Tues/Weds 17th/18th Oct

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The last few days have been hectic -

Yesterday (Weds) we went into Sydney City Centre to get all the admin stuff done (medicare cards, bank accounts etc) and then we went for lunch in Darling Harbour which was great, but kind of like Canary Wharf in London! Was even very windy, so didn't feel too far from home :o)

In the afternoon we went to a wildlife world place - and yes, I saw my first real (as in, not stuffed) koala! OMG I was transfixed - they are SO cute looking and all sleepy, just kind of wrapped around the trees. Gorgeous!

Just spent the evening hanging out in the hostel with Hesta, Becky and Ffion, and met a Canadian girl called Nicole who is cool.

Today we've been to Bondi beach! I thought it'd be packed, the way people talk about it, but it wasn't at all - and yes, we saw the crazy cage "art" which is slightly weird....we sunbathed on Bondi for an hour, then did the coastal walk to Cavelli Beach (next to Coogee) which was tiring (haha) but beautiful and I took loads of photos. When we got to Cavelli Beach, Dan (another of the Ozinto guys) had set us up a barbeque and we had tons of food, some of the guys played volleyball (whilst the girls lay on the beach chilling out) and then we ATTEMPTED snorkelling. By attempted I mean, put the mask on and freak out after going out about 2 metres, haha, seeing a big rock and feeling like I was choking even though I wasn't, and coming straight back out the water! Lol.

Tonight was a talk on travel from Michael at Ozintro - telling us all the best places to go, and they can even get us discounts. They're a FAB company, can't recommend them highly enough!!! It was set up by Lucy, our group leader who's been taking us places all week, so you really get the personal touch which is great - and it's not like once your week is up you're on your own - we can call/email them anytime for help/advice/discounts and they'll be there whenever needed. Can't get better than that! They've been taking photos all week also and are going to make us a CD of them on Sunday. :o)

Tomorrow is our hike through the Blue Mountains - long day, will be tiring. And snakes and spiders - eek! But we're going with another company cos it's Lucy's day off and the other company has experienced aboriginal guides (who will hopefully crush any evil snake who gets in my way) so that will be good! Apparently the scenery is beautiful, so I will hopefully get some good photos! (If my camera holds out, getting sand in it the other day was not good, so I copied the aussies and am now carrying it around in a sock haha).

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