We landed in Sydney on September 13th and the city was already buzzing with Olympic excitement. We checked into the YHA Central Hostel for a 5-night stay and went to bed early. The hostel was large like a hotel and we had our own bathroom in our bunkbed room that was nice. Because of the Olympics, prices were jacked up very high and we paid double the rate that we would have paid during non-Olympic times. But we found that this was the case all over the city. We overheard a couple on the train say they were paying $750 U.S. per night at a hotel that originally quoted them $500 but they would never confirm and then finally told the couple it was $750 take it or leave it. Someone else on the train who also overheard the same couple said they had stayed at the same hotel, one month earlier, for $140.00 per night. There was definitely a lot of money being spent in Sydney over the course of the Olympics. One thing that did help us though, was that we hit Australia at a good time as far as currency exchange rates go.

Thursday, the 14th, we ate breakfast at a cafe in the hostel (which had a sign up saying they were temporarily charging 10% more during the Olympics) and then went to try to buy some tickets for Olympic events. We waited in line for almost 3 hours along with hundreds of others and when we got to the ticket office, many events we wanted were sold out. We did get tickets for the Women's Individual Gymnastic Finals and some Round 1 action in Men's Boxing and Men's Beach Volleyball. We had hoped to get tickets for Athletics (Track and Field) for the day of the Men's Shot Put Competition, but they were all sold out. Joel was totally bummed out and to make matters worse a man came up to us while we were waiting and asked if we wanted to buy Athletic tickets that he bought 2 years ago that he could not use. The distrusting side of us said no so when we got to the front and they were all sold out, we decided that we should be a little more trusting of people.

After getting the tickets we went to Darling Harbour right down the road and walked around. We met up with an old friend of Lisa's family, Matt Rigney and Matt's friend Melissa for dinner. Lisa hadn't seen Matt since he was 2 years old! Lisa's mom and Matt's mom are still friends and they set up the meeting because Matt was in Sydney working in the Olympic Village kitchen.

We were all having a nice pleasant dinner until Joel had a slight mishap. One of the legs on the plastic chair Joel was sitting on started to give out. Right before the eyes of Lisa, Matt and Melissa he gradually started to sink, eventually landing right on the floor. Needless to say it was a hilarious scene as with Joel laid out next to the broken chair in the middle of the jam-packed restaurant. Everyone got a big kick out of it, including Joel, who returned to his feet without a scratch. The chair was replaced and we were back in business, having gained a really funny story to tell.

Later that night we watched fireworks blast off over the Sydney skyline as the Olympic euphoria continued to swell. There was six "Live Sites" set up throughout the city with huge screens to watch all the Olympic events on. Crowds of hundreds and sometimes thousands (for Opening Ceremony) crowded into the areas to watch the big screen and share in the energy of the Aussie fans.

Friday, the 15th, we walked around the Opera House and checked out the set up for the Men's and Women's Triathlon. Later we took a boat tour of Sydney Harbour. As we walked back to the hostel we happened to come across lots of Australian ticket scalpers trying to sell their tickets next to the "official ticket lines". These guys had stacks and stacks of tickets. No wonder there was no more tickets for sale. These guys were still selling Opening Ceremony tickets for face value ($1,300) one hour before the start. We tried to get them for cheap but they wouldn't let go for less than face value. We think at that point they must have gotten stuck with the tickets since it took almost an hour to get to Olympic Stadium from downtown. But we were lucky because we scored tickets for Athletics for Sept. 23, and now Joel could see both the qualifying round and the finals of the Men's Shot Put competition. We ended up paying a little more than face value but it was a hot ticket because Michael Johnson, Maurice Green and Marion Jones were all running that day too.

Friday night we went to the Darling Harbour Live Site to watch the opening ceremonies. There were literally thousands of people there and you could barely move. We did get to witness for the first time the intense pride the Australians have for hosting the Olympics. Everyone was partying and cheering and we were introduced for the first time to the Aussie cheer we heard about 1,000 more times. It goes like this: "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Hoy, Hoy, Hoy. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Hoy, Hoy, Hoy. Aussie, Hoy. Aussie, Hoy. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Hoy, Hoy, Hoy!" After a while though we managed to escape the masses and plopped down at a local pub to watch the ceremony on television. We finished off the day with a late night dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Sydney's Chinatown, and crashed for the night at the hostel.

