Back for my Sydney trip update ((: I was so busy spending the last week in Melbourne with the boyfriend, with packing and cleaning up my room that's why I kept delaying on this. And now I am finally back in Malaysia! Come back pula I have been busy going out and temaning my mum. So yeah... This is a super delayed post.. Sorry sorry! So sorry that I didn't have the time to write up this post earlier. In case if any of you missed out on my last Sydney visit in April 2011, click here :)
*Andddddd I went to Sydney again for the third time in 2013, click here to read it!*
I'll be back in Malaysia for almost two months and I am impatiently waiting for the boyfriend to be back as well..! Can't blame me leh... He hasn't been back since he went over to Melbourne two years ago. Everytime I would come back without him and always eat all these good food without him.. That's why I am like super excited for him to come back! Wheeee ONE MORE MONTH! :D
Anyhoos.... SYDNEY with the darling! ♥♥ This trip HAVE to be documented in every possible detail! First alone trip with the boyfriend leh :P
4 days 3 nights dated from the 29th of December till the 1st of January (:
Beware, SUPER long post ahead!
Day 1,
Our flight was at 835am but for some reason I wasn't able to do web check in so we had to be there 2 hours earlier. Was up at 530am and out of the house by 615am. Thanks to Aunty D who woke up early in the morning and fetched the two of us to the airport.
I remembered it to be a very cold morning in Melbourne but once we touched down in Sydney, it was hot for some reason. Yes yes.. I know Sydney is always bound to be hotter than nice chillier but most of the time temperamental Melbourne. *still a Melbourne girl at heart* :D
Flew by Jetstar (:
Of course had to have self capture shots to start off our alone trip lah :D
We landed in Sydney an hour and a half later (: And then hopped onto the airport train link into the city to get to our hotel. It costs us about $15.80 per trip per person.
They have double decker trains! How cool is that?! Buttttttt is wayy dirtier and not maintained properly as compared to our Melbourne trains.
First picture taken in Sydney (:
Checked ourselves into the hotel but because it wasn't 2pm yet, the room was still not ready for us. So we left our baggages with the concierge and took a monorail over to the Fish Market straight after because our tummy was growling badly.
Bought the monorail day pass that costs us about $10 per person and had to walk to the fish market from harbourside. Totally regretted getting a monorail day pass instead of the light rail/tram day pass. The light rail would have gotten us right to the fish market instead of having us to walk for like 15 minutes under the so damn hot sun..
All the way there for this! Salmon Sashimi! :DDD It was good and super fresh!! And had a fish bites platter with one whole soft shell crab to share.
Our lunch for two! Small sashimi pack for the boyfriend and the big one for myself! ((:
After the super crowded and stuffy but good meal in the fish market, we hopped back onto the monorail and got back to World Square (which is the nearest monorail stop from our hotel). And just spontaneously decided to go for dessert before heading back to the hotel.
Dessert was at Chat Thai! :D Super love their desserts! Very authentic thai dessert and they taste really good! Had this the last time I was there which was 2011 Easter and still ordered the same thing this time. It was THAT good!
The drink is called the Lodt Shong Singapore. It is coconut milk with silky pandan dumplings. And also there were strings of nangka/jack fruit in it. Super yums!
Tup Tim Grob. Tapioca coated water chestnut in a glutinous rice, coconut milk and sesame seed batter. Super yummy! Would have loved it to death if it was like super cold. Because the heat that day was somewhat bad. And we were desperate for cold things.
Walked back to our hotel to rest awhile after dessert. It's only a 10 to 15 mins walk away from Chat Thai/Paddys Market/Chinatown area.
We stayed in Travelodge Wentworth Sydney. It was pretty good! Location was good and the room was spacious and clean. Just that they gave us a twin room which is the two single beds room. Which was then transformed to...
A merge double bed! :D But the bed have rollers. So by the end of the night I'll be on one bed and he will be on the other and there will be this gap between us. HAHA!
Flight outfit (:
Rested for like an hour or so then changed and went out to Star City Casino as our dinner in Hurricanes at 7pm is just a 10 minutes walk away from Star City.
Outfit for dinner! :D My $10 royal blue laser cutout dress ((:
Walked back out to World Square and caught the monorail to Harbourside and then walk over to Star City.
