Filed under: Uncategorized
Whew, its now week 4 of the Awesome Tour of Sydney….we’re more than half way through now! I’ve been on hols last week (sleeping through Hurricane Bill in a tent is NOT COOL peeps), so I left Katie in charge of our little adventure to Australia. Admittedly, it’s got to be the toughest challenge to date, so I was secretly pleased that I had my holiday as an excuse to turn this challenge over to someone else. Heehee..
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The results are hilarious…here is what Katie had to say:
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So it was my responsibility this week to invent an animal. I was having a creative block so I threw it open to the twitter community. I thought if everyone could contribute a bit we would end up with something truly unique.
I got the ball rolling with the body, I decided to make it round and yellow like the hot Aussie sun and with a pouch to represent all the wonderful Marsupials that are found in Australia.
My first twitter submission was from @idlesi who drew an excellent cut out kangaroo of which I chose to use the head.
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Next up @pholloway sent me a selection of tails that he designed during an obviously riveting conference call at work.
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@culturevultures submitted some legs which were interesting! (Ed: Sorry about the screenshot!)
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then @pk_1 submitted this gem of an outback inspired limb. (Ed: Out Back…geddit?Hehe)
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@them_apples came up with this Popeye-inspired right arm…all the better for pulling on the schooners. I quote ‘…Aussies are sporty, so a muscular arm it is then’.
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@kiwi_spotlight came up with three limbs…love the aborginal-inspired design on the appendages. (ED: She even kindly helped put our crapnimal made believe beautiful animal friend together again from the different pieces of art..thankyou!)
sourrain:
And ta-da!! Meet Merrijig (Ed: I came up with that name!) It means Good in one of the Aborginal tounge – the broad term Aboriginal Australians includes many regional groups that often identify under names from local Indigenous languages. (Merrijig is also a small town in the State of Victoria in Australia – about 744 km from Sydney)
I hope Dave the lonely Kangaroo will love her..yes, I made it a her as it’s meant to be Dave’s ‘mate’…:P
We’ve tried keeping all Twitter discussions tagged to #me2sydney, but admittedly do tend to forget! You can see most of our discussions here . Special thanks goes out to the crazy creative Twitter community for pitching in!
@leedsgrub
@pk_1
@culturevultures
@pholloway
@Idlesi
@Kiwi_spotlight
@coffeewithkate
@them_apples
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If you’ve been inspired by lovely Merrijig to visit some real-life good looking Australian wildlife, please have a further nosy at the links below..
See Sydney Day 1
Facebook album
Flickr Set
Sydney Wildlife World
Taronga Zoo
Filed under: Uncategorized
I heart breakfast…
Week 3’s challenge was very strange for me. Fresh off my designing stint, I immediately thought about taking a picture with the CLugg and calling it a day. Or just reproducing one of the pictures that I took in Sydney whilst doing the touristic route. However, after seeing the amazing ideas that came in from ‘my community’ and their relentless excitement, I definately HAD to do something else!
Zona, my resident Sydneysider, told me all about Breakfast on the Bridge, one of the features of the Crave Sydney month which will be held in October. Crave Sydney will feature a Latin Dance Fiesta, food roadshows, art exhibitions and a seven-bridge walk amongst other activicty. I love their tagline – Curb your cravings with 31 days of food, outdoor art and fun. Crave Sydney is about rediscovering the Sydney, with friends, family, fellow Sydneysiders & the people that love Sydney. It opens up the city’s landmarks, unlocking new ways to celebrate well-loved places and spaces.
Most tourists (like myself) choose the summer months to go Down Under – probably influenced by our lovely depressing winters here. But with the advent of this spring festival, it just shows that any season is good in Sydney – there is no need to wait till Feburary to head down under now!
And when I heard about Breakfast on the Bridge, the eureka moment hit. That was it. I was in love. Imagine the sun rising over the glittering Sydney Harbour, warm rays dancing over your picnic blanket as you (and 5,999 other Sydneysiders) take in the view from the most spectacular picnic point in the country, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Breakfast on the Bridge, Sydney’s big picnic breakfast, will be held on Sunday 25 October and will give 6,000 lucky people an opportunity to be part of history.
