Sydney!

We arrived at 10:30am Sydney time due to the two hour time difference. The hostel had given us instructions on how to get there using the metro so we purchased our tickets and hopped on board. We had bought student tickets because as backpackers, everyone assumes that we are 21 years old and students, plus we still have our U of A IDs so it's never an issue. As I passed through the exit turnstiles, I was stopped by two policemen who asked to see my student ID. I pulled it out and of course, you had to be a student in Australia to get the concession ticket so they let us off with a warning since we had proof that we had just gotten off the plane but said that if it happened again, we'd be fined, lol. We were really too tired to care and just laughed it off. The metro dropped us off right a our hostel, a big place called "Backpackers HQ". We checked in and were shown to our 8 bed girls dorm. When we opened the door, our mouths dropped to the floor. The other girls staying in our room had been living there for over two months, so their stuff was everywhere. It was exactly like coming into a teenage girl's bedroom, except that there were six teenagers in there. I could tell Alyssa was holding back from freaking out, knowing that we had already paid in full for our three night stay and that this was the most expensive hostel we'd stayed in at $39/night. As we were unpacking, I got an email from "Jucy" which was the car company we had rented the car from in New Zealand. Apparently they were blaming us for a windshield crack that was already there when we rented the car and were charging us $500. Alyssa and I were both livid and I wrote back a scathing email immediately. We were both so annoyed with the day that we locked our stuff up and left, resolving to spend as little time as possible in the room.

We headed out to check out the city and see some of the iconic Sydney sights. First, we stopped for lunch at a little cafe by the wharf. We were looking for something a little less expensive but unfortunately when something is cheaper in Australia, that just means smaller. Most of the sandwiches they had in the cafes were pre-made which I am never a fan of, but I was so hungry I didn't care. As we ate, we perused the Sydney travel guide we got at the airport looking for things to do.

The guide told us about an open-air market that goes on during the weekends in an area of town called "The Rocks". We decided to check it out, even though we knew we wouldn't be able to buy anything. They had tons of crafts and great food and we wished we hadn't eaten before coming.

Alyssa saw a licorice stand and had to stop and get some because she's been having reoccurring dreams about licorice. Unfortunately, the licorice was awful. I don't think I like licorice at all.

After leaving the market, we headed toward the harbor bridge so that we could get a good view of Sydney and the opera house. Apparently you can pay to walk up and over the very top of the bridge, but that just seemed like one of those tourist attractions that's not worth it, so we just walked along the bottom.

Once off of the bridge, we headed down to the water to do a photo shoot with the opera house. Unfortunately it was so windy that all of the pics ended up looking like we were in a wind tunnel so there weren't many good ones. It was a beautiful, sunny day though.

On our way home, we passed through the botanical gardens that are located in the center of town. They are huge and reminded us a lot of Central Park in New York. It's nice to have a lot of green space within a big city and Sydney definitely does that well.

Back at the hostel, we made friends with the girls staying in our room. There was Amanda, a 31 year old girl from LA (Culver City to be exact) who was living in Sydney for six months on a working visa to study film. There was Kate and Rosie, both 19 and from the UK, working full time in town. There was an 18 year old little blond girl named Ellie and a 30 year old named Tina, both from Sweeden. And there was a 24 year old named Mari from Germany. Tina was definitely the mom of the group, buying the girls a christmas tree and cleaning the room and tidying up for everyone. Rosie was by far the biggest shit show, although she was hilariously entertainng. We all decided that since it was Friday night, we were going out to the clubs to see what the night life was like in Australia. Since the girls lived there, they had all sorts of amenities like a curling iron, which Alyssa could not have been more thrilled about. She even helped some of the girls get ready by doing their hair. Sydney is definitely the fanciest place I have ever been as far as how people dress to go out. They all wear very nice dresses and heels, just to go to dinner or a bar.

After rejecting a few clubs because of ridiculous cover prices, we ended up at "World Bar" and succumbed to the $20/person cover charge. We had met a guy from San Diego on our way there and he was nice enough to buy Alyssa, Amanda and I drinks for most of the evening. It was a three story club with different tubes of music on each floor, which I always like because then there's something for everyone. We danced the night away until the early morning when we finally caught a cab and headed home.

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