Surreal Sydney

Well I don't know anyone called May to do a 'May in May' entry so I'm returning to Oz once more!Now I'm in Sydney!Have to put up the obligatory shots of the opera house and harbour bridge of course.

My dad flew with me to Sydney so I got to spend a couple of days there with him before he flew back home.We did all the touristy things like the harbour cruise,visited the opera house,went round the botanic gardens,did a city tour,went to paddy's markets (i thought it would be irish?!) and I just lapped up the fact my dad was taking me out to dinner at night so i got some proper food!it was great to see him again and sad to see him go.i was lucky enough to have a place to stay in sydney,lesley,a girl from my home town who has been living in sydney for 8 years and who i had actually only met once before,let me stay in her house for just over a week.i slept in her kitchen!i was just loving the fact i didn't have to pay any rent!she was great and took me to some 'sights' like the 'home and away' beach!ha ha!To experience Bondi Beach life we had lunch at the Bondi surf club and watched the surfers.i also got to meet up with my friend craig from busso who very kindly took me to the zoo and showed me about Manly.I also spent a day going up around the Blue Mountains and little towns nearby with some randoms on a tour - always enjoyable being with people from different countries and guessing their accents!

I was a bit daunted when i first got to Syndey because it was the first big city i had been to on my travels and it was BIG!i also kept getting lost which wasn't very comforting!i felt a bit more settled when i got to spend a day in Manly and was near the beach and it was smaller and my heart rate slowed a bit.I even ended up getting offered a job in Sydney as one of those people who hassle you on the streets to sign up to donate money to charities each month,but sydney was so expensive that there would be no way i could've survived.plus i hate hassling people!

Sydney was slightly surreal to me,one of those places that you always think of when australia is mentioned with the icon of sydney opera house.you see it so much on tv but as much as i did like sydney,i think there are much cooler places to visit and appreciate.it stressed me out at times because it was so big and busy and it felt a bit impersonal,think i'm more of a chilled city type!