I come from a land Down Under - Sydney / 26.12. - 30.12.2018

The days between Christmas and New Year's Eve, we continued to explore Sydney a bit more.
On the 26th of December, we also had a few photoshoots with Jule and Michi. Our first stop were some cool angel wings, where Linni and I already took some photos, and then we took the train to the Opera House, where we tried out several perspectives: a bit further away, where we could also see the Harbour Bridge, then on the steps in front of it, and finally behind it next to the Botanic Gardens. The Opera House really fascinates me and I think it's simply beautiful with its unique shape.

We then walked through the Royal Botanic Garden and kept an eye out for good spots for New Year's Eve.

In the afternoon, we took the ferry to Luna Park at Milsons Point, which is a mega cute amusement park with a huge mouth-opening 3D face as the entrance - another great photo opportunity. However, we were a bit annoyed that we initially got on the wrong ferry and ended up wasting $6, but these things happen.

The Luna Park itself reminded me a bit of Diagon Alley: the bright attractions were lined up on both sides and everyone was happy. I got some Fairy Floss from one of the stands, but it wasn't as good as in Germany.
Afterwards, it was already almost 6:30 PM and since I had to do laundry in the hostel, Linni and I went back alone while Jule and Michi stayed in a park for a while.

In the washing machine, my money got stuck when I inserted it, and everything became much more complicated than necessary - but then we had a delicious dinner consisting of cherries from Coles, fried carrots, scrambled eggs, and toast.

Later, I video called Fri again, which was really fun, but there were creepy bugs or even cockroaches crawling around outside and I think I even spotted a rat...

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The next day, we drove to Bondi Beach with Jule and Michi around midday because we wanted to see the famous saltwater swimming pool - the Bondi Icebergs - right by the sea and go for a swim. First, we admired the beautiful view from above and took some typical tourist photos of it, and then we paid the $7 admission fee and found a free spot.

We actually wanted to go swimming, but even when we just dipped our feet in and sat by the edge of the pool, the water was almost as cold as real icebergs. So we sat there for a while, let our legs dangle, and shivered every time a big wave broke at the edge of the pool and made us wet.

However, the weather was perfect for sunbathing, so we soon laid out our towels and closed our eyes.

Eventually, Linni and I said goodbye to the others because we wanted to visit the small shops along the beach. There were a lot of cool surf shops and jewelry stands, but unfortunately, my mission to find a tote bag, because they are simply more practical than a bulky backpack, failed. However, Linni found a pair of new flip-flops because her old ones had broken recently.

Initially, we wanted to meet up with Jule and Michi again for the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, but we weren't really in the mood for them anymore because they were kind of sluggish and generally preferred to stay in bed until noon, which didn't really fit with our usual daily rhythm - so we didn't want to wait for them to finish tanning and started the walk on our own earlier.

The coastal walk offered great views of the rocky coast and many green and turquoise color combinations that created a perfect picture. If there weren't so many people walking here at the same time, it would have been the most beautiful coastal walk by far of all the ones we've done so far.

We walked a total of 4.1 kilometers, but didn't finish the walk and went back to the hostel early because it was getting late and we also wanted to go to a pretty famous club tonight, the Ivy, where there was free entry on Thursdays.

So we quickly cooked pasta, then took a shower and got ready - Jule and Michi arrived about 40 minutes before we wanted to leave and had to rush a lot - so we were twice as glad that we had already left earlier.

Lesson of the day: always leave early and relax in the evening.

At 9:15 PM, the five of us took the train with Anna and when we finally arrived and left the queue behind us, the Ivy reminded me a bit of Pearl back home, only even fancier and much much bigger. It quickly became crowded to the point where you could hardly move properly while dancing, which was not quite ideal. In general, the club was not my favorite here because the music was only mediocre.

But what was cool and funny was that we ran into Gregor and Marten from Hervey Bay, found Jermaine after a short search, and then randomly ran into Iris again.

However, Linni and I went back to the hostel at 2 o'clock in the morning because we had to check out tomorrow because we were going to the next hostel: the Village Broadway.

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The Village turned out to be a really nice and clean hostel, which was strangely empty. In Broadway - a district slightly outside the city - there wasn't much to do, so we only briefly visited the shopping center, walked through the streets, and chilled in the park the next day and explored the beautiful campus of Sydney University.

So everything was ready for our next hostel, the Village Glebe, where we moved to on the 30th, and for the long-awaited New Year's Eve the following day.

Song of the day(s): Down Under by Men at Work, because it's always played somewhere and also fits perfectly here just by its name.