As I am unfortunately not a Sydneysider, (unlike Zona) I have a next to zero chance in being one of the 6,000 lucky souls to be invited to the best picnic breakfast in the world.Sniff…Sniff… So I created my own – in my own backyard. Sourrain.com presents Breakfast on the Bridge:
We love The Coathanger.
Completely made out of breakfast items – criss crossed sausages forms the Harbour Bridge curve, with the infamous Aussie breakfast of Vegemite on toast. Thanks to Jim, my Sydneysider ex-colleague who used to force-feed me Vegemite on toast with cheddar, I have developed a liking for this very Australian sandwich.
The pylons are supposed to be made out of pho noodles, to represent the typical Vietnamese breakfast that is widely available in Sydney. Thanks Moo for reminding me…I love pho!
It was very hard to get the sausages to ‘bend’ over…skewers do not exactly come in a rounded curve!
I love the shadows of the sausage forming the frame of the bridge…you can see the individual links 
Not only did I get my neighbour peering outta his window thinking what the…., the cat was very interested as well
…Although for completely different reasons – the cat loved the leftover cut-out bits of the sausages. Yummz
My measurements went askew…had to slice off the crusts before slathering it on with Vegemite
These were very brave beans – doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb…:). Definately recommended for the brave hearted…views are amazing from up-there.
I actually ate it for brunch and it was mm mm good…:)
For more pictures (including every step of the process!) , please see here:
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I did say I was extremely motivated this week didn’t I? It was an absolute waste to let the other brilliant idea go unacknowledged, so this week I have decided that we shall go with TWO ideas…yes, TWO! I couldn’t resist it, and HAD to do this other one as well as I felt it really did touch on the soul of Sydney as a city and the lovely people that reside in it…
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Sydney is not all about the Harbour Bridge ,the Opera House or the Blue Mountains…it is much, much more than that. Inspired by Week 3’s challenge, Katie came up trumps again this week’s ‘Santa’s little Helpers’ challenge! The Sydney ANZAC memorial made from ANZAC biscuit, frosting, jello….. All things yummy and edible! How inspired is that! Think brownie points are due for concentrating on a less-well known but equally intruiging landmarks of Sydney!
The ingredients….and recipe for Anzac Biscuits. Did you know it’s actually illegal to call them Anzac cookies?
Holding all the Anzac biscuits together with frosting…
Buttercream works best with this structure – fondant looked slightly wonky. Intense concentration required
Pouring Jell-O to make the reflecting pond…Katie used orange flavoured Jell-O with some blue food coloring..
Proudly presenting – the Anzac Monument, made out of Anzac biscuits!
A closer look..
For more pix, please click below:
The Anzac Monument (or War Memorial) is built in 1934 to honor the Australian Imperial Forces’ efforts in WW1. The memorial is located at the southern extremity of Hyde Park on the eastern edge of Sydney’s CBD, and it is the focus of commemoration ceremonies on Anzac Day, Armistice Day and othe
r important occasions. ANZAC day (24th April) commemorates the 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand diggers at what is now ANZAC Cove, Gallipoli, Turkey.
From the official website of Anzac Day:
Situated towards the southern end of Hyde Park and centered upon the main avenue, the ANZAC Memorial stands one hundred feet high and, on its main approach, is the ‘Lake of Reflections’, bordered by poplar trees in memory of the battle areas of France.
The central motif of the design is ‘The Sacrifice’. It comprises a bronze group of sculptures depicting the recumbent figure of a young warrior who has made the supreme sacrifice; his naked body lies upon a shield which is supported by three womenfolk – his best loved Mother, Wife and Sister and in the arms of one is a child, the future generations for whom the sacrifice has been made.
It illustrates the sacrifice engendered by war, self-sacrifice for duty and the beautiful quality of womanhood which, in the war years, with quiet courage and noble resignation, bore its burdens, the loss of sons, husbands and lovers.
