Saturday, February 28, 2015

28feb2015 Sydney Fish Mkt_Opera Hse_Mamak

(1) Sydney Fish Market

       
On this day, we went to the Sydney light rail at the Central Station to catch the light rail to Sydney Fish market. However when we were at the platform we were told by an official that the light rail for that day was not working.

We were told to take the replacement bus opposite of the central station.



I ordered a standard cooked lobster platter at $68 per platter thinking that it was worth the price. But to my horror, it consisted of a cooked lobster as shown in the pic above, some big prawns, and the rest were filled with fried squids ,which I do not eat, some scallop, calamari and lots of french fries. In other words, more than half of the platter (in a box) were filled with fries and seafood that we did not like. The cooked lobster meat was small and was not to our liking. The price of $68 was not worth it.

(2) Sydney Opera House
         The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Situated
         on Bennelong Point in Sydney Harbour, close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the facility is
         adjacent to the Sydney central business district and the Royal Botanic Gardens, between Sydney
         and Farm Coves

         Identified as one of the 20th century's most distinctive buildings and one of the most famous
         performing arts centres in the world.The Sydney Opera House became a UNESCO World 
         Heritage Site on 28 June 2007.



(3) Chinatown Mamak Cafe
      We were told there was this famous Malaysian food in Sydney Chinatown by Robin. We went
       there twice but was not able to try it as the queue was so long that we went to another not so
       popular Malaysian hawker food restaurant and a Vietnamese food restaurant.

      We finally managed to make it on our 3rd visit where the queue was shorter. We waited for half
       hour in the queue.




We ordered roti canai, mee goreng, nasi goreng and satay.

Hmm. All of us felt that the taste was just ordinary. The canai was not as crispy as we expected. The curry was salty. We agreed that there were prata in Singapore that tasted better.

The satay was a disappointment. They were very dried and the mutton smell was strong.All of us did not like it.

Both nasi goreng and mee goreng were average.

But we were curious why the queue was always so long and while in the queue there was this Indian couple who kept praising the food and recommending us some of the items.

We were wondering if we could set up a similar cafe in Chinatown with tastier food than Mamak.Even our local QiJi franchise would have at least a similar queue if not longer than Mamak.




Other Platypus link:
20feb2015 Melbourne Chapel St n Fitroy
21feb2015 Melbourne South Melb Market, DFO n St Kilda
22feb2015 Melbourne Dandenong Ranges n Tom's house
23feb2015 Melbourne Great Ocean Rd 1 day self drive
24feb2015 Melbourne Sunny Ridge,CBD n Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
26feb2015 Sydney Blue Mountain
27feb2015 Sydney Botanical Garden n Bondi Beach

Friday, February 27, 2015

27Feb2015-Sydney Botanical Garden_Bondi Beach

(1) St James Train Station

         Our plan for today was to go Sydney famous Bondi beach. However, it was too early and would
         be too hot for a swim. So we decided to roam around St James station area, particularly 
         Sydney Royal Botanical garden.

         We took the train from Central train station to St James station.
 (2) Sydney Hyde Park

       Out of St James station, we came across the iconic park in Sydney, the Hyde Park.
       One of the most notable monument in Hyde Park is the Archibald fountain. Opposite the
       Hyde park is the beautiful St Mary's cathedral.

(c) Sydney Royal Botanical Garden.
      Sydney Royal Botanical garden is located in the heart of Sydney, positioning near the Sydney 
         harbour, adjacent to Sydney CBD, the Sydney Opera house and the Domain. It is one of the 
         most visited attraction in Sydney.


(d) Swimming at Andrew Carlton pool
      A short walk out of the botanical garden was the Andrew Carlton public swimming pool. We
         were sitting on the grass turf opposite the pool, enjoying the cool air and admiring the view
         of the naval ship and the pool.

        Out of a sudden, Robin decided to take a plunge in the pool. The rest of us decided to take our
        lunch at the pool cafe while Robin swam.


(e) Bondi Beach

     Bondi Beach is one of Australia most famous beach and among the world's most well known
     beaches. The beach is about 1 km long and patrolled by lifesavers who ensure that the swimmers
     swim between the yellow and red flags.
   
