Sydney, Mardi Gras and the Manly Scenic Walk

---

Welcome back to the land of Oz! I got to the hostel pretty late, so I had some food and went to bed quite early.

The next day I woke up nice and early and spend some time planning my time in Sydney. At 2:30 I went on the 3 hour long, free walking tour. Great way to get to know the city and tick off most of the major tourist sights, with the Oprah House as the big final attraction. After that I did some groceries and cooked dinner at the hostel. There was a group on the common area playing drinking games and getting ready to go out to some big club, but I wasn't really feeling it. Luckily there was also a small group that were planning on going to a karaoke night! The best thing were the hosts: Two 50+ year old drag queens. They were just explaining the rules when we came in, and the last one was " If you don't like bad language, well then fuck off!" How lovely. Most of us did a song and we spend the rest of night singing along to other peoples songs 😊 Such a great night!

The next morning I had a bit of a slow start. I had breakie and we watched the Green Mile, which was a good but surprisingly long movie. After that I went out to a park just outside of the city for a BBQ with the same people I went out with the night before.

The next morning was a lot less good, cause I woke up to discover I had bedbugs... My arms and legs were covered in small red itchy bumps. So I went to reception and told them I was in room 903, and the girls reaction was: "Oow are you in that bottom bunk in the corner? Yeah we've had that before." Well that's simply great isn't it... They had me bring all my stuff down, so they could wash my clothes and treat my backpack with some kind of chemical. So I spend most of my day at the hostel watching bad Aussie tv programs (like Australia's got talent, turns out they don't) and waiting for my laundry to be done. After moving into a new room with all my stuff in bin bags I thought it was time for a drink. Luckily the others were more than happy to join me. 😊

The next day I convinced them to come with me to a vintage market. I had some fun walking around, while they spend most of their time hanging out in the shade :p In India I had bought a really nice ring with a big turquoise stone in it, but I forgot that at the airport the first time I flew into Melbourne. At this vintage market I found one that looked a lot like it for only $8 and I also bought a long dress for $2. 😊 After that we went back to the hostel to get ready for Mardi Gras, which is the annual gay parade in Sydney. The parade was a lot of fun, there was such a great atmosphere. We saw all the floats drive by, including one from the Dutch embassy. A couple of people from the hostel were dancing in the very last float, which was pretty cool 😊

The next day I packed an over night bag and took a bus to the Spit Bridge. From here there is a 10k walk to Manly Beach, which was supposed to lead along secret beaches and stunning views. Word had apparently gotten out about these beaches, cause they were quite crowded. And there were some nice views, but not nearly as stunning as New Zealand. When I got to Manly, I was quite sweaty so I went for a swim straight away. After that I did some groceries and had dinner at the hostel with an English and an American guy. My bed bug bites were acting up pretty badly by now, so I went to bed quite early.

During the night I woke up every hour, cause the bites were just so painful and itchy. So after a pretty bad night, I stepped out onto the balcony to check if my towel was dry. When I was out there a car pulled up and a guy got out and asked me if wanted to earn some money. A bit skeptical, I said maybe. So he told me he was moving house and he was looking for two backpackers to help him out. So I went to the kitchen and found the American guy I was hanging out with the night before. We got picked up by the guys two "personal assistants", who were also two backpackers that lived with him. We spend the day cleaning out his garage, assembling a fridge and watering his plants, but we had such a fun day. At 11am it was apparently already beer o'clock, and after a really nice lunch we played cricket on the street before getting back to work :p At the end of the day we both got $160. Best job ever. Went away for the weekend and came back with more money then I went. Only bummer was that by now the bites on my legs had turned into bruises and the ones on my arms into little blisters.

The next day I took the ferry back to Sydney, which gave me a really nice view of the Oprah House and the Harbor Bridge. Then I spend some time walking around the museum of contemporary art. After that I went back to the hostel and waited for the others to come back so I could get my backpack from their room. I went to bed quite early, cause I had to get up around 4am to be in time for my flight. And for your enjoyment I'll end this story with my latest fuck up. I'm still not really used to the am/pm thing, so you guys can probably already guess what happened. Luckily they could put me on the 7am flight, so I got back to Melbourne nice and early anyways 😊

Pretty happy to be back in MelB 😊 Lots of fun to see all my colleagues again at United Backpackers!

Ps. The bites are not as bad anymore, I reckon my legs will be fine again within a couple of days. But I had to open up most of the blisters on my arms to drain them, so that is gonna take a while to get better...

---