a rainy sydney welcome.

We all woke up this morning with the excitement of knowing that we were finally going to  Sydney. The bus that was supposed to take us to the regional airport in Ballina was scheduled to arrive at 9 am. By 8:50, we were all outside literally giddy to get a move on. However, in classic Lennox Head fashion, the bus drivers were in no hurry and arrived at 9:45 am. I am guessing it was one last way for them to test our patience, and can't say I have fully embraced their laid back style. My biggest concern for the flight though was that for domestic flying, the maximum weight for my suitcase was 20 kg and coming to Australia my suitcase was already over that. Add everything that I bought and I am well over the limit. However I placed my heaviest items in my backpack and crossed my fingers that I wasn't over. When we arrived at the airport my suitcase weighted 20.2 and they let it slide! As for the flight, it was luckily only an hour, but I slept the entire way and was ready to go when we arrived in Sydney. I then looked out my window to see dreary skies and heavy rainfall. 

Determined not to let the rain get me down, I took in everything that I could as we drove from the airport to the hostel where we are staying at. We are staying in a YHA hostel in The Rocks of Sydney which is a very historical area of the city. I was also very pleasantly surprised by how great the hostel was. It definitely was not what I expected when I thought about hostels--it feels like a really nice hotel for young adults. It's a very modern building with modern furnishings and great amenities. We are staying on the top floor too and there is an outdoor rooftop area with an amazing view of the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. After settling in, we went on a mini city tour to gain our bearings. Unfortunately, it was still raining so the pictures did not turn out great and the walk was cut short. But it got me excited for when the rain finally stops and we can explore some more! For dinner, we went to a place nearby called The Orient, which was just pub food. I had a pretty good cous cous salad with rocket and pumpkin, but I'm ready to branch out from the pub food which we had had pretty often so far. For dessert, Kaitlyn, Lexi, Dana, and I walked across the street to a Belgium chocolate bar and I bought dark chocolate covered hazelnuts and dark chocolate orange ganache--both of which were delicious. Due to the rain, it was cold and kind of miserable to explore so we decided to head back to the hostel to chill and plan out the rest of out week in Sydney which I have very high expectations for!