Sydney 22 Jan – 28 Jan 09 **Days 6 & 7

Old fashioned bus

Day 6 Vacation in Sydney

Today saw us waking up at 0530hrs as we had two persons in our group who were going for the Sydney Sky diving adventure. At AUD275, you get free return transfers from their office along Wentworth Ave, a full colour jump certificate and an awesome, unbeatable mad minute of freefall from 14,000 ft. If you would like a DVD of your tandem skydive jump, that would cost another AUD99 or AUD120 if you include the DVD and photos on CD as well.

The plane that brings you up

Cramped in the plane

For every additional person who wished to go along to witness the extreme adventure experience of their loved ones had to pay AUD30 just for the free return transfers.



Fortunately, the drizzle stopped and the sky cleared up enough to carry on with the jump.


Being briefed on safety aspects

All ready for the jump!

If you are prone to motion sickness, my recommendation is that you do not do the jump as it can be quite dizzy especially when they spin the parachute. If you have a heart of steel and game for some exciting extreme adventure, then go for it.
Danger - Parachute Landing Zone

Preparing to jump out of the plane

Am I a bird, a plane? Superman!

Admiring the view...

Exhilirating!

Passed with flying colours!

Give yourself half a day for this although getting into the plane and jumping off lasts less than fifteen minutes. It was an exhilirating experience for the skydivers and though it was a heart-stopping moment up there during the jump out of the plane, they all agreed that it was worth the experience!

Walking by St Andrew's Cathedral

Interesting sight

After the amazing experience and the return to Wentworth Ave, we walked past Elizabeth St and strolled along Pitt St where we entered any shops we fancied along the way. Interestingly, it was still drizzling in the city.

As we passed Piccadilly Arcade along Pitt St, we saw Kumfs, the shoe store which has a long history and strong reputation for making women's shoes with style, quality, fit and uncompromising comfort. With its origins as a company founded by podiatrists, Kumfs continues to use in-depth anatomical knowledge of feet as the basis of footwear design. However, we were not able to get the design and size that we wanted. What a pity as they were good buys!

shopping for souvenirs

No worries… As we walked into Sydney Central Plaza along George St, we saw Ecco, another shoe shop that combined their vast experience in advanced footwear technology with an incredible diversity of design tastes, and comfortable shoes in many styles.

Shoes, shoes, shoes....

**Interesting fact:- On an average day you take 15,000 steps and the foot perspires 200ml of sweat. With every step you take the 26 bones, 20 muscles and 112 ligaments in each foot are subjected to approximately twice your body weight. **

A cafe

We had a quick lunch at Hungry Jack’s, the exclusive Australian master food franchisee of Burger King Corporation, and continued on with our shopping before we fly off tomorrow.

We passed by Sydney Tower, previously known as Centrepoint. It was shrouded in the clouds due to the weather today.

Queen Victoria Building

Spiral staircase in QVB

The emblem

Walking along Market St, we entered Queen Victoria Building, also lovingly known as QVB. With its stunning architecture, intricate tiled floors and domed roof, the QVB was build in 1898 as a monument to the reigning monarch. There are jewelers, cafes, antique stores and a wide range of international boutiques in QVB.

Just outside the shops

Passing by George Street, you will come across Myer, a major department store in Australia offering Australian and international designer couture, cosmetics, gifts and homewares.
You will also pass by the Strand Arcade, another Victorian-era shopping hub between Pitt and George Streets, with shops and eateries.

Dinner saw us at Steersons Steakhouse on Lime Street, King Street Wharf. A sleek and stylish venue with spectacular water views overlooking Darling Harbour. With an air of sophistication this modern restaurant offers an elegant dining experience in a tranquil environment.

Steersons

Waiting for the meal

Angus top loin

Angus strip loin - more juicy & tender

We were there before 1800 hrs and the sun was shining into the restaurant pretty strongly at that time. In fact, it was still bright at 2000 hrs. Guess that is summer. Those of us who took the Angus top sirloin found the meat thick and slightly tough. A better alternative was the Angus striploin which was more juicy and tender. You could also have the set meal of Angus beef with a glass of Shiraz, the housewine for less than AUD40.

Water taxi

Beautiful sunset

Next stop was the IMAX theatre which houses the world’s largest movie screen which is more than eight storeys high. This high-tech screen is designed to give audiences the ultimate film experience.

IMAX films are ten times larger than in traditional cinemas and are created specially for the IMAX format in both 2D and the incredibly life-like 3D. Open 7 days a week, the IMAX theatre screens various films from 1000hrs. Most of the films that were screened lasted between forty to fifty minutes and cost AUD19.50 per adult ticket, AUD14.50 per child, AUD16.50 for a concession ticket and AUD56.00 for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids. Full length features lasting sixty minutes or more cost AUD25 per adult. We booked the ticket for Haunted Castle at 2200hrs.

As we had approximately two hours to spare before the show, we decided to visit the Sydney Aquarium and take the journey through Australia’s rich and diverse marine ecosystems and discover over 12,000 all-Australian aquatic animals. Here, we were fortunate to find someone with a 25% discount coupon and managed to buy our tickets together with his at a discounted rate. The Aquarium opens from 0900hrs to 2200hrs.

There were lots of underwater walks and you could see dozens of fearsome sharks and majestic giant rays as they pass overhead. Many interesting sea creatures could be seen including the dugong, a large, strictly-marine herbivorous mammal.

Sydney Aquarium

reef

Nemo?

After the Sydney Aquarium, we headed back to the IMAX theatre to watch the Haunted Castle. Here you are given those special spectacles in order to see the 3D effects. I have to admit that the 3D movie experience was on of the most immersive I’ve been to. The images just seem to leap off the screen and creating the illusion that it is so close to you and that you are able to touch it. A very unique effect. The storyline though could have been better.

With IMAX glasses on


Day 7 - last few hours in Sydney

It seems that our short and enjoyable time in Sydney has come to an end. We woke up late and the youngsters went to the small little arcade in the complex. Check out time was 1100hrs and we did some last minute shopping at Coles, just five minutes walk away. Lunched at the Chinese noodle restaurant in the Star City complex before the coach picked us up at 1300 hrs to the Sydney International Airport for our flight on SQ222.

The lift area of Star City Hotel

Had a walk through the duty free shops and there were some pretty good bargains especially for the cameras where you could get a Panasonic LS80, 8.1 mega pixels at just AUD99 with any purchase.

Boarding time was at 1540 hrs and the flight was smooth. This time we managed to sit on the upper deck. Somehow it seemed to be a better experience than the trip to Sydney. Reached Singapore Changi Airport approximately 2100 hrs and it was a breeze going through the immigration and customs.