Been meaning to write this post for sometime, however, just after 16 days of being here, finally decided to. First I arrived in Sydney after a long ride from LAX (15 hours). Met a really nice elderly man from California on the flight who talked to me about how he is a snowboard instructor and has a grandson who also studied in Oz as well. After landing in Kingsford Airport on December 30th, i took a train from there to Central Station where i was to stay at Bounce Hostel on Chalmers St. Didn't know what to expect since I came earlier then the group flight for my program. After settling in the hostel i made friends with a few locals and plenty of British people. Traveled around the city a bit , going to check out a few gardens and of course the opera house and harbour. For New Years Eve, I went and checked out the fireworks from the botanical gardens i think it was called? and watched the fireworks at the harbour bridge. Didn't have the best spot but it was good enough for spending NYE in one of the best cities in the world. After that day, however, i was to spend the night at the hostel Jan 2nd but for some reason it wasn't booked for me. So one of the guys working at the front desk said he wouldn't mind if i just slept in the lounge area. I was perfectly fine with this and was very appreciative. Around 3am though, another shift came in for work and this fucking prick tried kicking me out. I explained my situation and he wasn't willing to listen AT ALL. so i basically told him how bad of a person he was and left. Turned out for the better however, the bars are open til 6am or so in Sydney so I went and met some locals and enjoyed my time. One of the last days that I was in Sydney i met 3 dutch girls in my hostel who were really cool and showed me around. We went to a bar down the road called 3 wise monkeys. They had a theme there which is Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil. And each floor was themed to each saying. hear no evil was the dance floor area with bands that played (one hit wonders played there and they covered every possibly 90s song, pretty cool) see no evil was the top floor where they had cheap drinks (apparently u get real drunk to where u cant see) and speak no evil was the chill,lounge part of the bar. After that day the dutch girls departed for the south of australia in their newly bought car for a road trip.
Jan 5th finally came around when i would meet all the other Americans for my trip. Met my roomates Andrew, Jerek, and Derek whom i connected with quickly. It was pretty good how we got set up. So we had our orientation in Sydney where they treated us to dinner most of the nights (first time i had Kangaroo...realllllyyyy tender and good) Also the beer they serve here is good for the most part, just expensive. So far Carlton Draught is my favorite. Victoria Bitter and XXXX Gold are the cheapest and this box wine they have here (nicknamed Goon) is $10 for 4 Liters. Not bad. So the next day we went on a walking tour of sydney where i took many pictures that i'll post soon. After that day we went to the Blue Mountains (which i will post pictures of soon as well) we hiked around a bit and went abseiling (or repelling) down a cliff that was roughly 200 feet!!! and of course of all people that went down, i ended up flipping upside down, hanging 200 feet above the ground. Needless to say, i was freaking out but tried to keep my cool since freaking out would only make it worse. I corrected myself and continued to enjoy a magnificent view of the valley below hanging that far off the ground. Crazy experience. The last day we ended it with a cruise around the sydney harbour bridge and said our farwells to the city.
oh and i almost forgot that i met some local skateboarders at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney. They were nice guys , ended up skating back to their place nearby, had a drink and a smoke with them. Later the next day I went and checked out Bondi Beach too which was crystal clear, not too crowded, and plenty of surf.
Off to the Gold Coast for 4 months....
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