Big Hostel Sydney

On Monday we had a rather uneventful flight from Auckland to Sydney. Upon arrival we got a train into the city centre and checked into a hostel. Laura who we met in New Zealand gave us a ring because she was in Sydney as well. We decided to go to the bar next door to the hostel to catch up. There also happened to be a quiz on so we got our team together and managed to come in second place. For our trouble we got a voucher for a restaurant, nice. Tuesday we took a stroll around the Royal Botan...

I have only 5 minutes to write this blog so I shall be quick. We spent the weekend at the blue mountains, just out of Sydney. We did a 3 hour walk to Wenworth falls; rating 9/10, the view was spectacular and the waterfall was hypnotizing. So far Australia does not meet the standards set by its close commonwealth cousin New Zealand. Sydney is lacking character and charm, and the people seem rushed. An economic hub, but a bit of a cultural disappointment. We will have to see how the rest of Oz ...

Since I last wrote, I've had a busy week or so of visiting lots of museums in both Canberra and Sydney...with a little bit of celeb spotting on the side. But more on that later! I headed to Canberra on Friday 9th, and unfortunately I had a really bad cold, so when I arrived I felt absolutely dreadful. The hostel was a bit clinical and full of teenagers on a school trip, so this only made me feel worse, but even so I was determined to see what the capital had to offer! The answer was not a lot...

With a short an uneventful stop-off in the town of Port Maquarie (highlight - $6 Dominoe's pizza's!) we made our way down to Sydney. We settled into the (not so aptly named) BIG Hostel in Sydney's city centre and recuperated from our rather gruelling 7 hour nightime coach journey. We also re-united with our oldest and dearest friends Kate and Charlie, primed and ready to take advantage of their beach-side apartment! The following day was Christmas Eve and what else was there to do but don our...

Our last full day in Sydney and it was the hottest day since we'd arrived in Australia, for once my sunhat wasn't just for posing, I actually needed it. We got up at a reasonable hour (well before midday anyway) and decided to venture a little further into the Chinatown area of Sydney than we had before. Our hostel was virtually in Chinatown so we didn't really have a good excuse for not exploring it earlier, we'd just had a busy week seeing everything else that there is in Sydney. Chinatown ...

Although I promised myself that I would get up at 5am and watch to see whether Australia qualified for the second round of the World Cup, in reality that was never going to happen. I did get woken up at 6.45am by a huge cheer coming from somewhere outside of the hostel, which I took to be a good sign (unless of course we were living next door to the Croatian Embassy). I switched on the television to find that Australia had indeed gone through, although they had put their fans through hell for...

Well How diddly do to all........... Wednesday 5th March So... after a not-so-great sleep, we got up to explore our surroundings & decide what Sydney would have to offer us. We went for a walk which turned into a 5hr trek of the city, taking in all the major sights such as Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Circular Quay & Botanic Gardens......who says Sydney is too big to walk around in a day?? ha ha In the afternoon we went up the Skytower, the highest point in town....which has a 360 deg...

Let's Get On With It... Tuesday 11th March Got rudely awakened this morning much too early by our 2 German adolescent roomies who wouldn't shut their tremendous traps long enough to breathe! Suitcases packed, off we trotted to our next hostel in Sydney, Big, once again. We treated ourselves to a 4 bed dorm with ensuite, however what we got was a damp, musty smell, courteousy of a leaking air con box that went Drip...Drip...Drip... all day long, and 2 smelly men! But on the plus side it did co...

Hello again....another blog from Sydney!! But this is the last one - promise! Wednesday 12th March So we managed to get a decent enough sleep, as apparently King Kong, our 'snorer' slept on the bathroom floor according to the other fella in our room. He said he found him there at 2am lyin on a blanket. We did feel a wee bit guilty...its amazing how scary Joy must be when someone interrupts her sleeping patterns! lol So after our free breakie we got a 30 min ferry across to Manly, which is one...

We are now in Sydney and what a fantastic city this is! I seem to have used a fair bit of posetive words about OZ; have already used great, wonderful, fantastic, etc. etc. for our Victoria and South Australia experience but now I have to up the scale to magnificent, stunning and outstanding. Sydney is really amazing! It is the kind of city that just has that special something that just makes it perfect. It is a big modern city with skyscrapers, traffic and people everywhere but I totally unde...