The Asylum

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We got to Sydney airport and went to find out the number of a hostel that had been recommened to us from a girl we had met in the outback. We couldn't find the number anywhere so we found another hostel flyer, for City Resort, and rang them up, they said they would give us free pickup if we stayed 3 nights, so did. This has got to be the worse hostel we have stayed in so far! When we entered our room it wasn't clear which beds were available as each seemed to have dirty linen on them. The room smelt bad too, it had a fridge but it didn't look like it had ever been cleaned out! We quickly swapped bad mattresses for better ones and hoped that the sheets were clean. On the plus side the hostel had free bread and rice!

We were staying in an area between Kings Cross (the red light zone) and the city centre. After 3 nights we moved to the Asylum hostel, which was kind of crazy. You got free breakfast and dinner here which was good, and we were introduced to the $1.89 bottle of wine, Roo, for under $2. A cheap way of providing evening entertainment. The hostel was busy so Matt and I had to go into separate rooms. My room was quite messy with people staying there a long time and working. Every night my room would have a party on the balcony, so it was impossible to go to bed before 5am! We did all the touristy things while in Sydney like visiting the harbour bridge and the opera house. We also met up with people from the Kiwi experience, Simon, Jon and Alex one night for Jon's birthday then Vicky and Lindsay on their last night in Sydney.

We took the bus to Bondi Beach one day, but the weather wasn't that great so didn't get to go into the sea. I've been in Australia for nearly a month and still not been in the sea! I tried to go to the Blue Mountains one day... after another 5am sleep I got up at 8am and went down to the train station (in the rain), only to find out they were working on the lines and I had to catch a bus which would take 3 1/2 hours, not really worth it for a day trip so unfortunately didn't get to see them.

We also brought our flights forward from Aus to Thailand and in doing so Quantas told us that we would need a Thai visa as we didn't have a onward flight from Thailand, and that we wouldn't be allowed on the plane without one. That meant a visit to the Thai embassy and 45 bucks to buy them, damn!

We got our passports with new Thai visas in back then headed up the coast to Newcastle where we stayed for 3 days, and yes I got to go in the sea, then to Coff harbour, for more beach and sea. Next stop Byron Bay, home of the hippy!

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Photos

Famous sights..
...Plus me!

Comments

[woolster]

Bintang
Glad to see you're still wearing your Bintang T shirt. You'll soon be drinking Chang beer, just as good in our opinion but VERY strong! Beware! mum xx