After a 13 hour train journey over night from Melbourne (where I could not sleep one bloody bit) we arrived in Sydney on Dec 23rd ...to it raining I think - or just cold I cant remember (this has been a recurrent theme for Sydney at the mo). We then trekked for a few mins to the 'wonderful' Maze backpackers on Pitt Street = wicked location right in the centre of everything....altho a wicked location as soon as we got in the room we noticed the proble...

For a cheaper option than the plane down we decided to get an overnight train from Melbourne to Sydney - 11 hours and sod all sleep later we got to Sydney and then within an hour were on a 2 hour train to the Blue Mountains.The Blue Mountains are a world heritage site and basically good for views, detox and walking and cycling. The YHA we stayed in used to be some sorta hotel or something = well nice, didn’t feel like a hostel. The first day we got there we...

After an 11 hour greyhound over night from Byron to Sydney we had to wait around 7 hours at the airport to get our flight from Sydney to Melbourne. As you can see from the pics below there’s a nice one of Garth doing an impression of a tramp with his towel over his legs in the airport. Once we arrive we got on a tram and made our way to St Kilda which is about 20 mins from the CBD (central business district, that’s the buzz word in Oz for-the centre!)...

Byron Bay was a three hour greyhound away (or so it said on the itinerary). The driver once again wasn’t too much of a nutter but he also didn’t talk, (which later on was a bit annoying as he hadn’t told us the hour went forward! The journey was in fact only 2hours really)Byron was completely different from Surfers in that it actually had some good scenery and views and a wicked beach, many more surfers here as well! We checked in to Main Beach ...

We arrived at surfers after quite an uneventful greyhound journey - the driver wasn’t a nutter like all the othersAfter a few mins finding out where accommodation was available it was a short trek to our hostel - surfers in paradise - and after being quoted 24 dollars found out that they had a 'nice' 20 bed dorm for only 18 dollars a night, bargain! Now lets say this hostel wasn’t exactly built recently and the walls looked a bit worse for wea...