Last night, I went to Phillip + Cook Park, which is a recreation centre on William Street. I spend about 2 hours swimming and over an hour in the aromatherapy pool. The entrance fee only works out to about £2.40, so it's great value for money. Oh yes, and the other day, I walked to Sydney Opera House. What a fantastic sight! I even stuck around to see Nicole Kidman walk down the red carpet there for a film premiere. I got her autograph.
Yesterday, I went looking for employment agencies. Agencies aren't easy to find if you don't know exactly where they are, because they're located at the umteenth floor of large faceless buildings. Anyway, I found Adecco (Level 3, 9 Hunter Street), Blackadder (Level 17, 60 Margaret Street) and Acom (307 Pitt Street). They all cater for the working holiday visa, but Adecco is the only place that let me see someone, rather than just passing me a business card. I've emailed them my CV and have got an appointment at 9 on Monday morning.
Anyway, I'm just chilling out at the moment. There's a large selection of beers at local "bottle shops" (a lot of pubs have a bottle shop attached to them, where they sell their off-licence liquor), of which I've had 5 so far, but I've still got plenty of time to go through them all.
I'm writing this on Day 6. The flight went brilliantly. It was 18 and a half hours (in two parts), but I must say that Malaysian airlines is fantastic. Their in-flight entertainment is amazing, with films, music and about 100 Super Nintendo games. The food is spicy, and they even give you the hot scented towels like in an Indian restaurant. Kuala Lumpur airport was scorching! I got a few beers there to kill the time. Sydney passport control wasn't too bad at all. There were long queues, but they went down quickly... and all the staff so so friendly (as are most Australians).
Once outside, I paid the guy near the bus stops $9 for the bus into Sydney City. It was actually a mini-bus that took me straight to the place I'm staying. When I got there, I was a bit disappointed to find it wasn't the friendly guesthouse-type I had envisioned. In fact, there's no reception, and it turned out I had to knock on a door. Anyway, I was eventually led to my room (which is actually okay). The place, I suppose, would be more aptly called a boarding house. But then, what do I expect for little over £10?
I suppose I should've taken the advise of a certain young lady back home, and just booked into a backpackers hostel to begin with, because I felt awfully depressed my first couple of days here, all alone. But I'm over that now, thankfully, chillin' out in my little pad here. For the short-stay traveller, there are hundreds of hotels here in Sydney, large and small. For the backpacker, the best place to go is Kings Cross. This is the haven for backpackers, with hundreds of hostels just round the corner from the city's red-light district. And it's quite safe walking 'round there too. Back home, someone recommended Eva's Backpackers to me. I've been to have a look, and it seems quite nice, so the chances are I'll move into there in a week or so.
Today is the day I go! I'll be flying to Kuala Lumpur (12 hours away!), then a six hour wait, and another flight taking 8 hours into Sydney. I didn't sleep much last night, worrying about going. It's such a big step... (for me, anyway!). I exchanged my money a few days ago at American Express, Lord Street, Liverpool. They offer the best rate. One thing that I didn't figure into my expenses was the fact that I wouldn't get my money exchanged at the official rate, which doesn't seem much, but makes a quite a substantial difference in the long run. Anyway, never mind. I've fully packed now. I was worried that, at 4 and a half stone, my suitcase might exceed the weight restrictions by the airline, so I unpacked a lot of things last night. I've now got more or less the bare minimum in there. Anyway, nearly time to set off. With a heavy heart, I've just said goodbye to my nan, and am really not looking forward to doing the same with my mum and dad... but it has to be done. See you in Oz!...