The Anzac Biscuits were as meaningful as the Anzac monument. The official Anzac Day website explains the significance of the Anzac Biscuits (NEVER cookies – apparently it’s illegal!) so eloquently:
During World War 1, the wives, mothers and girlfriends of the Australian soldiers were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men. Here was a problem. Any food they sent to the fighting men had to be carried in the ships of the Merchant Navy. Most of these were lucky to maintain a speed of ten knots (18.5 kilometers per hour). Most had no refrigerated facilities, so any food sent had to be able to remain edible after periods in excess of two months. A body of women came up with the answer – a biscuit with all the nutritional value possible. The basis was a Scottish recipe using rolled oats. These oats were used extensively in Scotland, especially for a heavy porridge that helped counteract the extremely cold climate.
The ingredients they used were: rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water. All these items did not readily spoil. At first the biscuits were called Soldiers’ Biscuits, but after the landing on Gallipoli, they were renamed ANZAC Biscuits.
According to Sydneysider-turned-Londoner-turned-world traveller Kay, Anzac biscuits are not a staple with the regular urban Sydneysider like herself, and is really only popular during ANZAC days and amongst the older generation whom the Anzac Biscuits holds special significance – some remembers their mothers baking them for their fathers or actually having a hand in baking these biscuits themselves in the war years. Unfortunately the last soilder of the Australian Imperial Forces have passed away - but their heroism lives on in Australia and the rest of the free world. (skipps might have something to add on the effect of war to the world ect ect..:))
With such a delicious recipe, even though there is no longer a need to make biscuits that lasts, I personally feel that the world should appreciate this Australian heritage. The ANZAC biscuts pays homage to the great men the fought as part of the Australian Imperial Forces and the brave mothers,wives & girlfriends that stayed home and baked this biscuits to keep their men healthy and strong. All the better to return to them with.
Definately a not-to-be-missed landmark in Sydney when I return.
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This, is Joel, otherwise known as smellie
Don’t know why his mommy call him smellie
But he sure is a cutie
(of course, takes after me 
)
Its always scary when your friends start reproducing – you’re torn between feeling left behind and a tad afraid that the day might finally arrive when you reproduce. I don’t even feel quite adult yet;how am I supposed bring a baby up?
And after 25 hours of labour, one of my oldest friend had produced this:
Hi there.I am a cute char xiu bao
Baby’s first hi-five
Konon looks like he belongs to us…
And then he wee.And then he poo.So we left:).Actually,left to pig out at Zen & Kim Gary. Baby steps ya…let me try out being a kai ma (god mom) first…
With two parents being some IT pros, the baby,of course, has his own personal blog.But warning ahead – do not view if you giggle uncontrollaby at the sight of a breast milk pump (I don’t even know they exist!!)
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If you’ve missed any of my previous installments on the track to Australia, well, below is just for you! A summary of Le Barkers’ Australian tour of 2006
Making it from Leeds
Sun, Surf, Lobsters & burgers
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road
Philip Island’s Kangaroos & Penguins
U of Melbourne’s Graduation
Yarra Valley & Lygon St.
Sydney’s Rocks Weekend market & Haymarket
Sydney Fish Market, Star Casino, Aquarium & Towers
Manly Beach
A do-nothing day
Bondi, Coogee & Paddy’s Market
Ahhhhh…I am so proud of myself for finally cataloging this.
Filed under: Uncategorized
If you’ve missed any of my previous installments on the track to Australia, well, below is just for you! A summary of Le Barkers’ Australian tour of 2006
Making it from Leeds
Sun, Surf, Lobsters & burgers
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road
Philip Island’s Kangaroos & Penguins
U of Melbourne’s Graduation
Yarra Valley & Lygon St.
Sydney’s Rocks Weekend market & Haymarket
Sydney Fish Market, Star Casino, Aquarium & Towers
Manly Beach
A do-nothing day
Bondi, Coogee & Paddy’s Market
Ahhhhh…I am so proud of myself for finally cataloging this.