In the monorail. They are demolishing it in June this year. I find that the monorail is somewhat different and they should keep it. But I guess there aren't that many people who sits them because it is a little pricey. Its $5 per trip or $9.80 per day. The monorail is exactly like those mini train thats goes around theme parks. They have their own little carriages that could maybe fit 15 people?
The walk from harbourside which was in Darling Harbour to Star City. Royal blue matchy matchy outfit! ♥
The Star City!
Went there to have a look around the casino and to be impressed by how big people can bet on a round. Spent almost an hour inside the casino just looking and observing the games. The both of us are not the type who are keen on gambling at all.
The casino reminds me a little bit of Melbourne's Crown casino but I didn't dare to take any pictures in there. Scared later kena sound. haha!
Another reason of going to Star City is to go and try Adriano Zumbo!
Everything looked so good!!
From L-R: Lamington, Berry, Choc Doughnut and Salted Butter Popcorn.
OMG! The salted butter popcorn was THE BEST!!!!! Tasted exactly like your eating popcorn off the popcorn box! It was soft and creamy and totally melted straight in your mouth! It was soooooo good that I wanted to get another but I knew we were going to have super heavy dinner so I didn't.. Which I totally totally regretted it!! ))):
Ate all of these while sitting at the Darling Point park. We had time to spare before our dinner reservation so we just sat there and chill. The cold wind was starting to sip in.. Felt awesome just chilling there and enjoying the scene around us and while eating macarons!
Looks good eh? :D
"You are my bestfriend, my shoulder to lean on, the one person I know I can count on, you're the love of my life, you're my one and only, you're my everything."
Darling Harbour.
Our reservation at Hurricanes was at 7pm. Got there 15 minutes before but still gotta wait till exactly 7pm before we could be seated. I tell you... the queue was impossible man. People would rather wait for an hour and a half to two hours just for a table. That's crazy long!! Thank god I booked it in advance since september. Seriously... thank god!
Me and their special cocktail called the "Hurricane".
There is Bacardi 8yo, Galliano Amaretto, Bacardi 151, passionfruit, lemon juice and grenadine. Super yums leh!! The both of us shared this and we loved it!
Mussels. Cooked in a creamy garlic sauce with bread fingers for dipping.
Garlic Mushrooms prepared with fresh garlic, olive oil & garlic butter.
Full rack of ribs to share!!! <3 It comes with a bib for you to wear while you're eating. haha!
Everything we ordered was to share. The bill came to about $89. And the food was good! Although the ribs wasn't as good as we remembered it to be. But the meal was still nice (:
Us! ♥
The view from where we were seating. So nice hor!
Our pink faces from the cocktail. Satisfied dinner date! ♥
Darling Harbour at night! So pretty!!
Fireworks over at Darling Harbour. Was greeted by this right after we finished our dinner. It goes on every Saturday night at 9pm. What a way to end our first night in Sydney and such a perfect way to end our dinner date! My first fireworks watching with my dear!! Loved how he held me while we stared into the sky of pretty fireworks together!! ♥♥♥
We took the Monorail back to World Square.
Then walked back to our hotel (:
Called it a night straight after we got back. I was so so tired that I completely died on the bed straight after showering.
Day 2,
Woke up the next morning at about 9am. And was out of the hotel around 10am. Walked out to Surry Hills which was a 15 minutes walk to have breakfast. Surry Hills is famous for its brunch spots! In fact, it is famous for any sort of food and eatery!
Settled with Lumiere Cafe. Which was on my list of food to eat!
Wheeeeee :)))
Food that we ordered!
After brunch, we took a bus over to Bondi Beach. The last time we went there it was raining and we hardly got to enjoy the view. Which is why I made the effort to go back there again.
Bondi Beach! My signature pose for pictures for this Sydney visit :D
Blue sky blue sea!
He is my everything! <3
On the shore of the beach, there were a couple of these don't know what kinda species of jelly fish. Doesn't look like the usual jelly fishes hor? Somemore got this thin and long tail.. I was quite fascinated by it. And its blue!! HEHE
For some reason, our shadows picture always have a heart somewhere in it. My Love! ♥
The sun was starting to sting a little bit so we had to go and find shelter. As much as we loved the cold ocean water running through our feet, it was time to bid goodbye. The sun was seriously unbearable and even worse that we didn't have any sunblock on.
So we walked out to the esplanade shops to just walk around more because I knew that there was a market going on that sunday. If you know me well enough, you will know that I love markets!! Things that are sold in flea markets are usually one of a kind and I love unique pieces!
