Back from my long awaited holidays to Sydney with Sunflower gal. Even before stepping of the plane, post holidays blues has begun to haunt my mind. Maybe I'm just greedy. Holidays are never ever enough!

Day 1 - Arrivals!

Travel by Qantas and I was happily anticipated delicious inflight meals to be served, but the odd tasting meal really didn't impressed me much. Insomnia struck me again on the overnight flight, leaving me really exhausted by the time we arrived in Sydney. And again like the 1st day of every holiday that I went, I trudged through the city like a zombie again.

First impressions of Sydney.. It is a really cosmopolitan city with really chilly winds that sends you shivering in your jacket. The "man-friendly" diverse population of Aussie which really became of help when we started to get lost on the streets. Haha. Oh yeah, one will never starve with the wide choices for food but get prepared to burn a hole in your pocket from just from having your meals outside.

Visited the Opera house as our first stop. Toured around the Opera house. The inner acoustics was quite good, considering that a clap and stamp on the floors of the concert halls left almost no immediate echoes. Did you even know that there are actually 3 different coloured tiles for the Opera house so that one can see the Opera house clearly from above the grounds? You will see nothing if it is just all white in colour. Wow. Educational tour. Haha.

Next, we went to The Rocks. It's a really beautiful sight to look across at the Opera house with the glistening blue waters from here. Lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks was nice, but sleep deprivation had really made me lose my appetite. Finished only half the pancakes and half my cappuccino. Can you believe that? Haha.

Went to Sydney Observatory and left feeling really silly. Because we understood nothing much about astronomy and all the exhibitions seriously resembles Greek words to me. But, we did manage to get some nice photographs of early sunsets of the Aussie winter period before we went back to hostel to rest up early.

We stayed at this hostel called "Legends has it Westend" at Pitt Street. It's quite a reasonable priced place in Central Sydney to stay if you don't mind going low budget. What surprised me was the sheer number of Japanese and Koreans on the streets of Aussie. Heh. I really hadn't seen so many of them on a street before.


Day 2 - Blue blue Mountains

Our big day to visit the famous Blue Mountains. Woke up early and had breakfast at this Francais cafe which looked strikingly similar to Delifrance. Only did we peeped into the kitchen doors before we realised that they were using ovens with Delifrance labels. Hee.


It's really a must to travel out of central Sydney to ogle at the beautiful majestic sceneries of the Blue mountains. Lovely place to live in if when you wanna retire. Joined this day-tour from "Happy Coach" which I thought was pretty good. The tour guide bought us to this park to see cute kangaroos before going up to the mountains. It's quite windy up in the mountains. Trying getting the wind to make you to lose your foothold when it blows hard. Saw the famous Three Sisters and the Wentworth Falls after a tiring climb down. The way back up was through an interesting 45 degrees inclined railway. Kind of exciting. Overall, I love this kind of tours. Will choose to do more of this kind of tours if I could in my next trip to Aussie.


Day 3 - Sydney Olympic Park and Shopping!

Took a short train ride out to the Olypmic park. We only walked the exteriors of the stadiums. The stadiums were big but nothing was too fancy. But, it was great to finally visit the Aquatic centre where Ian Thorpe-do swam. Haha.

Went on to the factory outlet DFO where all the cheap clothes are supposed to be. Sadly, it's wasn't that cheap after all. For a shopaholic like me, it's bad news that shopping's a pretty expensive affair here. But, heck it. If you see something you really like, why not just get it? You might never see the same thing you like again. I'm reaally a bad girl. Haha.

Returned to town to visit the Sydney Tower which was an excellent place for the night view for city. It's just too bad that my night shots sucks. Boo~

By this 3rd day, I really comment that Sunflower gal grew a really hearty appetite.


Happily, she had a ham and egg sandwich with tea for breakfast, a pie and a quiche with a drink for lunch and she chomped down the entire big bowl of Tofu soup with rice and some side dishes for dinner at this Korean restaurant. Haha. Dun kill me gal..
I just thought it's great to have such a good appetite that I never had.


Day 4 - Darling Harbour and Sydney Fish Market!

Brunch was a sumptuous affair at the Sydney Fish Market. As we sat with a mini harbour view, we had this yummy lobster and seafood set together with Flat White coffee. It's really cheap. Where can you ever find lobster in Sg for AUD 15? With good food and coffee, it was great to do strolls around watching people as well as seagulls and huge pelicans fighting over food.

Strolled through the Darling Harbour. Aussie is so blessed with sparkling blue waters and blue skies. All the any-how photos that I took turned out excellent. Excellent spot that all tourists flocked to. The Paddy markets in Chinatown which in my opinion was quite like our pasa malam in Sg. Nothing just to really buy from there. The next stop to holy St Mary's Cathedral was lovely. Seeing statues of angels brings me serenity and peace.


Day 5 - The Rocks Market

Was supposed to go for our Hunter Valley, but missed out on the trip due to a mix up of location by the Day trip company. How sad to miss out on wine and cheese tasting on our second last day in Sydney. Naughty staffs at the hostel seemed reluctant to call up their boss to ask if they can refund us our deposit. We had to make a trip back to hostel after venturing out to check if they made the call. After some persistence by us, the call was made and we got our refund. Minus points for the hostel.

Headed to the Rocks weekend market where people sell their unique creations and food instead. It was also a utter surprise to see someone else from my university walking along in the same market. The world is so small. Hee.


Day 6 - Home sweet home..

Did some last minute shopping before heading to the airport. Really didn't cared much and splurged on a pair of Nine West shoes and some Country Road stuffs. Haha. Can't live without shopping. Spent my last penny of Aussie dollars on yummy tastes of Krispy Kreme donuts for everybody else at home. The British Airway flight home was quite all right. Although I would say that I wouldn't ask for strong tasting lamb meat for my meal ever again..

It's great to have the time to recharge myself and momentarily get away from everything else in the world. Great to have spend time with my good friend and catch up on each other's lives. Hee~ Already looking forward to my next holiday!

Shall say no more. Time for photos!