Sydney!

It's Spring Break, we're in Australia and we've all got the travel bug. So myself, Val, Louisa and Priya booked a trip to Sydney.

Day 1
The flight there was pretty late in the afternoon, so once we had checked into our hostel, we hopped on a train into the centre of Sydney. We walked around the harbour for a bit (not the section that the Harbour Bridge or Opera House was on) and looked for a restaurant to eat dinner. We all had a hankering for some oriental food so as soon as we spotted a Thai restaurant we got excited. However it wasn't until after sitting down that we realised we had gone into the wrong restaurant. We were now in fact in an Indian restaurant, which was fine, but we laughed a bit about how useless we were.

The beautiful Darling Harbour.

Day 2
After waking up bright and early myself, Priya and Val went for a walk through the Botanical Gardens, which is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. It was beautiful. At the end of the Gardens though, was our first view of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
After stopping and taking plenty of Snapchats, Instagram pics and videos, we carried on walking to get a ferry into Darling Harbour where the Sealife Centre and Wildlife Centre were waiting for us.

Sailing past the Opera House & under the Harbour Bridge on the ferry.

First it was the Sealife Centre, where we saw Jellyfish, Sharks, Turtles, Clownfish, Stingrays and Penguins.

Pingu, some Jellies and Nemo.

For lunch we went to Sydney's Hard Rock Cafe and the food was amazing. Obviously we then ventured to the Rock Shop. After lunch it was time for the Wildlife Zoo, where we saw a Tasmanian Devil that kept chasing its tail, multiple Koalas and Kangaroos, and our favourite, Rex the Crocodile.

Rexy.

In the evening we went on a Ghost Tour through Sydney. Our guide took us to multiple venues in the city and told us interesting stories about murders, suicides and hauntings. Some sent a shiver up your spine but they were very interesting to listen to!

Day 3
We started the third day off with a stroll through Madame Tussauds. We stopped to pose alongside the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio, Iron Man, Audrey Hepburn, Oprah, Ryan Gosling, Brangelina, ET, Jackie Chan, Wolverine, The Queen of England and Marilyn Monroe.

Sitting in my rightful place with the Royal Family, doing some hurdling, striking a pose with MJ, hanging out as a T-Bird, chilling with Steve Irwin, breakfast with Audrey, being a drag queen and feeling Ryan Gosling's abs.

Our Merlin passes included some pretty cool discounts, including getting up, close & personal with some koalas for $5, including a free printed picture, and we were allowed to take as many pictures and selfies as we wanted. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to touch them, which was difficult as they just look so cute and cuddly!

Me & Samara, the cutest little thing i've ever met.

Next was the Sydney Eye Tower, the tallest structure in Sydney's skyline, standing at 309 meters.. The view was spectacular and you could see all around Sydney. Afterwards we made our way back to the hostel to prepare for the activity that we'd all been waiting for...

So high up!

The Harbour Bridge Climb. The absolute tip top highlight of the whole trip. I honestly don't know how to put it into words and do it justice, but i'll give it a go. I'm not brilliant with heights, and the first part of the climb was on a mesh kind of metal, where you could see the ground below you (we were already 50 meters high) and that bit was absolutely bloody terrifying. Once we were up on the top arch of the bridge it was solid metal and even stuck out a bit at the sides so it didn't feel as bad. If i'm honest I was completely fine once we reached this part. When we had reached the top of the arch we felt like we were on top of the world. We were now standing 150 meters high and the view of the city at night was the most amazing thing any of us had seen. It's something I won't forget for a very long time.

Squad.

Day 4
After 3 very long days of doing nothing but walking we decided to spend our final day before our flight relaxing by the beach, Bondi Beach to be exact. It was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous. We went for a swim and the waves were huge (one took my sunglasses with it). It was great to have a lazy day and to top up the tan. There's no way I can face going home to the UK just as white as I left. And for the first time in my life I spent the day at the beach and didn't burn.

Bondi Beach.

The next trip some of us are hoping to go on is a few days in Tasmania. Fingers crossed!𝕒𝕟𝕟𝕒𝕓𝕖𝕝

May Bank Holiday!

So us lucky Brits had a second Bank Holiday back in May. This time I kicked it off by having a FRIENDS night with one of my best friends from work, Sarah. We're both a little obsessed with the series so we watched all of our favourite episodes and ordered a Domino's.

We then made our merry way to work together on Saturday morning, and when I finished, my other best pal Tom came to my house for my family's Eurovision party. Every year we do a sweepstake (£1 a country) and whoever wins gets the pot of £1 coins and hosts next year's party. Unfortunately, my sister, Emma won, and won't stop playing the winning Swedish song full blast around the house.

Early Sunday morning Tom and I then went to work again, and when I finished at half past 3, I went to catch a train to Scarborough where I would be meeting my Mum, Dad and sister, Emma. (The first time I had ever caught a train completely on my own!).

When I was 16, my family and I came to Scarborough and we stayed at The Crown Spa hotel. Me and Emma just fell in love. Our favourite part (aside from the free spa, swimming pool, free hot chocolate and cookies, king sized beds and the fact we had our own room) was the luggage trolley they had in the hotel lobby. We felt like we were on Suite Life of Zack & Cody. Naturally, I took Emma for a ride on it and soon after we were told to put it back.

Anyway, after years of nagging Mum and Dad to go back to this magnificent hotel, they finally caved, and there we were.

The view from our hotel room!

The Crown Spa hotel in all its glory, ft. my Mum

This was a mighty fine ice cream.

In the lift with Emma.

On the day we were due to go home, we packed up our things, checked out of our beaut hotel, and made our way down to the sea-front to get my first open-top bus to the Sealife Centre.

Emma on the open top bus!

Going to the centre wasn't another first for me, but my Emma had never been and I got to use my Merlin Pass for the first time. It wasn't anything special but the Penguins and Otters were super cute! We also pretty much saw the whole cast of Finding Nemo too.

Nemo and Marlin just hanging out.

Crush was there too!

On the way back from our trip we visited some family that we don't see a lot and were fed scones and tea. Me and Em played with their adorable sausage dog Flynn and soon after it was time for us to go home.