SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA

After a week of drinking, partying and some very late nights in Surfers Paradise my body told me that it had enough. When I got to the hostel in the center of Sydney I didn't leave for about 2 days with the exception of going to the supermarket.



When my body and mind started to work again I found out there was a good friendly crowd of people in the hostel. Overall however I found the center of Sydney overcrowded, costly and had an attitude. I did get a far better impression when I visited again in 2009 but as far as the "Sydney or Melbourne" debate went Melbourne won it for me no contest.

On the 3rd night there I felt well enough again to go out at night. Now I had read and been warned about the attitude of the bouncers in the pubs and clubs there beforehand but I was still shocked by the attitude they had. Returning from the toilet I seen one of the group I was with being thrown out a bar for being "too drunk". The strange thing was is that the person in question was not even drinking alcohol because he was on antibiotics.


Now this kind of braindead and stupid attitude quickly put me off having anything to do with the nightlife there. The following day I went out to explore the city taking my almost compulsory photo of Sydney opera house. It was very very strange to see christmas stuff in the shops when it was about 32 degrees C.



After that I got away from there and headed down to Bondi beach. The last thing I was expecting from somewhere with a world famous name is a place that didn't look much different from a typical English beach town. With the obvious exception of people with surfboards!!!!!!!



It seemed that at least half the people in my hostel were Irish, so needless to say it was one of them non stop party places. The above picture was taken at a pub near Bondi junction.



Another of our favourite spots was the 90s club down the coast at Coogee beach. It was a long walk back however at 3am !!!!!



2 of the girls in the hostel were from Iceland, they had a book full of pictures from their homeland and it looked amazing. Made a mental note to visit Iceland one day!!!!!!!!!!!

The time as Bondi like at Melbourne, Cairns and Surfers revolved around pubs, clubs, hostel BBQs etc. The week flew by and before I knew it I was flying down back to Melbourne which was to be the last stop before heading home.