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Hello everybody and sunny greetings from Australia! I have now been here for about a month, so it's time to start sharing my experiences and adventures in Oz..
I had a bit of trouble with my flights when I got here; the airline was on strike, so I had to re-route my flights. Then there was a delay with the flight, so I nearly missed my connecting flight and when I finally made it to the second flight in Amsterdam, the plane couldn´t take off because there was something wrong with the engine..also, the weather was so bad, that no matter what, we couldn´t have been able to get off that day. At this point I had already been travelling for about 15 hours, so one night in Amsterdam was really more of a positive thing! :) Everything worked out really well after that and on the 9th of December I finally made it to Sydney, Australia!!
I spend the first night at Wake Up, where I was about to work for the following 3 months. The hostel is really nice, cosy and clean and the location is perfect - you can easily walk to the main sights or take the free shuttle bus (the nearest bus stop is at Eddy Avenue - a couple of minute walk from the hostel) to Circular Quay and check out the Opera House and Harbour bridge. The Hop On Hop Off sightseeing bus is also a very good and popular way to see the city. For 30AUD you'll have the tour around the city plus a tour around Bondi.
And of course another easy and fast way to travel inside the city is train.. It´s also the best and fastest way to go to the airport, 'cause it only takes about 15 minutes.
It was really a perfect time to come to Sydney, because I got to experience both the Aussie Christmas and New Years celebration! There were naturally a lot of parties in the city on New Years Eve. I went to a house party in Bondi and was able to whitness the uncredible Sydney fireworks!! Because of the peak season, there are thousands and thousands of tourists all over the city, but it should calm down within a couple of weeks..
And the beaches.. I could talk about the beaches forever - that is how unbelievably beautiful they are. My favourite is Bondi beach, which is one of the most famous beaches in Australia. It is really not good for swimming (because of the waves and strong currents) but surfing is great! And sunbathing obviously.. :)
If you are interested in surfing, I'd recommend of going to a surf camp. I had the best experience with Mojo Surf on my second weekend in Australia. It took about 6 hours from Sydney to drive to Crescent Head, where Mojo Surf have their own surf camp. The camp is so cool - the athmosphere is very laid back and the beach is just minutes away. It is a perfect place to learn how to surf - there were literally nobody else than our group on the beach for the whole weekend. And the surf instructers were awesome as well, really patient and skilled.
The first surf lesson started early in the morning, then we went back to the camp for some lunch and in the afternoon we surfed some more.. In the evening we just hung around, watched some movies and had some drinks beside the bonfire. And the next day we surfed some more.. I can really recommend it to everyone!! :)
The weather has been pretty good.. the summer has been a bit rainy though, but we have had many sunny days. Last weekend I went to Manly beach for the whole day - it takes about 30 minutes to go there by ferry from the harbour and you get the return ticket for 14AUD. The beach is really popular especially on Weekends although it can get very crowded. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday, chilling and grilling.. :) This weekend I'm going to Hunter Valley to check out the vineyards and also to Blue Mountains for a whole day tour. On the weekend after I'm going to Port Stephens with my collegues to swim with the doplhins and a week after that I'm heading to Whitsundays! Can´t wait! :) I have so many plans and I really don´t know how I'll manage to do everything in the next couple of months!
- Marika / KILROY Finland
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