Sydney, Australia Trip (Day 3)

18th Feb 2019, Monday

Charcoal Burger with Fries

Egg Benedict

Yeah..today is my birthday!! But i not planning to let my dad drive the car out today after yesterday's drama. So we planned to go for Sydney Bus Tour instead of the Jenolan Caves as it was near to Blue Mountains which was quite a long drive. Anyway the bus tour cost about AUD$18 per pax and we can see Sydney with some guide. Mi and my sister decided to go to a cafe named The Factory some distance away from the hotel to get our breakfast while my dad and step-mum got ready. As it was early, there were few customers around. After we finished our breakfast and done, we headed out to the gathering place, which was Hyde Park.

ANZAC War Memorial Building

Memorial Statue

As there were some time before the tour started, we went to visit the ANZAC War Memorial Building first. The building was very huge and there was memorial stones inside. There was a museum in the basement for exhibition too. After taking some photos there, we walked towards the gathering point (Archibald Fountain at Hyde Park). There were already people gathering for the bus tour and the walking tour. The tours were conducted by Free Tours Sydney and the guides were wearing orange tees. Their walking tour are free and it takes 2.5hrs for the whole tour. Whereas the bus tour will take about 3 hours to complete. So we paid for the tours and waited for the time to leave. We set off  at 10.30 am and walked to the tour bus where we boarded. Then we were off.....

Docked Naval Ships

Mrs Macquarie's Chair

El Alamein Fountain

We headed around Sydney roads and the guide introduced some of the popular buildings such as the art museum. First stop, we alighted at The Domain where we had a view of the naval base with some naval ships and Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. There, we were told to check out Mrs Macquarie's Chair. After a quick stop there, we boarded the bus and headed to our next stop. We passed a floating platform with a big swimming pool and the guide told us that it was a residential place. Then we passed by El Alamein Fountain, Potts Point & Woolloomooloo (Finger Wharf) where the guide told us this was the place for night parties and normally the gals would come out to fish for rich guys. There were also plenty of pubs and seafood restaurants here. After that, we stopped at a coffee place and had some time for toilet break. The guide told us the coffee was fantastic there and many of us bought the coffee and snacks to try.

Stop point

Top point

Shark Island

After that, we headed out on the road again. We passed through King Cross area where the guide told us that this was the rich people's area. Also, this was the place where the guys looks out for pretty gals and there was a rich people's school where the parents drove posh cars to pick up their kids. Next, we passed by more atas areas, Double Bay, Point Piper and Rose Bay (areas where youngsters just drink near the harbour and jump into the water for a swim) before we stopped for our next stop. We stopped at a high point where there was a western house stood and we could the view of the city. It was just a few min stop for us to take photos, after that, we were taken to Don Riche Grove. There, we could see the ocean out and mi and my sister went out to take photos and enjoyed the strong winds.

Macquarie Lighthouse

Bondi Beach

After that, the guide brought us to see Macquarie Lighthouse which was the first and long serving lighthouse in Australia. However, we were just allowed to take photos outside and were not able to go in the lighthouse. The last stop we were brought to Bondi Beach, which was a famous beach in Sydney. The tour allowed people to stay at the beach but you will have to make your own way back to Sydney. However, the tour did allow people to stay for half an hour and you could go back to Sydney with the bus. So we decided to just stay around and go back with the bus. There were really alot of people on the beach. People were surfing, suntanning on the beach and and having food. The sun was just right for the weather. My dad bought an ice-cream for snack there and i bought a tee-shirt.

Exterior of St Mary's Cathedral Church

St Mary's Cathedral Church Entrance

Stained Coloured Glass Window

The bus drove us back and we alighted in front of St Mary's Cathedral. We gave some cash for the guide as tips and the guide really provided us very interesting tour about Sydney. After we bid goodbye to the tour guide and went to visit St Mary's Cathedral Church. The church was huge and had colourful stained windows. After the short visit, my dad wanted to walk back to Finger Wharf for another visit. But it was too far away from our location, so mi and my sister decided to go The Naked Duck for lunch which was a short distance away. So we tried to get my dad to follow our route but by the time we reached the restaurant, we were told it was closed for lunch...haiz...And it was almost 3 pm in the afternoon. So we just walked in the direction back to the hotel and we ended up in a Thai restaurant (The OhBar). Then my dad decided to have lunch there. We ordered the lunch sets and my dad was asking for chilli for his rice again...hohoho....I tabao my remaining fried rice as i can't finish it at that time.

