From 'Flashpackers' to dorm rooms.. Sydney

We touched down in Sydney a little worse for wear and not wanting to do anything but get to our room and go to bed... Only problem was in Sydney it was just our room, this was our first hostel/dorm room experience. What a day to be submerged into the world of bunk beds, cockroaches and naked French men!

We were staying in Stratton Hostel in a 6-bed mixed dorm, which according to Lodge, looked and smelt like Matthew's bedroom. Our roomies turned out to be Matt- a guy from Farnham, would you believe!- Ross and Alex from Peterborough and an Aussie guy- Sam- a musical theatre actor who snored like a fog horn (not an air horn- Thank you for teaching Lodge the difference Auntie Melanie!)

The only thing we could manage in our hungover state was a trip to 7-11 for sandwiches, which we ate sitting in Hyde Park where, quite coincidentally, a group of rather buff men were exercising, the view of which somewhat helping our hangover!

Saturday was an early night, only interrupted by our new roomies coming home very drunk and making friends with Lodge while I slept! Sunday was a glorious sunny day and so we headed to see Sydney's iconic landmarks- the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. It was pretty strange to believe we were actually seeing it all for real. We opted out of actually climbing the Bridge, not because we were scared, we just didn't want to wear the stupid overalls! (Ok, so maybe we were a bit scared and it did cost $200!) Instead we walked across it and went up one of the viewing towers. The Bridge was a pretty impressive sight and we were especially amazed how it was constructed without any power tools. (We even watched a very educational film about its construction.. Don't ever call us un cultured or sophisticated!!)

Back to being more like our normal selves, we took advantage of the sunshine and spent the afternoon chilling out in the Botanic Gardens, topping off the day with a glass of Pimms at the Opera House bar over looking the harbour. Perfect!

The evening wasn't quite so delightful as we headed to the backpacker bar at our hostel. Although drinks were only $3, we ended up, as usual, stuck with the weirdest bloke in the room.. Another strange French guy, who decided after about 10 minutes that he loved Lodge. As per our previous experience of French men, he went in for the kiss- uninvited and unwelcome. He wasn't too happy with the rejection, headed to the bar for about his 40th drink of the night and was promptly asked to leave by the bouncer..phew! Time to head home where our roomies, Alex and Ross- who were meant to meet us but were suffering from the previous night- were up and we spent the rest of the evening singing along to Lodge's cheesy iPod tunes!

The next two days the weather was overcast and a bit cold- probably the first time we've been cold since we left Heathrow! We spent a day at Darling Harbour where we visited the aquarium complete with sharks, stingrays, nemos and penguins! There were even 'Steven fish'- (skinny with big noses!), which despite numerous attempts we couldn't get a good picture of- no, not because their noses were too big to fit in the picture, they were just shy!- (otherwise I'd have tagged you Steve!!). We also took a trip to Manly beach, which is a half hour ferry ride from Sydney Harbour. Unfortunately we missed the first two ferries because we had gravitated back to the Opera House bar for a glass of wine, and the weather wasn't great when we got there so we didn't stay long. Without the sunshine and fit surfers to watch it wasn't half as much fun as it could've been.

Night out in Sydney were fun- minus the weird French guy- and we managed to do our usual and made friends with a couple of guys who then brought all our drinks for us! (We don't make them- they offer!) This time it was a couple of Aussie Ambo's (paramedics) who we met in Scubar- a backpacker club which was full of all sorts, including a famous Aussie Rugby player (we were oblivious to this but the Ambo's told us!) who was having a lot of fun with someone who, apparently, wasn't his wife! The music was cheesy- perfect for us and on came Thriller (Katy we thought of you!) And had a boogie in your honour!! As usual we were one of the last to leave by which time we were practically the only females left in the entire club and so we ended up dancing with an array of guys from across the globe. Before our 'let's teach everybody to dance' song came on we called it a night and headed back to our bunkbeds!

Our final night in Sydney and in the hostel topped the lot for strangeness..but that's another story and starts the text tale of, in hidsight, a very very funny 24 hours...