     It is located at the east coast of Australia and is a suburb of the city of Sydney.
     It is well served by public transport.

    We took bus 333 from Bondi Station to reach directly to Bondi beach pavilion.










































































(f) Bondi Coastal Walk

           A cliff top coastal walk, the Bondi to Coogee walk extends for six km in Sydney’s
           eastern suburbs. The Bondi to Coogee walk features stunning views, beaches,

           parks, cliffs, bays and rock pools. The beaches and parks offer a place to rest,
           swim or a chance to eat at one of the cafes, hotels, restaurants or takeaways.

           The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk is a medium grade walk but there are some
           steep gradient paths and several staircases along the track. There are rest stops
           with great views and seating along the Bondi to Coogee walk. It takes about two
           hours to complete the Bondi to Coogee Beach section of the walk.

           Due to our limited time, we only covers about half an hour walk. Also, we stopped
           at certain scenic spots to gaze at the stunning views.

           The first stunning view was this swimming pool in the sea where sea water kept
           splashing into the pool as swimmers continue their swim.



































          This coastal walk from Bondi beach has pavement for both strollers and joggers where 
          one can stop at certain points to take stunning pictures of the coast and the sea.




































        At certain section, we walked out to the cliff edge and took great pictures. We had to be
        very careful as we were precariously perched at the edge of the steep drop down cliff.
       One wrong move and you can be tumbling down the cliff into the sea.





































   This man went out to the rock outcrop when the tide ebbed but the next moment the waves came 
   splashing back into the rock outcrop. He was lucky he was able to hold his ground.

    For us, we would rather go to dry section where the waves would not be able to reach us.

    The Bondi Beach and Coastal walk were a great experience and a must have visit when you are in
    Sydney.


Other links
20feb2015-Melbourne Chapel St and Fitzroy
21feb2015-Melbourne South Melb Market, DFO and St Kilda
22feb2015-Dandenong Ranges and Tom's house
23feb2015-Melbourne Great Ocean Rd 1 day self drive
24feb2015-Melbourne Sunny Ridge, CBD and Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
26feb2015-Sydney Blue Mountain
28feb2015 Sydney Fish market, Opera House, Mamak





Thursday, February 26, 2015

26Feb2015-SydneyBlueMountains

We booked the grayline tour at $174.60 per person for a full day itinerary for 3 of us (Robin, Fred and myself). It was a promotional price recommended by the staff at Sydney Visitor center at the Rock. The non-promotional price was $194 per adult.

We were told the coach would wait at Rydges Sydney Central at Abion St at 7.05 am. This was about 10 mins walk from our apartment at Cooper St.When we reached there, we were the first and only group to board the coach. The coach then proceed to other pick up points in the city to pick up other tourists. By the time the coach was full, about 40 of us, it was already an hour later. So, in actual fact we had a free city tour.

The coach stopped at a terminal where we were told to alight and change to a different coach. Those going to Blue mountains were told to board the coach marked with blue mountains, those going to Hunter's valley were told board Hunter's valley coach and so on.

 (1) Quaint mountain village of Leura
     
Our 1st stop on the way to Blue Mountain was this quaint village of Leura. We stop here for 15 mins of toilet break and quick coffee.

(2) Blue Mountain Scenic World

          The Blue mountain is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It borders on
           Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting about 50 km west of the state capital. It is a
           magical place any time of the year. Glowing in autumn, cool in winter, colorful in spring and
           refreshing in summer. The blue mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus
           trees.The atmosphere is filled with finely dispersed droplets of oils, which, in combination
           with dust particles and water vapor, scatter short-wave length rays of light which are
           predominately blue in color, hence the name 'Blue Mountain'.

      (a) Skyway
          To reach the scenic view of the Blue Mountains, we had to take the Skyway across
               the mountain ranges. The skyway glided between cliff tops and there was a glass floor
               where one could gaze to see the rainforest canopy.


     (b) RailWay
                 Our next ride was the Railway to the mountain valley. The ride gave us a thrill of 52
                 degrees incline riding the steepest passenger railway in the world.


































