Sydney!

G'day from down under :)

3 different days, 3 different planes, 4 different countires, 4 different time zones and we finally made it to Sydney!! All in all the journey was long (obviously) but emirates looked after us well!! We had a short train ride from the airport and a five minute walk to our hostel and even from that we could tell that wheel along bags were definitly the right choice!! Arriving at 10am meant we were a little early for the 1pm check in and so we were forced to get on with our first day in Sydney in our zombie like states, unshowered and still in the same clothes we left in!!!! We decided to just go with it and found ourselves at Darling Harbour! There were a lot of random water feautres on the way and some interesting looking Chinese Gardens. Darling Harbour seemed really sophisticated although Shelley claimed it 'looked like DisneyLand'. We went into the City to sort out some oz phones before heading back to the hostel to shower which was AMAZING!! We then met Sam Walsh (Karens uni friend) for dinner at Star Bar and some tips about what to do and see in Sydney!! Knackered....bed at 9pm in our old train carriage at the hostel (pictures to follow..)

On Thursday we were up by 9am and after some breakfast we headed down to Circular Quay to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Both pretty impressive landmarks and also where the 'jumping' began (see photos). Saw a few guys playing the didgereedoo (sp?) which was pretty cool! Sat by the water with a couple of drinks in the kind of sun...! Discovered the 555 free bus round the city so hopped on to go back to the hostel to make some dinner and get ready to go out! Met Sam and friends for free champagne in Establishment, a very classy joint off George Street, possibly the largest street in the world, then on to Star Bar for some drinks and pool, not as classy but still good fun!!

We headed to Bondi beach on Friday, feeling less zombie like. When we arrived it was raining and there were very few people on the beach!! There was a surfsho on so we watched that for a while, very impressive and it was only the junior championships! The weather did improve so we went on a coastal walk from Bondi beach to Coogee beach which apparently was supposed to take an hour and a half but ended up taking us about 3 hours!! It was absolutely beautiful with stunning views of the beaches along the way (Tamarama, Bronte, Coogee). When we returned to Sydney we met up with Steph (Shelley's uni friend) for dinner in Chinatown. We ordered chicken but think we got kitten, delicious!! Went to a few bars after and played some interesting games of pool, even the Irish think we're Irish!!! Really good night!!

Saturday was a little bit of a struggle after our late night...met Steph again and went for some pizza before heading to the Harbour again where the weather was much better, spent the afternoon sitting on the opera house steps and doing some more jumping!! On the way back from the harbour we stopped in at an internet cafe and randomly met Dale (Steph and Shelleys friend from uni) who was leaving Australia the next day! We headed towards Darling Harbour to go back to Stephs hotel and there was a big crowd waiting on fireworks. Nothing was happening after half an hour or so, so we played in some fountains and introduced Dale to jumping!! Out of nowhere BOOOOM - the fireworks started!! Have honestly never seen someone look as scared or act as scared as Dale did when the first one went off, managing to punch Shelley on the shoulder and run a mile thinking a bomb had gone off!! Hilarious but it's probably one of those 'had to be there moments'. After the initial surprise we did some more jumping whilst watching the fireworks over Darling Harbour. A rather unexpected but great end to a lovely chilled out day!

Sunday was the last day of the Surfsho at Bondi beach with all the professionals surfing to win $25000. The weather was amazing, at least 30 degrees, so we spent the day on the beach watching the surfers ride the waves! Impressive stuff! Saw loads of alley oops, no grabs and ollies!! Check us down with the lingo haha!! We made some dinner in the hostel and experienced our first taste of Goon (boxed wine!!) Not as bad as expected but we think we may have bought the expensive stuff at $20 for 4 litres!!!! Nice!

Today we headed over to Manly on the ferry from Circular Quay. Grey skies and some rain didn't look promising for our day exploring Manly but undeterred we hired a couple of bikes...a tandem and a normal hybrid! The Tandem provided a lot of entertainment for all those watching as Karen and Steph got off to a bit of a shaky start, however it didn't take long to get into the swing of things and we  were on our way! We cycled up to the Sydney Harbour National Park where we saw some amazing views back towards the city, photos do not do it justice! The spiders were MASSIVE, but we managed to avoid them...just! (Karen got a little distracted and took her eyes off the road so we very nearly crashed the tandem into the bushes...ooops!) We visited Shelly beach and cycled along the promenade of Manly Beach which is gorgeous!! The bikes were definitly a good idea with the tandem providing a lot of laughs!! Back in the city we grabbed a bite to eat at Cheers bar!!

Over all our first few days in Oz have been awesome! Sydney is such a great city, with an amazing atmosphere and a lot of very cool things to do and see! Very much looking forward to the next part of our journey to Alice Springs and Uluru!

Speak to you all soon!

Love Karen and Shelley xxxxx