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.

Sydney 22 Jan – 28 Jan 09 **Day 4

Sydney vacation Day 4 with even more pictures of Sydney Australia.


The Grand Dame of Australia - The Sydney Opera House

Today, we hired the coach to bring our whole group shopping. As we have some elderly people with us and being in such a big group, it was more convenient to do so.

Shopping started at Paddy’s Market and this time we found a shop that opens only on Sundays selling ladies blouses for AUD20 each. Some of these were made of sheersucker material that is a non-iron material. We bought a few different colours each with different designs as well as some sweet coloured cotton tee shirts with nice flower prints. These fabrics are supposed to allow the body to keep cool even in hot weather and supposedly can last ten years.

You can get souvenir items like Australian tee shirts, boomerangs, tidy bags, non-woven bags, key chains, handbags, etc… A good range and variety.

The Rocks
Next we headed north to The Rocks Market. Here you have another flea market which runs only on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am – 5pm. With more than 150 stalls housed under a sail-like canopy, the Rocks Market has something for everyone, including antiques and collectibles, art, fashion and beauty, food, homewares and furniture. A different range of products from what we saw in Paddy’s Market. More Aussie souvenirs and curios can be found here. We were fortunate that the weather today was not as hot as yesterday and walking in the open air market was quite comfortable. You could get organic dried fruits with no sweetener and no preservative. We were surprised to find that the organic dried pineapples tasted great as a snack or dessert and was simply delicious. A 180g packet costs AUD20 and it was almost all gone within the day.

Organic dried fruits

Other knick knacks

There were also fudge bars with various flavours including mint, mango, caramel, etc… You could sample some of the flavours before deciding what to buy. Buying in a batch of seven costs you only AUD20 whereas buying individually could set you back by USD3.50.

Fudge bars

Another interesting item that you can find here is the shoe deodorizer and wardrobe insect repellent. These are made from all natural herbs like lemon eucalyptus, lavender and rose and geranium to remove the odour and repel insects.

The Rocks is the historical precinct of Sydney, being the site of the first colonial settlement in Australia in 1788. It is home to Sydney’s oldest pubs and has a vibrant restaurant scene. It is also one of the city’s most exciting shopping, dining and entertainment precincts.

Next stop was Bondi beach, Australia’s most famous beach with the golden sand and turquoise water. We were originally supposed to have lunch at Bondi beach area and enjoy the atmosphere there. However, lots of the restaurants were full and as we had a big group, it would have been difficult for most of the restaurants and cafes to accommodate us. So we took a walk along the area and watched some pretty cool surfers and waves and enjoyed some sea breeze before moving off.

Bondi Beach - the sea, the surfers & the wave plus artwork
Even the seagulls love Bondi Beach

The 4 Muskeeteers enjoying a AUD4 hotdog

Bondi Markets is open only on Sundays from 1000hrs to 1700hrs. You can enjoy the roar of the surf and invigorating sea breezes while you search for the next big fashion designer, clothing, jewellery and cool gifts. The market is also a great place fro star-spotting.

We moved back to Chinatown area and finally had lunch at Super Meal Chinese Restaurant. The service was slow, most probably because they were not prepared to handle our big group at such a late lunch hour. However, the food was not too bad. We tried the Grandma’s Spicy Beancurd with rice. This would have tasted so much better if not for the fact that certain parts tasted pretty salty. However, the beef congee was great and smooth and was good value at less than AUD10. If you are not a huge eater, each portion should be enough for two persons. We also ordered various drinks including passionfruit soda and mango soda. These tasted quite sweet. The black sesame crushed ice was the best with a pleasant taste of black sesame.

Minced beef congee

Passionfruit and mango soda flanked in between by berry

Grandma's Spicy Beancurd served with rice

We had originally planned to go to DFO, Direct Factory Outlet, which is supposed to be Australia’s premier factory outlet centre and has over eighty individual retailers. However this happened to be a little out of the way at the Homebush area near the Sydney Olympic Park and so we finally decided to go back to Paddy’s Market as some of the group members wanted to go back to the same shop in the morning to get more of the ‘cooling’ blouses. Those who had enough of shopping for the day went directly back to the hotel. The others went ahead to do more shopping.

Harbourside shops

Dinner saw us back at Harbourside at Darling Harbour to do a bit more shopping as well as fill our stomachs. Harbourside is Darling Harbour’s main shopping mall, with boutiques, specialty stores and dining venues. This beautifully positioned waterfront development ranks as one of Sydney’s most elegant and innovative retail centres. You will be able to find a dozen or more alfresco eateries with some very stylish a-la-carte restaurants here, all with superb views of Cockle Bay, the city skyline and the rest of Darling Harbour. The shops here stay open till 2100hrs every night so you can shop at your leisure after the day’s touring.

Aborigine playing the digeridoo

Professional street entertainer playing with the remote control car

We decided to try the food court at ground level. The food here was not cheap and the portions small. We ordered some chicken sukiyaki noodles which was oily and the chicken was tough. The pizza had some great votes. Oporto, a fast food restaurant just beside MacDonald’s, served grilled chicken and burgers and had the thumbs up as well. We finished off the meal with Anderson’s ice-cream, AUD4.50 for a single scoop and AUD6.50 for a double scoop.

Oporto

Chinese New Year decorations at Star City

Tonight being the eve of Chinese New Year, Star City Hotel had arranged some Chinese New Year celebrations at midnight. The God of Fortune was there to hand out hong baos or red packets. These are traditionally given by the married adults to the unmarried and filled with money. There was a dragon dance as well as eight lions and the traditional fire crackers being let off. Great performance especially for those who have never seen such a performance before.

God of Fortune handing out the 'hong baos'. Of course, there were not filled with real currency but with gold 'chocolate' coins. ; )

Fire Crackers being let off to usher in the Chinese New Year

Lion Dance


And Dragon Dance

A great start to Day 5…