On Sunday 24th January I moved back to Base hostel as they had availability again. I couldn't stand being in the Maze hostel any longer as it was so hot due to no air conditioning in the rooms. Gina and Kerry checked into Sydney Backpackers hostel opposite the Event cinema as its cheaper and I will join them on Wednesday. Once I was settled back into the Base hostel I went to meet Gina and Kerry in the botanical gardens. They were with a guy called Bree who they had met in the Base hostel. We had a nice walk around the gardens together. On Monday 25th January Gina and I met up to head down to Circular Quay for a harbour cruise with Sea Sydney Cruises. It was free with our Aussie Specialist cards. The price is normally $427.50. The Calypso 52 foot Motor Yacht arrived at 12.30pm. There was 10 of us on the cruise and we were given a tour around the harbour. We cruised past Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Watson's Bay, loads of famous people's houses and the world famous ionic landmarks including the Harbour Bridge and Opera House. We were given loads of free alcohol and had a three course meal for lunch when we dropped anchor in a secluded cove. We had prawns for starters, BBQ chicken and salmon with potato and veg for main course and then cheese and fruit platter for dessert. It was a lovely meal. We met an American family and got chatting to them. It was great cruising around with a cold beer in my hand and relaxing on the sunlounger at the front of the yacht. The cruise went on for 4 hours so we finished at 4.30pm and headed back to our hostels. On Tuesday 26th January it was Australia Day. Loads of things went on throughout the day around Sydney. I met Kerry outside KFC on George street at 11am along with Ryan and Jack from Essex who Kerry and Gina have met in their hostel and Bree and a few of his friends. Gina was running late as she was a bit hungover from a heavy one the night before lol. We went on without her and headed down to Circular Quay. There was live music playing everywhere. Some people were dressed up in anything that had the Australian flag on it. Others had the Australian flag painted on their faces. Loads of people were out and it was a great atmosphere. We walked to the Rocks and found a cafe to have a cold drink as it was such a hot and sunny day. Gina finally met us here and then we decided to get some food from Coles supermarket for a picnic and take it to Hyde Park for the afternoon. It was nice to relax in the sunshine and listen to the live bands playing in the park. Gina, Kerry and Jack had a dip in the massive fountain to cool off. Later on in the afternoon Aimee and Nicki arrived and came over to join us. Around 7pm we all went to Darling Harbour for the spectacular fireworks display. Jack, Ryan, Bree and his friends had left us by this point. The fireworks were amazing coming off buildings and out of the water. Sydney sure does know how to put on a great fireworks display. We lit the remaining sparklers that we had left over from new years eve. After the fireworks we went to Docks for a bit. It took a while to get to the otherside of the harbour as there were loads of crowds of people. Then we went back to our hostels. On Wednesday 27th January I checked out of the Base hostel and moved to Sydney Backpackers hostel. I managed to get into the same 16 bed dorm room as Gina and Kerry. This hostel is so much cheaper than other ones in Sydney. I saw Ryan and Jack again who are brothers and their friend Ross from Wales who they call Jesus. He came back from Alice Springs today so we are in a group of 6 now which is really nice. I had an email from Anita at AA Appointments to say that a temp role had become available at Flight Centre Global Product in the Acounts Payable department. Its starting on Monday 1st February for 7 weeks which would be ideal as thats when Gina and I leave for Melbourne plus its situated in Sussex street near Darling Harbour which is close to the hostel. Anita is going to send my CV to them so fingers crossed I get it. I don't have any accounts experience but keeping positive. On Thursday 28th January I started my temp work at Carnival Australia. I got the train from Town Hall station to North Sydney station and the offices were just across the road from there. I arrived for 9am and met the other six temps also working with me. We were taken to our own room where we met the Customer Relations manager. He told us that a few P&O cruises were departing later now in March due to mandatory ship inspection and as the reservations department were really busy making bookings we were needed to answer phone calls from customers affected with the changes. We were given information sheets of what changes had been made to the departure date and itinerary of the cruises and what compensation P&O were giving to their customers for the inconvenience. We were taught how to use their reservations system Polar and how to find and understand bookings made. P&O Cruises had already sent out letters to travel agents and customers about the situation so they didn't know how many phone calls to expect. Throughout the day we only received a few phone calls so it was rather quiet. I finished work ar 5pm and went back to the hostel. In the evening Kerry, Gina, Jack, Ryan, Jesus and myself went to Three Wise Monkeys pub for free pizza. Every Thursday at 8pm they do this for backpackers. On Friday 29th January I was working again at Carnival Australia from 9am-5pm. The phones hardly rang again so it was really quiet and a bit boring. Easy money though. We were given queries to have a look at using the system Goldmine and see how many we could close to help out the Customer Relations department. I heard from Anita about the Flight Centre Global Product job and I got it. Woohoo. Such a relief to have regular money coming in now. After work I walked up to Bruce and Alex's apartment to collect my camera lead that had come in the post from Dad. It was nice to see them and catch up. In the evening the 6 of us had a BBQ up on the rooftop of the hostel. Ryan and Jesus cooked the food and it was yummy. On Saturday 30th January Jack had enquired about an apartment for us on Gumtree so we went to have a look. We got to Surry Hills and carried on walking but it seemed quite far away for all of us so we left it.