  We got to know a new friend, Marcello, from Brazil who was sitting in the same bench as us.
  He told us he was travelling alone and would be going to Melbourne after this trip.We also get to
  chat with an old couple from UK sitting in the first row in front of us.The wife told us her husband
  had businesses in both Australia and Singapore. They enjoyed this railway ride so much that they
  took the rides several times up and down.

 (c) Strolling the valley Walkway
       Discover the tranquility of the ancient rainforest in the valley by strolling along the 2.4km
          scenic walkway. The elevated boardwalk immersed us in this Jurassic rainforest on the    
          Jamison valley floor with minimum impact to the environment.



    (d) Cableway back to top
          At the end of the elevated boardwalk, we came to the cableway station. We took the cableway
          back to the top. The cableway gave us a good vintage of the Three Sisters and
          the orphan rock.




































     (e) Echo Point and the Three Sisters.







The Three Sisters is the Blue Mountains’ most spectacular landmark. Located at Echo Point Katoomba, around 2.5 kilometres from the Great Western Highway, this iconic visitor attraction is experienced by millions of people each year.

The Three Sisters is essentially an unusual rock formation representing three sisters who according to Aboriginal legend were turned to stone.

The character of the Three Sisters changes throughout the day and throughout the seasons as the sunlight brings out the magnificent colours. The Three Sisters is also floodlit until around 11pm each evening looking simply spectacular set against the black background of the night sky.


(3) Featherdale Wildlife Park

         After the Blue Mountain tour, our next destination was the Featherdale Wildlife Park.
         Featherdale Wildlife Park houses the world's premier collection of Australian wildlife, allowing          visitors to get up close to 2,200 animals from over 280 species. Cuddle up to a koala, have a                photo taken and hand feed kangaroos. Located at Doonside, en route to the famous Blue                      Mountains, Featherdale is Sydney's ultimate 'hands on' wildlife experience.












































































   After the wildlife park, we concluded our day with a trip up the Sydney harbour, unwinding on an
   afternoon cruise along the Parramatta River and dropped off at Darling Harbour.

Other Platypus links:
20feb2015-Melbourne Chapel St and Fitroy
21feb2015-Melbourne South Yarra Market, DFO and St Kilda
22feb2015-Melbourne Dandenong Ranges and Tom's house
23feb2015-Melbourne Great Ocean Road 1 day self drive
24feb2015-Melbourbe Sunny Ridge and Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
27feb2015 Sydney Botanical Garden n Bondi Beach
28feb2015 Sydney Fish market, Opera House, Mamak




















Wednesday, February 25, 2015

25Feb2015 First day in Sydney

(1) Arriving at Sydney Airport
As the flight was a domestic flight from Melbourne to Sydney, there was no immigration or custom to deal with.

It was a breeze through Sydney airport.

However, as we were 5 of us with 5 big luggages, we could not fit into an ordinary saloon taxi.

We were allocated a separate lane to wait for a bigger taxi.








(2) Our apartment at Cooper St/Lacey Rd junction
The apartment lies at the junction of cooper st and lacey st. It is about 10 mins walk to the Central Train Station.

Although the apartment was big with 2 bedrooms, living/dinning hall and balcony, there was only 1 common toilet to be shared among all of us.

Also, the air con was only in the hall. There was no air con in the bedrooms. Fortunately for us, the night was cooling, there was no need for air condition.






(3) Pitts Street walkway




































We had our lunch at a thai cafe along Oxford St, then proceeded to Westfield Sydney Central Plaza at the juction of Market St and Pitts St to window shop.

(4) The Rocks
      As the museums and art galleries would be closed at 5 pm, Chin and Law decided to quickly visit
      these places. Robin suggested that the rest of us explored "The Rocks" and the Bridge in Sydney
      for the rest of the day.

      The Rocks is an urban locality, tourist precinct and historic area of Sydney's city centre.The
      Rocks became established shortly after the colony's formation in 1788. The original buildings
      were made mostly of local sandstones, from which the area derives its name.

      Now The Rocks is home to The Rock Markets and The Rock Discovery Museum. In the markets
      you can browse through hundreds of hand made items and the free museum tells the story of The
      Rocks from pre-European days to the present




































A short walk from The Rock market place is the "Bunker Hills". This was the Bunker family home in Sydney.

