Sydney Sophistication!

We practically fell off of the bus in Sydney at 7am. Neither of us had managed to sleep a whole lot and we were both pretty cranky!! However, we feel we just have to mention the 2 wicked bus drivers that shared the 12 hour stint (from Firefly Bus Company) They were amazing - they each gave us little talks on the various áppliances'found on the bus and managed to always make it sound like the most interesting thing in the world! i.e. We were all gripped to learn that there was a rubbish bin located in the middle of the bus for 'little, plastic cups' should we wish to use the on board water fountain......you really had to be there but it was hilarious!

With the help of a nice guy called James that we met in Melbourne, we found the BASE hostel in Sydney. We were told that our beds wouldn't be ready for 3 hours so we plopped down in the lounge and attempted to make conversation and new friends but nodded off after 'hello'! When we woke up, we ventured out for a fry-up (yum!) and then back to meet out new roomies! We are staying in a 10 bed mixed dorm. Really nice bunch of people from all over.

We were determined to make a full day of it so we claimed our beds and went out to the city centre. We jumped on the Sydney sightseeing bus (bright red double decker) complete with on-board commentary and got off at Harbour Bridge. The bridge and the Opera House are such well-known images - it was so weird to be stood outside of them! We went into the Opera House expecting to go on a tour but stumbled at the 1st poster in the box office. Minutes later, we had booked 2 tickets for the ballet - Giselle at the Opera House for that evening!

We got a ferry across the harbour to the Sydney Aquarium where we met Jaws, Nemo and friends.. we had a lot of fun and it made us both want to dive again soon!

Then it was back to the Hostel to attempt to get a bit 'dressed up' for the ballet! We rumaged to the very bottom of our bags and found the least smelly bits of clothing we could! This then meant that Jenn had to locate the iron! Thinking we knew the route on foot to the Opera House, we allowed ourselves 40 mins to get there. It all went spectacularly wrong though thanks to some seriously conflicting directions and we ended up hailing a cab - d'oh!

The show was amazing and was made even more spectacular by the fact that we were watching it at the Sydney Opera House! After the ballet, we took a slow walk back to the hostel as Sydney is so beautiful at night - I really can't put it into words and it would be an injustice to even try! All that can be said is that we both love it here!

We have both got a bit of a cold (we're not men though so we are carrying on regardless!!) We dealt with a few 'necessities' regarding onward travel (don't worry - we're still coming home) and then hopped back on the big red bus and went to Bondi Beach.

Ok.....bikini clad women and buffed up guys playing volleyball.....not a sausage! It was bloody freezing and was pretty reminiscant of any afternoon spent battling the elements at Lyme Regis! We even got hot chocolate!

Tomorrow, we are heading up to the Blue Mountains (even colder!!) where we are hoping to warm up by doing some horse riding (yay!!) and rock climbing and abseiling!