We arrived back in Western civilisation for our first time in 4 months landing in Sydney on the 30th January. We were both looking forward to things we'd been missing; drinking water from the tap, proper toilets, eating something other than rice, enjoying fish and chips (mainly for Trevor), not standing out like a sore thumb, seeing everything sign posted in English, and there being only one price for everything without the constant requirement to haggle (although this could be quite enjoyable at times). We landed fairly early in the morning, exhausted from our long journey, and headed straight for the hostel we had booked ahead; 'Chili Blue Backpackers', the cheapest we could find in Sydney. In hindsight this was a big mistake as it turned out to be full of young gap year types enjoying their first time away from home. Having all been there we had nothing against them, but this wasn't really the setup we'd hoped for. It did however encourage us to go and explore Sydney as much as possible!

As it was too early for check-in at the hostel we headed on foot into the city, first stopping off at a barber shop so Trevor could get his afro cut for the first time in 4 months...We then stopped at a small coffee shop for some much needed caffeine (this has since become quite a habbit), before heading to Darling Harbour and then to the city centre for shopping. That afternoon we had a nap in the sun at the Botanical Gardens, badly burning our noses in the process which have taken weeks to fully heal! Heading back to our hostel we checked in and prepared some packet pasta meals which Trevor subsequently ruined by putting too much cayenne pepper in. By the time we got back the gap year party was in full swing and the kitchen was bustling with people making a massive mess, making cooking a nightmare. Still tired from the plane trip we decided it best to head off to our stale smelling, cockroach infested dorm room and bed, as our heads hadn't hit the pillow properly since we'd left Indonesia.

The next morning we were up bright and and early, partly to make sure we had use of the kitchen before everyone else! Our plan was to hit the obligatory tourist spots; first the Opera House, then Sydney Harbour Bridge (where Sophie discovered she suffered from a strange kind of bridge vertigo), 'the Rocks' where we had lunch, and Darling Harbour again for dinner and a beer, where Trevor tried to find a good fish and chips and was partially successful (it's never as good as home). It was a pretty busy day and it felt like we were both going to wear through our flipflops with all the walking we had done!

The following morning we checked out but left our bags at the hostel as we still had a full day in Sydney before out flight to New Zealand the next morning. We also decided to spend that final night at the airport in favouring it over the hostel! Lesson learnt; don't go for the cheapest accommodation you can find! We then headed into town to finish shopping for any last bits we needed, stopping off at ' Harry's Cafe de Wheels' which is a famous hotdog stand situated near the naval dock and frequented by sailors, locals, tourists and even the odd movie star over the years. After this we picked up our bags from the hostel, bought some food for a picnic and headed over to the Botanical Gardens near the 'St George' open air cinema, in the hope of queuing up and bagging some last mintue tickets to watch Interstellar. While most films are booked out weeks in advance they do keep some 'on the door' tickets for, so we prepared ourselves for the 2 hour wait before the gate opened. Luckily within about 30 minutes a lady who had already booked tickets had 2 going spare which she sold to us, meaning we could relax before the show and enjoy our picnic. It wasn't exactly a relaxing affair however as Sophie had somehow hurt her foot which became an almost unbearable pain when she walked, not helped by lugging our big backpacks around the city all day. Therefore Trevor had to take a mad 40 minute dash into town in his flip-flops, find a pharmacy, buy some ibuprofen in the hope it would ease the pain, allowing Sophie to be able to walk again, and make it back before the film started! Luckily Trevors' mission into town was successful and we both managed to enjoy our picnic and grab good seats for the film. The staff there also handed out free Lindt chocolates everytime you exited and re-entered the seating area, so this along with the ibuprofen definitely helped ease Sophie's pain!

The open air cinema sits right behind the harbour, the screen raising up dramatically from the water, accompanied by well recognised songs from movies; the setting was quite spectacular at night. The Opera House and Harbour Bridge are veiwable to the right of the huge screen and the Botanical Gardens and city skyline to the left. We took our seats, enjoyed the sunset and watched huge bats fly overhead from the trees behind. Just before the film started we also enjoyed a large fireworks display taking place in the harbour, where a rich couple had been celebrating their wedding day; not quite the infamous New Years Eve display but not far off! Watching the film in such a setting was actually one of our highlights in Syndey, but as soon as it finished we had a manic rush with all our bags to get to the airport before the last train that night. Unfortunately we timed this badly and took the wrong train which nearly left us stranded in a city suburb until 3am when the trains started again. After managing to flag down a passing taxi however, we eventually got to the airport, although closed until 5am we had to wait in a small holiding area for a couple of hours (it was still preferable to the hostel). After the airport finally opened, our spirits were lifted somewhat by the purchase of two sausage and egg mcmuffins from McDonald's while we waited for our flight to Queenstown...