Finally reunited with Miss Zoe Tang is Australia's most famous city!

I went straight from work to the airport and got to Sydney about 10pm. I caught the train to King's Cross (Seedy Central apparently!) when I got approached by a club promoter. After politely saying I couldn't make his club night, he decided to stay and chat and within 3 minutes he introduced me to a group of German backpackers as his wife?! Erm NO.

I met Zoe at King's Cross and we talked at 95mph all the way to the hostel (cheapest one in Australia I think - $9 on a Sunday, $12 during the week including a pretty decent breakfast) and then out to World Bar. We queued outside and I have to say I had a distinct feeling of Deja vu for Osborne Road - outdoor terraces with heaters, lots of English people in their twenties drinking away - just like Newcastle! The music was awesome - lots of old school rock songs, so much to catch up on and we had cocktails served in shots from teapots: all in all a wonderful night.

4 hours sleep later we rolled out of bed for free breakfast (still students after all!) and walked into Sydney CBD. I found that the Sydney CBD has a completely different vibe from Melbourne's CBD - a lot busier, a LOT more commercial (this was judged on the number of Starbucks found: Melbourne=3 in the whole 3 months I've been here; Sydney=at least double that within 3 hours) and on the whole just not as friendly. After wandering through the tourist market where I bought the classical Australian road signs towel (oh yes - tourist-tastic!), we found the fruit and veg market where Zoe officially declared herself to be "home" and could not stop grinning! Lots of free samples and a punnet of strawberries later we did our usual meal trick of finding a cheap food court and getting 2 meals to share between us. This time we went for one in Chinatown and had stir-fried aubergine and 16 steamed dumplings. I can officially say that neither of us have ever felt so full! We wandered some more through the CBD and found a fantastic ice-cream place in Darlinghurst - it was so good we managed 2 scoops despite still feeling full to burst! When we got back to the hostel we bumped into Vicky Loughlin, a girl who I knew from my first year of uni. It is a small small world sometimes! Zoe and I got our gladrags on and got the free shuttle from the hostel to the CBD. What we hadn't realised is that this bus was also the oh-so-cheesy-and-slight-sleazy Oz Party Bus. We embraced and found ourselves at Scary Canary, the ultimate backpacker bar. After a couple of hours we went for a wander in the rain to the harbourside which was beautiful at night and then headed back on the Oz Party Bus in torrential rain for our blissful 4 hours' sleep!

First thing Saturday we moved to a different hostel and then went to meet Tanya and her two little boys, who Zoe had met in Darwin. That evening we met up with a fellow Newcastle medic (Ross) and his friend from his nursery days in Sydney. We went to a lovely Italian restaurant where Zoe, Ross and I had the hugest ice-cream dessert - somehow we got through it all (I put it down to the super-healthy salad Zoe made for dinner)! The three of us then went to the Gaff, yet another but actually better backpacker club. We bumped into Vicky again and did lots of crazy dancing for several hours, before finishing the night in Hungry Jack's (part of the Burger King corporation). Excellent!

5 hours' sleep later (a luxury!) Zoe and I woke to meet her cousin and a couple of her friends for yum cha. The queue outside the hidden-away restaurant was HUGE (partly because it was Father's Day - in September, how odd) but we walked straight past and went in. I have to say no more chicken feet and although it was good, I think the Adelaide yum cha restaurant has the edge - though maybe it's loyalty to my first yum cha? We then wandered right across the city to the Opera House (which is different from what I expected - more spiky!) and met Ross to take the ferry to Manly. It was a beautiful sunny day and we got amazing views of the Harbour Bridge from the ferry. Manly itself was very touristy but very pretty so I can see why. That evening the 4 of us headed back to the fantastic ice-cream place where Zoe and I shared 5 scoops (I think Pavlova was our favourite but the peanut butter brownie one was pretty awesome too!). On the walk home we got a free sample of frozen yogurt and decided to buy a little tub with granola as the second course of our dinner. We then went to the supermarket at 11.30pm to get breakfast for the next day and saw a cheap piece of roast turkey so thought that would make the perfect 3rd course to our wonderful dinner (not to mention a great sandwich filling). We then stayed up til 4am having a heart-to-heart and watching the city lights.

After an hour's sleep I had to get up to head back to Melbourne which was very sad. I've had many-an-adventure (so many food-related!) with the lovely Miss Tang and I shall be very sad not to see her until next June!