Filed under: Uncategorized
If you’ve missed any of my previous installments on the track to Australia, well, below is just for you! A summary of Le Barkers’ Australian tour of 2006
Making it from Leeds
Sun, Surf, Lobsters & burgers
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road
Philip Island’s Kangaroos & Penguins
U of Melbourne’s Graduation
Yarra Valley & Lygon St.
Sydney’s Rocks Weekend market & Haymarket
Sydney Fish Market, Star Casino, Aquarium & Towers
Manly Beach
A do-nothing day
Bondi, Coogee & Paddy’s Market
Ahhhhh…I am so proud of myself for finally cataloging this.
Filed under: australia
If you’ve missed any of my previous installments on the track to Australia, well, below is just for you! A summary of Le Barkers’ Australian tour of 2006
Making it from Leeds
Sun, Surf, Lobsters & burgers
Victoria’s Great Ocean Road
Philip Island’s Kangaroos & Penguins
U of Melbourne’s Graduation
Yarra Valley & Lygon St.
Sydney’s Rocks Weekend market & Haymarket
Sydney Fish Market, Star Casino, Aquarium & Towers
Manly Beach
A do-nothing day
Bondi, Coogee & Paddy’s Market
Ahhhhh…I am so proud of myself for finally cataloging this.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This is slotted to be the last in my OZ series. Not many pictures – mainly because my poor camera was literally washed away when a giant surf hit me .
Bacon had insisted that even if it was thundering or raining cats and dogs, there was no way he was going to miss out on Bondi. Thank god the sun was shining and all was well in paradise.
We agreed on,Breakfast on Bondi, Lunch at Coogee, Dinner at Darling. Today it was bus time, and we took a bus from just behind our hotel all the way to Bondi beach front. Initially we wanted to catch the bus to Bondi Junction – apparently that was the bus stop,not the beach.Thank god the driver was very nice and asked us if we were actually heading to the Beach.
After a pleasant 40 mins meandering up to Bondi, we hopped off to be greeted by a long beautiful stretch of beach with a matching row of shops and restaurants. Guess what did I have for breakfast?
Mouhahahah! It is actually a very famous Scottish delicacy,but I couldn’t find it when I was up at Edinburgh, so of course, I had to have it.Deepfried.Yumm
Can you see the melty nougat centre?OMG TO DIE FOR. It tastes just like a melted mars bar, gooey,chocy,but warm as well – sort of like deepfried ice cream but warm
Stomach satiated (if not a little nauseus) we headed on to Bondi – where a naked photoshoot was going on! Hahahah! Bacon refused to walk in front of the seedy-looking man shooting this blonde with small tits squirming against the hot australian sun. The thing was, there is nothing wrong with nudity/toplessness – sunbathing topless is a almost a requirement on Bondi (and the other beaches that we went to that day) but the fact that after that naked photoshoot she was filmed running down the beach topless made it extremely hilarious!
Sorry, thought it was rude to shoot her.Don’t know why though.They might think that I would sell those softporn pixs off.
Contemplating Bondi
I wanna bag myself a surfer boy…yumm:)
Can you spot yourself a topless one?
Bondi-ed feet
I want to live in one of em…
After lying in the sun for about an hour, it was time to move on again – Bacon wanted to walk towards Coogee (I think a 3 hour coastal walk!!) but I veto-ed it immediately. We then headed to the taxi ranks and took one of them instead to Coogee, which is a located about 15min drive from Bondi and much smaller and quiter. Plus it also seems to be more local rather than touristy snap happy.
One of my fav food in oz is sushi – due to the closeness of many of the major ports,the fish is VERY FRESH.Heck, all it’s seafood are very fresh and delicious..we had a AU2 for any plate sushi for lunch and popped down to the beach immediately to see what the fuss is about with Coogee. Even the cabdriver said that it was nicer than Bo
Man overboard!
Just as I snapped this picture,my poor Nikon was splashed by a giant wave,so we waved it goodbye for a while..I was quite traumatized by it…but seeing that this was our last beach trip, I just shut my eye and tried to enjoy the sun for a little longer.I still like Manly the best from all three Sydney beaches, and if you only had time for one, I would recommend Manly.Sigh…I miss the sand.
