Weekend in Sydney

Saturday - 4 hour flight, watched Jack Reacher, chatted to the person next to me, got extra leg room, was lovely.

Taxi to Sydney hostel was fine with Little Tom and Sarah, having met them at the airport. Hostel room was really nice - roomy, 6 bed dorm with just 2 other randoms when we arrived who were leaving the next day (when Rebecca and Chris arrived).

We went for an explore to find some food and get our bearings, with Little Tom as our 'expert' guide, having been here before. Anyone who knows Tom will know that this was an error, but we thought he could do an ok job of it. Besides, we had a guidebook and a map, so it was all ok in the end, despite us going in circles for a good hour and a bit. Ate at a cheap thai place, as it turned out our hostel is in the centre of Sydney, but that is also right next to Chinatown.

We wandered up to the harbour/quay, which took a lot of effort to find due to Tom's certainty in directions and a stubborn refusal to return to the well-populated high streets. It was actually just a straight road north of our hostel, but we ended up meandering off to the north west, completely missing the actual harbour at first. An hour later, we found the right roads again and were able to grab a drink at a lovely bar opposite the opera house.

Headed back the easy way, unpacked and slept.

Sunday - Powerhouse museum till 2 pm, much like the science museum in London, but had a Wallace and Gromit exhibition on the day, and lots of stuff on space and physics. Was cool and I enjoyed it lots.

We grabbed some lunch, and met Chris and Rebecca at Sydney central train station, opposite our hostel.

Photo slideshows of electives from the others. Some great photos and stories. Turns out I was indoors and actually working the most, but as the others said, "Tans fade, publications don't"

Chris, Rebecca, Sarah went to a church that provides the music and is essentially the HQ for their Nottingham one - kind of a big deal apparently. Tom and I, naturally, went to the bar and had some (finally!) cheap pints.

The others got back, we went exploring for dinner, found an italian at 9.30 pm, was nice, excellent meal

FroYo with Sarah to round off the evening. This place was fun - pick a frozen yoghurt flavour (or many) and choose from a ridiculous range of sweet toppings, weigh it at the end and pay by weight. Lots of sugary goodness. Like pick n mix, but with ice cream flavours as well. Need to find one of these in the UK...