Sydney

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In Sydney, Australia

So we arrived in the airport around lunch time and experienced the high security and strict customs laws in place. The forms for customs were hard core and I was worried I would forget to declare something and get a fine of $200! When we collected our bags the sniffer dogs were going round and checking everyones bags and peoples suitcases were being emptied and searched. It was quite nerve-racking especially because we had come from Africa and nearly everything was bound to need quarantining if they found it. Luckily, we got a guy who obviously didnt care about Australians precious argiculture becuase he asked us a few questions and took our word for it, he never showed any sign of stopping us.
We made our way to Wake Up! our hostle in the centre of Sydney and even though we had been to South Africa just before it still felt so strange to be in a built up city with vast amounts of traffic, high storey buildings and buisness people rushing along the streets.

Wake Up! was so nice, it was huge in fact with so many english people staying there. We were on the 4th floor and shared a room with 6 other people. Everything was well set up, there was internet on the ground floor, a bar, a cafe, a restaurant- you pretty much didnt have to leave the building.

Our first day we went crazy for shopping, it had been so long since we had both browsed the racks of clothes, the displays of shoes, the hanging accessories. Sydneys streets were lined with fashion shops and cafes, we had to walk 5 minutes out of the hostle and we were slap bang in the centre of it all; We even managed to find a couple of shopping centres which kept us occupied for a good few hours.
I went mad for jeans, it had been such a long time since I had put a pair on and once they were on they didnt come off for the whole day!
I was so overcome with happiness when I had my first mocha from Starbucks! Seroiusly it was such a good feeling to taste it, it brought everything from home straight back to me.
The whole day was surreal, it was like being an addict who had just got their first fix in 3 months! We managed to fill up our wardrobe a bit, Africa clothes were looking a bit shabby and worn and we needed some style to take to Fiji.
We managed to do most of the things that we had said we had misses most about England, like get a coffee, have a subway and eat out in ChinaTown. We were even offered to have our hair cut and coloured in a 5* salon at half the price which we accepted, and it was a really relaxing and enjoyable thing to have done. I had red put in my hair whilst Alli had highlights but we are both trying to see how long our hair will grow so we only had a trim but it was so worth it after the damage Africa had done to it.

Obviously you cant go to Sydney without seeing the sights so we spent a day walking to the Sydney Habour bridge and across it and getting good pictures of the Sydney Opera house and having a mocha with both major sights in our view. We went to Sydneys Habourside and watched a film in the IMAX (the world's largest screen). We took a bus to Bondi Beach and watched the sunset, it wasnt particularly warm but we had good times on the beach, we drew Faye Siobhan and Karly because they were in Australian too at the same time and it was our little 'tribute'.
All in all we had shopped til we dropped, well almost im sure we could have doen a bit more and had seen the sites. It wasn't very good weather but I had such a good time, it was like a break from roughing it in Africa and before we volunteer in Fiji- a Holiday.

(sorry this was a rushed publication)

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