Ta ...

See you again in a bit ;)

My eyes have opened to the world.

Hope to be back soon to visit you again, Sydney =)

Down Under Trail

Trail status so far:

Hunter Valley
Middle Gardens, Royal Botanical Gardens
All over Sydney
All over North Sydney
Belgian Beer Cafe, Cammeray
Greath Northern Cafe, Chatswood
Ku-rin-gai Chase National Park

Personal status so far:

Missing YOU very dearly

Howdy

=)

Sydney is in sight. Will be there in a little over 24 hours ! How about that ???

BRB - Down Under

I'll be away from Malaysia for the next few weeks. I hope to return home to a less messy country.

In the meantime, while I'll miss sunshine very much every day, I'll be looking forward to renewing my ties with what can be arguably called my 3rd home, maybe even 2nd home. I've actually calculated that I've spent more time in Australia compared to every other country except Malaysia.

This time around, I'll try and do Hunter Valley, failing which I'll try to do the Grand Canyon hike in the Blue Mountains. And of course, there's the Manly-Spit walk and Doyle's at Watson's Bay.

One thing I absolutely love about Australia is the almost unending variety of outdoor activity.

Ah ... springtime in Sydney ! Hopefully, it'll be spring cleaning in Putrajaya as well.

Back to Bondi

One of the best things to do in Sydney is taking short walks along the many coastal areas, or hikes along their many National Parks.

I revisited the Bondi-Coogee walk this year with Little Miss May and here colleague this year last Saturday. You can read Little Miss May's rendition of events here, while my previous hike is journaled here.

While the weather could have been a lot nicer (at least it was dry), it was still one heck of a good walk !

Little Miss May and me took the bus from Circular Quay to North Bondi .. where we met up with Juca, her Brazilian colleague. If all Brazilians are like him, I think the whole country will be cool !

On the southern end of Bondi is the iconic Bondi Iceberg ...

The Eastern Beaches Coastal Walk is the official name of the walk from Bondi to Coogee, and it takes you thru Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Gordon Bay, Clovelly to Coogee.

We stopped often to admire the views. Seen here are my walk mates admiring a cliff full of white blossoms ...

Pounding waves at Tamarama beach, the first beach along the walk after Bondi.

That day, there were a number of life guard trainings, and this was one such training. They were practicing how to rescue someone into a boat, and it was quite an interesting watch, especially since the waves weren't exactly genteel, you know. The record rescue in Bondi was 280 on a single day ... imagine that ... the life guards pulled 280 people in a single day from the water !!!

Nice clouds ... it was sunny when we started the walk, but it turned really windy and cloudy towards the end ... and by the time we got to Coogee, I was feeling the cold ...

We had lunch at Bronte, where May ordered this mouth watering Egg Benedict with Smoked Salmon. Heavenly, don't you agree ?

The lovely Clovelly Bowling Club has great ocean views ... if you need to find a great place to learn lawn bowl (yawn), this will be it ...

It was nothing short of a superb walk, cold as it was at some times. I really want to thank Little Miss May for being such a nice host, and to her Brazilian colleague Juca ! It's people like you who make walks interesting and worth the while, even on dreary, cold days. You guys ROCK !

Blog Plug: Do visit my new photoblog at mozphotos.blogspot.com, I'll be putting in some more Sydney and Bondi photos in the coming days. Thanks ...

The heart of Sydney ...

I'm now in Sydney !!!


Flew in on Saturday night, and touched down on Sunday morning. When I arrived, I was greeted by a really nice, warm winter day, 21 celcius, I hear.

Since I can't get a room in the hotel until 2 pm (and I was there by 9.20 am already), I decided to just head down to the city, with camera in hand.

And I'll let the pictures do the talking !!!

I started off here, at the Rocks Weekend Market ...


Then I went here, to the Rocks waterfront, where old warehouses now have some of the best waterfront views, with some of the best restaurants in town as well !


And then, following along Circular Quay, I ended up here, naturally, at the Sydney Opera House.


And met up with this guy here, one of the duo of didgeridoo street performers, whose music blends with techno beats pretty well, really ...


And moved on to say G'Day to the many birds that hover all around the waterfront.


Before squinting to find this fella at the Botanical Gardens, right next to the Opera House ..


And then for the highlight of the day !!!! I met up with Little Miss May !!!! Woooohoooo ~~!!! It's great to see Sydney the way a Sydneysider does, and better still, one who has Malaysian roots.

And what better way to celebrate the coming together of Malaysians overseas than by ... going for lunch ?? In a small restaurant without the frills, but with great food, just like Malaysians would back home !!!??

It was a greeeeeeeat day for me !! Thanks for the enjoyable company !


We went walking along the Sydney CBD from Circular Quay down to Chinatown, via the more scenic route, which passes through Pyrmont Bridge, then thru Darling Harbour.


And then had some very nice Stirfry Chinese Noodles here ... helped down with some very unusual Siu Loong Bao. You have to try the food here. No kidding.


And then we headed back to Darling Harbour, where we sat on the Harbour Steps at ate some really nice Gelato while the chilly wind sent shivers down me spine. That's Darling Harbour as seen from Pyrmont Bridge.


And then, finally, we ended where I started ... QVB. I really wanted to go take some sunset photos from Mrs Macquarie's Chair in the Botanical Gardens, but really, both of us were a little tired from all that walking ... so we settled for a little Hyde Park walk, which was really pleasant.

QVB's a beauty, isn't it ?


I think I'm loving Sydney ...