We left at 3 to head back towards the city, and seeing that it was a Thursday, bought a monorail day pass and headed towards the famed Paddy’s market by chinatown(haymarket). We were expecting it to be a full fledged market like Victorias’ market was in Melbourne but it falls short of expectations.However, it had a great selection of souveniers – bought some tea towels and oven mitts to bring home. I also went to the shopping centre next door which had a Mambo discount centre – suffice to say, I splurged again,like I was never going to see mambo stuff ever again. I even bought a makeup bag,like how bizzare.At 5pm the market traders were starting to shut – seeing that we were in chinatown I had to have one last bowl of Pho – this time at a hip pho restaurant just outside of Paddy’s.It was decorated with all red and black chinoiserie chic, but ran by vietnamese they produced a pretty decent bowl of pho. Obviously no pictures=no recollection of the restaurant’s name – now I know why I take pictures. My memories are all intact in Flickr’s safekeeping:).
Sigh- wet camera=no pix
Anyway, I don’t know how I do it, but we headed home to change and immediately left for Darling Harbour again, kiasu what,don’t want to waste the monorail day ticket at AU 9 each.This time, in search of another ribhaven -
Camera showing subtle signs of life…thank god.
We ordered nearly the same thing that we ordered yesterday – the ubiquitious rib platter
I want myyy—baby back baby back baby back ribs, sings the big fat blob from Austin Power.
Yummm…it was definitely better than Hard Rocks’ and did not had such a problem with their service, although, our server, which I think is Japanese, could only speak really broken English.
After the huge meal, it was time for one last walk on the harbor. We took it slow, savouring our last view of the beautiful Sydney nightscape.
Christmas was fast descending..
I love fake-looking pictures that is caused by the twilight back light
Sydney is a very special city. It has so many obvious attractions that are just in-your-face; attractions that makes it uniquely Sydney and unreplicated anywhere else. It has the charms of docks and beaches whilst being a fast growing city. It is so vibrant, and filled with character that it sometimes reminded me of San Francisco, with its crooked Lombard St, Fisherman’s wharf ect.
We were both quite upset to leave Australia.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This is slotted to be the last in my OZ series. Not many pictures – mainly because my poor camera was literally washed away when a giant surf hit me .
Bacon had insisted that even if it was thundering or raining cats and dogs, there was no way he was going to miss out on Bondi. Thank god the sun was shining and all was well in paradise.
We agreed on,Breakfast on Bondi, Lunch at Coogee, Dinner at Darling. Today it was bus time, and we took a bus from just behind our hotel all the way to Bondi beach front. Initially we wanted to catch the bus to Bondi Junction – apparently that was the bus stop,not the beach.Thank god the driver was very nice and asked us if we were actually heading to the Beach.
After a pleasant 40 mins meandering up to Bondi, we hopped off to be greeted by a long beautiful stretch of beach with a matching row of shops and restaurants. Guess what did I have for breakfast?
Mouhahahah! It is actually a very famous Scottish delicacy,but I couldn’t find it when I was up at Edinburgh, so of course, I had to have it.Deepfried.Yumm
Can you see the melty nougat centre?OMG TO DIE FOR. It tastes just like a melted mars bar, gooey,chocy,but warm as well – sort of like deepfried ice cream but warm
Stomach satiated (if not a little nauseus) we headed on to Bondi – where a naked photoshoot was going on! Hahahah! Bacon refused to walk in front of the seedy-looking man shooting this blonde with small tits squirming against the hot australian sun. The thing was, there is nothing wrong with nudity/toplessness – sunbathing topless is a almost a requirement on Bondi (and the other beaches that we went to that day) but the fact that after that naked photoshoot she was filmed running down the beach topless made it extremely hilarious!
Sorry, thought it was rude to shoot her.Don’t know why though.They might think that I would sell those softporn pixs off.
Contemplating Bondi
I wanna bag myself a surfer boy…yumm:)
Can you spot yourself a topless one?