Saturday, the 16th, we went and watched some of the Women's Triathlon, which was one of the free events and went to the Domain Live Site and watched some swimming and the medal ceremony for the Women's Triathlon on the big screen. We chilled out in the sun and enjoyed the beginning of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra's performance. Then we took a ferry ride to the Taronga Zoo. For dinner we ate at an Italian restaurant called Mama's Kitchen, which was run entirely by Chinese and the food reflected that.

Sunday, we went to the famous Bondi Beach to watch the Men's Volleyball Competition. The huge stadium was built right on the beach and there was some controversy from the locals. The competition was fun but kind of strange for us who had never been to a beach volleyball match before. During time outs and in between matches, there was an emcee that got the crowd to do various forms of the wave, yelled out things, ran around and danced. There was also loud, dance music playing. The atmosphere was really party like and not serious athletic competition that we though the Olympics were all about. But it was fun and the sun was shining and we were right on a beautiful beach. Later we returned to the hostel and had an exciting night of washing clothes before bed. (See, travelling around the world is not all glamour.)

Monday, the 18th, we had to switch accommodations. We checked into The Funk House, a hostel in the Kings Cross-district, for a 5-night stay. We didn't have our own bathroom, but we did have a small fridge and a TV which was great for relaxing and watching some Olympics without having to go to the Common Room. Kings Cross is a section of Syndey that has strip clubs, bars, and lots of restaurants and hotels. It was pretty wild yet a few blocks away there were exclusive apartments on beautiful Elizabeth Bay. After breakfast, we happened by a Backpackers Car Mart inside the local parking garage and ended up buying a 1985 Ford Fairmont Futura Station Wagon which we plan on using to drive north to Darwin (our exit point from Australia). After getting the car all-legal by getting it registered, we used our new wheels to drive to Nielson Park in Rose Bay. We thoroughly checked out our new wheels, hung out in a park and watched the sun set at Shark Beach which is surrounded by netting to keep it safe from sharks! We then bought some groceries and headed back to The Funk House to get some rest.

Tuesday, the 19th, we further tested our new vehicle by driving to Manly Beach. Driving our massive station wagon through the insanity of downtown Sydney traffic proved to be a difficult task. We ended up in a little fender bender, but managed to escape unscathed (both physically and financially). After a nice day at Manly Beach, which had a good amount of topless sunbathing, we watched some Olympic action on the television in our room and went to bed.

The 20th, a Wednesday, we went on the bridge climb of Sydney Harbour Bridge. This famous climb which is the only one of its kind in the world took a total of 3 hours and was really amazing. We all suited up in Star Trek like outfits and had a harness, which was attached to a cable during the entire climb. We learned that 1,000 people per day climb the bridge and this company has been open for only 2 years. The entrepreneur who started it fought for 9 years to be able to do this and it has turned out to be quite a popular activity for the tourists. Everyone except 2 people on our climb were Americans and we even climbed with the father of an American Silver medal winner in swimming. After our dramatic assent we ate pizza at the Australian Hotel and again watched some Olympic coverage before bed. We have found that pizza is not up to our standards here. They just don't make it the way they do back home.

Thursday we went to the Men's Boxing Competition in the early afternoon. We saw 10 bouts but the most exciting part was seeing Evander Holyfield with his VIP seat right next to the ring. In between each bout he was mobbed by people taking his picture and asking for his autograph and the announcer let everyone know that he was a special guest in the arena. We then went to Olympic Park that was about a 45-minute train ride for the Women's Individual Gymnastics Finals. It was absolutely incredible to see the amount of people crammed into Olympic Park. Olympic Stadium alone holds 110,000 people and there were other venues there including the Dome and The SuperDome where gymnastics was held.

Friday was a full day as we spent all day at Olympic Park, watching both the morning and night sessions of the first day of Athletics. Olympic Stadium was incredible. The experience of it reminded us of what it might have been like to watch the gladiators in the Roman Coliseum. The Men's Shot Put Competition was decided on this day, with the qualifying round taking place in the morning and the final during the night session. We also got to see such greats as Marion Jones, Maurice Green and Michael Johnson in action, just to name a few.

Saturday, the 23rd, we checked out of The Funk House and jumped in our car and headed towards a town called Forster, north up the East Coast of Australia --- Darwin or bust! Here we go.