After a really goods night sleep I was woken up early because we are right by a main road and being in the city, the cars like to use their horns a LOT! Laid in bed resting , was still soo sleepy! Had a moment when I woke up when I thought Mike was in the next bed to me which felt really weird and sad, but I am not allowed to get upset!! I laid in bed for a while drifting in and out of sleep then got up. Today was our "orientation day", where we sort out boring stuff like medicare and bank accounts. Its one of those things that has to be done but was going to be boring!! We weren;t meeting till half 11 so me and Valerie (the other girls travelling on her own) and Hans (the Sweedish guy she had become friends with) decided to go for a bot of an explore. We went to the Australian Backbackers office (that's the company our started week is with) and I saigned in as i hadn't done yesterday and Valerie had to ask about unlocking her phone. We then walked down William Street (where our hostle is, just a long road of hostles and shops etc, still feel like its the only road i've really seen in Sydney! Meant to be one of the worst so can't wait to explore properly!!) and found Hyde Park. Its only little but had a walk through there which was nice, then turned back on ourselves and walked down a parallel backroad leading back to our hostel. Didnt really know where we were going but worked it out! Got an ice lolly and some drinks :) Got back to the hostel then went to the backpackers lounge as we thought we were meeting there, then it turned out we were meeting at the hostel, then we met at the hostel and got taking straight back to the backpackers lounge! Lots of walking and it was such a hot day!! Anyway, the presentation about work, travel, money etc was good and well organized and the guy running it seems really nice. There are about 10 of us on the starter pack, everyone seemed nice but we didnt get a chance to chat at first. A few people had met eachother the night before. As I say the presentation was well organized etc but didn't really like what I found out! Bank accounts etc are boring enough but when it came to telling us about possible jobs, it made me reconsider whether i chose the best country to try and work. The tax is 29% , which is redeemable if you stay for over 6 months when i am staying a max of 5! Then there is 9% for something else I didn't really understand. So that was a bit of a shock for everyone! Plus the working visa was expensive , but i feel I want to work because unless you do fruit picking or something you only get one working Oz visa in your lifetime! So I dont want to waste it, but it is a lot of tax. And also, if you want to work in a bar you need to do a training course, which the guy admitted is just another way to make money out of us. Its basically a few hours then a few questions and thats it. Feeling I should have not bothered with the working visa, then if a cash in hand job came up, like the one Dave found, I could take it and if I didn't i just wouldn't work out here. Cash in hand would mean I'd keep the money I earnt, too! But I wasn't to know all this before and just did what I thought was for the best. In the end of the day, what is paid for is paid for and I am just going to do this trip and do what feels right and what I want to do. If i don't work, I don't work. If I do work, I get taxed a lot etc but it will be an experience. After the presentation we had lots of forms to fill in, then got our visas printed off. Then we all walked down to the bank to set up our accounts. Horray for leaving William Street! Looked a lot nicer once we left there, but didnt have much of a chance to look round.. We then went to the medicare center to set up that - its like being part of the NHS. We were then finished with the boring stuff and were able to do what we wanted. I would have liked to explore but knew I had time other days, so went with everyone else to the supermarket then back to the hostle. Managed to get online and finally message mum. Messaged Mike as well and did my blog etc, started to feel really teary. Think its because I havent had much time on my own since I got here and it hit me that I really am on my own here. took a while to do that then I chated to Valerie about how I felt and she said she feels the same. I think its just because everything is a bit surreal at the moment and obviously I am missing Mike and knowing he has gone home is making me miss home a bit. I know it will get better but at the moment its still hard. Got showered and dressed etc ready for the BBQ at half 6! Met on the rooftop of the hostel and got a chance to speak to everyone properly. Theres the couple from my room (James and Danielle), then Valerie and Hans, a French guy, 2 guys from England together and another on his own, and an English couple, Lauren and Connor, who had been together for 2 and a half years but had broken up the week before, whilst travelling, deciding to just be friends. They seemed really nice. We sat chatting then the food came which was soo good didn't realize how hungy I was! Started off with beef burgers and sausages but then we had Kangaroo steak!! It was a lot like normal beef steak but very chewy! When we finished eating, a guy dressed as an Aboriginal aussie came to the the roof, properly dressed up, playing the digaredoo! It was a bit surreal and we didn't realize he was meant to be coming!! He performed a few songs and dances and spoke to us about the Aboriginal people, it was interesting but we all thought he had just turned up and would maybe ask us for money at the end! It was really funny. Turned out our leader guy had booked for him to be there and when we found out we relaxed! Got a few photos with him and some of the guys had a go on his digaredoo. I reckon I have probably seen about 3 Aussie people since I've been here so far because of the area we are in and what we've done so far so it was nice to get a taste of the culture. I cant wait to see Oz properly, not just lots of backpackers! by the time he finished his show it was dark and we got a good view over Sydney. Could see the harbour bridge from the rooftop but still haven't seen the Opera House! Wont feel like i am in Sydney till I do!! We sat chatting for longer, then we played some drinking games with some other guys from the hostle. I was still soo sleepy and the wine was going to my head a bit! Could have happily gone to bed, but at 10 we were going for a bar crawl. Was only to two bars but they still called it that :-P Started off at the world bar, they'd had a good one in Queenstown, they're famous for their teapots of shots but we got free drinks on entry. It would have been good, the music they were playing was wicked but it was sooooo packed. When i go out i like to either chat or dance and it was too loud to chat and too squashed to dance. Really didn't like it in there to be honest, apart from the music. Feel soo boring saying that! Anyway we moved on after our drinks to a much better bar with a proper dancefloor! Got my chance to dance, then was ready to go back. Didn't see the point of staying out if I didn't feel like it, I was still really tired from the long day before and this trip is about doing things for yourself! Also, I felt that everyone was either with their boyfriend/girlfriend or out on the pull. Really different from NZ and felt like I was back in Portsmouth. When the DJ was giving shout outs to people from different countries it turned out no one in the club was from Australia which summed it up haha! So me, the Sweedish guy and the French guy made our way back to the hostle. The others came back about an hour and a half later and we had missed James getting punched in the face for no reason by some guy that then got in a fight with some random other guy, and the couple who had broken up last week had had a massive row because Connor was getting with some other girl in front of Lauren... so., think I left at the right time! Glad I went out as I got to know everyone a bit better though. :-) Hopefully there wont be awkwardness with Lauren and Connor tommorow, but who knows.