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So after 1 night in Canberra we made our way north east towards Sydney and luckily our hostel was right opposite the bus station. We stayed in 'wake up hostel' which was laaaavly and more like a hotel. They call them 'flashpacker' hostels instead of 'backpacker'! JWe checked in for a week and in our dorm were 3 English girls our age whom we got on with from the start. There was a live band down at the bar who were brilliant and sung lots of kings of Leon and stuff similar, Amy especially enjoyed them while Tom especially enjoyed the benefits of 'happy hour'! They did good deals at the bar and each day had a specific meal for 8 dollars each which work out just as cheap as cooking. We found Bondi beach the next day which was nice and there were lots of people surfing despite the chilliness. Saying this, Sydney was much warmer than Melbourne and we couldn't believe that it was winter for them! We visited 'darling harbor' which was beautiful, especially at night and there were lots of very rich boats there and a new hard rock café. We went to 'circular quay' which is where Sydney Bridge and the opera house are. This was fun to look at and it was very nice walking round this area, also lots to see like performing acts on the promenade and aborigion…e? (Don't know how you spell it) men playing didgaree doo's?? (Also don't know how it's spelt) Since our time in Australia, Tom has really become interested in the surfer/skater lifestyle and after seeing lots of guys on skateboards he was really keen on getting back into skating so we took a ferry across to 'manly', which is another popular beach, as we found there was a skate shop there and Tom bought some aggressive skates which he had been longing for. This now means that I have to trail behind him holding his trainers everywhere we go while he can just glide off without me L
Back at the hostel there was a pool competition at the bar which tom and I went to with our roommates. Was a fun night despite none of us winning the 100 dollar tab for first place. The following night we went out with the girls to a small club which was a very cheap night but seriously over crowded. I had been wanting to visit the 'hillsongs' church in Sydney and they put on a free pick up and drop off bus so on Sunday I dragged tom along (despite him being eager to find a skate park) and we went to the service. Unfortunately, it was the smaller church of the 2 in Sydney though it was still nice to go. Free hot chocolate J We found toms Skate Park after a very long delayed bus journey and the time spent showed that he still remembered a lot of what he had learnt in previous years skating; relief that they were not a wasted buy. Luckily for me having to watch, he only lasted an hour before he was dripping with sweat and his legs were like jelly. Result!
We had seen advertised a trip to 'Whitsundays' for half price. This included 3 days and two nights sailing, snorkeling, and island accommodation with food. The catch was that you had to book another excursion with them and we decided on… SKY DIVING! With the Whitsundays paid for with an open date we headed skydiving on the Monday which was pretty amazing. Can I just add that Tom was MUCH more nervous than me.. probably because I was too naïve to know what was coming haha. There was a group of 9 of us and after an hour drive we arrived at the center. After 15 minutes of anxious flying, 14000 feet in the air, and a last minute prep talk from our instructors about what NOT to do, the doors opened and we were hit by a waft of freezing cold air. I insisted on going first as I couldn't bare to see Tom fall to his death. After an 'I love you' (just in case) I was pushed out the plane and Tom said all he could he was a decreasing scream as I fell. The free fall was 50 seconds of pure cold air and funny faces and then there was about 5 minutes of drifting with the parachute open. I thought I was going to puke. When landing we had to make sure we lifted our legs up otherwise, as the instructors said, our legs would have snapped so to stop we just slid on our bot bots. Unfortunately we have no photo evidence of this experience as it would have cost us 240 bucks so all you have is our word that we did it J
The next day we were up early for a trip to the 'blue mountains', a much talked about scenic tour that takes you to different locations to see different views of mountains and rocks. The 'three sisters' is a popular landmark. The Blue Mountains name comes from the blue mist that forms above the mountains tops from the eucalyptus trees that surround them. Sometimes the mist can be so thick it is like the mountains are under the ocean, however the day we went it was quite clear. As part of the tour we went to a national park where we took 2 cable cars over the top of the forest (pretty high) and a train that at one point went at a 52 degree angle down a slope. We also visited a small town called 'Leura' which was nice and had a shop that sold lots of dog clothes and did dog photo shoots. They even had changing rooms in there. It was called 'VIP' (very important pets) and was quite comical to look at. Mom you'd have loved it J our tour guide for the day was brilliant and very informative of everything we were passing. We finished our day at a wildlife park where there were lots of koalas (did you know that 60 percent of koalas have chlamydia!' pretty gross. They were quite smelly too, but cute. We fed some kangaroos and saw some other cool animals… the usual for a zoo. Our tour ended with a boat ride back to circular quay where we got a train to darling harbor and treated ourselves to a meal at 'hard rock café'. Bbq ribs and chips. Can't go wrong. Our stay in Sydney finished the next day where we had an early start to our next place, port Macquarie.
Bye for now, love and miss you lots,
Amy and Tom xox
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