In Sydney, our hostel was right across the street from the central train station, so it was conveniently located (extremely convenient because I’m already dyyyyinnng from carrying my crap. I know. I know. Oh & Myles, you were so right & I should’ve brought a rolling pack of sorts.
We’ve seen sooo many in our hostels and I’m jealous each time) After putting our stuff in what we thought was the worst dorm room yet (turned out to be not soo bad), we went to purchase the double decker bus tour tickets and see the town. I love a good twofer and that’s just what our tickets were, getting us both the Sydney tour and the tour to Bondi Beach. We went and did the Bondi tour first and grabbed lunch. My California friend Jamie (just move to Oz) came to meet us for lunch. Always great seeing friends from home abroad.
The next morning, I woke up bright and early to take the train to Lidcombe and find the Nikon Australia repair center to fix my lens. The train was ridiculously easy to navigate and even though the shop was a 20 minute walk from the station, I was able to hitch a ride from folks both ways (family – it was safe, I promise. And 9am). Three hours and $100 later, I had a fixed lens!! Soooo sooo happy! Plus, I felt really smart navigating the city during the morning commute out to the burbs on the train. I met the girls back at the hostel and we did the Sydney tour. It was actually a lot of fun and a gorgeous day for the tour. (the weather thus far has been far cooler than I thought it might be at this point, even though it’s winter)
(train to Nikon; Danielle, me & Casey at the Harbour Bridge; Harbour Bridge)
Saturday was a sad, sad day as Casey had to fly back to the US. All this time, we’ve been using McDonald’s and their free wifi, but it can be slow and crappy and finally it got to us, so Danielle and I both purchased wifi and used Saturday to figure out the rest of our Australia trip, well, at least the next week. Even though we laid around all day on the computer and our one trip out was to the grocery store, it was a really glorious day. Also, it was the first day of our hostel dinner cooking. More on that later, although it’s a safe bet that I’ll be sick of pasta, rice and beans real soon. (side note – I do love the fact that everything is very English inspire, so I’ve gotten back into drinking tea the English way with milk and sugar, and chocolate biscuits. Danielle calls me an old English lady.)
Our last day in Sydney, we met Jamie and John for lunch at the Sydney Fish Market. It was a really lovely afternoon and a quite tasty lunch. Danielle got quite carried away taking pictures of dead fish. You can see those here, if you have any interest.
(Jamie, me & Danielle at the Sydney Fish Market for lunch)
