Melbourne, Sydney

Day 38
It is raining today so the volleyball tournament got canceled. No worries though, I met these two guys called Erik and Niels and we hung out at the hostel for most of the day. We played a bit of pool and started drinking alcohol quite early that day.

Day 39
I'm actually writing this about a week later, however I do remember going to the Melbourne zoo that day. I saw a kangaroo and some koala among other things. I spent most of the day on my own just walking around town and going to the gym. It had been a while so that was a pretty good day.

Day 40
Erik, Niels and myself have become friends and we've been hanging out quite a bit. I honestly don't really remember what we did this day, I'msure it involved alcohol though. If I'm not mistaken, we went to the Cherry bar that night and had a few beers.

Day 41
This was my last day and night at the hostel. We walked around the city, chilled in a park for a bit and played drinking games at night.

Sydney
Day 42
Time to leave to Sydney, my last stop in Australia. I said my goodbyes to Niels and Erik and we decided to meet again on the 30th of December when they'd fly to Sydney. When I got to Sydney, I got into contact with Paul whom would be my host for the coming 12 days. I decided to go to the Philippines on the first of January which required rebooking my flight. Expensive, but accommodation in Sydney is expensive too, so I rebooked anyway because at least in the Philippines I'm a rich man again.

The appartment sucked. No WiFi apart from tethering his phone to mine. I was there and the guy only had 1 key which basically meant I could only go in and out when he was there. Furthermore, his bathroom was adjacent to his bedroom which basically meant I'd have to wake him to go to the toilet. And lastly, his place was miles away from the center so I'd be forced to take a ferry every day to get to the city. I was desperately searching for a plan B. I called the Nomads hostel in Sydney and they told me there were 3 beds left except on the 31st. I booked a room even tho I agreed with Paul to stay there for another 11 nights.

Day 43
I told Paul, who was really nice by the way, that this wasn't working for me. He was really understanding so we parted quite well. I went to the hostel which was loads better then the apartment. I went out with a few guys from the hostel which was fun although it takes some time to blend in with these guys.

Day 44
I went off to see the city of Sydney, I saw the opera house and the Barbour bridge and even though I have tickets to the new years party (which doesn't have a vantage point to the Barbour bridge), I tried to find a vantage point to the main fireworks display. I found a few but it seems you need to be there really early to get a spot.

Day 45
The night before Christmas is really big here, bigger than christmas day even. I bought tickets to a boat party with free drinks and a buffet. However, as we went there I noticed I was the only one of our group wasn't in fancy dress. Nobody told me. But to hell with it, I still had fun and met loads of people although by this time it was still hard to mingle with the hostel group.

Day 46
Christmas day. I went to McArthurs chair today with a group of people to have brunch. McArthurs chair is very close to The opera house and has a perfect view of the bridge, We ate our brunch and tried to go to Bonding beach. It was trevally crowded though so it took us quite a while and a few queues to get there.

I played some volleyball before it started raining at which time we left. Apparently all bars are closed on Christmas day so we played drinking games at the hostel. The people here generally drink Goon which is a name for wine in a dartboard box. Not a brand, which I thought at first, but a general term for cheap wine. I suppose it can be translated to dutch with the word "bocht" although goon does not have the same negative connotation.

Day 47
I went to Bondi beach today. I hired a surfboard,but I must admit it was a lot harder and exhausting than that in Kuta. InBondi you have to fight against a wave every 3 to 5 seconds. I was able to stand a few times and the first time the speed of the wave pretty much launched me onto the beach with 20 km/h. I know this because I had to sprint to keep my balance. At night I played drinking games with several German guys before going out. One of the German guys was even refused entry into the club because he was too drunk.

Day 48
Woke up way to late and tried to go to the gym. This turned out to be quite expensive so instead I did a workout in my dorm. I also made a reservation to go canyoning and abseiling in the blue mountains which should be fun. Tonight I'll go out with the guys from the hostel and then have an early night because tonight I'll Skype with my family whom are celebrating Christmas at my mom's house. Which means I have to get up at 5 am.