Bondi-ed feet
I want to live in one of em…
After lying in the sun for about an hour, it was time to move on again – Bacon wanted to walk towards Coogee (I think a 3 hour coastal walk!!) but I veto-ed it immediately. We then headed to the taxi ranks and took one of them instead to Coogee, which is a located about 15min drive from Bondi and much smaller and quiter. Plus it also seems to be more local rather than touristy snap happy.
One of my fav food in oz is sushi – due to the closeness of many of the major ports,the fish is VERY FRESH.Heck, all it’s seafood are very fresh and delicious..we had a AU2 for any plate sushi for lunch and popped down to the beach immediately to see what the fuss is about with Coogee. Even the cabdriver said that it was nicer than Bo
Man overboard!
Just as I snapped this picture,my poor Nikon was splashed by a giant wave,so we waved it goodbye for a while..I was quite traumatized by it…but seeing that this was our last beach trip, I just shut my eye and tried to enjoy the sun for a little longer.I still like Manly the best from all three Sydney beaches, and if you only had time for one, I would recommend Manly.Sigh…I miss the sand.
We left at 3 to head back towards the city, and seeing that it was a Thursday, bought a monorail day pass and headed towards the famed Paddy’s market by chinatown(haymarket). We were expecting it to be a full fledged market like Victorias’ market was in Melbourne but it falls short of expectations.However, it had a great selection of souveniers – bought some tea towels and oven mitts to bring home. I also went to the shopping centre next door which had a Mambo discount centre – suffice to say, I splurged again,like I was never going to see mambo stuff ever again. I even bought a makeup bag,like how bizzare.At 5pm the market traders were starting to shut – seeing that we were in chinatown I had to have one last bowl of Pho – this time at a hip pho restaurant just outside of Paddy’s.It was decorated with all red and black chinoiserie chic, but ran by vietnamese they produced a pretty decent bowl of pho. Obviously no pictures=no recollection of the restaurant’s name – now I know why I take pictures. My memories are all intact in Flickr’s safekeeping:).
Sigh- wet camera=no pix
Anyway, I don’t know how I do it, but we headed home to change and immediately left for Darling Harbour again, kiasu what,don’t want to waste the monorail day ticket at AU 9 each.This time, in search of another ribhaven -
Camera showing subtle signs of life…thank god.
We ordered nearly the same thing that we ordered yesterday – the ubiquitious rib platter
I want myyy—baby back baby back baby back ribs, sings the big fat blob from Austin Power.
Yummm…it was definitely better than Hard Rocks’ and did not had such a problem with their service, although, our server, which I think is Japanese, could only speak really broken English.
After the huge meal, it was time for one last walk on the harbor. We took it slow, savouring our last view of the beautiful Sydney nightscape.
Christmas was fast descending..
I love fake-looking pictures that is caused by the twilight back light
Sydney is a very special city. It has so many obvious attractions that are just in-your-face; attractions that makes it uniquely Sydney and unreplicated anywhere else. It has the charms of docks and beaches whilst being a fast growing city. It is so vibrant, and filled with character that it sometimes reminded me of San Francisco, with its crooked Lombard St, Fisherman’s wharf ect.
We were both quite upset to leave Australia.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This is slotted to be the last in my OZ series. Not many pictures – mainly because my poor camera was literally washed away when a giant surf hit me .
Bacon had insisted that even if it was thundering or raining cats and dogs, there was no way he was going to miss out on Bondi. Thank god the sun was shining and all was well in paradise.
We agreed on,Breakfast on Bondi, Lunch at Coogee, Dinner at Darling. Today it was bus time, and we took a bus from just behind our hotel all the way to Bondi beach front. Initially we wanted to catch the bus to Bondi Junction – apparently that was the bus stop,not the beach.Thank god the driver was very nice and asked us if we were actually heading to the Beach.
After a pleasant 40 mins meandering up to Bondi, we hopped off to be greeted by a long beautiful stretch of beach with a matching row of shops and restaurants. Guess what did I have for breakfast?
