Landing in Sydney after 26 hours couped up in a plane can be a little of a shock as your immediately thrown into a city that has all the similar traits of a busy city with the added population of backpackers and travellers. Coming from the north east of England the sight of many over laden, over sized backpacks carried around by people, sometimes half the size of the pack, is a strange sight. Yet these backpack invaders seem to simply blend into the background with ease and become part of the daily Sydney entourage. The trouble with arriving in Sydney, for the beginning of your years working holiday visa, is that you’re not gently eased into Australia but thrown immediately into the depths of large hostels with all the established groups of roommates and international cliques. For seasoned solo travellers this will be familiar grounds but to those maybe trying to lose their travelling virginity it can take a little while to relax into daily life on the road.
Try to remember why you are travelling in the first place which may be to experience new things and to be open to unfamiliar experiences. This will help to keep your head in the sometimes unsettling madness of the immediate hostel life. Sydney seems to have two groups of travellers there the first are the people fresh off the plane sitting on their own reading through the familiar guide books and the second are the people nearing the end of their visa desperately trying to find sponsorship or a way of extending their visa. I could see how easy it would be to be swept into a group and ending up staying probably longer than you wished to in Sydney when the rest of Australia has so much to offer. A lot of people I spoke to before heading to Australia all gave the advice of "try not to get stuck in Sydney" and to head off as soon as you’re feeling adjusted to being on your own in a strange place.