ok well i got to sydney after the 12hr bus ride and after a taxi man drove me around all the lil streets i arrived a the hell hole of my hostel. Oh man this place was awful i mean bed bugs, fleas in the couches in the so-called lounge, dirty kitchen, 4 bunk beds squashed into a room the size of mine at home. So when i arrived to didnt fancy sleepin much after all so i headed down to vicky';s plush hostel and we went to check out the city. Went to circular quay to view the opera house, china town and darling harbour - so after that i was pretty exhausted to would sleep anywhere! Next day - wow i woke without bed bug bites - yippee!!!! So me and vicky headed to bondi beach to meet up with a couple of her aussie friends she met in SE asia. Went to a bar mid beach time and i recognised a guy on the other side of the bar but i just took that as my imagination but i was too convinced so i texted colin - who didnt reply might i add!!!! - if ribena matt happened to be in oz - after stareing at this guy for like 10mins we soon confirmed our suspisions!! So anyway talked to him for a while - he is here for a year living in darling harbour - nice!!! 31st - ok well got up really really early and headed downtown to meet the others - we all had our eskeys ready and our alcohol stored in random places. It was forbidden to take your own alcohol into the botanical gardens at mrs macquerie's point and they even checked water bottles to make sure they werent already open. So the guys used super glue to keep the lid on their vodka and i had bottles of vodka shuffed into my short pockets as they are so deep - cunning i hear youu cry!!! We arrived at 8.15am and had to wait til 10 for the gates to open so whilst we struggled with the eskeys - actaully thats a lie as we made the guys carrythem - grant went ahead to grab a good spot and what a great one he picked (see photos!!). So we spent the day chilling out, sunbathing as it was so so hot. We started the drinking about 3pm so did well and i took it easy as wanted to remember the fireworks - which i did so very proud of myself!! They were amazing and it was a great atmosphere. Unfortunately when they finished we had a il todo with oneof our friends who got absolutely twated so after that vodka was much needed. So we exit the area (in fairnesss i think we got kicked out as one of the last people to leave) and pour the first lot o fthe much needed vodka. So there me and vicky start our journey home with plastic glass of vodka coke in one hand and a bottle in the other - picture us now - like thelma and louise (except we didnt buy a car and drive it off a cliff!!) So we start our search of a party worthy enough of our presence - slight problem was we still had our eskeys and food with us - so what to do??? We stop off in the park to pour ourselves another glass of special water and i start talking to some random guy who looked lonely sittin on the bench. In the end i nearly smacked the idiot. All i said was "oh i havent met that many american whilst travelling" (he was american by the way) and he was like well thats because YOU stay in hostels and hostels arent good enough for US americans - if you went to nice hotels they are full of travelling americans - anyway no offence to my american friends as i know you're different but what an american idiot he was!! No wonder he was sitting alone on new years eve - ok rant over now. Breathe! So the journey continues to 7/11 where we buy a box of crackers still with our vodka clutched in our hands - what the guy behind the counter thought i have no idea!! So we spent the walk home kissing on the cheek and wishing happy new year to everybody we met - what fun!! Finally we get to the hostel after vikcy buyin a kebab and me throwing up in an alley way (no mum you didnt just read that - im an angel just remember that - im sure it was something i had eaten - surely not the alcohol!!!))) and alas it happens to be 4am - how the hell did that happen???!!! So the dream of a party to the wee hours of the morning was crushed! Went to sleep instead!! 1st jan Next day i felt like a JCB had rolled over me and a cow was sitting on my head saying haha you shouldnt have drunken so much (as obviously in my life cows do talk!!) So i sleep for a bit and talk to mum, jo, sara and the rest as they have their new years'. Finally i make it out of bed about 3pm and outside its 44degrees. Me and vicky decide to go to coogee beach so after sweatin s***loads on the bus we make it to the beach and wow what a lovely breeze! 2nd jan Finally get to leave the hell hole of boomerang backpackers. Had 2 night left there but i didnt care so got a place at sydney central yha - yay!! Walked into town and then vicky went to the airport to meet her friend, giles, coming in from the uk to see her. In the eveving went for some chinese food then to meet jodie in some irish bar - nice to see her again - last time was mission beach. Didnt stay long as went back to the other bars at the hostel but i went to bed and had a lovely sleep in a proper bed with AC what luxury!! 