Sydney, Australia, Australia

I finally got a nice day in Sydney today! My day started out at Erin and Jono’s where I woke up and packed all my things to head back to the city. I caught Jono just before he was heading out for a surf, so he was nice enough to give me a lift over to Gosford Station to catch my train. The timing worked out perfectly to get me to the station just in time to catch the 10:06am train to Sydney Central Station.

The train was right on time and I was in Sydney by 11:30am. Luckily my hostel for the night is right across the street from the train station, so I didn’t have to lug my backpacks across the city. The hostel isn’t quite as nice as the one on The Rocks, but that’s not surprising. The worst thing about this hostel is the location. It’s perfect for getting to the station, but besides that there isn’t a lot around.

I dropped off my bags at the hostel and set off to catch a bus at Hyde Park. I caught the #380 bus to Bondi Beach and within a half hour I was standing at the north end of the beach. It is a very beautiful spot, and it was absolutely rammed with people, especially for a Tuesday afternoon. There were thousands of people sunbathing, swimming and surfing. They were also setting up for a surf competition that will start next week, so there was a lot of construction happening there.

I hung out for about an hour and then hopped on a bus back into town. I figured that since the sun was finally shining on Sydney I should take advantage of it. I got off the bus at Market St and walked over to the Sydney Tower inside the Westfield. I paid my $20 and went up to the top of the tower to the observatory. It was a beautiful day and there was a great view from the top. Unfortunately, because of the lighting in the observatory, it was a difficult spot for taking pictures. With a circular room like this, there is a glare off every window you look at, so the camera was fairly useless in there.

I left the Tower and headed over to Krissy’s spa, Ayurve. Krissy was nice enough to book me in for a massage with their best masseuse at the Mates Rate, which was awesome! I had a one hour massage from Nerlani, and it was exactly what I needed. My back’s been a bit sore for the last few days, and I’m thinking it’s from carrying my bags around from one house and hostel to another.

I went back over to the Sydney Tower after the massage and went on the motion ride called OzTrek. It basically shows you all corners of Australia from all different viewpoints. It was pretty cool, but was aimed at kids more than adults. Still, it was included in the ticket price for the Tower, so I made good use of it.

I came back to the hostel fairly early and had dinner downstairs at their restaurant. My train out of Central is 7:42am, so I made sure to pack all my bags tonight so I don’t have to worry about doing it tomorrow morning when I wake up. Plus, it’ll be better for the other guys in the hostel if I’m not trying to pack in the dark in the morning! I better get some rest, because it’s going to be a long day on the train tomorrow.