FINAL DAY IN SYDNEY
We had just half a day today to explore Sydney before catching our afternoon flight back to Dubai. We visited two places that we totally missed out.
When Mr. D first told me that he wanted to visit Blue Mountains, I was like " Whaat! ... I ain't wasting my time on a bunch of rocks". As usual, he never listened to me. The train journey to Blue Mountains (Katoomba Station) from Sydney takes about 2 hours. To us, this seemed like the most convenient and pocket-friendly way to reach Australia's natural park. Blue Mountains it just a short trip from Sydney, its a great option for a day trip. There are plenty of things to do around the area.
We just visited Scenic World. It always a good idea to purchase tickets online & in advance. We purchased them for here and it included unlimited rides on the Railway, Skyway, Cableway and Walkway.
We started off with the Scenic Walkway .... a lovely little trail in between the rainforest. We opted for the short trail (10 minutes) so that we wouldn't waste too much time. For the more adventurous, there's a 1 hour trail as well.
After the walk, we caught the Scenic Cableway all the way to the top. Basically everything's interconnected. We caught the cableway at the end of the walkway. Sorry I do not have pictures for this :(
Once we reached the top, we boarded the Skyway and embarked on a 720 metre journey to the other side. We didnt just get to see a panoramic view of the area but even what was below us. The floor was made of glass! We saw Katoomba Falls, the Three Sisters, and Jamison Valley. We spent about 10 minutes here and got back to the starting point.
Finally we took the Scenic Railway. This no ordinary rail by the way, it is the steepest passenger railway in the world. It was inclined at 52 degrees. Once we were in, we could even adjust our seats. It took us down to the rainforest yet again.
We had lunch at one of the restaurants inside Scenic World and then left for the city.
Today, we explored Sydney's Chinatown and a different mall. And like any other Chinatown, there were plenty of food stalls.
Btw, the macarons below are NOT from Chinatown but from one of the Adriano Zumbo stores in a mall that we visited. They were so freakin' good!
FINAL DAY IN SYDNEY We had just half a day today to explore Sydney before catching our afternoon flight back to Dubai. We visited two places that we totally missed out.
First, we headed to Bondi Beach by train & bus. Its like the train drops you off at some point and then you have to catch a bus. Surprisingly it was quite sunny that day and we did see a couple of people on the beach and in the water. None of us had brekkie yet and were dying of hunger! So we grabbed something from the first restaurant we saw. I loved the rock formations around the beach.
We spent about 2 hours here and then left for attraction number 2 - Paddy's Market. This market has been around in Sydney for over 150 years! It was huge and no way we were gonna complete it. They were clothes, food, shoes, veggies ... every damn thing! Basically, I ran around the place looking for interesting buys. I managed to grab a couple of clothes and an ice cream. We spent a good 1.5 hrs here before catching the tram back to our hotel and heading to the airport. It was time to bid goodbye to Australia! :(
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Aaah, the feeling when we landed it Sydney. If you've following me on my Australian journey you'd probably know that we missed our first day here because of Qantas. Now we had to complete 3.5 days of our tour in 2.5 days! Anyway, here's how we managed.
We stayed at Holiday Inn Potts Point in Sydney and had the most magnificent view of Sydney Harbor and the surrounding area. The picture below needs no explanation.
It was cold in Sydney, but not as bad as we expected. As usual, the sun peeked out whenever it felt like.
We headed to Sydney Harbor after checking into our hotel using public transport. We were finally able to see Australia's most popular icon "Sydney Opera House" with our own eyes.
Sydney Harbor Bridge was right beside it. Basically, we just had to get down at Circular Quay and just walk around. We saw people take a cruise and climb the Harbor bridge too, but we didn't do any of those.
Next to both of these, were The Rocks. With its cobblestone lanes, cozy cafes and distinctive buildings, I found this area quite beautiful. It was as though we we stepped into a different era. We had lunch at one the nightclubs here (nightclub turned family restaurant during the day!).
After lunch, we headed back to the same train station where we got off and went on a food adventure. Yup! This woman can eat! Sydney is filled with a number of unique eateries and during our holiday planning, I made a note of a few that I wanted to visit.
Some of the places weren't nearby, but public transportation did make life much easier. The Grumpy Barista was first on the list! A cozy little cafe famous for its injection cronuts. Thank goodness, we were right on time for those last 3 injection cronuts. The guys behind us were forced to buy their regular ones.