3rd jan So we did the tourist thing again of going to darling harbour, sydney opera house and circular quay etc as giles hadnt seen it yet. Dediced to take random bull dog photos on the steps of opera house - got q a few random looks - i wonder why??? 4th jan Today we went to the cricket - South Africa vs Australia. In the end it was a bit of a wasted day well in giles terms anyway as due to rain they only had 20 innings - now i dont know a thing about cricket so that nmeans nothing to me but i had a nice day as it was ladies day so got some free goodies and a 5minute massage, we took a picnic so ate lots - yum! Did get a lil wet trying to get a bus - in the end giles gave up and said he'd pay for a taxi! In the evening went to another irish bar and i had lemonade - get me!!! Had another semi early night as ill from new years still! Also met up with vicky's mate chris wjo did some crazy arsed dancing along with a swdish guy who's techo dance was a lil OTT just for a bar - bless!! 5th jan So we get up early to go to the blue mountains - a beautiful scenic area about 2hr from sydney with rock faces like the grand canyon etc. So really looking forward to trhis day as can see the three sisters which are 3 large bits of rock. The aborignal story is that there once was 3 sisters from the katoomba tribe who fell in love with 3 men from another tribe. This was not allowed so the romance was forbidden. The men decided to come and take the girls by force in a war. To stop the men from taking the girls the witchdoctor from the katoomba tribe turned the girls into 3 rocks in order to turn them back after the war had ended - unfortunately the witchdoctor was killed in the war so the spell has been unbroken to this day! Anyway we get off the bus to cold, misty, wet, foggy weather and our view of the blue mountains consisted of a large sheet of white fluffy cloud - dammit!!!! So spent the day walking round in the clouds instead of viewing the marvelous site. Oh well not alot can do really - we managed to have a fun day by messing around and joking so not a total waste!! In the evening went for some drinks and the went to bed! 6th jan By the time had woken up it was like afternoon so went over to manly beach on the ferry. Weather wasnt great but had a chnace to lay on the beach for a bit - the beach itself ie the sea was closed due to high currents and dangerous rip tides. But had a nice day wondering around. In the evening we went over to coogee to see jodie so went to the Coogee Bay Hotel which was a really nice bar with a garden so really nice - well until it pissed it down with rain! but had q a few vodkas, had picture takenw ith thye bouncer (giles idea), and had a kebab even though wasnt hungry at all, had a semi arguement with a polish guy who thought i was swedish as i could speak a language other than english and also his mate pretended to be chilean as to begin with i believed him but his prank was folied when i spoke to him en espanol and he couldnt reply - ha ha!! So we waited for the bus for ages but the polish guy was really annoying me and we had waited for about 1hr+ so in the end at 4am we got a taxi back instead! 7th jan Went to bondi beach in the day to catch up with volker and rachel. Julie and seamus - people we met on fraser island also came to say hi which was nice to see tham all. Didnt do any sun bathing as weather has been shockingly bad since new years day heatwave. In the evening we all met up for some food - rachel - an aussie friend that vicky travelled with for a long time in SE Asia was in town so we all went out for a big night to a club called home. We first drank some vodka in their dorm room as had it left over from the cricket. Then we headed out - so while the others went to meet some other people, me, giles and alexis went to a bar called cargo in darling harbour. I was out drinking the guys like anything as giles was tired and alexis had a big night last night in melbourne. It was a bit hard having a convo with these two as one is 6ft 4'' the other 6ft 2"and me being 5ft 3"!!!! In the end we went to HOME and got on the guest list courtest of a mate of vickys from home who she bumped into last night in coogee so that saved us $30 or so. Club was ok but not my sort of music but i had a good time and just did some crazy arsed dancing! We got home about 3.30am. but it was a really good night. 8th jan Man what a hangover - felt not very pretty!! So went for some brekkie with the others as we all had to check out by 10am!! i mean thats so not fair! After the breakfast i had a long day ahead of me without a bed as bus didnt leave until 8pm that eveing. So i spent the day sleeping in the tv room at the hostel. I ventured out at some point for a starbucks - really into soy chay latte's at the mo - chrsitie's fault she introduced them to me. Then the time finally came to get on the bus. they showed the film The terminal which i feel asleep in - i think i did the same when they showed it on the way back from cinncinatti! So anyone who has seen the ending - can u telll me what happens as cant be arsed to go thru the film again as didnt really enjoy it either time!! So after hardly any sleep - i finally made it to melbourne and thats when i stop ram,bling on as im sure i have rambled enough today! so toddle pip from me!! loves nikki xxx