So what's a girl to do on a free day in Sydney?

Go frugalling, of course!

I may have not slept in a bed for 33 hours by the time I hit the ground in Sydney but one must get one's priorities sorted out. And we all now that the worst thing to do when you've changed time zones is go to sleep at the wrong time. So I had a day to fill up with something not too taxing (in case I hit the wall mid afternoon) so a Vinnies crawl was the only choice really.

First stop was Chatswood on the north shore. Chatswood has two Vinnies, one small one near the station (two books: $3 total, 1 pair of children's denim pants with interesting flower designs destined to magically turn into... something! $1) and one larger two level one (with an excellent selection of good condition books) at the other end of Victoria Ave (8 books for a total of $25 and some funky pink 70s skirt material for a fellow blogger: $1)

I planned to visit the Crows Nest branch next but missed my stop and headed on to Mosman (red handbag: $5, double pointed needles: $2 for the lot and another book: $2) before doubling back to Neutral Bay (nothing) and, finally, Crows Nest (black and red tray cloth:$1, book: $2, more double pointed needles: $1)

By this time it was almost 4pm, I'm at the 41 hour mark and I'm feeling like the proverbial Energizer Bunny. Head back into the city and swing past Myer to buy clean knickers as I'm all out and can't be bothered working out how to use Princess B's washer and dryer. Myer just happen to have a 20% off day and my brain is so off in La La land (literally) it doesn't put up it's usual I hate bra shopping tantrum so I manage to buy three pairs while it's not looking. Excellent!

5:30pm drinks with an ex colleague in Surry Hills is followed by 7:30pm dinner with friends in Eastwood. At 9:30pm (the 46 hour mark), I finally hit the wall sitting in the back of their as they drive me back to Hotel 51 (Princess B's residence).

I have a theory that it takes a while for your brain to notice you're flitted countries on it. For the first while once you arrive somewhere (particularly home after a big trip) the poor thing is still sitting in some foreign airport terminal wondering where you've got to. This is what causes me to wake up in the middle of the night on my first night home and have no idea where I am. My favorite example of this was when I got back from Europe last time and woke up and thought "Oh no! I left my cabin door open so anyone walking down the corridor can see in! And look! My cabin has a picture exactly where I have one at home. And it looks the same!"

Am I nuts or does this happen to you as well?