Few months back before 2009 Christmas, I was already sitting on my comfy chair in front of my sleek Dell laptop thinking hard of where to go for my year end holidays!!! Australia is so big (not even considering New Zealand, Fiji, the pacific islands), a land full of attractive cities and nature wonders that prioritizing my travel wish list is crucial!!
So my list narrowed down to Melbourne as somehow you’ll heard from everyone’s mouth that Melbourne is so nice – food wise and landscape wise. “Do the great ocean road, mate!!” is what everyone has been instilling in my mind. Thus, Melbourne it is!!! Yet, I don’t have friends there worse still, most of my Kuching friends have left Australia for Perth (closer to M’sia) or back to M’sia. Until a high school junior – Shan Khiun (SK) found me in Facebook (there’s some credit for facebook, haha)!!! So excited, because he is a junior friend that I kinda look up to (he’s a smart ass, genius type kind of kid, lol) and it’s been like 6-7 years since I heard from him ever since I left GRSS. And best of all, he’s studying in Melbourne, Monash!!! Plans have been made to try go visit him before Christmas 2009 which was also his final year, but alas, none succeeded.
But i guessed god didn’t fell me all, SK is stopping over at Sydney from Melbourne before he goes back to Malaysia for ~2 weeks for X’mas and new year eve. That’s when things get excited and kinda rush too. He invited me to join him and his friends studying in Sydney who were also at their final year. And after all the thinking and hassle, I finally said YES, I'll join him and I’m going 3 days earlier than him, haha. Got to organize to meet his friend, Cheah in Sydney and think of what shall I do before SK get there.
Of course, there are heaps of stuffs to do, places to go, provided you have time and transport. And that’s the problem, transport is always a problem for me. After doing extensive research, Blue mountain National park is where I’ll spend 2 nights. I could have so easily go on a tour, but following a tour is never my cup of tea, haha. But it’s all worth it for all the planning. I spent lots of money there, MORE MORE than I expected, but have UNFORGETTABLE FUN that I didn’t expect :). Here u go, my travel log to Sydney :)
Departing for Sydney from Adelaide International Airport on 22nd Dec 2009 with a small bag of Haigh’s chocolate :)
Saw the different airline aircrafts while waiting including MAS!!! And the next minute, i’m flying looking down on the long coastal stretch of Adelaide’s pretty beaches!!!
The views from the plane was awesome at least for the 1st few minutes, haha. Flying inland bound to Sydney allowed one to see how different the landscape of Australia changes from the coastal towards inland!!!
After an hour+, I was so excited to see the Sydney Harbour right underneath me!!!
And all the bays, coves, sheer cliffs……that line the New South Wales coastal region!!!
And how clear and turquoise blue the water is!!! Finally landed in Sydney, my maiden 1hr+ journey, haha. Sydney International airport is sure different to the Adelaide International airport not in SIZE or architecture or facilities, but the amount of people using the airport!!!
Cheah whom is very kind, offered to pick me up from airport to his house, put down unnecessary stuff, brief “hi & bye” and I was rushing to get to the central station to catch the blue mountain line to Katoomba, the main town of the blue mountain region to start off my exploration of Blue mountain National park, luckily I managed to make it in time for everything!!! For those of you planning to visit Sydney, there have a very good website that helps you to plan your transport for moving around - http://www.131500.com.au/ , basically you can plan your journey from one place to another using this website and it combines everything from bus to train to ferries!!!
Bought my weekly bus ticket, hopped on the bus to central. The bus ride was quite short, so my first impression of Sydney was so so, kinda like an old town too, haha. Nothing much more than Adelaide itself :)
Upon reaching central, it was a mad rush again to catch the blue mountain line, got to find my way to the right train platform which is a huge maze for a first timer!!!
Luckily I’m not late, and I was surprised to see a double-decker train!!! WOW!!! Compared to that, M’sia train has got a lot to catch up!!!
The seats within the train can be swing either side, meaning if you saw a pretty girl sitting behind you, you can adjust the seat so that you can sit facing the girl instead of turning your head to peep at the girl!!! Jokes aside, well, actually I find it very useful especially for groups, you can sit facing each other which make chatting easier!!!
The train ride was a long 2hr journey passing through suburbs and some tunnel, YUP, I’m on my way to the WORLD HERITAGE blue mountain!!! Till then…:)
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