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Published: October 10th 2013
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The night bus from Byron Bay to Sydney was quite a long ride with little sleep but we had just arrived in Sydney, Australia's most raved about city so we were going to make the most of it. Once off the bus we jumped on the underground to our hostel in Kings Cross. I was a bit weary of staying in Kings Cross as its known as being pretty seedy but the hostel HQ Backpackers was the nicest by far we stayed in throughout Australia, it was really modern and even offered free breakfast. The main reason I liked it though was the hostel dog a cute long haired Daschund called Isabella who loved fuss. We checked into our eight bed dorm, had a quick wash and headed out. We walked through the botanical gardens and took in the different view points of the incredible Sydney Harbour, it's bridge and the iconic Opera House, where we sat on a bench for a while taking in the glorious surroundings. The weather was great with the sun beaming down on us. It certainly didn't seem like the middle of winter.
After a few hours the lack of sleep had kicked in though
so we began making our way back to the hostel for a power nap. Just as we came out of the gardens and turned round the corner there was Harry's Cafe de Wheels, an iconic pie cart that I'd heard Jon talk so much about from his last visit to Sydney. We brought a famous tiger pie with beef and one with chicken. The pie consists of the meat pie then mash potato, mushy peas and gravy all piled on top. I'm normally not a big lover of pastry and pies but this was delicious!!! Once back at the hostel we napped and showered then headed out to meet some of Jon's friends that he had worked with in Majorca who were now living in Sydney. One of the guys, Phil, was celebrating his birthday so we met them all at a pub for a few ciders then made our way to a curry house. A few more drinks later and everyone was ready for bed so we jumped on the metro and made our way back to our hostel. It was a nice night and great to hear so many brummy accents in one place.
The following morning
we had breakfast and got chatting to a Bosnian couple who were doing a similar route to us but the opposite way so we sat for a while sharing stories. Once ready we headed out to get a bus to Randwick, a suburb that Jon had lived in for a time when he was last here. He wanted to show me his old house and after a short walk we found it! It looked really cute from the outside but I'm sure it wasn't like this when Jon and his friends lived there. After Jon took a few pictures of his old place we set off walking to Coogee, a beach suburb where we took the beautiful two hour cliff walk to Bondi another popular beach town. The views along the way were incredible especially when looking out onto the patches of dark blue and turquoise sea. It was a really pleasant afternoon and the time just flew by. After the walk we sat on the grass hill for a while over looking Bondi beach and had our picnic. That evening we made fajitas at the hostel and chilled out in the tv room as we were shattered.
We
had an early start the next morning as we were going to the Blue Mountains for the day. We left the hostel at 8.30 with the Bosnian couple Verda and Mirza who asked if they could come along with us. We paid $23 dollars for the train tickets to the mountains and when we got to the platform were able to jump straight onto a train. We spent the two hour journey sharing tips with Verda and Mirza. As soon as we stepped off the train me and Jon gasped as the change in temperature was phenomenal, it was bitterly cold and we were not dressed for the freezing occasion. Instead of paying $30 each to get a tour bus around the mountains from the station we decided to take the 45 minute walk to try and warm up.
When we finally arrived there were quite a few tourists but we still managed to get a great view of the mountains. We soon realised why they had got there name as in the distance there was a blue hue around the mountains. We took a walk to a few different view points to get some pictures but eventually we'd
had enough of the cold wind and the chill through our bones so made our way back to the station. Along the way though we saw a cute little cafe on the corner called Yellow Deli where we decided to go in for a hot drink to warm ourselves up. I ordered a hot cider but when it came it wasn't cider at all but hot apple juice. We soon realised why as it was a cafe run by some very friendly Amish people. We arrived back in Kings Cross early evening and spent the rest of the night in the warmth of the hostel.
The next morning we lay in till 9 then made our way down for the free breakfast. We had intended on getting some stuff sorted for China that morning but as the wifi wasn't working we went out to explore instead. We took a walk through Hyde Park, Circular Quay and the Darling Harbour. The weather had been beautiful and sunny all day but around
3pm the clouds went a very dark grey so we decided to head back to the hostel. Later in the evening we went over to Kent Street to go
and meet Tom, one of the guys Jon knew from Majorca, Phil and Morgan his fiancé. We met at the bar Tom worked at and things soon got out of hand. I was on my fourth pint of cider before I knew it and the boys were drinking shots. Tom finished work and wanted to head to another bar for one last drink. Morgan was sick so her and Phil jumped in a taxi home.
Me, Jon and Tom decided to find another bar but it was
12am on a
Tuesday night. A group of guys walked past and they directed us to a place called Frankies Pizza. When we got inside it just looked like a restaurant so we weren't sure if we were in the right place but soon found the quirky bar through the double doors. Jon was fairly drunk already but Tom kept buying us drinks as he wanted to catch up with us. Eventually though Jon could no longer keep his eyes open or get served at the bar so we made our way home.
It was our last day in Sydney and we both woke up feeling a little hungover - Jon more
so, it took four attempts to finally get him out of bed. We made check out just in time so went and indulged in our last free breakfast. Half way through breakfast though Jon had a mad panic thinking he'd lost his wallet but I soon found it under his bed. Tom called to see how we were and asked if we wanted to meet up for lunch. We got on the train to the bar where we met Phil as well. After lunch we said our goodbyes to Tom and Phil and then went to meet Q and the Scots who were now settling in Sydney for more farewells. We made it back to the hostel just in time to gather our belongings and get on the shuttle bus to the airport.
The time we spent in Sydney was great and could see why it is such a highly desired city to live in. Jon thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the boys and I enjoyed finally experiencing the city Jon spent so much time excitingly talking about. Next and final stop of Australia, Melbourne!
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