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…

Sydney 22 Jan – 28 Jan 09 **Day 3

Continuing Day 3 in Sydney with more pictures of Sydney Australia.

Sydney Tourism:- What are the things to do in Sydney Australia?

We started off the day with Blue Mountains Tour – a unique wilderness experience. The World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains region lies to the west of Sydney.

First stop was Featherdale Wildlife Park where you get to see wombats, tasmanian devils, wallaroos (albino wallabies), emus, cassowaries, dingoes, crocodiles, reptiles, native birds, frilled lizards amongst the various native animals, not forgetting the cuddly koalas.

After visiting our animal friends, we stopped by a fruit/vegetable shop to get some delicious looking fruits along the way.

Passed Echo Point and next stop was the Skyway Station to take the skyway up. This spectacular cableway takes you on a 720m journey right across the ancient valley and dazzling waterfalls where you practically float on air and enjoy 360 degree views.

enjoying the view

View of the valley (above) and the 3 Sisters (below)

At the top, you can either have sandwiches at AUD10 or a buffet lunch at AUD27. You will be surrounded by views of the sandstone cliff faces and the Jamison Valley. At the buffet lunch area, there is a revolving platform where you are able to see the striking scenery and rainforest whilst dining there. Just remember to look for your seat before moving back after going for the next helping.

After lunch, we took the scenic railway, the world’s steepest railway down to the valley floor and here we were surrounded with beautiful rainforest where we took the Rainforest Boardwalk. Many instructional signs can be found and if you take the time to read each and every one of these signs, you can take more than an hour to cover the boardwalk.

Next, return up the mountain to Scenic World via the Scenic cableway and enjoy the 545m ride where you get to see the Katoomba Falls, Orphan Rock and the beautiful Jamison Valley.



Along the way up or down, you can stop at villages such as Blackheath, Leura and Mount Victoria, with their antique shops and cafes and a candy shop which sells more than a thousand varieties of candies (as seen below).

Next stop was the Olympic Park where the first green Olympic Games took place. Here we were taught how to use the boomerang and the kids tried their hand at this. However, the weather was burning hot and we later discovered that it reached 42 degrees Centigrade at that time. Due to this, instead of finishing our Blue Mountain experience by cruising down the Parramatta River and going under the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we decided to get the driver to drive us straight back to the hotel and skip the cruise. Pronto! What a pity!

The Olympic Park where the ANZ Stadium is and learning the skills of throwing the boomerang

Our whole group

Took a rest for a while before going back to Darling Harbour for some shopping and dinner. As we had all experienced the burning heat earlier in the afternoon, most of our group went in shorts and short-sleeved tops. Unfortunately for us, the weather turned chilly. The winds were strong and it was even cooler than the last evening. A good advice is to bring your jackets along at all time as the weather can be unpredictable, even in summer.

Sights along the way to Darling Harbour

Submarine

Overlooking Darling Harbour

We went into a shopping area just by the edge of the bridge at Darling Harbour, the Harbourside Shopping Centre. Here there was a shop selling leather shoes where you could get 3 pairs of men’s shoes for AUD190. Our group bought a total of more than 10 pairs of shoes here. Although there was only one saleslady, she was cheerful and service was good.

Next was dinner at Blue Fish. This must be a popular place as a number of tables were reserved at 2000hrs and our group had to be split into 3 tables. Although the weather was chilly, we again had no choice but to sit in the alfresco section overlooking the Darling Harbour. A plate of fish and chips costs AUD19.90. The fish batter was nice and crispy whilst the fish was tender and moist. Good choice!