The journey wasn't too bad considering it was 11 hours long.. it was actually more comfy than a plane as there was much more leg room. Still hardly got any sleep though, so when I arrived in Sydney on the morning of the 23rd I was pretty tired so spent most of the day just relaxing then met up with 2 girls I did farm work with in the evening. Was so good to see them!
Managed to fill up most days in Sydney so I'll write about each day separately!
Christmas Eve!
Met up with Shweta who I did OzIntro with in the morning to buy fancy dress for the Christmas Eve Party Cruise that evening! I made no effort at all and just wore a red dress and a Santa hat, but Shweta dressed up as a Christmas tree!
It was such a fun night. Had to wait aaaages to get on the boat but it was worth it. There was free food and an open bar (only a small selection of drinks though - but still good!). The boat went all round the harbour, under the bridge and past the Opera House so it was pretty amazing!
I was good though and didn't get too drunk as I had to be up early the next day to meet Ellie at the airport, and I didn't want to be hungover on Christmas day!
Christmas Day!
Woke up the next morning to glorious sunshine! Went to the airport and met Ellie, then we went to the hotel we would be staying in for the next two nights thanks to Ellie's mum! Yey! As we couldn't check in straight away we decided to head to Bondi Beach where most people where heading for Christmas Day. I'd already arranged with Mitika to get some BBQ food so we arrived to a BBQ on the beach in the sun! Perfect Aussie Christmas - though it didn't feel like Christmas at all! So we just spent the rest of the day lazing on the beach.
Once back at the hotel we checked in, only to find that the air con wasn't working in the room! So we managed to get ourselves an upgrade to a better room with working air con thanks to the friendly guy at reception who always seemed really happy! Had a quick skype chat with family back home to say Merry Christmas, then had an early night as Ellie was still really tired from her long flight.
Boxing Day.
Decided to have a chill out day and make the most of the hotel! So we swam in the rooftop pool, went in the jacuzzi, read our books and made a yummy tea as our room had its own kitchen! It was nice to just relax and not be in a hostel!
27th December.
Checked out of the hotel that morning even though we didn't really want to, and checked in to Sydney Central YHA where I stayed when I first got to Sydney back in April. We headed straight back out again to the shops as Ellie wanted to buy a hat and some shoes. It was a successful trip as she found both and they were in the sale too! Then in the afternoon we went on a tour of the Opera House which was actually really good. It was really cool to see all the different performance spaces and we even got to listen to a rehearsal of a concert that was going to take place that evening - it was amazing! Then we had a late lunch as you can get a cheap lunch at the Opera House with a tour ticket, so we took advantage of that and had food and wine outside the Opera House with a view of the Harbour Bridge - very civilised!
That evening we noticed that the free cinema in the hostel was showing the final Harry Potter film - so guess what we did that evening! Such a good film!
28th December - Wine Tasting day!!
Had to be up really early for our Hunter Valley Wine Tour. It was a really fun day and got to try LOADS of wine! 29 different wines to be exact!
First we stopped at the Ku-Ring Gai Chase National Park where we went for a short walk and learned about some Australian plants and animals. We saw some little crabs, cockatoos and of course kangaroos! We went to 3 winerys in total, one of which also had cheese tasting which was good! We stopped in a little village for lunch where there was optional wine tasting which we took advantage of! So throughout the day we tried a huge selection of red, white, sparkling and port! Me and Ellie both bought a mini bottle of Moscato to have on New Years Eve! Ellie also bought quite a few other bottles including a 2L bottle of port for $15! Bargain!
Needless to say I spent the 2 hour journey back to Sydney sleeping!
29th December
Had a bit of lie in that morning as we were tired for the wine tour! Then we headed over to the Westfield shopping centre as we'd heard that Cory Monteith (aka Finn from Glee) was going to be making an appearance! When we got there the crowd was huge! We waited for quite a while and eventually he appeared! Think we were probably some of the oldest people there, it was mainly screaming teenagers! So we just took a few photos from a distance and left!
That evening we met up with Mitika, Shweta and her friend Kat and went to Scubar where there was a silent disco! I'd never been to one before, it was really fun! Everyone is given a pair of headphones on entry and there are 2 channels so you can choose what song you listen to! It's really funny when you take the headphones off and everyone is dancing to nothing! Was a fun night though :)
30th December
Got the ferry over to Manly at about midday and spent the afternoon lying in the sun and reading - it was nice to just chill out on the beach! Went to Chinatown in the evening for dinner which was good, found a cheap food court and ate lots of food!
New Years Eve!
Got up and ready pretty early as we wanted to get a good spot to see the fireworks! We took the advice of someone Ellie met on her plane journey and went to McMahon's point, which is the other side of the bridge to the Opera House, and has a really good view!
Luckily it was really nice weather so we spent most of the day lying in the sun and reading! It's crazy that we got there 12 hours early just to watch some fireworks! It was so worth it though - they were amazing! Definitely the best fireworks I've ever seen. It was funny looking round at everyone - when the countdown finished and it was new year, no one wished each other happy new year, everyone was just looking at the sky mesmerized by the fireworks!
New Years Day
Had a lie in that morning as it had been a late night! In the afternoon we decided to go to the Harry Potter exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum. It was really good! Before you went in to the actual exhibition you had to be sorted into houses, so we got to try the sorting hat on! I was put into Gryffindor, and Ellie into Ravenclaw! The exhibition included loads of props and costumes from all the films. It was really interesting. I really liked seeing the Marauder's map - must have been a really cool thing to design and draw, it was so detailed!
Had to buy these!!
That evening we just chilled in the hostel and watched Bridesmaids as they were showing it in the free cinema - was a funny film!
2nd January
Had a lazy beach day at Coogee which was good! Then in the evening we met up with Ellie's friend Kylie for food and a few drinks, we later also met up with Shweta and her friend Kat for a drink at another bar!
3rd January
Last day in Sydney! We decided to get the train over to the Blue Mountains! It was a really nice sunny day so clear skies to see the amazing scenery. We walked from Katoomba station to a picnic area where we had some lunch, then walked to Scenic World where we bought passes to go on the world's steepest railway, and a couple of other cable car type things! We also had a walk round on the scenic walkway.
We got the train back to Sydney Central, went back to the hostel to pick up our bags, then got the overnight train to Melbourne!
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