Sydney

Day 1: Overnight bus from Byron Bay to Sydney and I arrived in the city centre late morning. Having had hardly any sleep on the bus, my intention was to spend a good portion of the day doing just that. However, it wasn't happening so I decided to go explore the city instead.

First, I took a walk through the Botanical Gardens, which are situated close to the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. They are really nice and even had lots of Flying Foxes hanging out at the top of the trees for us to have a look at. The weather was good as well so it was a nice walk.

Afterwards, I headed down to check out the Opera House. When we had driven into the city over the bridge, we caught a glimpse of it and innitially, I was wondering what all the fuss was about. However, when I got down there and saw it up close, I could fully appreciate it. It's such a nice building with really impressive architecture that makes you want to get photos from all angles possible. I've never seen a building anything like it and it looks pretty incredible perched on the Harbour.

After walking around for a while and getting some good pictures, I bumped into Kelly - a girl I had met a few times down the coast. She had just finished the tour of the Opera House and highly recommended it so I booked onto the next one. I wasn't disappointed! We had a fantastic, enthusiastic guide who gave us all the background to the building, including the fact that the initial architect never got to actually see the finished version - pretty sad. The tour took us throughout most of the performance rooms and it's just as impressive inside as it is outside. A great tour.

Upon leaving the Opera House, I stopped to check out some of the street performers who operate nearby. The guy I started watching claimed to be the only chainsaw juggler in the world and I even got roped into helping out with his performance. After successfully juggling the chainsaw (a bit too close to me I might add), myself and 3 others then had to hold onto 4 different ropes to support him while he was about 5 metres off the ground, balancing on a BMX and juggling a knife, bowling pin and an apple, which he took bites out of each throw. It was pretty amazing and certainly drew in the crowds. Thankfully, we managed to avoid dropping him as well.

Afterwards, I took a walk across the Harbour Bridge, which gave some even better views across the city and of the Opera House from a bit further away. The whole Harbour area is pretty spectacular and a great place to spend the afternoon just walking around, especially with the weather to match.

That evening, I met some nice people staying at my hostel - Veronica (Argentina), Michelle and Rick (US). The 4 of us then spent a few hours hanging out at the local bar for a few drinks.

Day 2: A full night's sleep behind me, I decided to take the bus to Bondi and spend the day down there. Bondi Beach is probably one of the most famous beaches in Australia so I didn't really want to leave Sydney without checking it out. Upon arrival, I could see what all the fuss was about - a really nice beach that was jam-packed with people. I took a long walk along the sea-front between Bondi and Bronte beaches before settling down for an afternoon in the sun.

That evening, I met up with Kat, the girl from Sheffield who I had travelled most of the coast with. She had been in Sydney for a few days and was heading back to the UK the following morning so the 2 of us headed out for some drinks and to watch the FA Cup semi-final. Both being Liverpool fans, we were pretty pleased with the outcome and ended up getting quite pissed in celebration.

Day 3: I went to check out Australia Museum, which was just a short walk away from my hostel. As museums go, this one is pretty impressive and I spent a good few hours walking around. It has hundreds of interesting animal skeletons on display, as well as just about every insect, reptile and bird you can imagine. There was also a cool section on aboriginal history and art. The highlight is the Dinosaur exhibition though, which has loads of them stood up in life-like poses. Something I'd never seen before so I thought it was pretty cool.
Day 4: I took a day trip to the Blue Mountains, which are situated a few hours drive outside of Sydney. We had a really good guide - Jeff, whose enthusiasm did the job of waking everyone up after the early pick-up. Also on the bus were a couple of English girls - Amanda and Hayley, who I got chatting with on the way.

Upon arrival, we all piled into the huge Cable Car, which took us across for some great views of the mountains and the ''Three Sisters'' rock formation, which is one the most famous attractions in the whole region.

After taking a walk around the sight and being given loads of information on the area by Jeff, we then boarded the steepest railway in the world. It's a 415m decent (or ascent as it was it our case) and lies at an angle of 52 degrees. It's pretty cool although not so comfortable for tall people such as myself. The train took us backwards up the hill, where we got back on the bus to go check out some other significant sites in the area.

Unfortunately, the weather then took a turn for the worse, meaning we couldn't get to see Wentworth Falls, which was supposed to be our next stop. Pretty heavy rain and fog meant there wasn't much to see so we stopped off in the local town for lunch instead.

Afterwards, it improved slightly so we headed down to Featherdale Wildlife park, where we were lucky enough to see 2 big Kangaroos hopping around at quite some speed. Jeff then took us to a couple more waterfalls and viewpoints, which were pretty nice.

The trip finished with a boat cruise back along the River to take us back into Sydney. We said goodbye to Jeff, who had been a fantastic guide determined to make our day enjoyable despite the bad weather. The cruise was really nice too and allowed us to view the Opera House and Harbour Bridge by night. Upon arrival back in the city, the weather switched again, meaning we had a rather damp walk back to the hostel. An enjoyable day all-in-all though, which showed once more what a difference a good guide can make.

That evening, myself, Rick and Veronica headed down to the hostel bar for a game of ''Inappropriate Bingo'', which was a really good laugh. It was basically just normal Bingo but with lots of free drinks and prizes to be won. In my case, I managed to win a $10 Meal Voucher after having my raffle ticket selected and then having to spin a wheel of fortune. However, the guy running the Bingo wasn't impressed with my initial spin and offered me another one for free if I was willing to sacrifice the voucher. Not thinking, I took the bait and ended up with a nice boobie prize instead - a packet of Spaghetti! The meal voucher was probably the best prize on there as well so I should have stuck to my guns. Oh well, all good fun.

Day 5: Final day in Sydney and a nice hangover to go with it. I didn't get up to much other than walking around the city and all the way across the Harbour Bridge to see what was happening the other side. There was a small theme park, which I took a walk through before getting some more snaps of the Opera House from a different viewpoint. Walking back to the hostel, I checked out some of the amazing street artists that were hard at work and there was also a really good singer who had drawn in the crowds. Always seems to be lots going on in Sydney, no matter where you go.

That evening, I met up with some friends from home - Luke, Emily and Lee, who are all now living in Sydney. It was Lee's girlfriend's birthday so we all tagged along and I had a great evening catching up with them over some more beverages. Nice to see some familar faces.

Early start the next day to catch my flight to New Zealand. Australia has been my favourite country so far and I really enjoyed my time in Sydney (despite the fact that it rained pretty much solidly for my last 3 days there). A really cool city and one I would definately like to come back to.

New Zealand, here I come...