Sydney

Sunday 20th - Thursday 24th August 2017

Sunday
I'm not gonna lie... I shed a few tears on the plane! It has been a lot harder than I thought it would be leaving the Langton family and I really don't feel ready to leave New Zealand yet, especially as the weather is just starting to get nicer! However, the in flight meal cheered me up as it was delicious! I'll definitely fly emirates again, they're way fancier than Jetstar! I got through customs so quickly, e passport makes everything so much easier for sure! It was so good seeing Kirsten at arrivals, it's literally feels like years since we last saw each other even though it's only half a year! She dropped me off at Rachel and Kay's house, Wade and Mary's friends who have very kindly let me stay at their place in Redfern, but not before having a good catch up! Rachel and Kay seem awesome!

Monday
So I could say that I had the best day ever in Sydney seeing the sights, however that was definitely not the case! I facetimed Mary and Emily in the morning (don't think that helped the whole feeling homesick for New Zealand thing!) Mary said that the boys didn't have very good drop offs which of course made me feel even worse!

I didn't really have much of a plan for today, other than go and see Sydney Opera house, so I popped that in my maps and decided to walk into the city and then go to a few places I see on the way. Turns out there's not masses of touristy stuff to do in the city for free! I did grab the most delicious brunch though!

Following this I finally got to the Opera house and I have to say, I was mildly disappointed! I don't think the cloudy weather helped, but it actually looked pretty ugly up close! However, after a short stroll through the botanical gardens I saw it as it is in pictures and I have to say it looks so much better from further away.

I then wandered round the city aimlessly, as I had no idea where to go or what to do! Travelling by

yourself does get a bit boring some times, especially after 7 months of pretty much always being with someone else!

Tuesday

Today was heaps better as I chilled with Kirsten all day! Although, saying that, I almost didn't as I panic got on the wrong train! But it was all good I got the express train from the next station! Even though I had leftover dominoes for breakfast, I couldn't resist Kirsten's offer of a free maccas from where she works! After that it was time for the hour and a half drive to the blue mountains. We went to the 'scenic world' where they have a cable car and cliff train and things which was pretty cool! The cliff train is the steepest in the world! It was such a fun day and lovely spending time with Kirsten - even if we did get stuck in peak hour traffic for ages on the way home!

Wednesday 

Had a leisurely day today, made my way down to Bondi beach but then realised I never put my bikini on or brought it with me so that was silly! I was gonna do the bondi to coogee  walk but i just decided I didn't want to in the end! To be honst everywhere kinda looks he same as the Jurassic coast back home, just better weather! I sat and watched the surfers for a while before a lady asked me to film a Facebook live video for her. I thought why the hell not, I'm not doing anything really! So I did it for her, she's a dancer/ self help person or something and yeah it was definitely interesting! 

After this unusual occurrence, I headed back to redfern to FaceTime my favourite boys! Cillian orettt much spent the whole time crying and telling me to come back  and Darragh keeps saying how much he missed me! Not gonna lie made my heart break a wee bit! They're just too cute! I then headed back out and had a wander around before deciding to just go back and chill for a bit. When rachel and Kay came hom, we went straight out to happy d's which is the most amazing dumplings place! Nothing better than dumplings and beer! We then went to another pub and got chicken wings too for a second dinner!

Thursday

Thursday has come around all too soon and it was time to leave Sydney! If anything it's made me even more excited to come back and travel around Australia more thoroughly, especially if I can meet up with friends! However, I was very excited today as I got a message from Emma saying she managed to get her visa sorted and she was headed to Sydney eh opera house! So after picking my bag and doing a wash I met up with her in Hyde Park for a wee bit, before quickly heading back to pack my washing. Mitch came and dropped us off at the airport which was so lovely of him, we didn't really see all that much of him! It took ages for my check in to open, and then finally I got through and I got pulled over for a full body scan and my bag was pulled over! Honestly he first time this has ever happened. I chilled with Emma in the airport before her flight left, and then I was on my own for an hour and a bit! So I decided to bug my fav family again and forced them to stay on FaceTime with me until my flight was boarding... they love it! 

Return to Queenstown: Part 2

Monday 1st May 2017

It was a beautiful morning this morning and, after a fire drill at Nomads finally woke up Kieran, we decided to go for a hike with two other girls, Edda and Jackie. We stopped in at cookie time on the way there for hot chocolates and oh my god, I had a white chocolate hot chocolate with tons of cream and sprinkled cookies on the top... it was insanely delicious! I'm for sure coming back for a milkshake!

We then went to the Ben Lomen forest track, that leads to the skyline luge and gondola cafe. The trail was steep and I am so unfit (despite my attempts at running to get better!) so it was for sure a struggle but it was so worth the pain! About half way, after the steepest of the trail was over, there is a lookout with some pretty impressive views, but it has nothing on the skyline!

We had gotten subway sandwiches before heading up, and I am so glad I saved mine. Nothing like a delicious sandwich and a great view!

We then went a bit further up to watch some of the people doing the luge. I kinda wanted to do it again, but it's pretty expensive for what you get so we didn't bother, especially as we've done it before. Apparently the track isn't as good as the one in Rotorua anyway. It was pretty amusing watching some people do it though, as a few of them would go so sooooo slowly and the people behind them would get so mad. Oh and also at one point one guy decided it would be a great idea to take a photo of the view on the luge track. Like seriously he was there for a good 5 minutes... some people definitely lack brain cells for sure!

Walking back down to town was certainly a lot easier than walking up! Kieran and I had a good heart to heart as well, we had a great cousin bonding session!

The four of us then decided to go and play frisbee golf, as Nomads have frisbees to borrow for free. It was actually way more fun than I thought it would be. Although I was unsurprisingly awful at it!

When we finished, the sun was setting over lake Wakatipu and it was breathtaking. I know I say it a lot but I still can't get my head round how beautiful it is here!

Nomads do a free meal every night at loco, so we for sure made the most of that! Tonight it was chicken curry, pretty standard, nothing special but it was free so I was happy! Mostly tonight I've been thinking over and over about the bungy jump tomorrow, so I decided to call it a night when we got back to the hostel and went to bed!