Blackstar menu

Flowery Cake

Queen Victoria Building

Clock in Queen Victoria's Building

After lunch, we walked back to the hotel and my dad and step-mum went for a nap. But i did not want to nap so i got my sister to explore other places with mi instead. We walked further to Queen Victoria's building and Chinatown where the places we passed in Day 1 were very near to Chinatown. My sister went to a cake shop named Blackstar where they sell flowery cakes and she bought 1 cake to try. We found some free seats outside the building, so we sat down to try the cake. The cake had a strong flowery taste, which was not to my liking. But my sister liked it. After that, we went into Queen Victoria's building and there were all the branded shops such as Pandora, Mulberry, etc. Then we walked further down the streets and ended up in Chinatown where there were Chinese, Thai and Jap restaurants around.  I  also happily bought a cheese cake from Uncle Tstsu and some souvenirs in the area. Then we walked to Paddy Markets but unfortunately it was not opened for the day. We continued walking and saw dim sums, hotpots Chinese restaurants there, even East Ocean restaurant.
After a long walk, we headed back to the hotel and we took turns to shower and rest. When my dad saw us, he was saying he wanted to go out for dinner but i was too tired to walk again. So i let my dad and step-mum to go ahead instead. My sister had set the google route for my dad to Chinatown, so i confirmed with my dad if he can manage to find his way. He confidently said he can manage, so they went off.

Uncle Tetsu's Cheesecake

So mi and my sister watched tv to pass time while waiting for them to come back. My dad even messaged me if we wanted some snacks back. I was glad they did managed to walk their way back to the hotel safety. So when my sis asked her mum if they managed to walk to Chinatown, she told us they did not and the thai restaurant staff told them they were at Thai Street...she said my dad got lost with the map....hahaa....^_^.....luckily they still can come back....After that, we all went to bed as we will be heading to Kangaroo Valley tomorrow.

Places visited:
Hyde Park
ANZAC War Memorial Building
The Domain
Mrs Macquarie's Chair
El Alamein Fountain
Potts Point
Woolloomooloo
Double Bay
Point Piper
Rose Bay
Don Riche Grove
Macquarie Lighthouse
Bondi Beach
St Mary's Cathedral Church
Queen Victoria's building
Chinatown

Hotel Stayed:
Adge Boutique Apartment Hotel

Blue Mountains, Australia Trip (Day 2)

17th Feb 2019, Sunday

Wrap

Today, we planned to drive up to Blue Mountains National Park. So we woke up early to get ready and went to a small cafe behind the hotel where we had our breakfast. It was not crowded, basically like no customers around except us. Once a while, there were some customers coming in to take away some breads. The sandwiches we had were slightly hard too and the wraps and hot chocolate drink was ok. After that, we drove out to Blue Mountains. At first, it was okay following the car's built-in GPS. However, i noticed the GPS kept pointing us in another route which was different from Google's maps (from the phone).

Blue Mountain Visitor Centre

Blue Mountain

It really took us almost 3 hours to reach the Blue Mountains Heritage Centre (with all the re-routing and wrong turns).  By then, it was almost past noon. So we took the shortest walking trail to George Philips Lookout just to explore the mountains. There was nothing much to see on the trail except the trees and the quietness of the forest. We walked until a picnic area where my dad and my step-mum stopped for a rest. Mi and my sister continued walking further down the trail until the road become rough and it requires more time to complete. So we walked back the same trail to meet up with my dad and then we walked back to our car.

Ducks in the lake

WentWorth Falls Lake

After that, we drove to WentWorth Falls Lake. It was inside a small park with picnic areas where we took a 10 minutes break to enjoy the scenery and ducks. Then we drove off to WentWorth Falls and walked down to Jamison lookout to see the falls. However, we did not managed to see the falls from the lookout and it required long hiking on the trails, which my step-mum was not able to hike long distances. So we just stayed at the lookout to see the scenery with blue sky and mountains.

