Australia: Sydney Rocks!

The time's almost up in Sydney and I have to say that this is one of the best places so far. Spent the first two days in a hostel in the centre of the city called "Railway Square" which was connected, rather strangely, to the main railway station. The hive of activity is centred around George Street and Pitt Street, which run in parallel down to the harbour. Along the way are cool little bars and eateries, which we have made great use of so far. The first night I took a stroll down George Street, heading towards the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Seeing the iconic Opera House finally hit home how far I've traveled from home. It's such an amazing structure, with the lighting at night creating an even more impressive image. Having gazed at it for sometime, I went back down to the quay and had the best ice cream to date.

After two nights in the hostel in town, I moved out to the Sydney Beach House situated in remote Collaroy (an hour bus ride, or a ferry and bus marathon). Actually the ferry ride into the city, which past beaches and bays, really gives you the chance to see the surroundings, and how Sydney provides the best of both worlds; an amazing cultural and vibrant city, with golden sand beaches and great scenery only minutes away.

Surprisingly (or not) there were still tickets to see Dr Karl and the Waiting Room, a band whose lead singer is an actor from an Australian soap, Neighbours, so we hesitantly took the oppurtunity to see such a day-time TV legend. Also surprisingly, it was actually pretty good, until he started talking about his character's encounters with women, at which point I self-combusted.

Christmas day was a little different to home. We headed into the city and spent the morning around the harbour with a surprising amount of other people, all homeless like ourselves I presume. I wish I could say the weather was fantastic, but there was little else but grey skies all day, which was rubbish! I'd made some rather unappealling looking turkey and cheese sandwiches (this was pretty much the limit of my local shop's supplies), but walking past a restaurant behind the harbour bridge proved far too enticing, so the sandwiches were quickly ditched to be replaced with tasty fish and chips. It was a fairly quiet affair, but was good all the same.

Having done little over the following few days, we sprung into action, and took the train out to the Blue Mountains, about two hours out of Sydney around Katoomba. As you look over the Blue Mountains there is a distinct blue haze, created from the eucalyptus trees below. Luckily for us it was a spectacularly clear day, and we were able to see about 70 kilometers to the horizon.

We intend to hire a car between Sydney and Adelaide, stopping off at Melbourne, Tasmania and Kangaroo Island along the way. Between Melbourne and Adelaide is the Great Ocean Road which should provide some really great scenery and some rally-style driving. I can't wait! ;)