Roadtrip Australia: Van-Tastic NSW - KIRSTY AND CARLY Kirsty and Carly embark on the ultimate Aussie roadtrip as they motor around New South Wales with Van-Tastic Adventures for six action-packed, free-wheeling weeks of adventure.

SYDNEY!

AUSTRALIA | Tuesday, 27 October 2009 | Views [1302] | Comments [2]

Hello!

After almost five weeks on the road, we successfully made it to Sydney!

Most of the places we visited up until this point were chilled out coastal towns, so it was a bit of a shock to arrive in Sydney during peak hour to see so many cars and people everywhere. It didn’t take us long to adjust though! It sure is a happening city with so many things to do.

Surfing on Bondi

Let’s Go Surfing took us surfing on Australia’s most iconic beach, Bondi. The lesson was shared with several backpackers of similar age and standard to us. We split up into small groups and our instructor Lachy was very good at teaching us the essentials of wave riding and was very helpful in helping us to improve. It was so much fun and we both managed to stand up. We surfed on Bondi!!! Yeeaaaahhhh!!!!

Cockatoo Island

We also were lucky enough to camp on Cockatoo Island – an island in the middle of Sydney Harbour where convicts used to be held. There is a lot of other interesting history about the place, including being used during World War II to repair ships. We arrived there just before dusk and I got a cool but eerie feeling as I stepped off the ferry, imagining what it would have been like to live there as a convict. We had amazing views of the harbour and the Harbour Bridge.

It was soooo amazing there! There weren’t many other campers at the time and it was like we had the place all to ourselves. We walked around and saw all the remains of the convict cells and other historical remains such as ports and huge machinery for building and repairing ships. When we woke up the next day we did an audio tour of the island where we discovered the history of many of the interesting spots on the island that we had become curious about the night before.

Wake Up! Hostel

For most of our time in Sydney we stayed at Wake Up! Hostel. It is in the ultimate spot for backpackers in Sydney and is decked out! They have a really cool bar-slash-restaurant in the basement. On the first night we were there, there was a great band playing covers to some our favourite songs. We both had a really nice meal from their top quality menu with nothing over 10 bucks too. Thanks to Christian and all the other staff at Wake Up! who made our stay there so good and for holding our bags while we went on surf camp.

Comments

1

Hi Kirsty and Carley

Glad to hear you enjoyed spending time in our City (Sydney) going to Bondi and learning how to surf. As well as visiting interesting sites during your stay..

When I was young I was a surfboard rider, I live at Broad Beach on the Gold Coast in Qld and surf many of the beaches as far north as Alexandrai Headlands and down to past the Tweed Heads. After moving to Sydney surfing Bondi and other Sydney beaches. I met my husband surfing at Bonid.

Have a great holiday in Australia and hope you have fabulous weather.

Amber :o)

Amber Nov 2, 2009 4:38 PM

2

I recently travelled to Australia from Italy, once upon my arrival to Sydney Australia was very similar to your cultural and geographic shock that you experienced. Befor our arrival to Sydney we landed at Brisbane and travelled down the coastline by car and experienced the great shore lines. Then just like that we seemed to stumble in a hidden city thats surrounded by sand, shore and mystery it was spectacular.

jason Feb 24, 2010 8:35 PM