DJ room and then Qing for the toilet for 30 seconds of sit down once we got in!

The midnight fireworks were absolutely fantastic and they lasted so long and were all the way down the river... We had an excellent view of the bridge and the opera house and all the buildings along the embankment so we saw everything... Well done Kylie, you did a good job! We loved the big lips on the harbour bridge as well, which were there to commemorate 25 years in music for this years creative ambassador Kylie minoge! We all shed a tear or two at midnight, saying good bye to the best year ever and we had a big three way kiss and cuddle to welcome in 2013! Bye bye Olympics! There was a glass of shots that were brought round to celebrate with so we all necked one and after quick phone calls home and a couple of piccys we went back to the bar one more time before making our way home, which was harder said than done. The whole of the rest of the city obviously was trying to make their way home to so the roads were grid locked, busses packed to the rafters and no taxi lights for as far as you could see! In the end we started walking home in roughly the right direction and came across a shopping trolly that KV got in with all of our bags and shoes and we must have pushed for half an hour or do, uphill!! In the end we managed to find a cabby willing to take us hone, he had just gone off duty (what cabby in their right mind goes off duty at all on NYE?!) but he agreed to take u home, probably because it was going to be a good fare for him! KV immediately fell asleep and wal and i sat taking all our make up off on the backseat and got into our room to find black smeared all over our faces! A good night all round!!

We all passed out pretty quickly and had a massive fail at getting up early the next morning to be at the sydney Olympic park for English new year! Instead we crawled out of bed around lunch time and headed down to a cafe wed spotted earlier in the week to have a good brekky! In true livy style wed managed to snif out the most expensive place ever to have a fry up and although my bacon and poached eggs on toast with a corn fritta was lovely $30 was quite steep to be paying each!!!

After breakfast we braved the stifling heat again and wandered to a little park to sit in the shade and calculate our next plans... The girls were going to meet a friend of a friend and i a long lost cousin who was working in a pub just down the road from our hostel... I wandered slowly over to his pub, to meet him on a two hour break he had in the afternoon, swinging by Coles to pick up some more water and an apple for the journey! It was a bit random meeting Ben as neither of knew that this part of our family existed but he turned out to be a lovely boy who was really enjoying working and living here in sydney and he had lots to chat about and it was amazing finding out that i had four second cousins on my dads side that i didn't know about and that are all my age or older and living in London!! Im excited to meet them when i get back home!

I walked home, all the time thinking of more things i should have told Ben and realising the connection between us and treated myself to a real cools shower when i got in as it was so redonkulously sweaty and hot! Australia and in particular Melbourne (our next stop) are forecast a heatwave for the next week with temperatures around 40/45C everyday day! The girls were very late home, theyd been taken on a pub crawl with the guy theyd been to meet but it gave me the time to do all my little jobs like sew on my austrlian flag, print out our Melbourne flight ticket, book our airport transfer, watch some TV on ALS iPad and chat to everyone back home! I think they got back an hour or so after id gone to bed in the end!

We had to get up early the next morning, which we all found hard as checkout was at 9am - crazy! And we bundled into a taxi to the airport to catch our flight to Melbourne. There was huge Qs in the airport so it was a good job we got there early and after raving through security and wolfing down some sushi we had a personalised call asking if "miss Oates, lawson and Vidal could please come to the gate as the flight was boarding and we were the last passengers left!" Oops!

Farewell sydney, we've loved you and promise to come back to see everything we didn't have time to on this trip!!