Woke up at about 8am with another mosquito bite to add to the collection (oh yeah forgot to mention I keep getting bit and they itch like buggery). Jumped in the shower first before Phil so I had time to wake up a bit in the shower rather than have to just jump in and out. Had the usual breakfast of cereal, orange juice, toast and jam and coffee. We checked out and headed to the airport, which was only about a 5 minute drive if that. We dropped the car off in the rental car park and posted the keys through the return slot to save time.
The airport terminal was pretty small with it being a domestic flight. There was no passport control or anything and just a bag scan on the way through then we were in he gate area. We had a quick look round the shops and Phil spotted different types of Jerky. I’ve never had Beef Jerky but they had Beef, Kangaroo, Crocodile and Emu, but they were all pretty expensive so we said we would look out for them in the supermarkets when we got to Sydney.
I bought a small packet of Kangaroo Jerky just to try so I at least know if I like it before I take any home. Bought a couple of souvenirs from the Australia shop. I wanted a new thumb ring and bought one in a kind black silver thing that’s was called Iron ore or something. Bought one for my Kirsty too as I think she might like it, also bought us both a necklace that had a black band and the pendant was a silver thing with some sort of stone in it. I thought I had bought green for Kristy and brown for me but when I got them to the counter they were both green. I got them out when we sat down to show Phil and they were purple??? Turns out they change colour somehow , dunno what makes them change but they look nice whatever colour they are.
Boarded the plane on time and thought I could watch a film and then we’d be there as it was just short of 3 hours. The film possibilities that could be on our flight were shite though and we ended up getting a film called “Rachel’s getting married”. Well it looked and sounded shit and 1 hour 55 minutes later I can indeed confirm it was shit. It just never seemed to get started, had a very poor story line and then just ended. Rachel getting married was about the highlight of the whole film. So if you see it at Block buster videos (which I’m sure you will as it probably went straight to video/DVD. then don’t bother, it’s pants. By the time I had realised it was shit I was too far into it to just stop watching as I wanted to know if it was going to pick up and get going, sadly alas it never did. So I pined my hope on the in-flight meal to brighten up the journey, but in true Qantas style it was a disappointment.
After eating the “food” and watching the B-movie it was time to land. Again there was no customs or anything and it was straight outside then back into the building to collect our bags. Once they came off we went straight to the information desk to find out about trains and busses etc. The woman at the bus info desk told us about a pass you could get for $39 dollars that covered all routes. We went to check out the trains first to see if they were cheaper and it turned out that because of problems with the rail line they were putting on a free bus service to the centre. The train fella told us our hostel was only a ten minute walk from the central station so we saved ourselves some money and got the free bus. We are pretty central anyway so it might be cheaper to just pay for our bus/trains etc as we need them.
Got the number 4 bus to the central station which took about 20 minutes and then followed our map to the Y-hotel which was at the corner of Elizabeth and Oxford street. We couldn’t be in a better location as I remembered Oxford street from when we came to Sydney for Mardi Gras so knew there were good bars within walking distance.
We checked in and went up to our shared 4 bed dorm on the 3rd floor. There were beds marked A, B, C and D we where in C & D. Phil quickly claimed D near the window and I got C next to two mystery guests as we could see there beds had been slept in and they had left their rucksacks between the beds. The Hostel was like a large hotel with numerous dorms on each floor. There was a shared area with chair and a TV in the middle of the floor and a kitchen with fridge, microwave, sink and ironing facilities. Toilets and showers were at each end of the shared area and it looked quite modern really, not what I was expecting, and no bunk beds lol.
We ad a quick shower and change and then went to have a look around. We were right next to Hyde Park so we had a quick look around and then stopped off for some food on Oxford Street after we both got some money out. We both plumped for a Calzone and a beer, which came to about $10 each, no cheap. Beers seems to be about $6/.7 each (about £3/4). With that in mind we went to find a liquor store as it seems a better plan to have a few drinks in the hostel while we got ready. I bought a bottle of cheap red wine $7.99 and a large bottle of coke to make Calimocho lol! Phil got two large bottles of beer.
We went back to the hostel to get changed and had a few drinks, still no sign of our room mates, although two guys were in the shared area sat at a table near our dorm so it could be them?
Went out at about 11pm (as things don’t really get busy till late in Sydney).
Oxford Street was pretty busy and we went in and out of a few bars till we found one that had decent music. Met two Lesbians from the UK called Tracey and Alice, they were really nice and stayed with us for part of the night. I danced with them on stage (as you do) and we took loads of pictures of each other (as you do).
Phil was busy propping up the bar and got talking to an older guy called Carl (I think he took a shine to Phil secretly lol) Phil told him he was married and straight but I think that probably just added to the attraction hahahaha. He seemed pretty nice though and invited us to lunch when we want to in one of the two bars he owns in Sydney. Me and the girls had got chatting to an Irish guy called Calum and so Carl invited all of us and his mate to his house for drinks.
We all went to Carls and I shared a taxi with the Callum :-) When we got there he had a fully stocked bar with every drink you could think of. We settled for vodka and coke as it was the first spirit he listed lol. The house was really nice, smartly decorated and he made us all feel very welcome. Australians do seem to be very hospitable and you can easily end up moving in with someone for the week after a night out if they think you need somewhere to stay lol. I think Carl would have been more than happy for Phil to move in and Phil as usual lapped up the attention lol.
We stayed for a couple and got back to the hostel at about 6am ! Not bad for our first night out I guess.
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