All About Sydney!

It had been 5 months we'd been settled in Byron Bay, and knowing that neither myself or Joe are big-city-people, I was pretty anxious about coming to Sydney. So, a few days ahead of our visit, I did a bit of research and planned some fun activities so that we had something to look forward to and not get too stressed out by big city life.

It was also the first time in about 9 months we would be staying in a hostel. Another scary thought! We booked in for 10 days at Funk House hostel in the Kings Cross area (which is full of hostels and strip clubs), but with a good location within walking distance of the city centre, or right next to a train station for those who are lazy and/or have more money to spend on travel than we did!

After touching down at Sydney airport, we grabbed our bags, got on a short train ride to Kings Cross, and found our hostel without too much grumpiness from either of us – which in my eyes means success. As it was late afternoon we decided to just chill out and start the exploring tomorrow. The hostel itself wasn't as much of a nightmare as I'd expected. The rooms were small and pretty hot in the summer heat, but only sharing with 3 other people felt quite a lot more relaxed than larger rooms we'd stayed in before. There was a small but well equipped kitchen, and TV room which was a lovely space to chill and meet new people. There were different daily events such as movie night, free bbq, free entry and bus to various clubs, which always made the evening exciting, but the general vibe was chilled out and friendly.

So now to the city. It was cloudy, but I still needed to get my standard picture of the Sydney Opera House for instagram (most instagrammed location in the world). So we grabbed a map and walked through the botanical gardens, to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, and through the city. And something surprised me when instead of feeling stressed out, overwhelmed and crowded, we fell in love with the place. The city has large and bountiful parks and gardens creating a peaceful space amongst skyscrapers and apartment blocks, and city views to die for. The majority of the action is along the waterfront (with blue water, not brown like the Thames in London) and stretching out into the outer suburbs will find you more beautiful beaches.

Dugong at the sealife centre

There are many attractions in the city, including Luna Park, Sydney Zoo and Madame Tussauds
amongst others. We decided to check out the Sea Life Centre, and had a great day with the highlight being seeing a dugong! Dugongs are a type of manatee native to Australia and are commonly referred to as sea cows because they spend all day grazing and farting – a bit like Joe. They can be seen when you go snorkelling in areas further up the coast such as Lady Elliott Island. We would have loved to do a tour here but it was a bit out of our budget, so I'm glad that we at least got to see a dugong in Sydney!

Luna Park

Sydney celebrated the Chinese new year with these fantastic lantern sculptures dotted around to brighten up the city. We first saw these in daytime, but they really come to life at night!

Lantern sculptures dotted around the city

No visit to Sydney is complete without a visit to Bondi beach. Australia's most famous beach (where they film Bondi beach rescue) is located in the city and is a great place to sunbathe, catch some waves or grab an ice cream. Surfers can enjoy pretty high waves here! (higher than I'd seen in surf town Byron Bay).

Palm beach, further up the coast, is shooting location for popular Aussie soap “Home and Away”, which I admit to being obsessed with as a teen. I would have loved to go here to see the beach, diner and surf club used in the TV program but unfortunately never got the chance. Tours are available here, or you can just rock up on a train and have a look around!

Minne-Ha-Ha Falls

Just behind the city lies the Blue Mountains, a national park spread out over some 200,000 hectares with some amazing views and stunning landscapes. Joe and I took a day tour here with a company called Loka, that included travel from the city, a hike down to the beautiful Wentworth Falls, a refreshing swim in a little-known watering hole by Minne-Ha-Ha Falls, and over to the “3 Sisters” incredible rock formation and view over the mountain. It was an amazing day, and our very informative tour guide showed us all sorts – from the plants that aboriginals used for food/medicine, to the distinctive home of a Sydney funnel-web spider, most deadly in Australia. The tour was well worth it (free lunch and beer was the selling point) and we had an awe-inspiring day seeing the beauty of the Australian hinterland one last time. 

The 3 Sisters

Wentworth Falls

Sydney was the last stop on our Aussie adventure, and our time here was a nice send off.  I'm now writing from the bunk bed of a hostel in our next destination - Auckland, New Zealand, having arrived not long ago. I'll be blogging about all my adventures to come whilst here, but for now feel free to read back over my posts from the past year about my time in Australia!