Sydney 2

I will finish telling you what happened in Melbourne... eventually. I'm just uploading my Sydney pics to flickr so you'll be able to see them here later on.

I landed in Sydney on Saturday evening. It was a very short and enjoyable flight from Melbourne, I think it only lasted an hour and a half and I slept for most of it. Had a bit of a panic at the airport because I couldn't find the shuttle bus the hostel said stops outside the terminal, so thought I'd do the train but they're working on the lines so I had to find the bus which replaces the trains. Got there eventually though! And I found the hostel OK, which surprised me- I didn't have any maps or anything, just the street name. And I didn't need to ask for any directions. The hostel (WakeUp!) is quite nice, clean beds and showers. I'm in a 6-bed girl's dorm but everyone is coming and going- I think I've had 3 different people in the bunk bed under me in 4 days hehe.

On Sunday I went to the Hillsong Church (city campus). They do a free bus service there and while I was waiting I met a lovely lady name Wati, from Fiji. After the service we went for lunch together at the Circular Quay. In the evening I went to the Sunday Night Live service, at Hillsong again. It was great! With worship and a drama sketch with a powerpoint presentation thing...I can't explain it but it was awesome!

Monday afternoon I went with Celeste, who I also met at Hillsong, to Manly which is a coastal town just north of Sydney. It took about 20 mins on a ferry to get there and it's a really nice place- there's a beautiful beach and lots of great cafes. We had fish and chips at the beach, and then amazing hot chocolate at Max Brenner's. The weather here is fantastic- even though it's winter the sun is shining and it's quite warm.

When we get back to Circular Quay Celeste goes home and I explore the Rocks. I think the Rocks are the oldest part of Sydney, but there's a load of restaurants and shops and if you walk through there you can get to the Harbour Bridge. Which is what I did- climbed the many stairs and walked along the bridge. I didn't walk all the way along because it was cold and my legs hurt, and all I really wanted to do was take some pictures of the city. got some great pictures like this:

On Tuesday I woke up feeling awful. I caught a cold in Perth but it wasn't that bad- just a sore throat- and it persisteed in Melbourne where it turned into a cough and now I'm getting a runny nose. But yesterday I just felt soo ill. This Korean girl in the room gave me some vile tasting medicine and all it did was make me feel sleepy. I think it didn't help that all I ate on Monday was the fish and chips and a chocolate brownie. Anyway I dragged myself out of my room and went to Taronga Zoo- it's on the other side of the harbour bridge and you take a ferry to get there. I uploaded just a few of the many pictures I took there... They're mostly the same animals that were at Melbourne zoo. I saw the 2 shows they do- the seal show and the free flight bird show. They were quite entertaining. I also saw the Keeper Talk with the Elephant keepers which was fantastic- the elephants did lots of "tricks" like playing football, balancing on logs and rocks, sitting down like dogs, and finally shooting water at the crowds hehe.

In the afternoon I went back to the hostel and slept... I had such a nice nap. In the evening I went salsa dancing at the Establishment hotel bar. It was fun, even though the lesson was rubbish.

Today I've already been to the Chinese Gardens, which are just up the road from where I'm staying. They're really nice with lots of greenery, waterfalls, and pagoda things. This afternoon (4pm) I'm going to see the Cirque Du Soleil show! I'm really excited! Just have to work out how to get there...