Next, we visited The Choc Pot. Little did we know that they had a branch much closer to where we were. This video below needs no explaining! This is a dessert lover's haven.
Later that evening, we headed to one of Sydney's shopping malls (Macquarie Shopping Centre) to try out Aqua S - a very dreamy ice cream and The Missing Piece for funky looking drinks. To our luck, both of them were located in the same mall!
Watch out for the next post for Day 2 in Sydney xx
Whats the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear Gold Coast?
Surfers? Sun Bathing? Sandcastles? Well ... when we visited ... it was nothing like what I've just mentioned. July is winter for Australia, remember? The sun peeked out whenever it felt like, but most of the time it was cold and gray.
Nevertheless, we still enjoyed. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise and our room directly faced the sea. The view was breathing! The front side of the hotel faced the city, so even as we got out of our room, we had a beautiful view. It would have been great to stay in the room all day, but we didn't have time for that!
The day we reached, it was noon already. Basically we went around exploring Surfers Paradise and trying out different restaurants. Lucky for us, the tram stop was right in front of our hotel. With a day pass, we were able to visit most of the paces.
A visit to the beach is a must! Atleast to take a picture. It was gray, but it still looked good. This was the first place we went to after catching the tram.
What followed was an eating spree. We tried out the infamous Max Brenner, Ben & Jerry's and Brooklyn Depot. The sinfully delightful chocolate at Max Brenner and injection burgers at Brooklyn Depot were amazing.
There are a number of parks in Gold Coast such as Wet n WIld, Seaworld, MovieWorld etc.. however, we visited just one. We've been to a lot of parks around the world and we didn't wanna visit one more. Depending on your interest, you can decide how many days you want to stay for in Gold Coast and the parks you wanna visit. We spend half day at DreamWorld.
I, of course went only on the kiddie rides. I preferred to be the family photographer!
Be prepared to get slightly wet though. There are a couple of fun water rides.
Gold Coast was probably the only place where we would get a chance to see an Aboriginal show. We missed it in Cairns and sigh ... we missed it here too. These shows require advance booking which we were unaware of. If you do plan to visit, there are two shows - one at the Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre and the other at Curumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.
So basically, we had nothing to do on the third day. No theme parks, no Aboriginal show ... just more food. I kinda regretted for spending more the 2 days here.
Our last day in Cairns was exciting, adventurous and tiresome. I was not prepared for what we were going to do today. According to our plan, we were supposed to visit Green Island in the Great Barrier Reef in the morning and horse riding in the evening. So here we were at the port, on an early morning waiting to catch our boat to Green Island. I am not a fan of sea journeys as I suffer from motion sickness, however, this had to be done. I couldn't leave Cairns without exploring the Great Barrier Reef. We were supposedly going to do some shallow water snorkeling, a submarine ride and explore the island. Half way through, Mr. D approached one of the staff on the boat and asked them whether we could accommodate Seawalking in our agenda. Seawalking, as the name states is basically walking on the sea bed. They told us that if we could drop the other stuff - snorkeling, submarine, etc , we could do it. So thats what we did! Once we reached Green Island, we were immediately taken to the Seawalkers kiosk. There we had to change into a diver's suit and given a briefing. The briefing scared me more than actually doing it. Once we were done, we were taken on a boat in the middle of the sea and dropped off onto a barge like thing. A ladder was dropped into the sea from the barge like thing. We took one step at the time on the ladder until we reached the seabed! It was a marvelous experience to get up close with Australia's marine life. Seawalking took up most of our time. By the time we reached back to the island, we were left with no time to explore the island and had to return back to the port. To do everything at leisure, its a good idea to spend a full day there. We booked our tickets here. Once we reached mainland, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to the hotel. Next up, was horse riding, I simply love horse riding. The last time I rode a horse was in Portugal. I knew that Cairns would be a completely different experience. We booked our horse riding tour from the hotel itself. It was the Mount N Ride Rainforest Horseback Tour which included pick up and drop off to our hotel. The horse riding location was about 30 minutes away from our hotel. Once we reached there, we were given a short briefing and allotted a horse each. I was already in love with the place. We were surrounded by mountains and plenty of greenery. We would be passing through the river and rainforest. We took the most scenic trails and the trainers were there with us the whole way. We were able to book a cameraman and videographer there itself. They accompanied us too. After a 2 hour ride, we were offered tea, cake and fruits. It was such a beautiful experience.
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