Australia - Sydney

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We arrived in Sydney at 7am on Monday 7 May after a 6 hour flight from Bali. My friend Robbie who lives in Sydney picked us up from the airport and took us to his house. We then went to the shops to get an Australian sim card for our phones. Robbie dropped us at our hostel in Kings Cross at 1pm and we had a few hours sleep. That night, we went for a rump steak dinner at The Bourbon before going to an Irish bar. Then we walked past Darling Harbour to a 24 hour pub where we played pool. Star City casino was just around the corner so we went there and played roulette. We both managed to play for a long time on our initial stake but I ended up losing about the same as Ian made. On Tuesday, we woke up at midday and met Robbie for breakfast. The portions of food were huge and we struggled to finish our chicken schintzel. The next 5 hours were spent walking around the city. We walked through the parks to the Botanical Gardens and saw lots of fruit bats hanging in the trees. Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge were our next stops before hanging around Circular Quay. After walking through the Central Business District (CBD), we did some clothes shopping. In the evening, I had chunky steak pie with mash, peas and gravy for dinner. Then we went to World Bar which was surprisingly busy for a Tuesday night so we stayed until 2am. I returned to the hostel while Ian went to the casino to win another $100. On Wednesday morning, Robbie picked us up with his friend Eric and we drove to Bondi Beach. After walking around the town, we sat outside a cafe for breakfast before walking back along the beach to the car. Eric then took us to a clothing factory outlet where he got us 30% discount. We each needed to buy a shirt and a pair of shoes for going out to bars in Sydney. Robbie then took us to Max Brenna's, a cafe that only served chocolate dishes. We ordered 2 chocolate souflee's complete with chocolate sponge, hot melted chocolate and strawberries - mmm....delicious!! In the evening, we went to the Imax theatre to watch 300 - really impressive on such a big screen. On Thursday morning, we left our hostel and checked into Vibe Hotel which was in a nicer area and closer to everything. I walked around the local area and had breakfast before going to Paddy's Market. After an internet session and relaxing in the hotel room, my friend Nick arrived from Auckland (with a big bottle of rum). We started drinking in the room as we got ready and then we went for a light dinner sitting outside an Irish pub. We went to Side Bar where it was happy hour so we ordered 6 vodka cocktail jugs between 3 of us. After going to Scubar and Scruffy Murphy's, Nick and I ended up in a bar called Cargo. We left there at 2am and went to Establishment for an hour before going back to the hotel. On Friday morning, Robbie met us and the four of us walked around the city all afternoon. In the evening, we went out for dinner at a nice Indian restaurant before going to Cargo where we spent the entire evening. At 2am, we went to the club Home for a couple of hours. On Saturday, Robbie, Nick and I spent the afternoon walking around and we made another visit to Max Brenna's. Late afternoon, we started drinking in the hotel room and watched Borat. Then we went to a bar called Bungalow 8 where I stayed until 1am. On Sunday morning, Nick flew home to Auckland and we checked into Sydney Central Backpackers. After going out for breakfast and a walk, we slept all afternoon. At midnight, the final premiership games of the season were kicking off so we found a bar with a big screen at Star City to watch the action. After the game, we briefly stopped at the casino before walking home. On Monday, we got up at midday and walked around before sitting in the park and reading the paper. In the evening, we sat in a local park before hanging out on the rooftop of our hostel. We were asleep by 11pm as we had to catch a 6.30am bus on Tuesday morning.

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