Mouhahahah! It is actually a very famous Scottish delicacy,but I couldn’t find it when I was up at Edinburgh, so of course, I had to have it.Deepfried.Yumm
Can you see the melty nougat centre?OMG TO DIE FOR. It tastes just like a melted mars bar, gooey,chocy,but warm as well – sort of like deepfried ice cream but warm
Stomach satiated (if not a little nauseus) we headed on to Bondi – where a naked photoshoot was going on! Hahahah! Bacon refused to walk in front of the seedy-looking man shooting this blonde with small tits squirming against the hot australian sun. The thing was, there is nothing wrong with nudity/toplessness – sunbathing topless is a almost a requirement on Bondi (and the other beaches that we went to that day) but the fact that after that naked photoshoot she was filmed running down the beach topless made it extremely hilarious!
Sorry, thought it was rude to shoot her.Don’t know why though.They might think that I would sell those softporn pixs off.
Contemplating Bondi
I wanna bag myself a surfer boy…yumm:)
Can you spot yourself a topless one?
Bondi-ed feet
I want to live in one of em…
After lying in the sun for about an hour, it was time to move on again – Bacon wanted to walk towards Coogee (I think a 3 hour coastal walk!!) but I veto-ed it immediately. We then headed to the taxi ranks and took one of them instead to Coogee, which is a located about 15min drive from Bondi and much smaller and quiter. Plus it also seems to be more local rather than touristy snap happy.
One of my fav food in oz is sushi – due to the closeness of many of the major ports,the fish is VERY FRESH.Heck, all it’s seafood are very fresh and delicious..we had a AU2 for any plate sushi for lunch and popped down to the beach immediately to see what the fuss is about with Coogee. Even the cabdriver said that it was nicer than Bo
Man overboard!
Just as I snapped this picture,my poor Nikon was splashed by a giant wave,so we waved it goodbye for a while..I was quite traumatized by it…but seeing that this was our last beach trip, I just shut my eye and tried to enjoy the sun for a little longer.I still like Manly the best from all three Sydney beaches, and if you only had time for one, I would recommend Manly.Sigh…I miss the sand.
We left at 3 to head back towards the city, and seeing that it was a Thursday, bought a monorail day pass and headed towards the famed Paddy’s market by chinatown(haymarket). We were expecting it to be a full fledged market like Victorias’ market was in Melbourne but it falls short of expectations.However, it had a great selection of souveniers – bought some tea towels and oven mitts to bring home. I also went to the shopping centre next door which had a Mambo discount centre – suffice to say, I splurged again,like I was never going to see mambo stuff ever again. I even bought a makeup bag,like how bizzare.At 5pm the market traders were starting to shut – seeing that we were in chinatown I had to have one last bowl of Pho – this time at a hip pho restaurant just outside of Paddy’s.It was decorated with all red and black chinoiserie chic, but ran by vietnamese they produced a pretty decent bowl of pho. Obviously no pictures=no recollection of the restaurant’s name – now I know why I take pictures. My memories are all intact in Flickr’s safekeeping:).
Sigh- wet camera=no pix
Anyway, I don’t know how I do it, but we headed home to change and immediately left for Darling Harbour again, kiasu what,don’t want to waste the monorail day ticket at AU 9 each.This time, in search of another ribhaven -
Camera showing subtle signs of life…thank god.
We ordered nearly the same thing that we ordered yesterday – the ubiquitious rib platter
I want myyy—baby back baby back baby back ribs, sings the big fat blob from Austin Power.
Yummm…it was definitely better than Hard Rocks’ and did not had such a problem with their service, although, our server, which I think is Japanese, could only speak really broken English.
After the huge meal, it was time for one last walk on the harbor. We took it slow, savouring our last view of the beautiful Sydney nightscape.
Christmas was fast descending..
I love fake-looking pictures that is caused by the twilight back light
Sydney is a very special city. It has so many obvious attractions that are just in-your-face; attractions that makes it uniquely Sydney and unreplicated anywhere else. It has the charms of docks and beaches whilst being a fast growing city. It is so vibrant, and filled with character that it sometimes reminded me of San Francisco, with its crooked Lombard St, Fisherman’s wharf ect.
We were both quite upset to leave Australia.
