Sydney

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We got to Sydney the following morning and got a bus out to Bondi Beach,where our hostel was. We checked in and left our bags(we were staying in a dorm the first 2 nights). We got loads of information from the guy a reception, and decided to takea walk along a cliffside path to Bronte Beach. It was a cool day but really sunny, so we sat outside a cafe and had a smoothy once we got to Bronte. The views were really lovely, and there were loads of people out walking and running, and there were plenty of surfers out catching waves. We also saw coloured sands similar to those we saw on Fraser Island. That evening, we cooked in the hostel to save a bit of money. It was a busy hostel- mainly full of ex-pats who were waiting to save money for rental accomodation. That night, we slept in the dorm, which was pretty cramped and had 8 beds in it, but we were so tired we didn't care!

The next day, we took the bus to Watson's Bay, where we walked along the cliffs and saw stunning views of Sydney Harbour with the bridge, the Opera house and the sky scrapers. The walk was really nice, with a view of the ocean on one side and the harbour at the other. There was a memorial to a ship that sank off the coast of Watson's Bay, where the anchor of the ship was placed beside a plaque. Watson's Bay had been the main point of defense for Sydney, because it is just at the mouth of the harbour and it's high up. There are still army stations there for soldiers who are learning to use different types of artillery. We spotted two Kookabooras laughing in a tree on our walk back to the bus stop. We got he bus back to Bondi and grabbed a smoothy before heading back to the hostel. That evening, we cooked in again, even though the hostel was a bit mad- it was a friday night. It was a bit annoying cooking in this hostel because no-one cleaned up after themselves and there was dirty dishes everywhere.

After dinner, the girl at reception told us our private room was free so we could move into it. So we moved out of the dorm and then set off to Waverly to meet Mikey and Rory, Dave's friends from college. They were drinking in the Robin Hood bar to celebrate Mikey leaving Sydney to go travelling in South America. When we arrived at Robin Hood's it was packed, and there was karaoke on so it was a bit of craic. The lads gave us loads of info on Sydney and we passed on our wisdom of South America to Mikey. The lads were also invited to Harry's wedding in Brazil, but couldn't make it, so Mikey was hoping to visit him on his travels.

As the night went on and more drink was had, people started getting brave. This ould fella he must have been about 70, got up and sang Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" much to the amusement of a gaggle of young girls who got up on the stage with him! Rory went up to the DJ and nominated Mikey to sing his party piece; Travis's "Why Does It Always Rain On Me?". Mikey had no clue of this, and went up to put his own name down and was surprised the DJ already knew what he wanted to sing. So he got up and did his rendition and eventually all the lads joined him on stage. We got a taxi back to the hostel after bidding farewell to the lads.

The next day, we had planned to meet more people from home- Ruth, who worked in the zoo with me and her daughter Penny. We had planned to meet at Taronga Zoo at 11am. So we left our hostel at 9 after a very light breakfast, and got the bus to Circular Quay. We hopped on a ferry that took us across the harbour to the zoo. We were well on time at this stage. We had to get a cable car over the zoo up to the top where the entrance was, but the queue was manic. Ruth texted us to say they were lost, and we finally got a cable car up the top. We shared the car with a couple and their little boy. He was really excited about visiting the zoo, as we passed over the elephants, the tigers and all sorts of other animals. We got to the top and Ruth and Penny had arrived about the same time. They weren't impressed with their sat nav which sent them around in circles! In we went and had a look around. We were very impressed with the zoo, and it was great to see how Ruth was getting on in Australia. We spent alot of time in the "Reptile World" which was fascinating. We got our photo taken with Ruth and Penny beside the "Reptile World" sign for Ruth's niece. When she was learning to drive, she and her dad would look up the phonebook for a place called ".....World", eg "Furniture World", "Monkey World" etc. and they would drive to it, and get their photo taken. It became known as the "World Tour", and all the family got in on it. We saw the usual animals all set against the backdrop of the Sydney skyline. We saw a Platypus which are smaller than we thought, Koalas as well as an Australian Aviary with loads of colourful birds. We had some lunch and another walkabout before we caught the ferry and Ruth and Penny headed home. It was a great day and really good to see them and catch up.

