First Day in Sydney- re-introduction to the hostel experience

I have arrived in Sydney- the start to my trip to Australia, and what I think is also exciting, my 5^th continent. After having a lovely flight here (it was only 3 hours long, but we got a meal, tea, and ice cream!) I caught a shuttle and arrived at my hostel. Which, I think at one point in time, might have been a very nice backpacker’s hostel. And at the moment is a total dump. But, I am saving some money by staying in said dump, so it will be worth it in the long run. I admit, I was a bit put off by the dumpiness of the place. I have done the hostel thing before- in France, Switzerland and Belgium. But either there are different standards in Sydney or the need for cheap hostels is so great here that they can get away with worse accomadations, because this is literally the worst place I have ever, ever stayed in. But, I digress.

The good thing about hostels, dumpy or not, is they are a great place to meet people. Within 20 minutes of arriving, I was chatting with two English couples who have been staying here for a few weeks. They showed me where the cheap supermarket was (and I reintroduced myself to the magic called easymac) and we made dinner and watched the tennis match in the hostel’s common room. They were kind enough to introduce me to “goon”, an Australian box wine which is disgusting, yet potent, and best of all cheap. It was all in all a lovely evening, and they gave me lots of ideas of what to do with my full day in Sydney tomorrow. One of the couples is doing an around the world sort of thing over a year long period; they have already been to Asia and are going to go to New Zealand and the U.S. next. The other have year-long work visas to stay in Australia. I thought they were both very lovely, and a wonderful introduction to hostel lifestyle. That being said, I am glad I am only at this dump for 2 nights, and am glad I am heading to hostels with higher ratings and reviews from hostels.com in the near future.

I am really liking Sydney however, the little I have seen of it so far. I am here at a good time of year as well…this visit and my next visit are both over the Chinese new year, so there is a lot of fun stuff for that. My second visit is in a hostel over in another part of town, so I will get to see new sights when I am there- so this time I think I am going to concentrate on a bus tour and just walking around to get the lay of the land. And then off to Cairns for scuba!