Australia
Shall finally attempt to blog about my 10-day free-and-easy trip in Australia. Went with bf and my parents. Really love the break. A long relaxing break from work just feels great!!! Weekend trips, u can't really feel the effect...
Went to Sydney first, followed by Gold Coast.
Sydney main tour highlights:
- Booked a hotel online. Old building, small rooms but livable. Only 5-10 min walk to Chinatown, where you can eat, take bus, take train, etc.... Pretty acceptable to me. See the photo? That's really all the space I had and I was taking the photo at the door.
- Jet cruise. Took a bigger one to tour around opera house and harbour bridge. Got the opportunity to take photos as well as get splashed by water.
- Mailed a postcard to myself using the highest working postbox in the southern hemisphere (on Sydney Tower). Got to view the surroundings from very high....
- Got to touch koala bears and kangaroos. Saw several other animals too. Got to take free photos with the koala bear at the wildlife park caues of a brochure from our hotel. Each brochure allows a free photo for each person.
- Went wine tasting at Hunter Valley, where all the famous vineyards are
- Sandboarding at Port Stephens. Just sit on a board that's about the size of a skateboard and slide down a 70 degrees slope. Looked really scary to slide down cause it was so steep. Had to put my hands behind as a brake. Really fun! Just hate the feeling of climbing that high steep slope... HORRIBLE! I could only make myself climb it twice..
- Went on a cruise at Port Stephens to search for dolphins. And I saw several dolphins!!! Some came quite near the boat too.. =)
- Beaches there are lovely. Very fine sand and super cool water. Definitely the season ba.. Went to Port Stephens and Bondi Beach
Sydney food:
- Had a korean hotpot meant for 2, but definitely enough for 3 pple. 4 pple for us, with one kimchi pancake...
- Japanese... Beef sukiyaki pot for 2. I barely touched my rice. Saw their sushi. It's at least 1.5 times of Singapore's. Even their bento set meals can easily fill 2 pple.
- Hurricane Ribs at Bondi Beach. Really big sia... Wonder how much bigger are their pigs. A rib bone is longer than a metal knife.. Just imagine.. Delicious ribs. Huge servings too. Went on a monday night. Didn't reserve, and we could only sit outside. Quite thankful cause it was really noisy inside.
- Went to Pancakes on the Rocks. Near Rocks Market. Salad, pizza, crepes and of course pancake!!
- How can we forget about krispy kreme doughnuts!! Bought 3 dozen back to distribute to relatives and colleaues..
- The climax of the holiday! Fish market!!! All the seafood! Cheap and fresh oysters, prawns, lobsters, shell stuff, salmon sashimi, tuna sashimi, etc... For brunch, we had oysters, prawns, japanese seaweed and salmon & tuna & abalone sashimi for appetizer. Then we had fish & chips, cheese baked lobster and calamari. All so fresh!!!
Next: Gold coast!
Can't blog much about food. We booked an apartment with kitchen, so cooked about half of more of our meals. Very simple noodles or pasta. Sydney's more of a good-food place.
Tour highlights:
- My apartment is 5 min stroll from Surfers Paradise Beach, and 5 mins from the central area where all the shops and restaurants are!! Quite affordable too. Owners are a couple, at least 40-50+? Friendly people... Anyway, it's much much bigger compared to my sydney hotel. It has a simple kitchen and a living room with sofa, table and TV. Go through another door and there's a bedroom. Can see some ocean from the window. Toilet has a washing machine and dryer.
- Out of so many worlds, I only went to Movie World. Spent a day there.. The most thrilling ride I took was Lethal Weapon. A roller coaster with my legs hanging out.. Look: Beauty & the Beast.
- Stepped on Surfers Paradise Beach. Love the sand. Never-ending beach... But then, no sun tanning!!! The winds were so cold and strong that day.. Bleahz...
- Got a day tour to Bryon Bay. Feels like a small town with shops, beach and a pretty lighthouse. Went to a chocolate factory and bee farm on the way back to get several souvenirs. Oh, saw females sun tanning nude, but sorry ah.. No photos here for u..
So that's about it for australia ba... Need to save and mend the hole in my pocket...
