Sluggin' Through Sydney

Our first hostel was called Sydney Central Backpackers hostel. Stepping into the lobby for this hostel and coming off of that flight was quite the change. Keep in mind that we felt like royalty at that point but quickly had that ripped away when we stumbled up 2 flights of stairs trying to find our 6 bedroom dorm which was filled with 4 guys and 2 empty top bunks for Mark and I. We quickly ditched our stuff and decided to go for a short walk around Sydney to try and beat the jetlag. This was around 8am so we had to occupy ourselves for an entire day before going to bed. We saw the Opera House and the bridge from afar and then continued to walk and figure out our train passes.

We ended up wandering around the city for 6 hours and stumbled upon the Sydney Powerhouse Museum. We went in to go see if it was free (because we’re cheap) and found out that of course it cost money. However, we started chatting with the ticket guy and he gave us a list of things to see for free in Sydney which was great. Just as we were leaving he spotted the Canadian flag tag on Marks bag and told us that we could just go in the museum for free! He told us that he loves maple syrup and was excited when he found out it came from a tree. It was the first time I’d ever gotten anything for simply being Canadian and it was a great feeling. Turns out this museum was actually huge and full of amazing exhibits. We spent around 3 hours exploring and I don’t think we even saw the entire museum. Over the next couple of days we essentially made our own walking tour. We walked from our hostel to Bondi Beach where we did the Bondi to Coogee beach walk.

 

We also did all the typical touristy stuff and went to a couple of markets, the Zoo and some parks. We had to go to Darling Harbor (because it's Mark's last name and because it's kinda a big thing)where there was a rowing regatta! They were doing 250m sprints in 8’s and just seeing it again made me miss it.

 

The first night trying to find food in Sydney was probably the most frustrated I have ever been in a city searching for food. Usually I would be annoyed because everything is so expensive but this time I was annoyed because Mark and I couldn’t find a single place to eat! By 6pm everything had turned into “drinks only” places. We walked around for an hour getting more and more hungry and frustrated as time went by until we both broke down and settled for the 24 hour Subway that we thankfully stumbled across. From that point on we were smart and never went to dt Sydney to find food, instead we stayed near our hostel which was in a place called Wooloomooloo (best name ever) and essentially lived off Thai food for the remainder of our stay in Sydney.

 On our last night in Sydney we decided it was time to get a taste of the nightlife and head out to one of the local pubs. With our French roommate Michel from the hostel as our tour guide we went to go get a traditional meat pie to start off the night which was absolutely delicious! I’ve heard people talk about the meat pies in Australia but they are truly amazing and probably the best late night food you could possibly eat (even better than McDonalds which is a pretty big statement for me to make). After pies we headed to a place called O’Malley’s which had a karaoke night and drink specials for people who are staying in hostels. They were $2.50 for a pint so you can only imagine what happened with that…

The next morning we had to check out of our hostel by 10am and make our way to the train station which was a 30 minute walk with all of our gear. We checked our bags and then went to the park for a quick nap while we waited for the train. We boarded the train at 8pm and settled in for a long 11 hour trip.

 

 

 

 

 

Next stop…Phillip Island!