The bondi market.
Altho things from flea market are unique and pretty, the prices are also higher than my budget ): In the end I didn't manage to buy anything for myself but bought a very pretty handmade bowl for Aunty D. We then went looking for the fried mars bar at Bondi Surf Seafood which is a fish and chips shop before heading back out into the city.
Mars Bar fried in batter and lightly coated with icing sugar. It was good! But super sinful man.... And so different! I never would have thought to fry mars bar in batter. haha!
Took a bus to Circular Quay because the next sites to visit is the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House and The Rocks Market.
While walking to the rocks market, we saw this super duper huge cruise ship and sort of said that we would go on it someday for holiday! When the both of us could afford it. But seriously.... it was super damn huge man!
The Harbour Bridge. I love its structure!
The Rocks Market! Super lots of people leh... Well.. it was the last Sunday for the year. Who am I kidding right? HEHE
The Opera House.
See what I mean by a super damn huge cruise ship?!!
Still am amazed by it..
♥♥♥
After our tourist spots visit, we went to have early dinner at like 5pm ish. Went for a famous Korean BBQ place, Sydney Madang.
Awesome Korean BBQ! Seriously SO GOOD!!
This was the chilli chicken that has dok bok ki (glutinous rice cake) in it and topped with a lot of cheese. This was super yums!! Basically the whole meal was super duper yums!
We spent a total of $68 for two. Not too bad hor? I don't mind paying a bit more for good food. I was a super satisfied customer! So is the boyfriend! (:
We went to stock up on water and snacks and bread before heading back to our hotel. Stocking up for the next day's camping battle. And OMG man..... the crowd in the super market was like super crazy!! I have never ever seen so so SO many people in Coles before! Most of the bread and water section were all completely cleared out! Seems like whole city were preparing for the next day/new years eve battle as well..
Got back to the hotel pretty early. And just stayed in and rested. We could have gone out for some drinks or beer or something but the both of us were too lazy and our feet were hurting. Staying in was the best option. We stayed in munching on the bread we bought while watching Madagascar 3 till we got sleepy and fell asleep straight until morning. One shot. HEHE
Day 3, New Years Eve,
Woke up slightly after 9am and was out before 10am. We are not those crazy people that goes and line up at 4 5am. Those are seriously crazy people..
Geared up for the hot sun and hot weather!
On the way to Circular Quay, we stopped by to get subway for our lunch. Foot long for the both of us. It was to prepare us for the coming 12 hours of waiting.
The view from where we were camping at.
Sort of "well prepared".. But a bigger umbrella would have been much better! Or even a tent would be EVEN better. HAHA!
Look at the crazy crowd!! This was taken at 1130am leh....
We managed to sit there for an hour but thought of sitting there for another 12 hours was unbearable. And the heat and sun was impossible as well! Finally decided to pack up and gave up our spot. It was really too crazy to be sitting there for 12 hours...
And then decided to hopped onto the ferry and go over to Manly. It was suppose to be a really scenic ferry ride.
The ferry terminal.
Look at all those crazy people. We were one of them for an hour. Thank god we sobered up and realised that we shouldn't be wasting our day by just sitting there.
♥♥
The scenic ride! Totally worth our $14 per person for a return trip!
The Manly Corso. The main shopping strip.
The Manly Beach. I prefer this than Bondi Beach leh.. This looks way nicer!
Manly Beach conquered!
The camera battery died straight after this photo... The rest of the pictures was taken with my iPhone.
The both of us super love these little fountains! Due to the hot weather, anything cold would fascinate us! We keep walking on it and dip our feet in it. Super fun!
Manly Municipal Council Building.
Super clear blue sky. No clouds at all! Which explains the super blazing hot sun!
Us on the ferry on our way back to Circular Quay.
After getting back to Circular Quay, we hopped onto the free shuttle bus service and went over to Chinatown to look for this ramen that I have been wanting to try.
Sydney's Chinatown.
But after getting there only I realised they will be closed for a week starting from the 31st till the 6th. I SHOULD HAVE WENT THE DAY BEFORE! I really wanted to try it lor...... ):
Then we went for another famous thing over in Chinatown. The emperor's bakery cream puffs.
They were fragrant and smooth! :D
And also went into to get some dim sum. They tasted good just that they weren't hot. It was a tad bit too cold.
After these snacks, we went for a proper dinner. It was to Chat Thai! :D
Super yummy skewer at $2.50 a stick!
