Sydney at last!

Almost a year ago now my friend Sarah and I started talking about moving to a far away land together. Somewhere we could explore new things, meet new people and just experience something completely different. We wanted adventure (!) and we dreamed of Sydney. After many months, much deliberation and perhaps a slight lack of planning, we found ourselves once again reunited in the Los Angeles international airport, prepared to fly together into the great unknown. The flight over was way too long, but thankfully I was distracted by mounds of free food, movies and endless free wine! At 8 am on Tuesday February 8th, we arrived in Sydney, 17 hours ahead of CST. And off to the hostel we went. The Work n Holiday program that is helping us get settled was kind enough to pay for our first two nights in Sydney, and this hostel was extremely nice. Too nice really, we couldn't afford to stay. Here's a view of the city from the roof of our hostel:

During our first week in Sydney, Sarah and I walked EVERYWHERE. Never have I done so much consecutive walking in my life.  It was wonderful to see every part of the city, and not risk the chance of missing things by taking the bus for instance,  but my feet were not happy with me, at all. Ask Sarah. (I considered posting a picture of my blistered and bloody left foot (ok, slight exaggeration) but I thought I'd better not.) On one of our lovely walks we came across something we never knew existed: the University of Notre Dame Australia. It is of course different from our beloved Notre Dame, but has some slight affiliation. Being the domer I am, I had to get a picture (in other words, Sarah made me take a picture):

(That's me!) After two nights of staying in our lovely Chinatown hostel, we decided to shake things up a bit and head to Kings Cross, the crazier part of town. What greeted us when we entered the infamous strip of Victoria St made me very thirsty.

(That's Sarah.) YUM! Coca-Cola, my favorite. Most people reading this will know I have a slight addiction to the super sugary drink. I came out here with the intention of kickin my habit, so to speak, and that might be easier than I thought. Coca-Cola costs $3 a CAN! and I've seen worse (and I'm ashamed to say I coughed up the required dough. It hurt. A lot.) So, so long Coke. It's been a great run, but it's just not gonna work out. In the end, you required too much of me. You'll be hard to forget I'll confess, since I walk by this nice sized billboard with your label on it and think of you, more often than I'd like to admit. But enough about my former love...

After shedding a small tear, we walked away from the Coke sign and headed to our next hostel, The Original Backpackers (shown above). I loved the look of the place (from the outside) but our room left something to be desired. First and foremost, AC, which is apparently a lot less common here than one might think. We once again, walked around the neighborhood of Kings Cross, and I took a liking to it immediately. While staying at this lovely hostel (wish I had taken a picture of our room, but alas, I didn't) we met two lovely brits, who made Sarah and I feel extremely tall (I'm crouching down in this picture):

We spent a lovely evening at World Bar. Indie night, whoop! I actually knew who was singing! And that was that, and this is this. More to come in a bit!