Sydney #5

 
Early bird tour (A$29.60) to the Sydney Opera House was splendid! Tours entitled 15% off your bill at Opera Bar too. After a hearthy breakfast, we took a walk to Royal Botanic Garden. We spent the rest of the day at QVB, David Jones and The Galeries.


 

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Pretty – Some of the desirable Australian skin care brands... 

Aesop / Jurlique / Appelles (ah-peh-less) / Perfect Potion

Sydney #4

The Rocks Markets – Made by many hands


Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café – Indulging hot chocolate



Paddington Markets at Oxford Street, Paddington – Opens every Saturday from 10am

 
Chinatown
• Lunch at Happy Chef (Food Court), Market City – Unbelievably good roasted goose!
• Dr Who Pop Up Shop at World Square Shopping Centre



Sydney Tower Eye – Beautiful sunset. Very popular tourist slot. Wise to avoid weekends.

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Eat, drink & shop – Australian made brands...
• Myer / David Jones – Multi level department stores
• T2 Tea – Modern, cool tea culture (love the chocolate infused teas)
• Dymocks – 3 levels bookstore at George Street, which doesn't sell magazines
• Hungry Jack's – Worth-trying yummy burgers

Sydney #3

It was a day of hassle-free guided tour to the popular Blue Mountains National Park. Our tour guide Alex picked us up at 7:10am.





Our journey today: Lincoln's Rock > Breakfast Scones > Scenic World > Megalong Valley > Featherdale Wildlife Park (more animals: Penguins, Flying Foxes, Tasmanian Devil, Giant Wombats, Dingo, Emu) > Ferry back to Circular Quay

Blue Diamond Tours is a tour recommended on Trip Advisor. A$175 + A$35 for Scenic World.


Yummy dinner at Samosorn Thai Local Food Hall at Sydney Central Plaza food court (beneath Myer), Pitt Street Mall. Love the fried fish with red curry, besides the long wait ><.

Sydney #2

 
Our delicious morning essential for the entire week :-) Uncle Tobys Quick Oats, ready in 90 seconds. Value pack came in Creamy Honey, Brown Sugar & Cinnamon and Golden Syrup.

The day was for touristy things! With the Attraction Pass (A$63 each) purchased online, it allowed entrance to 5 top visited places in Sydney. Madame Tussauds was our first stop. The wax figures were awesome!


Hunger drove us to Sydney Fish Market, a long walk via Darling Harbour. Food was fantastic... albeit eating in a war zone. Best to be there after 2pm, only if you can.


We headed back to WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo. Amazing collection! Wallaby, Kookaburra, Wombat, Cassowary, Echidna, Kangaroo, Possum, Koala, Saltwater Crocodile, and more. The adjacent SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium was also worth visiting.The day was wrapped up with a cup of Café Zero° Cappucino & Parisi Choc Dip Peach at Darling Harbour.

Sydney #1

QF6 arrived Sydney 9:30am. Quite a bit of wait at immigration, as predicted. Nonetheless, it was a huge relief after all the sticky clearance. Hello Sydney!!

The first thing I looked for wasn't the taxi signage, but local mobile services. YES Optus is definitely what I would recommend. I paid A$20 for A$30 worth of prepaid mobile service + 500MB data! Perfect for my 7-day stay. It was on promo, apparently. Love the branding too.

We reached Four Seasons Hotel around 11:15am and thankfully, I was told that our room would be ready by 12:30pm (check in is 3pm usually). Good first impression (√). The staffs were nice and friendly too (√√).

We then had a brief walk at Opera Quay, whilst enjoying the ever-hungry seagulls, hunting for some brunch... Disappointingly, ended up with McDonald's (store needs facelift; the 'crispy noodle' salad didn't taste very good).

Once hotel check-in was settled, we moved on to Museum of Sydney, a small museum built over and around Australia’s first Government House. The highlight amongst exhibits were Jørn Utzon's wooden model to the 'shells' engineering solution (part of Sydney Visionaries exhibition) and Celestial City: Sydney's Chinese Story.




Late lunch at Museum Of Contemporary Arts (MOCA) was quite good. Great view of the Opera House as well as a retrieve from the busy crowds. Works by Annette Messanger were fantastic.

We then spent the rest of the evening at Woolworths Metcentre, Coles Central and dinner at Giovanni's Italian Restaurant (love the Sagittarius Pizza). Sheer walking. Well done, mum! :-)