Arrived in Sydney!!! First few days.

Ok so the arrival went quite smoothly, no problems with customs. the only annoying thing was the big queue to get my luggage scanned.
Now that I am in Australia I will be blogging generally, I won't be doing a daily diary as its too much work. Plus some days will be really boring.
So I had booked a hostel for my arrival but didn't like it when I got there, just a bad feeling, so I stayed there one night - it was the Woodduck Inn. I then found a new hostel which I will stay in until I leave Sydney, The George Street Private Hotel - still in dorm.
Geogre Street is quite central and I am really glad I moved because its much busier so feel better walking around here.
My first few days I have walked to see the Opera House and have seen it so many times now that I'm not really fussed about it!! The Botanic Gardens are stunning and I could walk round them forever, don't think I could ever get bored. There are hundreds of fruit bats/red flying foxes there who are apparently nocturnal (sp?) but fly around during the day to cool down, its great to see them all. There are also alot of birds mainly cockatoos and the Australian black beaked ibis bird. They have a salt water pond and a fresh water pond in the gardens with lots of fish. I have also seen a tree planted by Rolf Harris (ooohhhh ahhhhhh!!) and a tree that was thought to have been extinct for over 65 thousand or million - alot anyway - years and then someone discovered one in Tasmania and so they planted one here. It really is a stunning city with some beautiful old buildings. It reminds me of Edinburgh a bit (not that its really like it) maybe its because you can walk round everywhere or just a feeling?
I have also been to the Australian Museum which wasn't what I thought, it was more like a natural history museum with skeletons, birds, insects and minerals but was kinda interesting all the same. They had a skeleton of a dinosaur that someone found which was cool. I think the skeletons were the best bit. I did check out the bridge climb but its about 60 pounds so I am going to give it a miss, would be good to do with family or friends so will just have to come back.
I went to Darling Harbour which is also very nice, maybe more of a holiday/tourist place. The aquarium was quite good. Seeing all the obvious sharks, stingrays, catfish, sealions, platypus, crocodiles, squid, jellyfish and lots of other fish like creatures. It was alot shorter than I expected.
I did check out the National Maritime Museum which was quite good and free. I don't know if I would've paid but it was fine to take up a bit of time.
I also did whale watching the same day. I met 3 lovely ladies Jill, Wendy and Kay. The whale watching was cool and we actually saw some whales, they did entertain us a bit by jumping out the sea a couple of times and we followed them for quite a while which was great. Anyway after the whale watching I went for a drink with the ladies and Wendy very kindly brought me a couple so a big thank you to her x x
I have been making my own dinner so its pretty much the same nightly. Chicken, pasta, veg and pine nuts actually really tasty and good to just have something simple again.
I have had a lazy day so far when I didn't get up until 10.30 which is really late for me but I just felt so cold. It is cold in the morning and evening but generally is ok (although jacket stays on - what was that about not owning a coat Maureen!!!) during the afternoon when the sun is out. Looking forward to heading to warmer airs. Sorted out my Oz Experience pass and I will now be leaving very early in the morning on Monday 10th July to head for 2 days surf camp, yes you heard correctly - its bloody freezing and I will be in the sea!!!
I met a Danish girl, Berit, who was just here for one night so we walked round the botanic gardens together, we also met 2 Korean guys who couldn't speak alot of English but we sat with them which was quite entertaining, and then after dinner went to the cinema to see Click (back to expensive cinema!), Click is a good film but also sad - it mad me cry!!!
I haven't really seen much tv as have been out most days doing stuff, did just see 10 minutes of neighbours but haven't seen it in about a month so it doesn't really interest me.
So today I went to Taronga Zoo. I had to get up earlyish and head to the Harbour to catch a ferry across, then a cable car up to the entrance of the zoo. I had a great day there. Got some fantastic pictures, I hope, of lions, tigers, birds, koalas, chimps which is cool. I watched the great bird show as recommended by numerious people. They are actually waiting to bring 5 Asian Elephants to the zoo and it has taken over a year and alot of money. They won the court case to bring them and boxed them up but protesters banged on the boxes and so the elephants were under so much stress that they had to be taken back, quite sad really. There seems to be alot of redevelopment going on at the zoo which is good to see. They also have a fantastic view of Sydney Harbour from there.
I got back from the zoo at about 3 and started to walk up George Street and who should I bump into but Imogen!!! Crazy. Said hi and had a bit of a chat, she begins her tour tomorrow so that should be cool.
I got back to the hostel and have just chilled out, called home, done blog(as you can see) and had dinner.
Well let me know if this style of blog suits you, hopefully it will.
Sending my love from Sydney!!
xx
P.S. Oh I forgot to mention the bananas. Now if anyone knows me well they'll be aware that I eat alot of bananas, well not here! Due to the cyclone that hit Queensland in March there is a massive shortage of bananas so when there are some they are so overly priced. I think the most I have seen have been 12 in a supermarket. I'll wait til the shortage is over but I do miss my bananas!!!