First day in Australia - Sydney

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Well, the flight here was bearable, although I have had a total of about 4 hours sleep over the past 36 hours...

Changed and Dubai (where they have very cool palm trees in the airport) and then Brunei where I met some Aussies and NZers in the smoking lounge who gave me loads of info on travelling, which was cool.

Finally got here at 6.30am this morning.

First impressions of Australia/Sydney:
Really blue sky
Sun is brighter than the UK
People are more laid back

Was picked up from the airport along with some others - Luke, Nicky (who is lovely), Dan, Faye and Becky. We got back to the hostel at 9am or so, and straight to the beach to jump in the sea!

The Ocean is literally 100 metres from our hostel and the views are AMAZING - I have taken loads of photos but haven't uploaded them yet and can't do so here, but will do so soon. The water looks so blue and clean, and the beach is gorgeous. It's a very warm sunny day, but not scorching.

After showering, we were picked up by our tour group leader Lucy, who took us to the Botanical gardens - some random big white birds flew at us and sat on some of our heads (luckily not mine!) - they are so tame! From here we had some amazing views of Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge :o) Again, I was very snap happy! I had to run up and touch the Opera House! Can't believe I'm finally in Sydney after dreaming of spending time here since I was 13!

After that we went jet boating around Sydney harbour which was fab!!! The guy basically powered through the water with 18 of us on the boat - spraying everyone with salty ocean water - 360 degree turns - almost like a roller coaster, lol. Absolutely fantastic!

Got back to the hostel and have sorted out my Aussie sim card (need to put credit on it tho) and then we went to the beach to just chill.

Everyone in the group seems really nice, and the hostel is lovely - clean linen, friendly staff and a big social room where people just chill out and watch TV and go on the internet (where I am now!).

Think we'll prob be going out in Coogee this evening for a few drinks.

Tomorrow we have a half day of surf lessons....haha....should be interesting! And yes, incriminating photos should follow....

First day is going great :o)

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