Before you go off half cocked, no, we didn't realise where we'd be staying when we booked it.
Matt and I flew on a rather bumpy Virgin Blue flight from Melbourne to Sydney Airport, called up the place we'd booked to stay who sent us a courtesy bus to take us the 40 min ride (after dropping everyone else of first naturally) to the hostel. The hostel itself wasn't dirty. That's about all you can say about it.
We found Rick in the room. A friend of Matt's from back home, he'd been travelling since the day before from Birmingham and had arrived about 5 hours prior to us. That evening we took a look around the Kings Cross area we were staying in. For those with conservative sensibilities, skip the next paragraph...
Kings Cross is apparently the Gay centre of Sydney, not to mention it's a bit of a red light district. This is evident when you look down Darlinghurst Road, mainly due to the big flashing neon signs proclaiming 'Showgirls Galore' 'Dreamgirls' and 'Girls Girls and More Girls'. The prostitutes on the road and the big bouncers ('Looking for girls guys? Dreamgirls guys? Adult fun, adult viewing, want a good time guys?') are also a pretty big Clue (with capital 'C'). There was me thinking we'd left that behind us when we left Asia. How wrong I was. Darlinghurst was our main way to and from our hostel, so every night when we went out for a hunt for a new bar and a drink we were accosted. As beer prices were rather steep elsewhere, Matt took to asking them how much beer was in their classy establishments. Unlike the girls, not cheap enough.
There were some decent bars close by, and a brummie girl I met at one told me of a few others, unfortunately closed for the winter though. One which was open however offered a $4 burger and beer which was great value, especially when you factor in the free pool table available. The closest bar to us, the Sugar Mill (our room was practically above it) was a good laugh too.
I'm afraid that for most of the 3 days we were in Sydney I was stricken with a certain malady. Tiredness, lethargy, loss of apptetite...yup, I had Koala Syndrome. While I recuperated in bed, Matt and Rick managed to go see the sights, namely the Zoo, the Aquarium, and I managed to catch up with them at Syndey Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I have one photo of each and none of the Botanical Gardens. Koala Syndrome had set in with a vengeance.
I did however make the trip out to Parramatta (a Sydney suburb, about the distance of Harrow from London City) on the awesome train system to meet up with Claire, the sister of one of my oldest friends in London. She's been living in Sydney since 2007, and it was good to see her after a very long time (possibly 8 years?!). We had a good chat, but I couldn't stay out late as Matt and Rick had booked our flight to Townsville for the very next morning, meaning a 4am wakeup call.
Up till now, Australia hadn't really felt much different from the UK. Grey, cold, MacDonalds on every corner. We are now however in Airlie Beach, arriving yesterday after a 3 hour flight and 5 hour bus ride. It's 26 degrees, bright blue skies and sunshine. The people are all happy (mostly British, French or German backpackers funnily enough) and tomorrow we embark on a 3 day boat trip taking in the Great Barrier Reef, snorkelling and fun and games. More on that later...
Matt and I flew on a rather bumpy Virgin Blue flight from Melbourne to Sydney Airport, called up the place we'd booked to stay who sent us a courtesy bus to take us the 40 min ride (after dropping everyone else of first naturally) to the hostel. The hostel itself wasn't dirty. That's about all you can say about it.
We found Rick in the room. A friend of Matt's from back home, he'd been travelling since the day before from Birmingham and had arrived about 5 hours prior to us. That evening we took a look around the Kings Cross area we were staying in. For those with conservative sensibilities, skip the next paragraph...
Kings Cross is apparently the Gay centre of Sydney, not to mention it's a bit of a red light district. This is evident when you look down Darlinghurst Road, mainly due to the big flashing neon signs proclaiming 'Showgirls Galore' 'Dreamgirls' and 'Girls Girls and More Girls'. The prostitutes on the road and the big bouncers ('Looking for girls guys? Dreamgirls guys? Adult fun, adult viewing, want a good time guys?') are also a pretty big Clue (with capital 'C'). There was me thinking we'd left that behind us when we left Asia. How wrong I was. Darlinghurst was our main way to and from our hostel, so every night when we went out for a hunt for a new bar and a drink we were accosted. As beer prices were rather steep elsewhere, Matt took to asking them how much beer was in their classy establishments. Unlike the girls, not cheap enough.
There were some decent bars close by, and a brummie girl I met at one told me of a few others, unfortunately closed for the winter though. One which was open however offered a $4 burger and beer which was great value, especially when you factor in the free pool table available. The closest bar to us, the Sugar Mill (our room was practically above it) was a good laugh too.
I'm afraid that for most of the 3 days we were in Sydney I was stricken with a certain malady. Tiredness, lethargy, loss of apptetite...yup, I had Koala Syndrome. While I recuperated in bed, Matt and Rick managed to go see the sights, namely the Zoo, the Aquarium, and I managed to catch up with them at Syndey Opera House and Harbour Bridge. I have one photo of each and none of the Botanical Gardens. Koala Syndrome had set in with a vengeance.
I did however make the trip out to Parramatta (a Sydney suburb, about the distance of Harrow from London City) on the awesome train system to meet up with Claire, the sister of one of my oldest friends in London. She's been living in Sydney since 2007, and it was good to see her after a very long time (possibly 8 years?!). We had a good chat, but I couldn't stay out late as Matt and Rick had booked our flight to Townsville for the very next morning, meaning a 4am wakeup call.
Up till now, Australia hadn't really felt much different from the UK. Grey, cold, MacDonalds on every corner. We are now however in Airlie Beach, arriving yesterday after a 3 hour flight and 5 hour bus ride. It's 26 degrees, bright blue skies and sunshine. The people are all happy (mostly British, French or German backpackers funnily enough) and tomorrow we embark on a 3 day boat trip taking in the Great Barrier Reef, snorkelling and fun and games. More on that later...
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