The Sorcerers hit Sydney

Gone with the days of home comforts and family friends’ to stay with, the wizards took on their first hostel destination in Sydney. Greeted by the pouring rain and no city WiFi to find where we were staying, we were a little disheartened, but we powered through eventually stumbling on Mad Monkeys hostel. 

As tradition dictates, we headed on the free walking tour on our first day in the city – dragging along our new friends from the hostel (an eclectic mix of Irish, Argentinian and Londoners). As always, the tour helped us to get our bearings of the city and pinpoint a few areas we wanted to check out over our stay! 

Of course, no trip to Sydney would be complete without a day at Bondi Beach (especially with such an avid Bondi Rescue fan in our newfound group). This is the day Izzy and I discovered we were not the most impatient people on the beach after all. With the others complaining about the sand and heat within 20 minutes, we officially felt ourselves progress to the status of ‘Beach People’. Overstatement of the trip: ‘I think we’re really adjusting to the Australian heat’ (Crowther, 2019). 

During our time in Sydney we also discovered the boroughs of Newtown, Glebe and Surrey Hills, filled to the brim with independent cafes, quirky shops and delicious coffee – all our favourite things! Glebe even had its own market once a week – which was a little overwhelming in its huge array of tempting homemade jewellery, delicious food stalls and vintage clothes – a bit terrifying on a travellers budget. Lentil as Anything particularly stole our hearts – a vegan cafe which works on a ‘pay what you can’ concept (meaning customers who can pay more do, in order to pay forward for others who can’t; and people who can’t afford a meal volunteer instead). The food was also absolutely delicious! 

Darling Harbour and The Rocks were other exciting places to explore. They were very fancy areas of the city with loads of restaurants and cocktail bars and locals dressed to the nines for their Saturday night out, right on the water and very pretty at night time. The botanical gardens, home to the New South Wales art gallery – filled with a huge mix of traditional, modern and aboriginal art, were also beautiful and a relaxing place to wander around. 

One of our favourite days in Sydney was spent at in Manly. We all set off – speakers, suncream and  Bat n Ball in tow – ready for day by the sea. It was a gorgeous sunny day and the beach itself was more beautiful and a bit less crowded than Bondi (in our opinion). Even the ferry ride over to Manly was beautiful, with amazing views of the Sydney skyline, Opera House and Harbour Bridge as you looked back. 

Our time in Sydney was full of exploring lovely places and discovering hidden treasures in Newtown and Glebe, but perhaps our mild drama in booking a Greyhound bus to the next destination meant we overstayed our time there by a day or two. Nevertheless, we survived (no, thrived in) our first hostel experience and feel ready for the next! 

Get ready Byron Bay, there’s a thunderstorm coming your way! 

Love,

The Wizards x