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Hi Everyone,
So it's been a while since we wrote anything on here but we've been so busy it's hard to find time. We arrived in Sydney on the 21st December, it was rather exciting to finally get here. As we arrived early evening we couldn't really do much the first day so we went to the supermarket, cooked dinner and had an early night. Our first impressions of the hostel weren't great. All the paint was peeling off the outside of the building, the room needed updation, although it wasn't too bad and the bathroom wasn't clean. The kitchen was the worse, it was so tiny for the amount of people in the hostel, no one washed up properly or dried up and there were never any saucepans or hobs free when you wanted to cook, or any mugs bowls or cutlery. It was so annoying.
22nd
As it was out first full day and nice and sunny we walked from our hostel all the way down Pitt Street to Circular Quays where we could see the harbour bridge to our left and the opera house to the right. Spent the morning walking around the outside and inside (the bit that was free) of the opera house. After lunch we took a walk through the botanic gardens, where we discovered raspberry calipos (yum), around to to Mrs Macquaries point where you get a good view of the opera house and the bridge together. We then walked back around Sydney Cove towards the bridge but as we had done a lot of walking we decided to go back to the hostel and walk over the bridge another day. That evening we went to The Gaff to meet up with our Oz Experience people for free dinner and drinks. We ended up sitting with totally different people off another bus as we couldn't recognise anyone off our bus (we had only spent 3 hours with them). We spent the night in the Gaff but left quite early (after the free drinks had run out) as we had started rather early and were getting tired.
23rd
Didn't really do much today except spent a lot of time relaxing in the hostel. Late afternoon we went for a walk down to Darling Harbour for a quick look around to see the harbour and the Christmas tree down there. That evening we went to quiz night at our hostel. We were rubbish but ended up with 2nd prize as noone wanted to claim it. It was a free trip to the Blue Mountains but as were had already arranged to go we gave it away to people who wanted it. Our hostel then took us to Sidebar where we got free drinks and hung out with the girls from our dorm and listened to the live band. Tonight we discovered raspberry beer, so much better than wine and much cheaper than vodka.
24th
Our mission today was to buy santas hats so we went out for a walk to the market. It took us over an hour to find them. We went back to our hostel via the supermarket to buy chocolate and ended up talking to a girl in the travel agents and spending a hell of a lot of money booking our Fraser Island and Whitsundays trip. Fran and I then had a craving for pizza so we walked all the way to pizza hut for a large stuffed crust pizza and sides, yum. We then got some christmas cupcakes on the was back which tasted so good. That evening we headed to Darling Harbour for carols by the tree and fireworks. It didn't feel at all like Christmas so we thought this might help. The carols weren't that impressive but the fireworks and street entertainers were good. Back at the hostel we had a few drinks before heading out to Sidebar to meet Becky and Claire (from our oz experience bus). At midnight the bar started playing christmas music and everyone started singing along. We decided to have an early night as we had a long day the next day.
Christmas Day
Today we were going to Bondi Beach to the Sunburnt festival with Becky and Claire. The weather outside looked rubbish and looked like it would rain. When we arrived in Bondi we went to Mc Donalds for a mid morning burger. The beach looked rather empty and nothing like I imagined christmas day would look. The festival started at midday and when we got in we had a look around to see what it was like. There were 3 stages each with different DJs throughout the day, none that we recognised. Our lunch was included in the ticket price but was only a bit of turkey and ham, pasta, potato salad and a roll (no christmas dinner :( which was dissapointing). It had started to get really cold and windy but we were still outside drinking and dancing by the stage. The only act that interested us was Timmy Trumpet who none of us had heard of but we liked his name and he played the trumpet. It was now raining quite a lot and we were very wet and rather drunk so we decided to leave the festival and go for a swim in the sea which was good fun. Afterwards we went back in to Mc Donalds, got another burger and then heading back into the city cold and wet. We wanted to go out that night but nowhere seemed to be open so we ended up sitting in Oporto and gettin another burger :s
26th
Still raining :( so we stayed in bed all morning. Went out in the afternoon to pick up our travel vouchers and buy some dinner and goon. That evening we went to the Gaff with our hostel where we got free drinks. Fran and I were now drinking raspberry beer when out. We stayed in the Gaff most of the night with people from our hostel, dancing the night away.
27th
Today as the weather was still rubbish we decided to go to the aquarium in the afternoon (as we had stayed in bed all morning). Spent a couple of hours looking round the aquarium watching the fish, which was very relaxing although the place was full of loud noisey kids. We then met up with Becky and Claire for cocktails on Cockles Bay Wharf in Darling Harbour. They weren't that expensive and tasted really nice. Tonight we had a night in as we had to pack and move rooms in the morning. Just before I went to bed I started to freak out and scared Fran as there was a huge cockroach in her mug. She had to throw it out the window as I wouldn't go near it.
