Sydney Part 2!!

With a fresh head on boxing day after a sober Christmas day, we all decided to go to the races!! So with our best threads on, which were still pretty shockin coz after all we are still travellers, we all headed over to Randwick races for a spot of gambling. As I'm not much of a gambler (and I have no money to gamble with) I was pretty much betting the minimum and I went halves with my friend Sarah on every bet. Race 1...lost, think our horse was the one hopping at the back on three legs! Race 2...lost, dont even think that one made it across the line. Race 3....lost, we were gettin abit upset at this point until.....Race 4...Win!!! 10 beautiful Australian dollars, well 5 each. Which we then spent on Race 5....lost, oops. So we cut our losses and decided not to bet on race 6 and 7 coz the odds of us winning seemed pretty slim and the money would be better spent on alcohol. Had a really good day and everyone had fun, win or lose. Thats a slight lie coz Craig who came out over $100 up was in a much better mood than those that had lost $50 each (Ry and Jade). ha.

The next few days were spent tanning on the beach to make our impression on the world for New Years Eve in Sydney!! The Fiji tan which had slowly slipped away in not so sunny Melbourne was making a comeback. So the plan was in place....BBQ and a picnic at the harbour to watch the fireworks and drink and be merry.

New Years Eve Eve we all went out to buy our food and drink for the next day and we got an early night (1o'clock seems early these days) to be up early and ready for a full day of sun and fun. The plan was to be up and out of the hostel by 10am but that soon turned into 11am which soon turned into 12pm. If you've ever thought that me and Jade take a long time to get ready, you want to meet the boys that we're staying with! Well actually you dont coz they'd annoy you with how long they take to do anything and I mean anything. It took them almost a full 5 minutes to decide on which bottle of vodka to buy and they only had choice of two! I'm sure it must have been a tough decision but is it really?

So we finally arrived at our destination about 1.30pm at Cremorne point, the opposite side of the harbour so that we could see both the Opera house and the bridge. The sun was baking - hence the bikini photos - and the rest of the afternoon was spent eating and drinking until the 9pm fireworks. They were pretty amazing considering they weren't the midnight fireworks! The next three hours are a bit of a blurr and there was a lot of half naked drunkeness (not me of course, I was fully clothed by this point, a bit too chilly to be in the bikini) but the boys think its extremely amusing to run around in their underwear...not sure why but who's complaining?! And more drinks and food were had. Then it was the midnight fireworks and they were even more amazing. Probably the best New Year we've had, perfect location, perfect atmosphere and perfect entertainment. And to top it off, all public transport was free to get back home. Not sure how we found our way back home coz we struggled to get there in the first place and we were sober and it was daylight. But we did and still alive to tell the tale.

Had to say bye to Sarah that morning, 5am to be precise, she'd barely had an hours sleep but still managed to get up and set off on her 36 hour journey home. Good luck with that. She made it home ok though.

New Years Day and the next couple days were spent recovering on the beach topping up the tan and living the absolutely life of luxury with not a care in the world except making sure those tan marks got darker and darker (or whiter and whiter).

We had one big last night out in Sydney before we set off up the coast for the rest of our Oz journey and that was in a rather smart place called the Ivy. Ryan and Jade had been the previous night and said it was worth a try so we all donned our smart(est) clothes and went for it. Well, until Jade got spotted by the lady bouncer person and got asked to leave. Apparently the night before, Jade was bursting for the toilet and thought that she was the exception to the rule and went into the boys toilet instead of queueing for the girls like the rest and pretty much got thrown out by her ear! Good job she was drunk at the time coz she found it quite amusing. We managed to convince the lady bouncer to let her stay if she drank water only and she agreed. Blessing for me coz it was one less person to look after when they had one vodka too many like two of the lads did that night and I became babysitter for them.

Our final day in Sydney we went to Toronga Zoo which is apparently the best in Australia, not sure I would say that but then I haven't been to all the other zoos so maybe those ones are all really rubbish. Had a good time though and saw plenty of animals closer than I ever have before which was good. Then we had to say our goodbyes, not too emotional but the boys have certainly made an impression on our trip as that the longest we've ever stayed in one place so it became our little home. So we jumped on the tube to central station at about 6.15pm as we had to be checked onto our bus at 6.40pm for a 7pm leaving time. We switched tubes after a couple of stops on to the Circular Quay line....until we realised at 6.40pm that we didnt want to be on the Circular Quay line, we wanted to be at central...oh oh. So at 6.54pm and we were still on the tube, things were not looking good for us. By 6.58pm we were running through the station bags and all, looking for the bus. By 7.01pm we found it just as it had closed its doors and was ready to leave without us. 'Lucky lucky girls' the driver said and by 7.02pm we were sat in our seats and the bus left the station. Nothing ever happens without a drama. We get worried when things run smoothly (which is almost never) so we're always expecting something to go wrong.

So thats it for Sydney...we think. Off to Byron Bay for some more fun and frolicks. Will update you all soon. Lots of love and hope everyone had a good New Year for anyone I've not had chance to speak to xxxxxxxx