Sydney!

We arrived in sunny Sydney on Monday the 19th September to be greeted by Laura, Brian and Joe. Feeling a bit drained after a week of partying hard in Melbourne we were relieved to be staying somewhere comfortable and welcomed an early night and a good nights sleep. 
Tuesday morning we went to Bondi beach which was great fun and I was even persuaded to have a little swim in the sea, although it was horribly obvious that we were the palest people on the entire beach!
We had a lovely walk through the botanic gardens followed by a drink at the Opera house bar with Laura and Joe on Wednesday. We went inside the famous Opera House, but unlike the usual tourists who take a guided tour, we just popped in to use the toilet..
On Friday we travelled by train to see the 'Three Sisters' at the Blue Mountains in Katoomba; three huge pieces of rock situated in front of an enormous valley and mountains. It is an Aboriginal legend that these rocks were created when a tribes leader cast a spell on his three beautiful daughters to protect them from enemies, yet died before he could reverse the spell. The mountains are surrounded by a blue haze caused by a large number of eucalyptus trees resulting in the oils being evaporated into the air. The journey was over two and a half hours each way but it was definitely worth it; the views were breathtaking. We decided not to go on one of the treks, and instead settled for a chocolate ice cream and a few photographs (which unfortunately do not do the spectacular views justice).
Later that night we met up with Joel, Alice's old house mate, who took us to a bar where we drank shots out of teapots! Need I say more.....
I have really enjoyed Sydney! It was really nice to catch up with Laura, Brian, and happy little Joe, as well as Joel.
We are travelling by train to Newcastle tomorrow to stay with Jess's Aunt. 

Melbourne!

After a 24 hour journey ending up 10 hours in the future with no sleep I found out the best way to get rid of jet lag is with duty free blue label Smirnoff… Melbourne is amazing!! There was some initial shock when I ordered a pint of beer which cost $8.50 (actually quite cheap for Melbourne) so we ate a lot of instant noodles and cheap wine to make sure we don’t blow our entire journeys budget in the first city. 

We visited a jail which was closed down a few years ago which was very interesting but so creepy. Over 150 people were hung in the room we were looking around and we both got a bit freaked out and jumpy. After that we decided to visit some uplifting touristy places and spent a day wandering around the zoo. (yes we saw koalas, kangaroos, wallabies and kookaburras as well as the standard monkey eating it’s own poo..)
The nightlife there is fantastic, with quirky bars scattered all over the city. My favourite (so far) has to be ‘Bimbo’s’ where we spent an afternoon eating pizza in the sunshine. Although 'The Croft Institute' where there are hospital beds in the toilets and shots in fake syringes certainly was... interesting.
The weather wasn't great in Melbourne, but spring has only just begun and it is already pretty similar to an English summer. We spent one day drinking beer on the beach at St Kilda where we also visited to a vegetarian restaurant called 'Lentil as Anything', where you only have to pay what you think the food is worth. 

The hostel we stayed at is really nice, with a great crowd of people from all around the world who are all very friendly. We have had some hilarious moments translating slang from around the globe, I think we need to write down all of the funny phrases people have come out with. (food poisoning = fish illness?!)
All in all, only one week in and although my liver probably isn’t thanking me I have spent the majority of my time in fits of laughter.
Missing everyone at home, wish you could all be here with me to join in all this fun! 

I am currently in sunny Sydney staying with the lovely Laura, Brian and Joe and will blog you all about it when I reach Newcastle!