Hey all! I'm in Sydney!!! This is not new news, I realise, yet I simply have not had time to spare to write up what promises to be a bit of a mammoth blog as I haven't blogged for almost a month. Can you believe it is the 24th January already?! Crazy stuff..

So my last blog I was in Brisbane, a lovely city. Since then I have visited Byron Bay, Nimbin, Coffs Harbour and eventually Sydney!

Byron Bay was cute. When I arrived I checked into my hostel (a really nice YHA) and then headed down to the beach and the markets, then walked through the town a borwsed the quirky little trinket shops. If only I had some money to spend! haha. Or room in my very full backpack! In the evening we headed down to Cheeky Monkeys for free drinks, free champaign, cheap pasta, and dancing on the tables! Whoop whoop! Met some interesting people and had a laugh- it was a fun night.

The next day I headed off to Nimbin for the day, the drug capital of the East Coast. Lovely. Nimbin is tiny! Cute little place where everything is rainbow coloured and smells of weed. haha. There is really not much to do there and it's hard to believe that people actually live in that place. It is so small! Very pretty shops and a really funky museum about the colourful history of Nimbin. In the 70s a group of students went to a hippie convention and they just stayed there! It was definitely worth the visit. On the way back the bus stopped at a lovely lake and we had a massive BBQ. A burger and 2 sausages each. OMG. When travelling meat is too expensive so I have sort of turned vegetarian, so this BBQ was such a treat. And so yum.

My last morning in Byron Bay was spent sat on the beach. I went down and, as suggested by my Auntie Liz, had a spiritual moment! Read some wise words on a piece of paper that a man had given to me on the street the day before:

'The true spirit of love is ever loving us in each moment, with memory of past, without speculations of future... The infinite wild wind is ever-blessing us with each breath of love..the wild golden sun is ever loving us with each ray of warm golden life...the sacred darkness of night is ever loving us with infinite spaciousness. I always receive life fully for myself with every breath, in each moment, I am always open to receiving life and love and joy for myself... I always share all of myself , and all of my love and joy with all beings in each moment, in eternal gratitude to the infinite spirit of life and love... Quietly, I rest in the open heart space of simply being in the moment.'

Spiritual bit done and love for the world flowing, I jumped on the Greyhound bus down to Coffs Harbour, my next stop. Reached my next hostel and it was lovely! Everyone was friendly and the hostel's owner took us up to the look out point to look down onto the Harbour- beautiful views. In the evening I had a bit of a chill out, watching Derren Brown on youtube and abusing the free internet that is virtually unheard of over here!

The next day I wanted to make the most of Coffs Harbour as I only had one day here. In the morning I went snorkling in a cove down by the harbour with some people from the hostel. Didn't see much myself, but the others said that they saw a (very small) shark!!! So jealous! In the afternoon I hired a bike with Carrie, John and Kate from the hostel, and we headed to the Botanic Gardens, along the river, down to the coast and along to the island at the end of the Harbour. We saw a turtle in the sea! Cutie. We put on our walking shoes and walked over the island whilst the sun was starting to set- such amazing views and great to get out and do some yoga when all you can see is a massive expanse of ocean! Great stuff!

The next day it was an early start to get on the Oz Bus down to Sydney. It was a very long journey so you can imagine how pleased I was when we got on the bus and it was pretty much empty and, best of all, there was a TV!!! and DVDs to watch!!! The best bus journey EVER! We watched Wedding Crashers, the Hangover and James Bond. A stop over at Maccas made this a great journey, and we pulled into Sydney and over the Harbour Bridge feeling very excited! Sydney! AWESOME!

I checked into a nice big dorm at BASE hostel, ate some dinner and went to bed after a long travel day. The next day I had a little explore of the city and later met Holly and Amy for a drink in Darling Harbour. So so lovely to see them as I haven't seen them since we left each other around Airlie Beach. I also visited my friend Myles (a fellow traveller from South America) at his work place and had the best hot chocolate I've had since leaving the UK. Dreamy. It was soooo lovely to see him as well. :) On the first Wednesday I was here we had a little South America reunion: headed out for a meal and then to a club. It was great to see everyone and give my lovely friends and big hug. <3

The day after that I headed down to the library to start the dreaded job hunt. And this dictates the rest of my time I have spent in Sydney. I have been in the library every day trying to find work, it is not as easy as promised by many people going down the East Coast! So many backpackers, all poor and looking for work. But I managed to bag myself a little cafe job for 3 hours every week day and i'm now writing articles for my lovely new hostel, The Jolly Swagman, which is really good and gets me free accommodation! So it's all slowly coming together!

I'm starting now to get into the routine of working and hunting for more work during the week, so am starting to live for the weekend! My first weekend here was spent with new and old friends. On Saturday I moved hostels, and then headed down to Bronte beach with people from my new hostel and we had a BBQ in the sunshine. The sea down here is freezing! Nothing like the 25 degrees sea up in Queensland! It felt like Wales. haha. The beach was very busy, nothing like up the coast, but was lovely to get to know some great people from my hostel so quickly. In the evening I met Anna and we went to The Domain for a free music concert as part of the Summer Festival in Sydney. Sweeties, cheese balls, dip, crackers, wine- we were set for the night and had a lovely time :). On Sunday I met Anna again and we got the ferry across to Manly. Hugh, our tour guide for the day, met us on the beach and took us all the way up the coast to Palm Beach (a.k.a Summer Bay) and the lighthouse, detouring to stop at Max's pad. He pointed out all the 'gems' of the Northern Beaches and we had a lovely day eventhough it absolutely pissed it down raining and we got drenched!

The next week was spent mostly working and in the library. LTD. On Tuesday I headed out for my first night in Kings Cross! Whoop! We danced hard and drank loads of free drinks! Hurray! On Wednesday I met Myles after work for a drink and my first experience of Pie Face. Very exciting. And watching the sunset over the Opera House was awesome. On Friday I met Lauren, a girl from my Uni course, and went for a happy hour drink at Darling Harbour. It was so nice to see her and hear about her adventures. :)

Last Saturday I jumped on the ferry to Manly again and met up with Alex, who now looks like a stranger without hair haha. Then I met up with Scott and we went for a Max Branner hot chocolate which is totally amazing. His stories of South America once we left the tour made me very jealous and I definitely want to go back and see all the places I did not get to. I will add Patagonia and Rio to the ever-growing list! On Sunday I met up with Anna and we headed to the Rocks to the Market there. We also grabbed a drink in a great bar over looking the harbour after doing a walking tour of the area. Lovely evening :) Yesterday I met with Christin who I travelled with at the start of my trip which was so nice, and also met up with Lauren again and went to her friend's flat for a dip in the hot tub with a view of the Harbour Bridge- Amazing.

And now it is Thursday! Already! Can't believe how quickly time is flying. The weeks go so quickly! I have to head off to work now, so I will love you and leave you.

Sending sooooo much love to all at home. I hope you're all well and not too cold in the snow! (it has been 46 degrees here. MENTAL)

I miss you, wish I could pop home for the weekend, but will speak to you soon. Love you my family and friends xxx big kisses and hugs from Sydney to home xxxxxxxxxx