As the plague on the gate states, Bunker Hills was named after Captain Eber Bunker, father of Australian whaling.














(5) The Bridge
















Tuesday, February 24, 2015

24Feb2015-SunnyRidge_CMelb_Casino

(1) Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm



































We were supposed to go to Puffy Billy Dandenong train ride but we changed our plan to strawberry farm as this was our last day in Melbourne and we had been to Dandenong Ranges 2 days ago, though we did not take the steam train ride.

The entrance to the farm costed us $9 each. Each was given a plastic box and told that we could fill to the brim as long as the box can be covered. We had to be careful to leave a gap when covering the box otherwise the fruits,being fragile,would be squashed and spoiled easily.









































































































(2) Afternoon free and easy

After the farm visit, we went back to our apartment, put our strawberries in the fridge and went out for lunch. We found this AINI cafe just round the corner of Claremont St and Toorak Rd and settled our lunch there.

After lunch, the group split into 3 groups. Robin would like to take a power nap in the afternoon and later meet up with his Melbourne friend, Chin and Law would like to visit some more art galleries and I asked Fred to show me Melbourne CBD as I have yet to really see it even though we passed by in our drives.

At short distance from our apartment is Melbourne High School. Previously on our trip to South Melbourne market in Tom's car, we passed by this school and Serina pointed to us that this is a prestigious school in Melbourne where only top students from Melbourne can get in.

When we were walking towards South Yarra station, it was school dismissal time and a whole horde of students were passing by us to the station. We were surprised that most of them, about 80%, were of Asian or pan Asian looks: Chinese, Japaneses, Indians, and not many of the pure white features.

Oh, I forgot to mentioned that on our first day in Melbourne we bought this myki card at 7 eleven convenience stall for $6 and topped it up with $7.50 value. The $6 is for the card deposit,valid for 4 years and the $7.50 is daily max that you need for travel on trains, trams and buses unlimited times per day. On the next day whatever unused bal of $7.50 can be brought forward and you just need to top up to $7.50 again to enjoy full day unlimited rides.



Saw these group of students dancing together and took a short video of it.

(3) Crown Casino




A casino lady staff came up to us when we were touring around and told us we could have $10 free voucher if we signed up their membership. The membership only used for accumulating points when you gamble and the points can be redeemed at any of their casinos, restaurants, shopping, hotels and nightclubs.

So Law and myself signed up for membership and just tried our $5 luck on the jackpot. The other $5 voucher could only be used for table game which we changed for table chip to keep as souvenir.

At night fall, we just strolled along Yarra Promenade and crossed this "Locks" bridge where couples pledged their love by padlocking a lock onto the rails of the bridge.

On the other side of the bridge is the Flinders St station. We took the train back to our apartment to get ready for the next day flight to Sydney.












Other Platypus Links:
20feb2015 Melbourne Chapel St n Fitroy

Monday, February 23, 2015

23Feb2015-Great Ocean Road 1 day self-drive


The Twelve Apostles 

Our Route that covered from Melbourne to Port Campbell and retuned via Colac, Winchelsea and Geelong

















Prelude

Victoria Great Ocean Road is Australia south eastern winding coastal road that stretches 243 km from the town of Torquay to Allansford. The road is two lanes, one in each direction and and has speed limit that ranges from 30km/hr to 100 km/hr depending on the degree of road windingness.

The road was build in 1919 to 1932 as an intended initiative to provide employment to WW1 returned servicemen.

The Great Ocean Road fulfilled a dream to link up the seaside settlements, open up the coast for development and provide the motoring public with 'one of the most beautiful ocean drives in the world'. It combines the wonderful landscape and seascapes with the bush of the national parks and conservation reserves and has since been listed as the  state's top tourist experience.

Ok. So much for the introduction. Now to our adventure.

(1) Geelong city   

The 5 of us had our quick breakfast in the morning  and had also prepared ham and cheese sandwiches to be taken near dinner time as we were not sure if we could get dinner in the evening on our way back.

