Sydney!

 Sydney was awesome. I didn't want to come home, their public transport to get around the city was what won me over. The hostel I was staying at was in Glebe which had a light rail and a bus route that got me to and from the city. 

On the first day, I just spent the time reading, and getting food and water before my friend showed up that evening. We ended up at a bar called Different Drummer Bar and got quite drunk on rum while catching up. We were going to go clubbing but unfortunately, I forgot my ID so we ended up heading back to our hostels. 

The second day we headed to Bondi Beach to read, sunbathe (get sunburnt), and have a swim. Luckily we found a spot that was a little empty rather than the crowded area so it was easier to find our spot. Luckily no one stole our stuff while we went swimming. We both forgot to get towels so we had to buy a towel while we were there for showers, to say I still have sand everywhere is an understatement.On the way to Central Station to get the bus to Bondi we jumped on a electric bike for the first time for me which was a lot of fun.  

Day three was concert day, I thought it would be a great idea to wear what I was going to wear to the concert for the day. We ended up going to the Sydney Opera House in the morning and hanging at my friends hostel before heading to the concert. They had the Tay Tay Express leaving every few minutes from Central Station playing non-stop Taylor music all the way to the show. There was a place where they took our photo before heading out and the first thing we did when we got to the venue was buy my siblings and myself hoodies before the merch lines got long and get to the bathroom so we wouldn't have to take any breaks during the show. We were way up the top in the 600s, the view for Sabrina and Taylor was amazing. Yes they looked tiny but we could still see them, hear them and see the stage visuals and the patterns the lights made during the songs. As expected I could not talk, hear or stand properly after the show due to so much dancing, screaming and singing. Even after watching the Eras Tour film at the cinema it was nothing compared to seeing the actual thing. It took over an hour just to get to Central Station after the show and couldn't find the bus stop so I just caught a Uber to the hostel. 

Day four my friend went home but I ended up hanging out with another friend who was there also for Taylor and we went and visited the Sydney Tower Eye and explored a bit of the city. We went to Paddy's Market, a mall with Timezone in it and saw some art works scattered about the city. There was a cool water fountain area by the Chinese Garden of Friendship near Darling Harbour and had lunch at Thai Town in Haymarket within Chinatown. It was cool to see different parts of the city.

Day five I thought I'd catch the light rail from Glebe to Darling Harbour and checked out some of the ships, boats and sculptures by the Australian National Maritime Museum which has a replica of the HMB Endeavour. I really wanted to go to Luna Park but it was sadly closed the entire time I was in Sydney. On the ferry ride to Circular Quay I decided to go to Taronga Zoo and check out the animals there. After the zoo I caught up with my friend from the day previous, while I was waiting I happily watched an Abrorigional play the Diggorydoo at the station; we went and checked out Paddy's Market properly. I got a few suviniours and we went back to another part of Chinatown I didn't see the last time. We ended up getting these very nice skewers at Hay Fried Skewer and went to a nice Galeto place for dessert called Galeto and Sandwich where they were playing nothing but Taylor Swift music. While exploring a mall and buying a skirt to wear the following day my buckles on my bag broke so I ended up having to carry it by the handles instead but got into the habit of hanging it on my elbow. 

Day six I hung out in Glebe and went and had a walk around Victoria Park but you couldn't venture too much as there was Asbestos there. I had brunch and a ice coffee over a book at this nice cafe in the park called Gardener's Lodge Cafe. It was nearly 40 degrees so I headed to the mall up the road and went window shopping instead out of the sun. I couldn't help but buy some books once I saw how cheap they were and went to Starbucks to have a Frappaccino and a read. That's when this local lady asked if she could sit with me at the table and we ended up having a conversation that lasted from 12:30pm til 5:30pm. I think she just wanted someone to rant to cause she went on about the Australian government and said a bunch of racist things about the Abrorigionals. She also complained about tourists, disabled people and foreigners stealing their jobs while also giving me life advice to get my book published and work at the fish markets. I kinda wish I had told her she was talking to a disabled tourist encouraging them to come work in Sydney but I didn't have the heart to tell her, guess I was also kind of lonely.

Day seven, the last and longest day of the trip. I got up at 4am to get ready to be picked up to be taken to the airport. To anyone wanting to travel to Sydney I highly recommend the backpackers The Village Glebe, yes there's students and sometimes they are a bit loud but you get to meet new people, it's close to everything and cheap and of course they are so nice. You have to get their app to enter the rooms, stairs and etc but it's super convenient to everything. To each their own with comfort and bunk beds of course but it's safe. I ended up having McDonalds for breakfast and saw the online famous McDonalds "food lift" in person and damn they really do drop and miss a lot but it was better than nothing. I slept on and off on the flight to Auckland then unfortunately didn't on the domestic flight. When I got home at 9/10pm I went to bed and slept till 4pm the following day. I was soo tired. This whole trip has made me want to move to Sydney to be honest especially the public transport and how easy it is to get around. I did wake up a bit and remind myself I only loved it so much because I didn't have to stress about money but I really do love Australia, I never want to come home whenever I visit which will hopefully be soon except in Brisbane this time.

As always, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Hope you are having or have had a great day/evening.

Ems