Scenic World Ticket Counter

Then we drove down to Blue Mountain Scenic World where you can take cable car, skyway and railway to see the scenery of Blue Mountain. We queued to buy the tickets for the 3 rides (AUD$43 each pax) and the staff recommended us to take the cable car first, followed by the ropeway and lastly the train. We went to skyway but the queue was very long. So we headed to the railway instead. This was not the normal railway ride as we approached the queuing area. There was signs indicating that you can adjust the seats to certain angles while riding and it was indicated as the world's steepest passenger train at 52 degrees angle. We waited for the train to approach and we boarded it without knowing what to expect from the ride. So when the train started to move, it was going downwards (train was just going up and down the stations). And, the carriage was with open views and the angle of the seats was quite steep. You can feel that you are going to fall downwards due to the gravity pull. You can see the full views of outside and feel like you are going to fall off a mountain if you are sitting right in front of the first row..As i was afraid of heights, my palm were also sweating...(Words cannot express the feelings, have to experience yourself....hahaa)

Railway Train Carriage

Different Seat Angles

Railway Ride

Three Sisters

Overall, it was a very interesting & fun short ride, which lasted about 3 or 4 mins to reach the lower station. And once we got off the train, we were greeted with the view of the "Three Sisters" stones on top of the mountain opposite the station. We stayed around the station to have some memory photos taken. After that, we went to queue for the next train to go back up again. My dad and step-mum went off first as there were not enough seats for all of us. So mi and my sister waited for the next train up. When the next train came, we boarded and my sister was trying to adjust the seat's angle. However, there were 2 more white guys boarded and shared with the row we were seated. The feeling of going up was also scary as you were being pulled up. Probably it was the feeling of able to see outside that made you feel like you are going to fall off (no seat belts, just railings to hold). After the train stopped at the station, one of the white guy commented he was also scared from the ride. But we had a great laugh out of it...Really one experience to remember...hahaa...

See Through Glass in Skyway

Katalomar Falls

After that, we went back to queue for the skyway. Luckily the queue was shorter this time, so we went ahead for it. The skyway carriage had a glass platform in the middle which you can see the view below. There was a guide in the carriage and the guide explained all the views when the skyway passed. There was a waterfall named Katalomar Falls (introduced by the guide) and this was the 2nd largest waterfalls in Blue Mountains National Park. When the skyway reached the top, we just stayed and waited for it to go back down to the centre. After the ride completed, we went for toilet break and shopping in the souvenir shop. We shopped for some time, my dad started to chase us to leave the shop. We had to forgo the cable car ride as it was near to their closing hour.

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Opera House

We drove back to Sydney and was trying to locate a restaurant called Sydney Cove Oyster Bar near Sydney Opera House. However, the GPS was pointing us the long way and my dad kept turning at the wrong turns, we ended up opposite of Sydney Opera House. By then it was almost 6 plus, my sister was getting cranky after waking from her nap and my step-mum was getting worried of driving in the night. But we still got off to have some photos taken since we were there. We left about half an hour later and tried to get the car's GPS to route us to the restaurant. However, it was guiding round and round the same spot, which got us kind of frustrated. So mi and my sister tried to navigate using our phone's maps. My sister was trying to give the directions to my dad but she did not highlight early. So after some time, my dad exploded and started shouting at her to pass him her phone for directions. My step-mum also don't want to go there anymore but my dad commented it was still okay to drive. After all the yelling and shouting, my dad finally figured the way to Sydney Opera House and we tried to walk to the restaurant. Luckily it was just a 2 mins walk from the Opera House. Pity the shops were all closed.

Dinner

Garlic Breads

Roasted Chat Potatoes

Finally everyone calmed down and we ordered 8 oysters, garlic breads, salt & pepper calamari (quite salty), roasted chat potatoes and Tiger prawn linguine for our dinner. However, the space was quite cramp though it was open space. I picked both grilled and raw oysters and got my sister to try too. It was quite expensive (charging per piece) and it was small as compared to the ones i had in Tasmania. I wasn't impressive with the grilled oysters but the raw ones were not bad. We saw other diners ordered a very big seafood platter which included crabs, lobsters, oysters, prawns and others. The meal cost us $150 though. After that, we walked towards the Opera House and took night photos. There were a few bars there where everyone was drinking happily through the night. After that, we drove back to the hotel which my dad still took wrong turns and we were finding the hotel at the side of the roads.  Eventually we did managed to find the hotel car park and parked the car, where we were able to rest finally.

What a day.... @_@!

Places visited:
Blue Mountain

Hotel Stayed:
Adge Boutique Apartment Hotel

Sydney, Australia Trip (Day 1)

16th Feb 2019, Saturday

2019 Pigs

Finally flying out of Singapore again since my last trip to Taiwan last year. This time, i arranged to a family trip with dad, step-mum and "little" sister to Australia (with me sponsoring the air tickets and accommodation and an agreement with my dad to pay for the food and other expenses). Surprisingly they have not travel to Australia, hence this will be their first time to visit. We had booked a night flight to leave Singapore on Friday (15th Feb 2019), so we went to the airport around 8 plus by cab. Guessed my dad was very excited (he said he waited for 20 yrs for a family trip...hahaa), kept chasing us to hurry up for check-in at the airport...hohoho...After check-in, we went for dinner and waited for our boarding. The flight was about 7 to 8 hours, so we reached Sydney airport @ 9 plus in the morning. It took some time to clear the customs and we were being sniffed by the sniffing dog to ensure that we do not have any drugs on us.

