Sydney

I can't remember exactly where I left off. Anyway, from melbourne I took a bus out to the airport pretty late in the evening. I had another flight at some ungodly hour of the morning. I just hung out for the night at the airport and grabbed a bit of sleep. The flight was pretty good. Got into sydney relatively early around 9. Took a train into the city at hyde park (I honestly think I spend more money going to and from airports than I do on food. Lol ridiculous). I was staying at this place called the Y hotel that was only a couple of blocks away. I arrived and it turned out that this was actually run by the YWCA. For a minute I got really nervous thinking that somehow I had honestly been booked at the YWCA. Fortunately a couple families were coming in and out of the hotel so I think they just ran it. Relieved I checked in an by some miracle my room was ready. I went up and there wasn't a single other person there. I showered and tried to lie down for a nap because I was still feeling pretty sick. Laid down for a bit but couldn't sleep so decided to go explore. I ended up going to a place called wicked travel to figure out the rest of my trip up the east coast. They had this deal where you could get 6 nights in a hostel, a everglade trip, a 4x4 sand island trip and sailing on the whitsundays for a pretty good price. I sat down with the girl and figured out the dates for all my tours and stuff because I had limited time in australia. She said the boat that came with the package was awful and convinced me to upgrade. she also booked me a greyhound bus ticket up the coast so I could get around. She had to finalize some stuff so I went to walk around town. I went up to darling harbor and it was beautiful. I already liked sydney 900x better than melbourne. I there was soo many boats. A pirate ship, a navy ship, and a submarine. I climbed up one of the lighthouses and got a really nice view. after that I headed to check out the harbor bridge and the sydney opera house! On the way a saw a man that looked exactly like dean winner. I tried to take a couple pocks but he caught on pretty quick so I only got one. The sydney opera house was pretty sweet. I was thinlking about getting a tour but they were pretty pricey so I decided against it. After that I went throught the botanical gardens and randomly ran into a library. I went inside to use the internet and ended up having to get a library card. Anyway I went back to the travel agent to pick up my info. It turned out that those 6 nights were not really inclided at all. They just gave you vouchers for discounts. Also they weren't able to book me a place in byron bay (my next stop) because the hostel they worked with didn't have any openings. So basically travel agencies suck!! Anyway, I wasn't going to let it ruin my vacay! After that I decided to head to bondi beach. Grabbed a bus to the beach and took a quick nap. There waas a band playing in front of the visitors center so I hung out and listened to that for a bit. Walked aeound and then took the bus back to the city. I was going to go out but still felt like crap so decided to stay in and enjoy my room to myself (no one else had shown up!!). The next day I decided to go to manly beach. I had a pretty good breakfast and headed up to the opera house again so I could grab the ferry. On the ferry I met THE sketchiest old man ever. He let me sit down across from him so I could take pictures and didn't stop talking for the whole time!! Luckily he ended up striking up a conversation with a group of 3 boys on the boat and eventually introduced them to me. It turned out they were from denmark and studying in sydney. They invited me to tag along with them to the beach. Two of the boys wanted to go surfing but I didn't feel comfortable leaving my stuff on the beach so I stayed with the other guy. The other two boys went to rent surf boards. As soon as they got back there was an announcement that a shark had been spotted in the area everyone had to leave the water. Pretty funny timing. We all hung out on the beach chatting and relaxing for a bit until they had to leave to meet up with the rest of their group. I hung out on the beach for a while and then decided to head back to sydney. Stopped at an aldi's and bought some granola bars and bread for my trip up the coast! On the walk back from the ferry I met a nice swedish couple and talked to them for a bit. Went and checked out hyde park and then back to my hotel to use the internet. Bummed around for a bit and then headed to the greyhound station to grab my night bus up to byron bay. I got really lucky and got 2 seats to myself so I basically slept the whole way.