To NSW(6): Back to Sydney, yeah!!! Day 3-7

Back to Sydney central station, it’s Xmas eve!!! And the warm colours and lightings of Xmas in the station surely bring up the joy mood!!! Having said so, this was my 2nd time there, and I have to find my way back to Cheah (from now call Wei Yan [WY]) ‘s unit/apartment in Anzac parade!!!





And it’s 7.30pm, and still as bright as day due to daylight saving :)
This clock is simple yet looked pretty with a bit of antique look!!!













Luckily I’m not bad at directions, at least I did my homework, there u go, that’s the apartment!!!
For 2 days after that I remained indoor, as I mentioned before, the weather over the period I’m in Sydney is wet with occasional showers, even though there might not be rain, the weather was SO SIEN!!!! dark grey gloomy skies, sigh!!!

But those 2 days were a good rest for me after the exhaustion from hiking in the Blue mountains, certainly I knew I might lose some weight again, haha. I know I know those who knew me reading this post would be:'” ngaiti, or wah lau, so thin oledi still lose weight??”….haha, well, what to do!!!

And those 2 days were well spent getting to know new mates!!! Worse of all DOTA!!!! Something I NEVER thought that I would be doing in Sydney after I have not touch it for a year ish!!! Bo pien, peer pressure, and nothing to do and it’s one of the way to mingle around, since everyone in that house DOTA!!! haha. It was fun, though am getting lousier, haha :)

So, on the 27th, seeing that I might get bored staying at home, Shan Khiun [SK] kindly offered to bring me around the major attractions of Sydney CBD though the weather still don’t look good. Well, what to do, afterall I’m already here, and since SK was free and offered as tour guide :)

Getting around Sydney CBD is quite easy by the public bus system, especially where WY stayed. Take the lift down, wait for max 15mins, hop on any bus, and you are safe, because all the bus goes to the CBD. Though public transport in Sydney ain’t no cheap!!! Discount fare only for Sydney residents even though you are a student!!! (which luckily is not the case in Adelaide, hehe).

Anyway, first destination, no other than Circular Quay!!!! That’s where you’ll see both the famous Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House!!!
This was my FIRST view of Sydney harbour bridge for the very first time, having seeing so many times in public media, seeing with my own for the very first time surprisingly didn’t give me the SHOCKER or AMAZINGNESS I thought I would!!! Perhaps of the gloomy weather as backdrop, everything seems dull…






However, our first destination was neither the harbour bridge or opera house, we need to fill our empty stomach and to do so, SK brought me to The rocks first. The rocks is a famous place with most of the old buildings around it as old as the early Europeans settlers and heaps of stylish bars, cafes, restaurants, hearty pubs, antiques, souvenir shops etc. There are museums too, though we didn’t enter any.

 
As 27th was a Sunday, we happened to walk around the Sydney favourite for 16 years, The Rocks Market. With jewellery, Indigenous artwork, evocative photography, gits, homewares, sweet and savoury treats and arts and crafts, The Rocks Market is quite a pleasant walk. The market takes place every Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm at the northern end of George Street.





As you can see, this city is people mountain people sea!!! EVERYWHERE!!!


The left pic below can easily be mistaken as somewhere in Europe :).
Right bottom pic must have been some tree bark converted into some sort of art-like dishes.


Everywhere you see is some art stuff or souvenirs!!!
 



The left bottom pic sells very interesting and colourful sphere shape lights!!! Very pretty indeed,
 

This was amazing, first time seen it, using a flame torch to bent the glasses into artistic stuff, as in this case a crystal glass lady high-heel shoe!!!
 




Saw the holiday inn hotel, haha. Something I guesses anyone who read this blog would be familiar with. Interestingly, the signboard or symbol shows a lion with an anchor, wondered what that means!!!








There’s a puppet shop too around the corner.
 




After touring the markets, it’s time to find the shop we wanted to go to!!!






It’s the famous pancake house of the rocks!!! So famous that everyone would mentioned about it during their travel or stay in Sydney!!! If you look at the middle bottom pic, you’ll understand how famous it is, even we have to queue up!!! Famous but is it really that GOOD?? For your info, pancakes are like bread and butter here in OZ, so it’s famous when there is a shop that serve good pancakes!!!



Forgot what this is call, but definitely looked YUMMY to me!!! It’s a few pieces of hot pancakes serve with ice-cream topping, walnuts, and banana split. So was it really that good??? I would say…7/10 for the first bite,soft and just nice BUT the rating get lower and lower when it gets colder and colder!!! And easily get you full, haha.





 
We also ordered beef steak, though some might argued I should ANGUS steak at Darling harbour, but SK reckoned that the ones here are GOOD enough if no better!!! ANd it really tasted quite good in fact!!!! Yummy yummy and full lunch!!!!












After lunch, SK sought to help me find the RED HOUSE that I have fallen in love with!!! haha. All because of this picture below from http://jennysunphotography.blogspot.com/. This pic below has capture my mind so much, that it’s one my mission during my visit to Sydney!!!!!


Before my visit to Sydney, I made rigorous effort trying to find more info online on the location this house!!! Jenny Sun told me it was somewhere around Sydney, though she replied me but not very helpful. Obviously, this uniquely RED painted house has been the photographing background of many professional photographers.

And I finally found it, in THE ROCKS!!!


