A week full of adventures

Hey guys,
sorry that I am so late, but during the last days I didn`t have much time. Either there was no wifi or my laptop wasn`t charged. But now I have plenty of time.
I wanna to tell you about the last week...
Back in Germany I booked an "orientation" or "adventure" week to start the work & travel journey in Australia. On Monday morning I met the group, we were 15 in total (2 Germans, 2 Dutch and 11 English) plus our awesome group guides Dan and Sophie.

We started with an information session at the Ultimate Oz office across the street where the Wake Up! hostel is. After that we went on a walking tour through Sydney and while we were going Dan told us various things and told us some fun facts about Sydney. We stopped at the Paddy`s market, The Domain, the Botanical Gardens, Darling Harbour, Circular Quay and finally the opera house. We had lunch at Darling Harbour, I had an avocado chicken sandwich with fries which was really delicious. But it cost $10. In Australia you rarely find a restaurant or a takeaway where you can get a lunch for less than $8 (5,30€). One of the main reasons I think is, that they don`t have any bakerys in Oz.
In the evening we met at Side Bar which is a bar/pub right next to our hostel. We got free snacks & piza plus a free drink and now it was time getting to know each other. Presenting everybody to you would take to long but I will do a few people.
There were two British couples Hayley & Reece and Sarah & Charly, three boys who didn`t know each other before but became good buddys (Keith, Ian & Matt) and a really sweet girl called Alice.
The party girls were Nicole, Beki and Chiar who met on a Thailand trip a few weeks ago. No drink was safe when they arrived and they knew how to get everyone in the party mood.
The girl from Germany, actually from Cologne was Muna. We had a lot of fun together and talked about everything. In the second half of the week we shared a room and we watched "Finding Dori" in the cinema on Friday.
Unfortunately she flew to Cairns on the next Friday. But when I talked to her yesterday she told me that she found an au-pair job in Sydney , so I might see her again if I come back in the next months.

Tuesday was one of my favourite days because we did a catamaran cruise in the Sydney harbour. We walked to Darling Harbour at about 11 am. On the way we quickly bought some alcohol in the bottle shop and went on the boat. We had the whole boat for ourselfs and could play our own music too. On the deck there were nets on which you could lay down. But you had to be careful because sometimes the waves were a little bit higher and you got a wet bump.
It was the best day in Australia until then, because the sun was shining, no cloud in the sky and the people were awesome. On top of that I swam in the harbour. We could climb on the top of the catamaran and were allowed to jump in the water. I was the first girl to jump in and it was so refreshing, not too cold. At lunch time we made a bbq with chicken and sausages with toast. There is something weird about the Australian sausages, because they look and taste not very delicious but it not like they are disgusting. Hard to explain, but I think it has a simple reason. Back in Germany I would probably don`t eat them but over here they taste just right because this food belongs to here.
All in all I had great fun this day.

I will now tell you a bit about Friday till Sunday because the basecamp needs a single post, it was just so awesome!

Friday evening we arrived back in Sydney. After check-in Muna and I decided to go to the cinema. On Thursday Finding Dori was released and we thought it is our duty to watch it as one of the first people. In Germany you will have to wait till September until you`ll be able to see this fantastic movie. Sure, it doesn`t reach Finding Nemo, but the baby Dori is the cutest you`ve ever seen! I alost cried when Dori finally found her parents (SPOILER alert).

Sunday morning we had some freetime.. Muna and I used the time to do some laundry and we sorted out our travel plans. I bought a greyhound pass to travel up to 5000km and booked Whitsundays and Fraser Island. You should google these, that are the most beautiful islands I`ve ever seen. On top of that I booked an open dated skydive at Mission beach!
In the evening we had a few cidre and then started with our super cool pub crawl. What is a pub crawl you wil ask? Well, our group went to four different pubs and always got one free drink and maybe one or two other before we moved on. After bar number three we hopped on a party bus which drove us back to Side Bar where the party got to the next level. It was a crazy night and I had a lot of fun drinking, dancing, playing pool and talking to all the other people who became my friends over the past week.

The next morning we met at 11.30 and everybody was still a lil bit hangover. The weather was kind of hangover too because it was pooring the whole day. Instead of doing a beach walk from Bondi to Coogee we decided to close up the whole adventure with a bowling game. I`ve never seen a bwoling center like the one at Darling Harbour. Screens everywhere, you could personalise your player profile and it even knew the speed of your bowling ball!
I played really well, got second both games and was better as most boys. :D
After the game we went back to the hostel and on the way I grabbed a really yummy thai meal.
This was the end of a really special week. Even though it costs quite a lot of money I would highly recommend this to everybody who is about to start their work and travel adventure because it helps you to find new friends and travel bodies. I also did a lot of fun activities I wouldn`t have done when I was alone in Sydney.