Thai Beef Salad.
Green Curry.
Was super duper full from dinner and all the snacks before that. I didn't want to just go back to the hotel and sit there or lie down to rest. I wanted to walk it off so we went for a stroll in Hyde Park. It is just a 5 minutes walk away from our hotel.
Since the camera was out of battery, the following pictures in Hyde Park were also taken with my iPhone. Shitty quality but I didn't have much of a choice.... ))):
Hyde Park!
Super love the backdrop! The way the trees are formed but these pictures DO NOT do it justice at all! It was so so SO much prettier in real!
Anzac War Memorial.
Love this shots! Altho it was taken with my iPhone and super not good quality, I still love it!
Some dude was acting like a chilling ninja.
♥♥
Not a bad shot from the iPhone eh? (:
I'd wish one day we could walk hand in hand and do strolls like these when we are old.
After our lovely stroll, we went back to the hotel to pack up some things and go out to catch the fireworks. Luckily I managed to charge the camera before heading out.
Then around 8 something or so we hopped onto the train to get over to Circular Quay. The IT spot for fireworks watching.
Museum Station. The station nearby our hotel.
Once we got off the station, we were greeted by a huge sea of people. Like seriously SO DAMN MANY people!
We were trying our luck to get into the vantage points after the 9pm fireworks. Because that is when family starts coming out and go home because the midnight fireworks is too late for the kids.
Look la look... Look at the amount of people! These were all waiting to get in...
Finally after almost two hours of queueing to get in, we finally got into The Rocks.
This was our bridge view for the night.
Considering a not a bad view already leh.. Everywhere else is all filled up by that time and for us to only queue up for an hour plus, this is the best we could get already.
To be honest, the both of us was really really frustrated. Until the point that we seriously wanted to give up and watch it on the tv from our hotel.
These was taken at about 1130pm? By that time everyone were already on their feet.
Suddenly there was this smoke going on at the back where the entrance was. It slowly got thicker and thicker and finally it was like super thick and black smoke. Turns out some people set a couple of trees on fire. It was somewhat a huge fire. There were about 3 fire trucks..
Right before midnight. On the countdown.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!! (((:
Our fireworks view for the beginning of 2013! Pretty pretty!!
Feels great to have the boyfriend by my side and to celebrate new years with him. Altho it was a super frustrating night, and we've also vowed to never do this new years eve thing again, we were still glad that we spent the night with each other (:
The both of us made a promise that if we do the new years eve fireworks in Sydney or anywhere in the world, we will be one of those couples that stays in hotel rooms that has the fireworks view or in a cruise ship that has a spectacular view. In short, we will not go and get pushed by the crowd and get so frustrated. We will be sitting down and enjoying leisurely while watching the fireworks right infront of our eyes.
We quickly left the rocks once the fireworks ended and quickly walk over to the train station to get onto the train to get back to our hotel. Thank god we managed to get back in 15 minutes. Lucky us! Because while we were leaving, we saw thousands of people still stuck over in Circular Quay trying to leave. If that happened to us, the boyfriend would have been so so mad. Imagine 1.6 million people wanting to go home all at once. CRAZYYYYYY! So yeah.. Thank God!
Slept pretty fast that night as we were super exhausted from the long and tiring day.
Day 4, last day and the first day of 2013.
Maxi chiffon dress for the day!
Checked out at 10am and then we left for brunch. Didn't have to bring our luggages with us because we arranged the airport shuttle with the hotel so we could leave our baggages stored with them. Save us a hell lot of trouble moving the bags up and down and everywhere we go.
First stop was Surry Hill for brunch.
It was at Bills.
Hehe me and my cute boyfriend and his favourite One Piece tshirt that I bought for him from Hong Kong's Baleno.
Dear's big breakfast.
And my corn fritters. It was good! I was always under this impression that I do not like corn fritters but this surprised me. Now I am pumped up to go back to Melbourne and try the famous corn fritters over at Mart 130.
The brunch was pretty pricey as compared to our Melbourne brunch. But nevermind, at least we got to try la hor... :)
After that we hopped onto the bus and went to Chat Thai because I wanted to try this..
It is like mini yau char kuey and a small tupperware of thai styled kaya for dipping.
In the tram.
Went all the way to Star City and paid $6 per person for a return trip.
Adriano Zumbo's macarons are like super damn awesome lah!
