We arrived back to Sydney early in the morning and to the cold and windy weather! We were freezing after being in such high humidity in Cairns! Me, Ady and Ryan decided to book in to a hostel in a place called Colloway which is in the Northern Beaches of Sydney. We didn't quite realise however how far it was from the centre. It took us an hour on the bus to get there! The hostel was a YHA Hostel and was ok but there was nothing there at all apart from a nice beach but the weather wasn't good enough to enjoy it really. The supermarket was a 30 minute walk away so we decided to hire bikes from the hostel as they said there were free bikes to hire. When we got to the bike storage shed we realised why the bikes where free! Me, Ady and Ryan ended up on the smallest BMX bikes ever! Ady had the smallest though and we had to wear bike helmets by law so we looked a right site riding to the supermarket! On the way back we all had bags of groceries and Adys bag broke first sending bottles of water all over the road! Then Ryan's broke so we had to stop again and pick the contents of Ryan's bag up! Then Adys bag broke again so we ended up taking about an hour to get back to the hostel whilst hysterically laughing on the smallest kids BMX! We didn't realise at the time but loads of people from the hostel saw us struggling on them bikes and had a good laugh at our expense!
We also ended up having to share a room with a really old guy who turned up with an old battered brown leather suitcase and a huge box of stuff he hardly looked like a backpacker put it that way! It was a pain having to share a room with him as he was very strange and snored and had his stuff everywhere so we made the decision pretty quickly to move on back to the city!
We ended up staying at a place called the strand which was a pub with rooms above it. It was the same price as the hostels and seemed okay so we managed to get a three bed room for a week whilst we looked for some where a bit more permanent.
The next week I managed to get a week's temping work as a receptionist at a business called Alphawest, which is a tele-communications company. It felt a bit strange to be doing a 9-5 job again and in an office environment. I had to try and brush up on my Microsoft office skills quickly! On the first day I had to learn how to use the telephone system which was a bit complicated, and then I got asked to format a spreadsheet and cut information from it to send to staff as well as organising birthday cakes and ordering stationary! It seemed like a lot to take in after 8 months of not working but I soon got into it and was asked to do some temping work after Christmas for them which was good. I also managed after days of handing out c.vs to get a job as a drinks waitress for the ice bar on Sydney harbour. It was unfortunate for me that they also wanted me to start the same week as the receptionist job in the evenings so I had to work 8:30 till 5:30 at the receptionist job then power walk for 20 minutes to start the waitressing job at the harbour till 10:00 and get home for half ten so I was exhausted by the end of the week!
The waitressing job was pretty easy but the restaurant that was part of the bar was another Thai restaurant so I ended up working at the restaurant more than the ice bar, although I did do one shift in the ice bar never again! I was left in there for 5 hours in minus 5 degrees and I was practically frozen stiff by the time I finished!
Me and Ady managed to get a room in a guesthouse in a place called Randwick which is near Coogee beach. It had its own bathroom and small kitchenette and even a TV which was great so we booked in there for 1 month to see us through to the New Year.
Before we knew it, it was Christmas time although it didn't feel very Christmassy at all to us! It definitely didn't have the same buzz about it like in England and with the weather being so warm it felt really different from back home! We started to feel a bit more Christmassy after going to the Coogee carols by the sea. Every year all the different beaches and towns put on a Christmas carols show which is free and people take their own food, drink and candles and sit by the beach whilst different singers go on stage and perform well known carols which was really nice.
For Christmas day we all decided to meet up at Coogee beach for a barbecue and to spend the day. Me and Ady got there around 10 am and already the beach was pretty full and people had started cooking on the free barbecues which they have on the grassy areas near the beach! We managed to find a spot near the barbecues and waited for everyone to join us. It was also Ryan's birthday so we bought balloons and banners and decorated the hut where we were sat! There ended up being lots of people around our area and we ended up not doing a lot of cooking just drinking! It was certinatley a very different Christmas to what were used to and we had a great day but we both agree you can't beat a British Christmas day at home (and our mums cooking!)
A few days after Christmas we finally got to do our skydive! We caught the train to Woolongong (which we almost missed!) but the weather again wasn't looking very good we had our fingers crossed as we didn't want it cancelled again! When we got there we had a bit of a wait, then we had to sign our lives away and before we knew it we were going up in the tiny plane. It was pretty cloudy which was a shame but at least we were able to do it. We didn't feel too nervous about it until we were about to jump then the nerves definately kicked in! It seemed to take forever to get up to our jumping height of 14'000 ft and I hadn't quite prepared myself for how high it actually is! There was 8 people jumping and unfortunately me and Ryan were at the front of the plane so we ended up having to watch everyone else jump first then they shut the doors and circled around for 5 minutes before we were able to jump!
The skydive was probably the best thing that we have both ever done. The adrenalin feeling you get is really amazing but it's over so quickly! When we all got together after the skydive we realise our friend Dave was nowhere to be seen which was a bit worrying as he was the first to jump! We asked the instructors and they said apparently tandem instructor had got confused when they got out of the clouds and they ended up going the wrong way and landing in a school playground which was probably amusing for the kids! They had to get picked up by the skydiving team from the school!
New Year as always was the same as at home where no one can decide what to do or where to go! we knew we wanted to see the fireworks so we ended up deciding on a area which had good vantage points although they were expecting thousands of people just in that small area! I managed to get the night off work, then the night before New Year I managed to get 10 tickets from work to the circular quay area which was the best place to see the harbour bridge! This meant that we could get to that area at any time we wanted and still get in even if it was full to capacity. We all met up in Hyde Park and had some hours in the sun and had some drinks, then we walked over the bridge and we couldn't believe the amount of people there! It was ridiculous but we managed to get a spot with a good view and it was then a case of sitting it out till midnight! As midnight approached I decide to try and get a better view so I could film the fireworks so I managed like I do to squeeze to the front railings. The fireworks were absolutely amazing I've never seen anything like it before and the atmosphere was unlike anything I've experienced back at home! I have to say it was probably the best New Year we have both ever had and although Christmas wasn't as good, New Year was definately better!
The next day I was in work at 10 in the morning and was still a little tipsy from the New Year celebrations it was abit of a struggle to get through the day but I got there in the end!
All the rest of our little gang decided to head off straight to Melbourne a few days after New Year but me and Ady had to stay till the tenth of January when our lease was up on the apartment. I ended up working as a receptionist again for our last week in Sydney which was good to get some cash in then it was off to discover a new oz city Melbourne in the state of Victoria.