Travel - Sydney

SYDNEY 

The trip my best friend and I dutifully planned for finally happened! I packed my bags in excitement and went to the airport, checked in and then it hit me - I'd forgotten to bring the one most important thing --- not my passport --- but my CAMERA. 

Thankfully, my best friend brought hers and so all of the following photos are of hers. She's just started writing her own blog too, check it out sometime! traipses

We spent a good 8 days there, rented a house in Darlington and made our way around Sydney using our "My Multi" tickets which allowed us to take unlimited rides on the trains, trams and ferries for a week. I think the concession price was about aud 30+. We got the ones that included all zones just in case we wanted to travel to blue mountains and other places of interest on our own. 

I'm just gonna write out a concise post on things to do/places to eat in Sydney. 

Things to do 

1 : Sydney Opera House

Getting there wasn't tough at all. We took a bus 422 from Broadway and got off at Circular Quay, then walked for about 10-15 minutes to the opera house.
You can also take a train to the Circular quay station and then walk.

You will also see the Harbour bridge right opposite the opera house. It's near where the rocks is. 

2 : Hunter Valley winery tour 

I didn't go for the tour cos i'm not a fan of wine but my friends went and they really enjoyed it. You can  look up operators who offer day tours to hunter valley. The journey is a long one from sydney, about 2 hours each way. 

3. The Rocks market

The Rocks is a beautiful area near circular quay that has many distinguished buildings and tons of cafes where you can sit and watch the happenings around the harbour. 

It's a short 5 minutes walk from circular quay and if you love pancakes, you can visit pancakes on the rocks to have reasonably priced delicious stacks of pancakes. 

It's better to go in the afternoon though, avoid lunch and dinner crowds cos the queue can be really really really really long. 

 Before we visited the rocks market, we chanced upon this quaint cafe and decided to have breakfast there. It's a nice unpretentious place and breakfast was served pretty quickly.

The Rocks market only happens during the weekends and you'll find vendors selling handmade stuff, especially ornaments or clothing from local brands. 

The crowd is sparse so you'll have plenty of room to walk around. 

I bought nice paintings from vendors to add to my collection of international art pieces.

Winter leaves the trees bare but i love them that way. They seem to have more character this way. 

From the rocks you can see the harbour bridge.

A vendor selling "satay" 

I gotta admit that the food in australia is expensive. A plate of duck rice in the food court can cost around 10 dollars. But then again, the people working in the food courts are paid at least 8-15 aud an hour. 

 The sign said they were "father and son" and i never figured out if it was a he or she but she/he looked too pretty to be a boy so i have no idea.

4. Paddy's market

Compared to The Rocks, paddy's offers a different atmosphere and a more rowdy scene. It's located indoors and is probably a lot large than the rocks, has more vendors. Things sold here are a mixture of local products and imported goods like clothing, herbs, beauty products and so on. If you want to buy the cliche tourist shirts that say " I love Sydney" you can find them here, most of them sell a piece for 6 dollars or 3 for 20. 

Ladies' clothing aren't exactly cheap either, I was expecting 10-20 dollar dresses but they were in the 30-50 range. 

5. Museum of Contemporary Art 

Okay i wouldn't exactly say this is a "must-see" destination in sydney but what's a holiday without visiting a museum or two? (at least for mine) 

We were strolling back to circular quay from the rocks and chanced upon this museum which was open to the public for that period of time so we went in and spent a nice hour or two there. 

Most of the art pieces in this museum were very thought provoking, questioning the conventions of modern society and challenging us to reflect on how we react to the art works. 

6. Westfield Tower 

The westfield tower is one of those look out places where if you go to the top floor you get to have a 360deg view of sydney. 

It's also one of the popular shopping places. 

We got free tickets when we bought our blue mountains tour so we went for the fun of it. 

I've never had a thing for these views though cos they're all the same in every country.

I'd rather look at natural scenes and not a bunch of high rise man made buildings that light up at night. That's just my own opinion though.

7. Blue Mountains and Jenolan caves 

We booked a blue mountains/ jenolan caves tour from one of the local operators, paid about 115 aud for a day tour that started at 7am and ended at 7pm. A coach picked us up from YHA sydney central ( a common pick up point for tour operators ) and sent us to blue mountain where we got less than 2 hours to walk around. We got a bit pissed because we weren't warned about the short time given. 

To get anywhere around blue mountains you are required to buy a pass that allows you take 3 kinds of transportation for an unlimited number of rides for the day.

The shitty thing is we only had an hour so we couldn't do much. So remember to make sure your tour operator gives you ample time. 

Or just book a tour that doesn't go to the jenolan caves as well, but that'd be a huge compromise cos i loved the caves. 

We were led into the Lucas cave by a nice and friendly guide for a bout 1.5 hours and the view in it was amazing. 