BUT.... I came out of the shop with nothing. Went all the way there for nothing. The salted butter popcorn was unavailable for the day. I went all the way there for that....!! ))): And the other available flavours didn't attract me at all.. SO SAD LAH! I should have bought another salted butter popcorn macaron when I was there the first time! ))):
Since macaron tak jadi, I had gelato instead.
Gelato Messina. One of the famous gelato place in Sydney.
I had their salted caramel with white chocolate chips. It was good!
Then we went out to Darling Point park and walk around to take some pictures before we headed back out into the CBD.
Nice view hor?
The whole family statue.
Took the tram back to Capitol Square.
We wanted to go over to the Chinese Garden to walk around but the weather was so hot so we went for more dessert.
Went to Meet Fresh in Chinatown for some Ai-Yu jelly. Superbly made for hot weather!
After dessert, we went over to Market City to walk around for awhile. Then we went on the free shuttle bus and went over to Westfield because I wanted to try Laduree. Which is famous for its macarons and this place is from Paris. From the authentic place where macarons started.
But first we stopped at Town Hall to just sight see a little bit while we walked over to Westfield.
Sydney's Town Hall.
QVB and its Christmas Tree. I only managed to see the bottom of the tree. Didn't go in to have a look at the whole tree.
The Queen Victoria Building. A similar structure to our Melbourne Flinders Street Station.
The Sydney Tower.
As I was saying I wanted to go and try Laduree right... But Westfield was closed. Which means I didn't get to try Laduree's macarons... ): SO SAD LEH! Westfield closed from 3pm onwards because it was New Years Day. Aiyooo... IF I would have went earlier I would have been able to get it. AIHHHH...
And since we were in the area, we decided to go up the Sydney Tower for sight seeing.
At least we were a little tourist-y. Not just makan makan makan and see nothing. The entrance fee included a 4D short film as well.
The only picture that I took up there. People were everywhere and lingering at all the possible picture taking corners plus the glass was reflective so I decided to just look around instead of taking any pictures.
BUT we managed to get some photo as remembrance. And guess what? I didn't pay a single thing for these pictures. HEHEHEHE
Nice souvenir right? HEHE considering we paid nothing for this :P
After Sydney Tower, it was already time to get back to our hotel because we booked our shuttle at 630pm and it was better to be back early and wait for the guy rather than them waiting for us.
While waiting for the shuttle in the lobby.
Dinner in the airport. KFC's double burger. Instead of bun sandwiching a piece of meat, this is two pieces of meat sandwiched ham and cheese.
The sun setting while we were waiting at our boarding gate. (: Nice hor?
Last picture of us for our trip!
Got back to Melbourne at about 11pm. And that concludes our Sydney trip! It was an enjoying trip with the boyfriend! ♥
The photobooth picture that we took up at the Sydney Tower eye viewing platform. FINALLY I have taken photobooth photo strips with the boyfriend! LOVE THIS! My most memorable souvenir of the trip! ♥♥♥♥
And also bought this outfit from Market City. The only thing I bought. The studded collar top was a pressie from the boyfriend and I super love both the top and the crochet shorts! Both at $12.50 per piece.
And I bought this pendant for him. Still hunting for a stainless steel chain to go along with it.. Yeng hor?
That was my New Years Eve trip with the boyfriend to Sydney! My first ever alone trip with him (: SO glad that I finally am all done with it!
All done with about 210 pictures! Crazy long man! Took so so long to write it! It has been drafted for almost a week! Imagine that... I have been so lazy and have been procrastinating non stop. HEHE
Overall the trip was nice (: Sydney reminds me a little bit of New York from what I've seen in pictures and movies. Old structured buildings and super big city like. They both have a well known bridge as well... But as much as I love how Sydney is structured and how pretty it may be, I wouldn't want to stay there. Things are so much more expensive over there. Plus the cost of living is way higher..
I have three regrets during this trip, one is not being able to eat Gumshara Ramen, second is not able to try Laduree and third is never getting to eat Adriano Zumbo's salted butter popcorn macaron again.. ))): See... all my regrets are on food! HEHEHE
Special thanks to Wei Ping who borrowed her flip screen compact camera to me! If wasn't because of her camera, I wouldn't have been able to take perfect shots of us both together.
Shall be back sometime next week to blog about my first week back in Malaysia. That's it for now! Byeeee peeps!
Lots of love,
Shereena.
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