Monday 8th December (just to let you know where I was at!).... never again on an overnight greyhound bus - sleeper buses I can handle but not ones where you have to try and remain upright! In the end I went down the back of the bus and stretched right out leaving Ria somewhere in the middle of the bus! Luckily we managed to get a few hours sleep, albeit broken. We arrived in Canberra feeling very much shattered but within 5 minutes of walking out of the station we found our hostel which was a nice YHA one. We checked-in but couldn't go to our rooms as it was too early so we had a shower and then went out to buy some food for breakfast. Anyway later on we decided that today would be our only day for sightseeing so we hopped on a sightseeing bus and saw all of the sights... mainly just political stuff like Old and New Parliament House and a very informative museum. Came back and had a chicken burger at the Hogs Breath and then basically just chilled back at the hostel as we were almost comatose...that was until Ria decided to slip over in the kitchen and pour hot coffee on herself - bless her, she came back into the dorm and started crying and she couldn't get out what she'd done (I thought she'd had another type of accident!). But I helped calm her down and luckily she wasn't scalded. It was more of a shock than the heat of the coffee that upset her.
Tuesday we checked-out and later got on another greyhound bus but this one was only going to be for 3 hours - phew! We arrived in Sydney with nowhere to stay as we were hoping that Ria's uncle might offer us a room but he was very distant with her so it was a no-go there. But just a few feet away from the station we saw a YHA and managed to book ourselves in there for the night. As we were starving we decided to go and explore the area which was near Chinatown and found a Nando's (?!) there so we stuffed ourselves silly!
Wednesday we had to check-out as they didn't have any space for tonight so we previously booked 3 nights at Base which was even more central. Fair enough it was central but it was the worst hostel we'd ever stayed at (we're starting to despise them!). The kitchen was that dirty I wouldn't even let a rat eat from the countertops let alone the floor! Needless to say we only cooked once there and that was using just the microwave. But anyway, we found a nice sandwich place and had some sarnies there before heading off to the Sydney Opera House where we went on a tour. Some of the theatres/stages were impressive and the way it was designed and the thought that went into it right down to the type of wood used for the seating was really interesting. On the way back to the hostel we bumped into a couple we'd met on our Fiji Experience tour and chatted to them for a while (of all the places!).
Thursday we had a lie-in and then walked down to the aquarium where we saw playful platypus, pretty colourful jellyfish, big turtles, cute sharks (only one species were cute), nemo's and dory's. Afterwards we walked around Darling Harbour and had a subway for lunch, then walked a bit further and went around Paddy's Market - which isn't very Irish at all - should be renamed Jimmie Chan's market! That evening we went back to Kings Cross where we stayed when we first arrived in Oz and had a very authentic mexican; Burrito for me and Quesidilla for Ria and it didn't even upset me 
We then went back to the hostel and went to the adjoining bar, the Scary Canary and watched Mark Furze (Rick Dalby from Home & Away) sing and play his guitar with some other bloke - we even got a photo with him!
Friday the weather was awful - rained and rained. So what else can you do on a day like that but to walk around a museum - but not any museum.... the Powerhouse Museum which just happened to have a Star Wars exhibition on at the moment! Even Ria enjoyed it and now wants to watch all of the movies - my plan worked! We saw models of the Millenium Falcon, costumes, lightsabers, droids etc all used in the films and as the exhibition was based around science-fiction and fact there was also explanations and information on how scientists are trying to replicate some of the technology used or at least use the theories (or the force!).... if you know what I mean?! After that we walked around Paddy's again, then later we ate at the bar downstairs in the hostel. And that evening we read our books and I finished my UFO book which was a little too real!
Saturday we were looking forward to as it meant we were getting out of that hell-hole! We took a bus back over to the YHA where we'd stayed earlier and checked-in...ahhh such bliss compared with Base! As the sun was trying to breakthrough the cloud we thought we really should go and visit the infamous Bondi Beach but we went unprepared and didn't take our bikinis so we didn't stay long. And so we decided to go on a ferry (cheap one) around Sydney Harbour and take some pictures etc then we walked around 'The Rocks' and ended up buying a very tiny slice of Guylian chocolate cake and share it (hey - you would share it too if you knew how expensive it was!). That evening we'd planned to meet Ria's uncle (we weren't gonna hold a grudge and we'd come all this way) but either he stood us up or we got there too late (15 mins in fact) as there was no sign of him. Apparently he was waiting for like 45 minutes but we never saw him. So in the end we had a drink at the bar and got bought a drink (!) and then had a cheap meal at Yishinoya.
Sunday we decided to visit Paddy's Markets again where we bought a few goodies this time. Then after lunch we went on another ferry but this time from Darling Harbour to Sydney Harbour/Circular Quay, walked around and then came back again but stopped off this time at a Lindt cafe and bought a take-away mini piece of 'velour' which was just a cheesecake. We protected the cake (which came in an expensive-looking box) until we got back to the hostel and devoured it; a little cheesy we thought but it turned out to be delicious - an acquired taste one would say! Unfortunately after a little nap it decided it didn't want to be 'one' with me and ended up departing very swiftly - if you know what I mean?! 
We finally went out after my belly settled and we had a meal at a cafe down the road.
Monday we had the biggest lie-in ever and finally got out and went down to Circular Quay and then walked over to 'The Rocks' and found the steps to get on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We walked from one side to the other which was quite a relaxing easy walk and ended up getting the ferry back from Luna Park (they also have one in Melbourne). Ria was feeling naughty (again) and wanted KFC so we had that for lunch. Had a rest which turned into a powernap back at the hostel then went out to Bondi Beach. It was getting a little late so we didn't sunbathe on the beach but at least we walked along some of it - it's a very vain beach so to speak. Later on we went back down to Circular Quay and took some photos of the Opera House and Bridge lit up and then came back and had a light dinner consisting of cereal for me and toast for Ria!
Tuesday I woke up with an awful headache so after checking out Ria went on the net and updated her blog while I just laid on a sofa trying to have a nap. Even though we never actually went anywhere it felt so rushed - even leaving the hostel and making our way to the airport... and that bloody airport was a nightmare coz the travel ticket we'd bought to get us around the city didn't actually give us access into the airport - just the station. Because we refused to pay $12 each we went a train stop further and got off at Wolli Creek and finally found a taxi which cost half the price and that took us right to the door - so ha ha Sydney Airport! We checked-in our baggage, wrote out a couple of postcards each and before we knew it, it was boarding time. We were flying Qantas and it was quite a nice flight except for some woman next to me who we chatted to for a bit - she didn't just put her elbow on the middle armrest (I was in the middle) but she hogged it big time....the bitch! lol Anyway, I watched Dark Knight again so it wasn't all bad plus the food was quite tasty! 10pm we finally arrived in Singapore and as we were still on Oz time (1am) we decided that we'd be lazy and get a taxi to the hostel so we arrived about 11pm.... zzzzzzzzz
