I've hit Australia BABY!!!!!!!!!!

Flight over with the guy (before he fell asleep and before i got upgraded)

View more photos 

Well i crawled into bed at 2am the day of my flight to Sydney, which was obviously a bad move, but for a good reason (attempting to pack my bag)..i got up at 5.30, wiped the makeup off my face, put my clothes on and headed to a taxi to get to the airport for the ungodly time of 7am!  Whilst checking in a guy asked me if i wanted to sit with him, so i agreed (i am convinced i have a face people want to talk to!), and then headed into the airport lounge with him.  I had a beer and a cheese sandwich (at his suggestion) and in no time at all, it was time to get on the plane.  I was excited to be hitting Sydney so was in no mood to watch movies, and after eating and the guy next to me falling asleep, i got bored...and then tipsy on the free alcohol!  I must have looked so sad, all alone with no one to talk to, so a nice flight attendant rescued me from myself, and put me into business, where we had a nice chat and i settled myself for a much more fun flight.  By the time the plane hit the run way it was established that his name was Marcelo, he was a nice, non-pervy guy, and that i was going to stay at his and he would take me sight-seeing on his days off! That, people, is good work!

The Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

View more photos 

Arrived, managed to persuade the guys that i was capable of carrying my bag alone, met Marcelo, and then persuaded them to let me into the country.  Jumped in a taxi and arrived at a gorgeous apartment in NewTown, to order a huge pizza and have a little more to drink, felt very nice to have a hot shower too, i'd forgotten what they felt like.  It was decided that next day would be the sights of sydney day, and then it was time to crawl into bed (a sofa bed)

Next day, bright and early (not), we got up, got ready, and zoomed off in Marcelo's bmw to see the sights.  First of all we went to a park on the opposite side of the water to the Harbour bridge and the opera house, to have a wander round and take some photos.  Weather wasn't fantastic, but it held out more or less!  After there we went to Manly beach and wandered around the clifftops, spectacular views and was really enjoying it until Marcelo told me it was a known suicide point..nice!  Anyway, had some food, and kept going, next stop the bridge and the opera house itself! Was surprised by how small the opera house actually is when you're stood right next to it, but i was beautiful all the same and the harbour was so pretty, boats going up and down it, lots of little cafes and restaurants, really picturesque.  After me taking yet more photos and generally admiring the view, we looked in the city centre for a bit, before jumping back into the car (the weather now good enough to have the top down!) and went to bondi beach, the all aussie beach!  Watched the surfers, paddled and walked up and down the pier, felt like a british seaside, just more surfers, warmer water and shark nets/shark patrol helicopers!

Manly beach coastline

View more photos 

After such a long day, we were way too tired to go out to eat tea, so we cooked pasta (i was thrilled to have home-cooking) and watched dvds before calling it a night relatively early, the day after we were hitting Taronga zoo!

Weather was MUCH MUCH better than the day before, so off we went to enjoy the zoo.  Saw platypuses, kangaroos, koala bears, tazmanian devils, chimpanzees, gorillas and much much more.  There were also more great views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, so my camera was probably feeling pretty tired by the afternoon.  After we had seen all the animals and eaten an icecream, we drove back to near Marcelo's and wandered around NewTown.  It's a really cool suburb of Sydney, with lots of cafes and clothes shops etc.  Feels studenty, but is also really hippy too.  The plan for the night was that Marcelo would take me to a bar or too, show me where to party.  He went off to play football, so i kicked back, watched a dvd, had a bath (IN A REAL BATH TUB) and got myself ready to go out.

Bondi Beach!

View more photos 

First stop of the night was the World Bar, in the Kings Cross area (known as the cross)...the place is full of sex shops and strip clubs, but its the bar/club area of Sydney, and lots of fun.  The bar was great fun, amazing athmosphere, good music, and teapots of alcohol, we danced for hours, till about 2am, when we headed off to another bar/club nearby called the Empire Club.  Yet more good music, so kept dancing till our feet hurt so much we couldn't move any more.  At about 5am we got a kebab (more like mexican faghitas than an english kebab) and headed back to collapse for a few hours.

I'd decided it would be cool for me to move into a hostel (didn't want to ask too much of Marcelo's generousity) so at about 3pm i checked into the YHA hostel and waited for more fun and games to start