Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 9

Today I am going to the Blue Mountains on my own as dear cousin had to return to work. I joined a local day tour and they picked me up from a hotel. The bus came about half hour late and I thought I had missed the bus. *phew* There were about 16 of us on the bus from different countries. Some of them are natives from not from NSW. One big family was from Singapore.

The first stop was at Featherdale Wildlife Park. The kangaroos were all running around and we could feed them. The tiny ones are really cute while the huge ones look magnificient standing on their strong tail. There were lots of birds, emu, peahens and peacocks! The white peacock was magnificent! The turkeys were very cute too!!!

Of course, everyone in Australia must have a picture taken with the Koala bear! So I had mine take too! After that we boarded the bus again. We went to a big field to try play with the boomerang. 

The road to the Blue Mountains was scenic. How I wished dear cousin and I could drive up here ourselves. 

Upon reaching Katoomba, it was lunch. Fish and chips!! Yums!

Then we took a super huge cable car up to the mountains.It was really steep. 

A pity the rail road was under construction, otherwise it would have been scenic too. Luckily I had a jacket on today (bought from Review yesterday) cos' it was cold! The weather was not foggy and we could view the Three Sisters. So here's a picture with them:

After descending, we went to catch the tribal show at Waradah Aboriginal Centre. From there I learnt how they made use of organic material to make their camouflage and their musical instrument. Following that was the bus journey back. We bidded farewell to the tour guide and took an hour long ferry ride back to Darling Harbour.

Dear cousin bought Nandos home for dinner. The Nandos here tasted so much so much better!!! 

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 8

Today is shopping day with dear cousin!! We had lunch at Oiden Rice Bowl Bar. It's like Japanese fast food! The prices were really cheap and if you are a small eater, you can order the small size bowl! We ordered many small bowls to share. It's really yummy and we can't find such prices in Singapore with such great taste!

 

We ordered too much and packed the remaining home. I love it how you can request for takeaway boxes in Sydney!!

Then we walked to Chinatown to get royal jelly for my dad. It's really cheap here!! 

After shopping, we headed to asian groceries market in Chatswood to buy wanton skin and noodles, chilli, minced pork, and vegetables to cook for dinner! It was another fun time in the kitchen!

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 7

After packing for the day, we set off for Sydney Fish Market for brunch! The fish market wasn't smelly at all and people could actually eat inside! It was crowded!

Here are some photos of the seafood available in the market. How I wish I can buy them all!!!

We had fish and chips, salmon, scallops, oysters, calamari, fish and crayfish. It cost about A$30 per person. Not cheap huh? Seagulls are really irritating here. They always hover around, waiting for the opportunity to steal your food!! And there are plenty of them!!! Our food:

We went to Bondi Junction for bikini shopping!! I got a nice set for myself and dear cousin got a bottom. Then off we go to Bondi Beach!!! It was another super windy and cold day! We had fried Mars bar which dear cousin strongly recommended that we try. It's super yummy but ultra sinful!!!

Then we walked past a clothing shop and they were selling jackets at a discount!! Feeling cold and feeling stupid for not bringing a jacket, we bought a jacket each writing "Bondi Beach". Dear cousin bought the same colour as I! She is slowly beginning to like green colour!

The water was too cold to swim in. We just walked on the sand and played with the waves. There was a large shower room so we cleaned ourselves later on. 

Dinner was at Hurricanes Grill. Dear cousin wanted me to try this long before I went Sydney! 

loaf

scallops

Beef Ribs

Pork Ribs

We were given bibs before they served. The ribs were so yummy!!!! 

We had to return the car the next day, so we went to pump petrol before returning home. What a happy day!!!

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 6

We had a good night's sleep. We woke up and packed our stuff ready to check-out of the room. We had to remove the bedsheets and leave them outside the door. We complained a little at the reception about our heater and electricity but they didn't do anything for us. We were expecting some discounts. Chey!

We drove out for breakfast. We had to wait till the afternoon for our dolphin cruise. We managed to find a place with free parking. Parking is expensive in Sydney!

The breakfast was filling!! And it was so yummy!!!

We walked around and took photos while waiting for time to pass. We even sat in the car to wait! We also drove out of that town and walked to the beach again. The nicest beach there is at the dolphine watch cruise there with blue waters and a little whiter sand. We can't be late so we made sure were there before the cruise left. *remember: punctuality!*

The ship left two minutes before the stated departure time (WTH right!) and there were some passengers would were not able to board cos' the ship was leaving. 

It was quite a big ship and there were three decks. It was very windy! Before long, we were out in the bay to catch glimpses of dolphins. It was easy sighting them. But all we could see were their fins. We can't see the whole body but I think I saw one jumping out of the water!

I drove us back home. Again, other cars were overtaking us while we climb the hills. Poor engine. 

I love the time spent at the cabin and in the car. 

We cooked spaghetti and the house-mate cooked Prima Deli's Singapore Prawn Curry. Again we had fun in the kitchen!!! And clean freak cousin was always cleaning. LOL!

We had vanilla ice cream for desserts.  

We are going to Bondi Beach tomorrow!!!

Sydney Trip Dec 2012 - Day 5

Dear cousin took Friday and Monday off so that we can have a very long weekend together!! We were all set for our drive to Jervis Bay!! We rented a car and cousin picked it up yesterday. It was a red Nissan Micra. We had no idea what we were in for till we were climbing the hills on the way to Jervis Bay and back. It was a 1.3L car but it had absolutely no power against even the gentle hills. *Sigh* Luckily no cars horned at us. Australian drivers are really patient!

She drove us there. It was a 2.5 hour journey. Of course, we had a GPS to lead us there. We stopped halfway to get lunch and bought two dresses! I love the car journey cos' no one else could disturb the both of us.

We finally arrived at Hukisson Beach Resort! Boy, the wind was cold! We checked in and got our keys to our cabin!! We parked our car outside our cabin and were super excited to check the insides. 

I must say the cabin was really clean! Everything was constrained in the tiny cabin but it felt so cosy.

From the door, it's the kitchen, dining and living.

A one-man walkway to the beds and toilet

Toilet

Shower

Our bed

Wardrobe and dressing table

Triple-deckers

Chilling area outside the cabin

 We changed and went out to the sea!! Both of us didn't expect a COLD beach!! We were all in the wrong attire!!! Cold wind was blowing hard into our faces and we quickly took pictures at the beach. The beach wasn't that fantastic as it seemed on the internet. 

So cold, we quickly went back to the car and headed off for dinner. We chose a Grill restaurant. It was fantastic!! We felt a bit outcast as people were looking at us (Asians) and thought the people in the restaurant did not bother serving us. But it became a little better later. 

The boss was really funny as he requested that we should try their home-made desserts rather than the cakes that they bought from others. It wasn't a wrong choice at all!! I truly loved the tiramisu and cousin's carrot cake.

We had a super cold shower (coldest in my life) that night as the heater was not working and so did some of the sockets. Luckily we had one working to charge our handphones. :(

Ok, gonna cuddle after the cold shower!!!