SYDNEY, N.S.—It’s happened again: travellers from another continent arriving in Sydney, N.S., when they’re supposed to be in Sydney, Australia.

Valerio Torresi, 26, and Serena Tavoloni, 25, of Italy landed in the Cape Breton city Tuesday night when they thought they had booked tickets for Down Under.

“I think it was a joke, then fear,” Torresi said Wednesday night when asked about his reaction to learning they were in Canada, not Australia.

The couple’s travel agency in Italy made the error and the couple spent the day trying to correct it, and to see the sights with the help of an Italian-speaking resident to translate.

A local restaurant gave the couple their first-ever lobster dinner and they were given a free room at a Day’s Inn.

Torresi said they have been overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth of the people.

“Oh, yes, very kind, very friendly,” he said. “I think it’s a beautiful place and I see Canadian life, and it’s great.”

The couple hope to fly out Thursday for Australia, where they plan to tour the country for 48 days.

Travel agents and tourists have mistaken the two Sydneys on at least two other occasions.

A woman from Argentina spent a week in Cape Breton by mistake in 2008, and a British couple did the same in 2002.