We drove a rented 7 seater Nissan and set off immediately at 7.15 am. The 1st stop was supposed to be "Geelong and Great Ocean road visitor information center" at the side of the Princes Highway.

However, the GPS brought us nowhere in the middle of the highway and we had to quickly divert out to old Melbourne road off the hwy to re-orient ourselves. At this time, Robin took over the driving from me. I assumed the role of vehicle commander to guide us to the next destination, Geelong city.

 Geelong is Victoria 2nd largest city after Melbourne. We reached Geelong city around 9.30 am.
   
Geelong Visitor Information Center at Moorabool St, VIC

Our car was parked opposite Geelong Visitor information center. The staff at the visitor counter, Pauline, was very helpful in guiding us with a printed map the way to get go the Great Ocean Road and suggested certain stops along the way. She also indicated on the map where we could see koala bears and kangaroos.

Several quick pictures of the Geelong bay and coffee break at the cafe bar and off we went to the next stop, Bell Beach, in Torquay.

(2)Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch

We left Geelong at around 10 am for Bells Beach at Torquay, the venue for the world famous Rip Curl Pro where every April the world's top ranked surfers carve up the waves to compete for the most sought after trophy in surfing.

To our despair, it started to rain heavily when we were nearing Bells Beach. There was no way we could get out of our car for a look out or to stroll the beach. We immediately decided to proceed to the next stop, the Memorial Arch.

When we reached the Memorial Arch at 11:45 mins, the dark clouds had started to drift away and to our relief the rain stopped. Earlier on in the car, all of us were worried that the whole trip might be jeopardized because of the rain.
In front of the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch
 
Tablets at the road side
Tablets at the roadside explaining the purposes of the Memorial Arch and the Great Ocean Road.   

Selfie at the beach at the Memorial Arch

(3) Lorne town

At 12.30 pm we reached a quaint town called Lorne where we parked our car in a car park near a small river stream of the Erskine river.


As we strolled along the row of shop houses and cafe, we found this sign that read " Lorne Fish and Chips since 1954". Freddy recalled that he has eaten this fish and chips before and was not bad. So we settled this for lunch. Each portion is so huge that it has to be shared by 2 persons.

(4) Erskine Falls

Erskine Falls are at the end of Erskine Falls Road 10km north west of Lorne. It is one of the the most popular falls in the Otways and easily accessible. Just 5 mins walk from Erskine fall car park bring us to the 1st lookout of the falls where we can see the waterfall cascading 30 metres into a beautiful tree fern gully. 

Because the Erskine Falls Road to the falls car park is extremely steep at some points, we saw signs that prohibit certain large vehicles like caravan or coach from driving forward. Perhaps these vehicles have to park at lower level parking lots and the visitors have to trek to the lookout points?

We had to drive inland for about 20 mins from the town center. Robin did the driving as the road was most undulating like roller coaster. 


Selfie at the lookout point

Myriad and Interesting vegetation around esp gum trees

Around the forest one can smell the wet eucalypyus from the different species of gum trees. The area is also surrounded by a variety of ferns. The beautiful flora and fauna give the visitors an uplifting and refreshing feeling. This is a place that one must not miss along the Great Ocean Road. Robin kept repeating that this place was better than the Red Woods in San Francisco he went last year.

We were glad that we heeded the advice of Pauline from Geelong visitor information center to spend some time in this falls.
 

(5) Kennett River

Kennett river was a scenic spot suggested by Pauline and a place to see some koala bears. Nearing Kennett river, there was a road lookout section where we stopped for some great photos of the coast.




 Near the car park where we parked our car, we saw a group of tourists surrounding a tree feeding and taking pictures of the colorful parakeets. We went forward and someone pointed for us to look up the tree. At first we saw a lump of brown flurry ball on the fork of the tree branches. Whoa!it was the koala bear ! There was not just one, there were several of them in different tree branches. This is a first time some of us saw koala bear not in the zoo.

(6) The 12 Apostles

It was already almost 4 pm when we left Kennett River. Earlier on we thought we could just take a cuppa at the cafe but it was crowded with tourists. So we planned to go to our next stop, Apollo bay town which was probably about half an hour away for coffee and tea.