Our Rental Car

After that, we went to the rental car office to collect the rental car for our trip. The paper works took us quite so time processing. Then we walked to the car park to collect the car, my dad also took some time to do a check on the car conditions. The GPS was a built-in type in the car, so mi and my sister had to type in the hotel name to activate for the route in the gps. My dad managed to drive us to the hotel without much problem (considering the fact he never use a GPS before, traditional old uncle who uses paper maps.... ^_^ !!).  However, when we reached the hotel, we were unsure where the hotel car park was located. So i went to the hotel lobby with my sister to do the check-in and inquired the location of the car park. The hotel staff was friendly and even brought us up to our mini apartment. She even told us there will be a small token from the hotel and asked us if we want it to be served now or later. After that, we went back to find my dad and step-mum and guided them to the car park. It was located behind the hotel and it was a very small car park space which was also sharing with another hotel beside. There were like 3 lots allocated to the hotel we booked and it was first-come-first-serve basis. In addition, we had to pay a car park fee of AUD$25 daily at the end of our stay.

Master bedroom

Living & Dinning Room

Common Bedroom

We carried the luggage up to the apartment after the car was parked. The apartment was very cosy, having a mini kitchen+living room, two bedrooms and a common toilet. One bedroom was having toilet inside, my dad and my step-mum stayed in that room. There was even a small balcony. Mi and my sister took the other room. Everyone was busily taking photos of the apartment to share. By the time, we settled down, it was almost 2 plus in the afternoon. So we rested for a little while and we went out for a walk. We walked to Paddington market. I did not realized the distance was so long and we actually took almost half an hour to reach the market. However, we were walking real slow and looking at every building we passed. So by the time we reached the market, we decided to go for lunch before shopping. We crossed over the street and went into a restaurant called The Paddington. As per the online reviews, everyone was commenting the best dish to try was the roasted chicken, much to my delight.

Salmon & Breads

Roasted Chicken with Fries

The restaurant was quite crowded, considering it was after lunch hour and we saw the roasted chicken dish in almost every table....lolz....We were brought a tall table and we ordered a half roasted chicken, salmon dish and a bread dish. The chicken was really tender, but we found the salmon a bit salty and bland. My dad was asking us where was the chili sauce...hahaha...After lunch, we walked around at the Paddington market. Everything was over $35 AUD as the items were locally hand-made. So we did not buy anything eventually. The market wasn't big too, we ended up covered the market in about half an hour. So we decided to walk back to the hotel to rest, think everyone was still tired from the flight. We stopped by Paddington Reservoir  to have some photos taken while walking back to the hotel. When we reached the hotel, everyone ended up napping.

Gate found in Paddington Reservoir

Paddington Reservoir

I woke up around 5 plus and was asking my sister if they want to go out for dinner. But my step-mum did not want to go out and my dad was still sleeping. So i dragged my sister out for a walk and to buy dinner. Along the way, we passed by quite a few Thai and Korean restaurants. We walked to find the nearest McD in the district and bought a box of nuggets. Then we walked around the area to see if there was any popular restaurants (those with a lot of people queuing..hahaa). We did see one korean fried chicken restaurant with a queue outside and it was having good reviews. But we decided not to go for it as the waiting time was too long. So we went for another korean restaurant which was also quite full, we bought two bbq dishes, a kimchi seafood soup and rice to take out. As it was getting dark, the wind was also blowing strong and it was getting cold.

Korean Food Street

Korean for dinner

We hurried back to the hotel, by then, my dad and step-mum were already woken from their nap. My dad was asking why we didn't go out for dinner....^_^!...We got ready for dinner and watched TV at the same time. Amazingly, my step-mum even took out a bottle of sambal chili to eat with the dishes (didn't expect them to bring after i told them there is no chili sauce in Australia). The food was quite nice and we really had our fill. The seafood was also a lot in the soup. After dinner, mi and my sister took turns to wash up and got ready for bed.

Places visited:
Paddington Market
Paddington Reservoir

Hotel Stayed:
Adge Boutique Apartment Hotel
(Car park fee applies)