These are just a few shots of what's in the caves and you really have to be there to fully experience the magnificent formations that have resulted over a few million years. 

I was a geography student so i'm a geek for rock formations. 

 

8. Whale Watching 

The whale season only occurs for a few months during winter and the humpback season is even shorter. We paid about 60 Aud each for a 2 hour whale watching tour. Together with 10 odd other people we spent 2 hours staring out into the ocean watching for a blowhole to appear. It did happen for a couple of times, followed by the sighting of a whale's tail but that was all. I didn't get a photo of it but it was pretty....nice. I wouldn't really do it again though because it was FREEZING out in the ocean and we were really unprepared (attire wise). 

Whale watching is also available in port stephens but we chose to stay in sydney harbour cos the journey to port stephens was really long approx 2 hours one way. We wanted to save some time ( & money )

9. China Town 

So every city has a city town and we were around paddy's market which was near it so we walked through it for a while. We also sat down for some average dim sum. There's really nothing much to it, it's just like any china town in a western country, a modification of what china town really is about. 

Nonetheless, i can imagine it to be a comforting place to be for asians to be if they're homesick cos there are tons of asian restaurants around.

10. Darling Harbour/ Cockle Bay Wharf

Darling harbour is a famous and popular tourist destination because for one, it's by a beautiful harbour and two, many boat and jet ski operators are situated here. So if you booked a whale watching tour that goes to sydney harbour, it might pick you up from darling harbour. 

At night, this place comes to live with bustling restaurants and clubs. There is also an IMAX theatre in the vicinity. 

Things to eat 

1. Lindt Cafe 

There are a few outlets but we went to the one at cockle bay wharf, check out their website for the other locations. 

When we went in for tea, the place was quite packed but it didn't take long for us to make our order at the counter .

Their macarons are highly recommend and they have a wide selection of flavours, each for 2.80 aud if i'm not wrong (I can't really remember sorry) 

I loved their macarons, chewy and not too sweet, just the way i like them. I tried salted caramel, strawberry, cookies and cream and vanilla. 

We also quickly devoured their famous waffles with ice cream because they were so delicious! I fully understand why they call it their famous waffle. I have to say that was probably the best waffle I've ever had. 

2. Adriano Zumbo 

Simply said, I wasn't impressed. I was under the impression that this place would be heaven for dessert lovers like me but I was really disappointed. 

Address : Shop 1, Cafe Court, 

The Star

80 Pyrmont st

Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Of course, you could check out where the other locations are right here. 

This looks really excitable but the prices aren't that excitable. 

I mean, i'm not a stingy person and i'm usually willing to spend more than usual for good desserts. 

But honestly, I wasn't impressed by anything I tried. 

If you do go though, you might wanna go during happy hour (6-8pm) as their desserts are cheaper. They go for $4 for normal plates and $8 for black plates.

This was the Chocolate Namera. Tasted just like any chocolate cake would. Except that it is a lot tinier and it has a fancy name. 

This was slightly better. But once again, the portion was so small it was a turn off. 

If you're gonna tell me good things come in small portions, I'm glad i've found alot of other good things that come in mega sized portions. 

Honestly, the pricing was really just a huge turn off.

The macaroons probably saved zumbo's ass because they were really good. I still however, prefer the ones I had at lindt cafe. 

3. Cupcake Bakery 

I would give anything just to go back and buy more red velvet cupcakes from this bakery. They are AWESOME and so worth the 3.80 aud!!! I am so set on finding a bakery that has good cupcakes in Singapore. One that isn't pretentious and over prices their tiny cupcakes. 

PLEASE walk into cupcake bakery and try one of their creations. They have outlets all around but this was along George street. 

4. Hurricane's 

Last but not least, you should never leave sydney without having a meal at hurricane's!! They serve REALLY good steaks and incredible ribs plus their service was impeccable. 

It is hard to get seats during dinner time though, most people wait for an hour or two. 

We went during lunch time so we didn't have to queue. 

Calamari was good! Though I would have preferred a less creamier sauce but you could have the calamari on its own anyway. 

The wings were average though the sauce was (im guessing) hurricane's signature creation.

Ribs and steak . FINGER LICKING GOOD. 

In total we paid about 90 aud for 3 people and I think it was really reasonable for the amount of food we had and the excellent service we received. 

I highly recommend you to make a reservation though, we heard they were fully booked for a week (for dinner) so that should give an idea of how popular they are! 

That's about it for sydney! I loved it but i hated how the day ended so fast. As usual, shops close early and so, unless you're heading out for dinner or drinks, there really isn't much to do. 

I still enjoyed sydney tremendously, especially the cooling winter weather!! Probably wouldn't go back in the next few years but I can't wait to explore other parts of australia!