Sydney

The ticket wrote that I were to reach Sydney at 0800. After transiting at KLIA, the flight took off at 2230 and I was thinking this was gonna be a long flight. I was proven wrong because Sydney is 2 hours before us, so the flight was only 8 hours and I reached Sydney at 0600 hours (KL / SIN time). The journey was quite good, I watched Red cliff and I am Sam. There were ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’ which I so wanted to watch with mj and judy few weeks back, but it didn’t appeal to me eventually because there were better movies. The food served on the plane was quite good I feel, I had BBQ chicken and muffin and a hardrock sweet Danish for breakfast.

The security at the Sydney airport is stringent I would say, probably because there was one H1N1 case in Australia a couple of days back. Cleared the custom in 45 mins and the next step would be planning how to get to the hostel. Good thing that there is this airport shuttle so I managed to get a return ticket to my hostel and back to the airport on Thursday to go Brisbane.

Guardian in Sydney Airport, and the pharmacy is so much bigger! You can buy Duro-tuss right from the shelves! The pharmacist here is fairly reputable and highly sought after :)

The hostel was quite okay and quite densely populated by students all over the world. They cooked in the kitchen and had nice chats around the hostel and I felt that it really felt like a hostel. It was also my first time being surrounded by so many non-Asians! Haha, so I was trying very hard to listen to what they’re talking. Sometimes I couldn’t catch what they are talking about because it was either too fast or my English is really lousy, but oh wells, nvm.

Had a 2 hours sleep at the hostel before venturing out for food. Didn’t sleep well on the plane so these 2 hours are good enough to replenish the needed energy and rest. Took my first train to the town hall station, where the Sydney aquarium and Wildlife world are. I should say transport and food can kill me eventually à they are really EXPENSIVE! I ordered mee goreng and it cost me 9 bucks!

Though the portion was more than sufficient for 2 persons but I started to wonder, do people here really eat that much? My friend ordered Chicken rice and it cost 9 bucks too (Vs 3.50 MAX in Singapore!).

A return train ticket will cause you AUD 4.40. I burnt a hole right on the first day already!!!!

Many thanks to Agnes for generously giving me the 1-1 admission tickets to Sydney Aquarium and Wildlife World. Additionally, I got the concession rate because I have the student card with me :D Muahahah, super happy! On another note, I really think Sydney has loads of animals – from the most harmful to the least harmful you can jolly find it here. I think that the crocodile in the Sydney Aquarium deserved mentioning. One crocodile only, sad huh? Actually NOT, because then it has the divine attention of all the people coming here! Just nice, it was crocodile feeding time and it was pretty interesting to see how it was fed. A big tattoo-ed man holding a big glass approached the crocodile so that he can block the crocodile should it attack. In fact I saw the crocodile attacking and the man was really strong enough to hold it back. I gave a scream when I saw it attacking because it was really scary and extremely dangerous if not for the glass! But the crocodile only got to eat 2 fish haha!

What the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?

Fish and fishes? When can you use fishes?

Oh yea, I saw koala and kangaroo too!! Super happy!

There is this nice creature in the Sydney Aquarium and it is called Dugong. It looks really cute and chubby and fat and silly, look:

Australia has a lot of SHARKS too!! I saw loads of them!!! And jellyfish too!!!

Finding Nemo?

I must have appeared like a silly girl because my camera is always on my hands wherever I go. I just like to take photos everywhere – the streets, buildings, people, bridge, cars, roads, shops, shops that you’ll never see in Malaysia/Singapore etc etc. So people think I’m nuts haha but I don’t really care. I might be the only person in my family who can travel to Australia and there are many people who haven’t been here so I can show them how it’s like in Australia! And I really think I love them all – the new environment, the different kind of people, and the different kind of culture too!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rented a car and it took me to Blue Mountain. Along the way, we ventured into a small town named Blacktown (I think it feels like smallville kinda feeling and it’s lunch time, so might as well). No bustle and hustle like that seen in Sydney, it’s quiescent. Went to the shopping centre to get lunch – this is quite nice, 8 bucks! But I should say Aussie has nice meat – fresh produce!! Like them all!

Oh I went to the toilet and as a Pharmacist who’s getting more vigilant and caring, I quite like this ad:

The people here need no reminder of ‘Please flush the toilet after use’, so far, so unsightly scenes at toilet visits yet!

I went to the supermarket and everything there is so BIGGG!!! The juices come in BIG sizes, the chips too! The cereals are in humongous sizes and the cup noodle is L size (and what we have back at home should be considered an S size) haha! Super excited to see these stuff although it’s common in non-Asian countries. But everything here is BIGG!!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

And the journey to the Blue Mountain continues...

First stop – Wentworth Falls.

And this is Wentworth Falls Lake. Pretty :)

I should say Wentworth Falls is a big town and it’s on the blue mountain! In fact, there are a lot of people staying on the Blue Mountain, there are schools, malls, just like another town! I couldn’t describe more because the serenity was simply awesome! I took some nice pictures though, so here I am to share :)

Make a Smilebox postcard

(I took the photos myself, one using the self-timer, can you guess which one is it? Luckily tripod is with me too! :)

King Tableland (Below). Personally, I’m more fond of this than the Three Sisters!

Getting nearer to the Three Sisters...

And right beside the Three Sisters!

What do you think about them? Like them? Hm.. I think overall the trip to the Blue Mountain was good but perhaps I was expecting more breathtaking scenes. However, as I’ve said, it’s a peaceful place. Oh but yesterday the news reported that a guy pushed a girl off the Blue Mountain. Hm.. getting haunted? Haha, I don’t think so ^_^

Make a Smilebox photobook

Finally, the Sydney Opera House. Perhaps the picture could look better if taken in the day but too bad for me because I don’t think I have time for Sydney already! Coincidentally, the Australia Ballet –Nutcrackers is performing today! I so wanted to watch it and the cheapest ticket is AUD 30 but SOLD OUT!!! Felt kind of disappointed but never mind, I’m sure I’ll have chance again! The people coming to the Sydney Opera House are very well-dressed, they really look very good!!! There are also many bars along the harbour and the atmosphere is really quite nice :)

I’m going to Canberra tomorrow! hooray!