After our trip to the Blue Mountains we went back to Sydney for one more cheeky night out. This time we wanted to do it completely on the cheap, which meant no hostels! We payed $3 for a shower at a swimming pool in Parramatta and then looked for somewhere to leave the van. We drove around until we found Merrylands, possibly one of the dodgiest suburbs in Sydney! But it would have to do. We parked up in one of the nicer streets, packed a few ciders into my handbag, and got the train into the CBD.

Once there, we went straight to the Darling Harbour and to a bar called Pontoon. The place had caught my eye a few days ago when I saw meals advertised for just $9! At 8pm there was already a bouncer on the door so I had to hide my ciders in a bush before he would let me in. Once in we got $9 burgers right off the grill with chips, and even splashed out on a beer. Who says Sydney’s expensive!

Dinner polished off, we retrieved our ciders from the bush and spent the next hour or so walking around Darling Harbour while enjoying our drinks. This is a great place to come on a Saturday night with a carry out, there’s just so much going on! There was a free festival that had DJs and bands playing, a fireworks display over the water, and street performers attracting crowds around them in circles while putting on shows. Lining the edges of the harbour were bars and restaurants, lit up and playing music. For a while we sat down by the waters edge just soaking up the atmosphere.

Ciders gone we went into a bar where a band was playing. The place was small with not many people but the band was pretty awesome. We had one drink and then left the Darling Harbour and made our way across Hyde Park to the Burdekin Hotel where there was a techno and house night on called La Famiglia.

The Burdekin Hotel was a nice intimate club made up of three levels so there was plenty to keep us entertained all night. The biggest ‘Main Room’ had house music, while the dark basement, named ‘The Dugout’, stuck to techno, as well as the top level. When I couldn’t dance anymore we jumped on a train back to the lovely dodgy suburb and got some sleep.

The next day I was pretty excited. We were going to be leaving Sydney behind and starting into the next stage of our road trip. I felt like we’d been waiting to get Sydney out of the way before we could really relax and slow down the pace. From here on we truly had no set plans. All we cared about now was spending time on the beaches and learning how to surf.