Our longest bus journey in OZ, 10 hours, nothing compared to the 12 hour hell rides of Asia though. We crossed the Harbour Bridge and were in the capital around 8pm. We had planned to stay in the Kings Cross area, but we had been told a few dodgy things about it and it also meant getting a train, from where we got dropped off, to the hostel. So we decided to stay in the same hostel as some girls we had met at Spot X, who happened to be on the same bus as us. There were two girls from Canada; Danie and Bree, and two girls from Denmark; Nadia and Maiken. We ended up spending a few days hanging out. We managed to get a double room for $23 each a night which was amazingly cheap for Sydney. When we got to the room we realised why but it was ok for the money. That night we met the girls and decided to go out for a few drinks. It was Sunday but we figured it was Sydney and surely there would be something going on but there wasn't. So we just had a couple in Scubar and went on a pizza mission, which was a mission. We couldn't find a pizza shop for ages but we got there eventually. We heard about a free walking tour that left from the hostel at 9.30am so the next morning us, and the girls went on that. The tour took us round the city showing us all the sites and a few out of the way places, explaining the history of Sydney and how the English discovered Australia along the way. For a free tour it was really informative and well worth it, so we just gave a donation at the end. The girls went off for some lunch but we had a walk through the botanical gardens to a place called Mrs Mac's chair. Along the way there were trees and trees full of hundreds of flying foxes just hanging in the branches . Mrs Mac's chair is a peace of land that juts out into the harbour, this is where the governors wife ( Mrs Macquarie) used to sit waiting for her mail and her husband to come back from his voyages. There is a seat carved out of the rock for her as it is the best view of the harbour. These days it's a good spot for a photo . We rushed back to the hostel and quickly got changed as we wanted to go to a rotating roof top bar for sunset that the tour guide had told us about. It had great views of Sydney and was free to go up. Compare that to the $25 each it was to go up the massive Westfield tower. When I say it was free to go up we still had to buy a couple of $12 glasses of wine and some olives which I thought were free but ended up being $9! But we did get some awesome views. As it happens the vivid life festival was on at the opera house and they were doing light shows all around the harbour. So after our high rise views we had a walk round Circular Quay and watched all lights. They had patterned lights shining on all the tall buildings, and a massive projection onto the opera house of different patters. The shape of the opera house is supposed to represent the sails of Captain Cook's ship when he discovered Australia, and at one point they made it look like sails flapping in the wind. The next day we had a big shopping mission for some warmer clothes for NZ, then met up with the girls that night as it was Danie and Bree's last night. After some goodbyes the next morning we headed to the modern art gallery and then finished off our NZ shopping. We are well and truly set up for some winter weather now that's for sure! Just as well because we are going to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains tomorrow.