And there you go, me and the famous red house!!!! Though I must admit that I was a bit disappointed because the colour didn’t match what I saw from the blog!!! Either the paint has fainted or the pic from the blog was taken by a very good DSLR or has been edited which DID LOOKED THE SAME AFTER I EDITED MINE, haha. Still, I was contented :) Mission accomplished, haha.


More walks around the rocks… this place is also famous for the narrow streets and cobblestone streets as you see below :).
Middle bottom pic is my eng dau young dai lou (da ge), haha.
 




The pic to the left might be ordinary right?? the reason I took it is because of the right hand upper corner of the couple on the rooftop of the building, when I saw that, i was like wow, how syiok to be on the rooftop!!!



 After I seen JennySun’s blog, I was intrigued by how she and her workmates used the colours of the buildings around Sydney and elsewhere to make a good photo despite the photo might just be a simple archway, a door, a window etc. So I explored this creativity in the rocks, haha. The rocks have many coloured frames or buildings that are not so common, such as one below –bottom left pic. And I like it pretty much!!!
The right bottom pic was a Xmas tree made of SPRITES bottle, amazing huh???




Back to Circular Quay for more photos and visit to Opera house!!!









As you can see below, Circular Quay is such a MAJOR tourist attraction, and a place for people to pak toh and lepak!!!

   

There is no way one can get a picture without taking others in!!!! very annoying indeed!!!! The place is so crowded!!! And all the people don’t know how to “sek do” at all when they see you taking photos!!!! Lots of people just lepak there, =.=!!!! Everyone (including me) is like I MUST TAKE A PHOTO with the FAMOUS opera house, haha.

Again there’s no SHOCKER or BEAUTY impression when I saw the Opera House for the very first time!!!! Don’t know what’s the reason, in fact the Opera House has to be appreciated from far or from the different angles!!!






Another photo of the eng dau young da ge, SK,LOL!!!




The stone for the Opera House??




 





Pic showing the bzness of Circular Quay.






Next up, visiting Circular Quay wouldn’t be complete without going on the ferry and seeing the harbour bridge and opera house from the canal!!!
 
 

The ferry trip was fairly good offering another way of looking the sydney harbour and another easy way of getting around the harbour to other tourist attractions.




Again, it’s so hard to take photos on the ferry, people line up the railings, tall and short. And it’s shaky =.=





The bridge in preparation for 2010!!!!






Luna park near Milson’s point.

Besides, the ferry offer better view of places and buildings around the harbour.
 

Docking on Darling harbour.


Sydney wildlife world near the dock of Darling harbour.


  
The famous Pyrmont Bridge is a swing bridge over Cockle Bay in Darling Harbour.




Cockle bay.









Tea time at the Lindt cafe!!!! Read about this place from a blog, and it is a very busy cafe!!!










Offering colourful tasty cookies, chocs, cakes etc






   

Though the cakes are not cheap!!! the drinks are still reasonable. Taste??? GOOD but DUNO how to taste the difference if you tell me that’s made from Lindt chocs!!!

 
Didn’t know Sydney has the World biggest’s IMAX!!!










The famous spiral fountain!!! really a creative one!!! attracts many kids :)


 Xmas tree of Darling harbour, heard it’s super pretty at night!!!
An elevated monorail which travels between Darling Harbour and the Sydney central business district on top of the pyrmont bridge. The monorail track rests on a pivot that allows the track to remain stationary while the bridge swings underneath, so monorails can continue to cross even when the bridge is opened.


The maritime museum is also located in Darling Harbour, though it didn’t attracted me. One can even go in the warship if you pay the ticket.

Bottom left pic is what I meant bout pyrmont bridge as a electronic swing bridge that swing both side to allow bigger boats or ferries to enter!!! SK said one must be very lucky to see the bridge swing open!!!




My da ge bz on phone, LOL














A big big boat not sure is it functional or not, it’s a restaurant.






Heading away from Darling Habour to find other mates for dinner at china town.


Chinatown and the haymarket of Sydney is also quite famous!!! Though it’s more taiwanese or china style punya chinatown!!!


SK recommended me to try the “帝王饼”(king cookies??), 4 for 1 buck, taste quite nice!!!
Bottom left pic,was a pic of an artist talented in cutting the shape of your face from the side!!! Quite amazing, first time saw it!!! Some looked pretty identical especially if you more distinct face features or wearing something different.


金水口!!! The tree was painted in gold in some part which when considered altogether resembles the chinese ‘feng shui’ elements of wood, fire, gold, water and earth that bring prosperity and luck to the area. Gold by the painting, fire by the lighting, wood the tree itself, earth by the soil beneath and water by the water beneath (I think, can’t remember exactly). So you can see many banks around this area!!!


Our dinner at one of the most famous thai restaurant around Sydney!!! So famous that you have to book in advance and you will see long queue all the time!!! The meals was not bad, with the fish being the best!!!
 

All of us, haha. This trip to Sydney, I got to know many new friends of SK and WY :) all Msians, haha.




After dinner, SK saw this kinda theatre show of “wicked” and thought of watching, haha. Somehow to me, Luckily we didn’t haha. Didn’t come to Sydney for this stuff though this kinda of stuff is common and entertainment to the westerners.

Monkey pub!!! Did thought of going in there, but didn’t too, and yes I watched my AVATAR in Sydney 3D.

So much for just a day!!!!!