We flew from Melbourne to Sydney with Tiger Airways which was extremely sketchy. They didn’t check any ID and had such strict weight restrictions on carry-ons that everyone was basically wearing everything they owned as they went through security. Morgan had her jeans wrapped around her waist under her sweater and I saw a girl pulling straighteners and all sorts of electronics out of her pockets when we’d gone through. Our flight was rough, and it was pouring when we got to Sydney but luckily only a short subway ride and walk to our hostel. We managed to do a turnaround from soaked and with plane hair, to ready to go out in about an hour which is a record. The hostel had a van that picked everyone up and took us to a bar called the Gaff. We weren’t really sure where we were even going but apparently there were coups to be had and we like free stuff. They gave us free fish and chips and 3 free drinks if we bought one drink! Love it. We texted our friend Alex, who we met in Tongariro National Park back in New Zealand and he told us to meet him and his friends out in Bondi Beach. We grabbed a cab and were out there by midnight. Great decision as it turned into one of the best nights of the trips. We started at a bar called Beach Road Hotel and then had a run in with the “fun police”. It’s ok, that’s what they called themselves and tried to get all of us into one cab when clearly that is illegal. We eventually ended up at a bar called the Sugar Mill in The Cross and danced until 4:30am.

Morgan, Me, Alex and Meg^

Putting on our “serious police faces” for the fun police ^

On leaving, Morgan kept insisting that we walk home and “explore the city” which was hilarious in the morning seeing as we had no idea where we were. We eventually took a cab back and were so excited to sleep. However, when we got back to out 36(!) person room in the hostel, it was deserted. Something wasn’t right. After talking to reception, we found out that someone had fire extiquished the entire room, leaving a thick layer of disgusting foamy, powdery stuff. They told us to “find the beds with the least crap on them” which wasn’t want we wanted to hear at 5:30am. They moved Meg eventually but I was so tired I didn’t want to move all my stuff so I just slept in a fire extinguishy bed. I haven’t died yet so it probably wasn’t too toxic.

Outside our hostel, wish we’d actually been able to experience the Church dorm ^

The next day we got up and went to explore SYDNEY!! We got amazing smoothies and walked to the harbor to see the bridge and the opera house before getting on the ferry to Manley.

 Manley was so pretty with tons of little shops and a really beautiful surf beach at the end of town. We stayed on the beach for a while with our feet in the water before heading back to the city.

Manley ^

We decided not to really go out that night and instead went for a delicious Malaysian meal in Darling harbor. Sydney felt surprisingly American and I kept forgetting I was in Australia and thought it could have been San Francisco or maybe a (much nicer) Baltimore inner harbor. Meg and Morgan went back to the hostel after dinner but I really wanted to see the opera house lit up so I trekked back to the harbor. An opera was just letting out and it was nice to just stroll around the steps and look at city lights.

Out to dinner ^

We didn’t have much time the next morning since our overnight train to Byron Bay left at 4pm, but we really wanted to get out to Bondi again and actually see the beach.  After a bus ride and a super long walk we made it with a picnic with us, and headed down to the cliffs overlooking the beach to eat. It was so warm and everyone was out surfing and sunbathing and generally living up to the Aussie stereotype.

Bondi beach ^

The rest of the day consisted of getting on our train and beginning the 13 or so hour overnight trip up the coast to Byron Bay, again we didn’t realize how big Australia is… Once I fell asleep the train ride wasn’t too bad, except for when we switched to a coach at 4am for the last two hours. We arrived, exhausted, in a pretty empty Byron Bay around 6am and found a coffee shop to sit in for a while. I was super tired and drained my coffee in about 60 second and proceeded to eat the sugar packets. I think that woke me up a bit.

Sugar is goooood ^

Summary: Sydney is baller.

Location: Sydney, Australia