Sydney - day 22

Our plane landed in Cairns at 6 am after a 7-hour flight. We had to get off, pass through security and get on the same plane again (we still don't know why we had to go through security again...). Our flight left at 7 am and we landed in Sydney around 10 am. The time difference between Sydney and France/Spain/Holland is 8 hours, but between Sydney and Tokyo only 1 hour, so we didn't have any jetlag problems. We took the shuttle van to our hostel (Maze Backpackers) and did some very necessary laundry. We went out for lunch, ended up at Hungry Jack's (= local name for Burger King) and then went into some electronics shops to look at some more cameras. Answer from the vendor to Nat's camera-situation: "I'm afraid that's what we call broken." Well, at least this time it was said in English and we had no more doubts about it. Apparently it's not the lens (as was said in Tokyo), but an electronical problem. So we decided to buy a new camera. We ended up buying two actually, cause we got such a good deal, one that's waterproof so we can use it at the Great Barrier Reef, and one that looks professional and takes amazing pictures! We headed back to the hostel, picked up the laundry and charged our cameras. Then we walked down Pitt Street (named after Brad Pitt??) and went into the Sydney Tower. It is the highest building in Sydney and it gives and amazing 360 degree view over the whole city. We were there for the sunset, which was beautiful. After that we went to the Oz Trek, which is included in the ticket for the tower. It's a hologram presentation about Australia (pretty impressive how they use the holograms, actually) and then an attraction where you sit in a chair that moves while you watch a film about Australia (it wasn't that great). From there we walked all the way to the end of Pitt Street, until Circular Quay and the Rocks. We saw the Opera House and Harbour Bridge by night. The Sydney skyline by night is also very nice. Our overall impression of Sydney is that it's very lively, everyone's out in the streets and bars having a drink and enjoying themselves. The Australians are very friendly and seem very laid-back. Sydney could be London in a sunnier and friendlier version. We walked back to Chinatown, which is where our hostel is, and had dinner in a Japanese sushi-belt restaurant (for a change!) cause it's the cheapest restaurant we could find! It's amazing how many Japanese restaurants there are in Sydney! After dinner we went to the movies and saw Wall-E. It was very funny, but also makes you think a lot about our current society and where we're headed. We walked back to the hostel and went to bed.

Weather: sunny and nice, but surprisingly cold in the shade