SYDNEY, Day 1

Mobley & I arrived in Sydney January 24. We went straight to our hostel (X Base), dropped our luggage at rm. 411, & headed to Bondi Beach. We took a 45 min. bus ride in the sweltering heat (after almost taking the wrong bus). When we got there, we grabbed lunch & drank water with no ice, then headed to the beach. The waves were insane & the water was cold, but it felt amazing because of the horrendous heat. We then walked along the coast, exploring the massive rocks & "mermaid ponds." We met lots of friendly Australians. It's funny because they will just start talking to you & inviting you to jump in the water or lay out on the rocks. Our walk along the cliffs took us all the way to Tamara Beach. We were really far from Bondi, but we needed to catch a bus. So we just started walking... & walking... until we were about to pass out of from the heat & the hills. We got lost for about 1hour & 45 minutes among some residential area. We finally found a bus stop & went back to the city. I almost passed out on the ride home... sooo tired. That night we went to Darling Harbour to get dinner. It is a really "grand" spot (our Irish roomie at the hostel uses words like "grand" & "lovely." I love her accent!) There is so much going on at the Harbour... Aborigines playing music & dancing, boats, & random people entertaining the tourists. Well, we almost fell asleep in our plates, so we thought we should try to keep ourselves up (we had been traveling for over 24 hours) by seeing a movie. Well, we fell asleep right away & were so miserable that we walked out. We headed back to X Base & went to sleep in our no air conditioned room & it was miserably hot.