28th
Today we moved rooms from our 4 bed drom into a 32 bed dorm. We had to check out at 10 and couldn't check back in until 2 so we went out to do a bit of shopping (it was pouring with rain - again) and spend some time on the net. After lunch we checked in and went into our large dorm. Luckily we managed to get beds next to each other, although they were both top bunks. The ladder on mine was really hard to get to at the end of the bunk and the first couple of times I tried to get up I ended up falling off, much to the amusement of everyone around me. After unpacking we went to Hyde Park for a walk around as it had stopped raining. That night we went out again to Sidebar with people from our hostel where we stayed until it shut.
29th
Got up early afternoon and headed out for the rest of the day to Manly beach as it was a nice sunny day for once. The journey there was by ferry and so we got good views of the harbour bridge and the opera house. We spent a couple of hours relaxing on the beach with Becky and Claire trying to decided what to do on new years eve. Back in Sydney we headed off to a place called Malonies for a $2.95 all you can eat buffet. The queue to get food took nearly an hour but we ended up with massive heaped plates of food, although once we sat down we could hardly eat any of it. Was really good value for only $3. We had planned to head on from Malonies and meet up with other people but we ended up staying in there to watch the live band. When we left we headed to the Gaff but the queue was so long we gave up and went back to our hostel.
30th
Had another relaxing morning in bed. After lunch we headed off to circular quays to meet up with Becky and Claire. Walked round the area known as the rocks for a bit but weren't really sure what we were looking at so we headed over to the harbour bridge. We headed along the bridge to the Pylon Tower where we got a 360 degree view at the top of the bridge, opera house, sydney harbour and the city. On the way back to our hostel we stopped off and got Hungry Jacks and Krispy Kreme doughnuts and went and sat in Hyde Park for a while. We then went to Woolworths and got our picnic lunch for the next day. Went out that night to Sidebar with our hostel. They had a live band on who were really good so we spent the night listening to them.
31st
Got up quite early today feeling a little rough. Gathered all our picnic stuff together and headed off to meet Becky and Claire in Hyde Park. We arrived at the entrance to Mrs Macquaries point at 11am and had to queue for nearly 3 hours to get in as they were searching everybodies bags. It started to rain and we thought we would have to spend the day sitting in the rain but by the time we had got in at 1.45pm it had stopped and started to clear up :) After finding a spot and laying out our towels we fell asleep for a while. We spent most of the afternoon and early evening either sleeping or eating. Before the 9pm fireworks there was the cleansing of the spirit of the water where loads of blue smoke appeared. All the boats where parading up and down the harbour all lite up and it looked really pretty in the dark.
9pm was the family fireworks which lasted 8mins and were really good. The bridge was also lighting up although the trees were partly in our way. We had a little nap again before the midnight fireworks. There was no countdown which was a little dissapointing but the fireworks were amazing and on 3 sides of us. The display lasted 12 mins and then we headed back to our hostel where we stayed up for a while.
1st
Happy New Year! Got up late today and went to Nandos for lunch with girls from our dorm. Was nice to have a proper cooked meal! Spent the afternoon relaxing not doing much. Had a few drinks in the evening but had an early night as off to the Blue Mountains.
2nd
Got up at 6am which felt so early after all our lie ins. Had to leave the hostel at 7am to get our coach. At the Oz Experience office we met girls we had been in Singapore with who were also going on our trip. The journey to the Blue Mountains too just over an hour. Our first stop was to view eastern gray kangeroos. We had seen so many out in the wild it wasn't that exciting any more. Then we headed off to Wentworth Falls for a 2hr walk. On the walk it started chucking it down with rain and so we got soaked walking through the rainforest. Luckily by the time we got to the view point the rain had stopped and the mist had cleared so we could see the falls. It was now time for lunch which we had to make outside just as it started to pour with rain again :( So we had to eat inside the minibus. After lunch our next stop was Furber Stairs where we walked down over 600 steps to the bottom of Jamison Valley. On the way down I fell over on my ass and got all muddy (Fran's supposed to be the clumsy one). We stopped at view points to see the 3 sisters rock formation and Katoomba falls. Once at the bottom we got into the scenic rainway which is the steepest rainway in the world and had a real quick ride to the top. We then headed back to Sydney and arrived back around 6. That night we went to the Gaff again with our hostel which was a fun night and we met up with people with had seen in Apollo Bay. Ended up being another very late night.
3rd
Our last day in Sydney :( stayed in bed until early afternoon when we got up and packed our rucksacks. Headed off to Paddys market to get lunch (curry, yum) and then look around but it was so hot we left quite quick. Spent the rest of the afternoon on the net looking for somewhere to stay in Byron Bay which was hard as practically everywhere was full. Went our for a quick and final drink in the evening to Sidebar and said goodbye to people we had met. It was sad to be leaving.
love Becky........and Fran
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