Whoa! the car GPS showed that we have more than 100 km to reach the 12 Apostles and the road is winding and undulating. The car speed ranges from 30km/hr for very winding section to 100 km/hr for straight road. If we go at this varying speed, we could probably reached 12 apostles in 2 hrs time.


The guys decided to pass through Apollo Bay town and go straight to Port Campbell where the 12 apostles were.

Robin passed the driving to Law as he was tired and need a power nap for tonight drive back to Melbourne. I did not volunteer to drive as I had insomnia last night. If I unconsciously  nodded off during driving, even for a few seconds, the car might just plunged off the cliff during the sharp turning. So I acted as vehicle commander for Law to ensure Law was not nodding and to warn him of changing speed limit, road situations and animal crossing signs. At one point, there was a troop of ducks crossing the road and I managed to warn Law for him to slow down and let the ducks crossed.


By the time we reached 12 Apostles car park it was already 6 pm. Fortunately in summer there was day light saving and the sunset time is around 8 pm. We had an hour or so to spend before night fall.

The Twelve Apostles

Posing in front of the Twelve Apostles
The other side of the 12 apostles with two rock formation.




Further end of Lookout point of the 12 Apostles
We took our ham and cheese sandwiches that we prepared in the morning as some of us were already hungry. It was already 6:30 pm and the guys suggested that we returned back to Melbourne before dark. The journey back to Melbourne was to take us 3. 5 hrs.

If there was still enough time , we could have proceed slightly further down from the Apostles to see the Lorch Arch, London Bridge and Razor blaze structures. Apparently we did not have time at our disposal.

(7) Gibson Steps

As we started our car out to return to Melbourne, Chin suggested that we had a quick look at Gibson Steps since it was in our returned journey direction. What a wise suggestion!If we had miss it we may never get to see Gibson Steps as we would most likely not have a chance to come back to the Great Ocean Road again.
Descending down the Gibson Steps

View of the Gibson Steps from the beach below

We finished Gibson Steps in just 15 mins when Fred said he need to relieve himself. There was no toilets around the Gibson Steps area. He apologized and suggested to the group that we need to backtrack to the 12 Apostle visitor information center for him to use the toilet, otherwise the next stop will be Colac city on our way back to Melbourne which was more than 1 hr away from here. Fortunately, the 12 Apostle was not far away.

At this time it was already 7 pm and we have to make our way back to Melbourne.

(8) Journey back to Melbourne

As it was late and the journey back to Melbourne would be 3.5 hrs including time for dinner, the group suggested that we had our dinner in Winchelsea city instead of Colac city since we had just had our sandwiches at the 12 apostles and would not be hungry too soon.



What a bad suggestion! When we passed by Colac city we could still see some of the fast food stores (hungry jack, macdonald).

However, the city of Winchelsea was like a ghost town at night. You could have been murdered or mugged in the main street and nobody would know. Most of the roadside buildings were not lighted up except for some motels, closed shops and a pizza cafe. We went to the pizza cafe and was told that they were already closed for the day. We inquired where to get food like macdonald and were told to either go to Colac or  Geelong. So strange. The whole town literally shut down at night?
Of course we choose Geelong as it was the direction we were going.

Before setting off to Geelong city, a few of us have to relieve ourselves in the dark corner of the pizza cafe building. We managed to get our dinner at Geelong macdonald, By the time we reach our serviced apartment it was already 11:00 pm. We were all tired out.

Conclusion:
The Great Ocean Road was a great and “must have” experience at least once when you are in Melbourne. If possible plan a 2 days trip with stay over at one of the town of Lorne or Apollo bay otherwise you have to be selective in the stopovers and mindful of the limited time you have.

Other Platypus Links
20feb2015 Melbourne Chapel St n Fitroy
21feb2015 Melbourne South Melb Market, DFO, St Kilda
22feb2015 Melbourne Dandenong Ranges n Tom's house
24feb2015 Melbourne Sunny Ridge, CBD n Casino
25feb2015 Sydney-The Rock n Sydney Bridge
26feb2015 Sydney Blue Mountain
27feb2015 Sydney Botanical Garden n Bondi Beach
28feb2015 Sydney Fish market, Opera House, Mamak