I booked onto the Welcome to Sydney Tour with Welcome to Travel. Booking with the WTT Team meant that I’d have help setting up my Australian bank account, phone number, tick off some of my bucket list, having ongoing support throughout my time in Australia and meet awesome, like-minded travellers. It was an insanely busy week, but it was awesome!
When I landed in Sydney, WTT arranged a shuttle transfer to collect me and take me to the hostel. This was definitely needed after a 23-hour flight! I then had a couple of free days before the tour officially started.
Arrival Day – Sunday
This was pretty much a free day to do what you want. Most of the group had arrived on Friday or Saturday so we were just waiting for the last few people to arrive. We had drinks on the rooftop terrace of the hostel to meet each other before tour officially started on Monday.
Day 1 – Monday
The day started with a welcome meeting with our guides Tommy and Maddy. They went through what we would be doing throughout the week and gave us our sim cards and helped set up our phones. We also filled in bank forms so that we were ready to visit the bank later in the day to set up Australian Bank Accounts.
After the welcome meeting, we set out on a city walking tour. Tommy and Maddy showed us all the sites, such as Customs House and the Queen Victoria Building, and gave us information on the history of the city and told us about getting around the city on various modes of transport (very easy). We stopped for lunch at the food court by Customs House. At the end of the walking tour, we stopped by the bank to set up our accounts (this was far easier than I thought it would be). We finished off the day with a welcome dinner at The Glenmore.
Day 2 – Tuesday
We started our second day with an incredible Culture Tour in Barangaroo. Sophie, our aboriginal tour guide was amazing! She was so passionate and enthusiastic about her ancestors and their history and the uses of the land and it’s flora and fauna. It was fascinating to learn about Aboriginal Culture. Interestingly, there were things Sophie could and couldn’t talk about due to being female. Sophie ended her tour by welcoming us to Australia in her native language (Aboriginal Mobs have different languages unique to their Mob) and giving us the blessing of her ancestors. Very powerful and very interesting.
After our culture tour, we set off on a landmarks walk to see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Maddy gave us the history of each landmark and we all had a little photoshoot. After this, we then had bit of free time to chill out and pack for our mini road trip.
After a bit of free time, a few of us headed out for a little walk round the Pitt Street Mall. We then went to Stitch Bar for a Cocktail Making Class. This was so fun! The bartender first showed us how to make the cocktail and then we had to opportunity to make on ourselves. I made a mojito which was very nice!
We finished the night with food at Spice Alley and then we went to Sidebar where we had Quiz Night (my team came 4th overall despite missing half of the first round) and a lot of drinks and dancing. Another great day and probably my favourite day of the week!
Day 3 – Wednesday
We checked out of the hostel, grabbed our overnight bags, and jumped into the minibus for our road trip to Surf Camp. We had a couple of stops on route, the first of which was Royal National Park. We had a little walk around the national park to check out the waterfall. The second stop was a lookout on the Grand Pacific Drive which looks out to the Sea Cliff Bridge.
When we arrived at Surf Camp, we had lunch cooked for us before being kitted out with wetsuits for our surf lesson. Our surf lesson was instructed by Noah and was so fun! We were in the water for around 2 hours (maybe longer) and just had an awesome afternoon in the water. We finished the day with dinner, games and gathering round the fire pit with a few drinks.
Day 4 – Thursday
We left surf camp early morning and made our way to Jervis Bay for a dolphin watching cruise. We had an amazing morning on the boat looking for dolphins and whales and even I surprised myself with how quickly I spotted the first dolphin. I loved how the dolphins were bow-riding as we headed further out to sea. We did catch a glimpse of a humpback whale, but it didn’t want to play so didn’t hang around for long.
After lunch, we stopped off at Greenfield Beach which is one of the whitest sand beaches in the world. The sand was squeaking under foot due to the silicone content. Such a beautiful little beach, well worth a visit if you ever visit the area.
In the afternoon, we went wine tasting at the Coolangatta Estate. We tried several different wines, my favourite was the Rose Frizzante 2019. The Estate only sell wine from their own vineyard and do not import from elsewhere. They were almost devastated by bushfires in 2019 but have built back in the last couple of years.
On our way back to Sydney, we stopped at The Famous Berry Donut Van for the BEST donuts! We finished the night as VIPs at The Ivy Nightclub.
Day 5 – Friday
Feeling slightly delicate from the night before, we were given work and travel presentations by Tommy to prepare us for the next stages of our Aussie Adventures. The presentations would help us make decisions before our 1 to 1 meetings on Saturday. So much information to take in when your hungover but very interesting and exciting.
After presentations, we went for a much-needed lunch at Salty’s Bondi. We then walked along the coastal path from Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach, stopping of at the various viewpoints along the way to take photos and watch the surfers.
By the end of the day, safe to say we were all pretty exhausted by the week so a few of us had food delivered and a movie night.
Day 6 – Saturday
After a crazy week, it was time to start winding down. Saturday was a chill day. The Welcome to Travel team had scheduled a 1 to 1 meeting with everyone in the group. The meetings were so helpful. I was able to chat through things I wanted to do and where I wanted to go and book the next couple of months travelling up the East Coast to Cairns. Luckily, I have a lot of diving booked in which I am so excited about! After my meeting, I had the afternoon to relax before the group met on the rooftop terrace for drinks pre-bar crawl. We headed out for our bar crawl visiting Sidebar, Scruffy Murphy’s and Scary Canary.
Day 7 – Sunday
Sunday was the last day of the tour and we were all gutted. It was a pretty quiet day as we were all recovering from the night before. Tommy cooked us a Goodbye BBQ and then we said our goodbyes throughout the afternoon. Most of the group were continuing for a second week and heading to the mountains which you’ll read about in the next blog.
I am so glad I booked this tour! We did so much in just 1 week and I was with the best people. The stressful things like setting up your bank account and phone were handled with ease and meeting new people was so fun. I would highly recommend Welcome to Travel (who operate both in Sydney and Melbourne) and the Welcome to Sydney Tour.
Dedicating this blog to The Lucky Ones – the most amazing bunch of people I’ve met. And also, to our fantastic guides Tommy and Maddy. Thank you all for making the welcome week so fun! Happy travels!
You can book with Welcome to Travel via their website https://welcometo.travel
Thanks for reading!
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