After what seemed like a very long journey, we finally arrived in Sydney! Australia has a lot of rules and regulations about what you can and can’t bring into the country and so the passport control and immigration took a long time with a lot of forms to fill in but luckily (good old British passports) we were able to do the e-scanner and skip most of the passport queue.
A family friend from England who moved to Sydney a few years ago was kind enough to take a day off work to pick us up from the airport, meaning our arrival was stress free! He also let us go back to his house to shower, freshen up and eat all of the food in his fridge so we’re very grateful. He then took us to our hostel and once we’d said our thank yous and got out, he drove off… With our bags! But a quick phone call and sharp turn around meant we were reunited with our bags and we checked into our hostel.
Base Hostel is a lovely big place with friendly staff, an amazing tourist area for bookings and organising and even though we’re in our first 6 person dorm the room is huge, with a bathroom and we all have our own personal space. There is also a kitchen area downstairs so we’ve bought ourself cereal, milk, bread and sandwich fillers and a space in the fridge so we’re set for breakfast and lunch for the next few days!
After dumping our stuff we set out to explore the city for the afternoon. First of all we were struck by how cold it is here! Even though we’re in shorts and teeshirts and it’s about 23degrees we still think it’s so cold compared to the 35 plus degree Thai heat and humidity we’re used to! However Sydney is such a nice city, very chilled, relaxed and very open with everything being split into sort of blocks. Juliet and I compared it to New York but a much more chilled version. We wandered round, ended up in a shopping centre full of incredible designers and after looking at all the clothes and shoes in awe we moved on to a Central Park area. At the park Juliet got stopped by a water fountain by a tv company making a film on magicians. After she signed a waver saying she’s fine with being on TV she got called over and asked to pick a card. After holding the card up so the magician couldn’t see, another man held up a mirror behind her so the magician knew her card! It would have worked well but Julie saw the man behind her and turned around and the mirror was wonky so the magician couldn’t see the card and basically it was all very rubbish and funny. So everyone look out for Julie on a tv program about rubbish magicians!
After having to let my nose close up in Thailand because of a horrible blister, I decided to get it re-pierced in the clean environment of an Australian tattoo shop (much better than the grubby Thai ones) so I am glad so say that my nose stud is finally back! (Sorry grandma and nan…)
Then after a nice big hamburger for dinner we are SO ready to crash and fall asleep. It’s been an exhausting two days of travelling but Sydney has welcomed us well and we’re so excited to explore tomorrow. (And typical Julie and Steph we have everything exactly planned for the next few days)
STAY TUNED!