We got sorted back at the hostel, grabbed a McDonald's (as we had a $5 feed voucher) and got the bus out to Taylor Square. We walked down to King's Cross and met up with Paul, my friend from college. It was great to meet up with yet another person from home! His friends were there too- Rebecca from Sweden, Donna and Dan from Manchester and Dave from Scotland. We were drinking at the King's Cross Hotel, which isn't a hotel anymore, each floor is a different bar. We had a great night out catching up over a few pints.

The next day, we got the ferry across to Manly with Paul and the gang. It was a bit cloudy but nice. As we waited on the pier, there were two Aboriginals playing didgeridoo and wearing traditional gear. Once we got to Manly we went to the Fishmonger's and got fish n chips to takeaway. We took them down to the beach and found a picnic table. It was good soakage after our pints the night before! We went to the pub after for a drink, and Dave and I headed about 4:30 to catch the 4:45 ferry back to Circular Quay, where we were to meet Aidan, Dave's friend from Balbriggan (I swear there must be NOBODY left in Ireland). We met Aidan and his girlfriend Rhiannon. Aidan works with Sydney Opera Company, filming shows at the Opera House, so he took us around the building on a tour. It was great to see the dressing rooms, the green room, backstage etc. We took some photos outside the Opera House; at this stage it was dark so it was all lit up. Aidan told us all about his job and life in Sydney. We took a walk along Circular Quay to a area called The Rocks, where we found an Italian Restaurant and had a pizza. Afterwards we went to a chocolate cafe where we had hot chocolate. Aidan and Rhiannon gave us loads of tips on what to see in Sydney; at this stage we were glad we didn't waste money on a guide book! We said our goodbyes after a while and headed back to Bondi.

The next day, we got up pretty late and got the bus into the city centre. We hadn't had breakfast, so we headed to Surrey Hill, the the Bourke Street Bakery. Aidan and Rhiannon had recommended their sausage rolls, so we had one each, one lamb and one pork. They were really tasty. Aidan works up the road so he came down to see us on his lunchbreak. We sat outside and had cakes after the sausage rolls and then said goodbye to Aidan and started to walk to the Sky Tower. The walk took about an hour, and we strolled through Hyde Park on the way and took a few photos. Before going up to the tower observatory, we got to see a 4D movie of a bird flying over Sydney and seeing the sights. Once we were up in the observatory, we could see right across Sydney, and we could even see the Blue Mountains in the distance. We took some photos of the views and headed back down. We had a browse around the shops and then made our way back to Bondi; where we had $10 backpacker meals at Cafe Bond. We had mash spud- something we hadn't had in a long time!

The next day, we got a bus into town with the intention of getting a bus out to Palm Beach, where they film Home and Away. On the bus was a guy who was doing a beatbox and was hilarious, he kept everyone entertained. When we got into town, we legged it to the bus terminal, but had just missed the bus out to Palm Beach. It was a half hour to the next one, so we sat in a park and played cards. The bus journey to Palm Beach or "Summer Bay" was almost 2 hours, but it was worth it. We walked along the famous beach and spotted a few Home and Away stars at a photoshoot, but we didn't recognise any of them! We walked up to the surf club and had a look around. It's a working surf club, really small, with some rescue boats. We had some lunch in the Dunes Cafe and got the bus to Manly, where we caught the ferry back to Circular Quay. It was good to get some photos of the harbour at night. We grabbed another McDonald's $5 feed and headed to Kings Cross to meet Paul for one final pint before we left for Bangkok the next day. We had a couple of drinks and Paul's friend Matthew was there. He had been travelling in Thailand before so gave us loads of info and told us about his experiences there. After a few beers we said our goodbyes- but not for long because Paul will be back home for a while in November. We got back to the hostel and packed our bags; we were getting picked up at the airport at 9am the following morning. We were glad to be leaving the noisy messy hostel! The next morning, we checked out and got our bus to the airport. We couldn't believe we had finished yet another leg of our trip and were embarking on the last few stops in Asia.

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Photos

Mikey Givin' it Socks
At the Robin Hood Bar, Waverly

Two Little Dickie Birds Sitting on a Wall
These two were outside the hostel

Harbour Bridge
I took this at Circular Quay before we got on the ferry to Taronga Zoo

Penny, Orlagh and Ruth
At Taronga Zoo

Orlagh and Paul
At the Kings X Hotel

Fish 'n' Chips on Manly Beach
Good soakage after our night out