SYDNEY TRIP WOOHOO

Dah nak dekat 1 semester duduk Adelaide, tak penah sekali pun aku keluar dari state South Australia! At least most of my friends have been to Brisbane for MASA (Malaysian Summit of Australia) Games. I didn't go perhaps because I didn't even participate in the games and the flight ticket was quite expensive and I'd rather wait for Tiger Air sale than spending a lot just on the flight tic! So sempena Winter break ni, aku pun teringin lah keluar dari negeri South Australia yang agak kampung ni. Hahaha and because Tiger Air was having a deal to Sydney, maka my engineering housemates and I booked return flight tickets to Sydney. Pergi balik $130 (excluding tax) which was quite cheap. We bought them months earlier kot sebab sale punya pasal. The date of travel was scheduled to be from 9th of July till 14th of July (perfect date sebab masa tu semua orang dah habis final paper).

So 2 nights before the journey, kami serumah pun duduk lah bermesyuarat dok plan itinerary untuk trip ni. Took us one night to complete everything perfectly to make sure our 6 days trip would be fantastic and worthy.

And unexpectedly, the night before our departure, we received a sad news from Malaysia. Our accounting housemate, Izzah lost her sister, arwah Dr. Afifah Ghazi. The late Dr Afifah lost her life in a car accident in Malaysia. And we helped her searching for a return flight ticket to Kuala Lumpur malam tu and Alhamdulillah, ada. Al-Fatihah for her.

9 July 2015

So the day has finally come. And because Izzah was scheduled to return to Malaysia on the same day as our departing date, we had to give our kitty, Baby to someone else to be taken care of. And because the boys were not yet back in Adelaide (they went for a road trip to Melbourne), Izzah asked her friends untuk jaga Baby. Mula2 punya laaa susah nak tangkap si Baby ni nak kasi kat kawan Izzah. Macam tau2 pulak dia yang kami  nak hand dia kat orang lain. Last2 tangkap dia, bawak masuk dalam kotak, and bagi kat kawan Izzah tu safely.

Lepas2 bagi Baby, kami pun bersiap la nak keluar rumah. We walked to the bus stop at the Henley Beach Rd untuk tunggu bas yang ke airport.

Then sampai2 Adelaide Aiport, macam biasa lah we had to undergo all the airport procedures. Scanning items, and bla2. Then masa dah naik flight tu (I got the seat next to the window), aku pun tengok lah ke luar kan pastu ternampak flight Malaysia Airlines.

Aduhh terus rasa sebakk sebab tak balik beraya kat Malaysia. Rasa macam nak turun ja dari flight tu and naik flight MAS tu balik Malaysia. Tapi takpa lah, toksah lah dok buat kerja gila. Satgi kena tangkap tak pasai ja kan haha. So the flight took us nearly 2 hours to Sydney. Dari atas flight lagi, aku dah tukar waktu kat jam ke waktu Sydney, because Adelaide and Sydney don't share the same timezone. Waktu kat Sydney awal 30 minit dari Adelaide. And turun2 flight tu, terus cari convenience store kat airport tu untuk beli Opal card.

Kad opal ni kalau kat Malaysia ala2 kad Touch n Go gitu. It's used for all sort of public transports in New South Wales. And it's a lil bit different antara Adelaide Metrocard dengan Opal card ni sebab Opal card ni takdak concession fare untuk students macam kat Adelaide. So kos untuk transport kat Sydney ni sakit sikit ah bagi aku. Overall I think I spent approximately $70 (dalam RM240) untuk transport saja. I never spend that much sepanjang 1 semester living in Adelaide!

We took a bus that stopped at The University of New South Wales (UNSW). Sampai2 sana, we were welcomed by our friend, Nik who is studying at the UNSW. And tour sikit2 lah kat uni tu sepanjang perjalanan ke rumah budak2 Sydney ni sebab ruma depa just tepi UNSW ja.

First impression about UNSW, big! Haha compared to uni aku (The University of Adelaide) yang ciput tu, UNSW memang lagi beso ah and bangunannya pun lagi modern dari Adelaide Uni. Pastu sampai2 rumah budak Sydney, semua orang wash up, berbuka puasa, solat and get ready untuk keluar rumah. So the first stop malam to was Darling Harbour. Kebetulan masa tu ada Cool Yule event kat situ sempena Winter break. 

Ada la konon2 artificial salji kat sini.

The seterusnya just jalan2 ja dekat Darling Harbour tu. I must say the view was SPECTACULAR! Living in Adelaide, kalau pukul 5pm onwards macam tu semua orang macam dah balik rumah coz people in Adelaide are so family oriented. Kalau dekat Sydney, lagi malam, lagi rancak city tu.

Not to forget, we also rode the ferris wheel! Lepas tu sebelum balik rumah tu, jalan la sikit2 kat area tu. Tengah2 jalan, ternampak pulak Tom N Toms kat seberang jalan. Nampak2 cafe tu, terus terjerit seronok! Terus teringat Korea! Haha sebab cafe ni memang bersepah gila kat Korea. Taktau pulak dia ada branch kat Australia kan. Apa lagi. Teruih lintas jalan pi pekena caramel latte secawan!

Lepas tu, kebetulan tepi2 tu ada KFC yang halal. Apa lagi, teruih serbu ah. Kat Adelaide ada jugak KFC yang halal tapi satu branch ja. And tak pernah pi pun sebab agak jauh dari rumah. So disebabkan dah lama kempunan nak makan Zinger Burger, aku pun beli lah satu. Rasa dia quite same tapi aku rasa yang Malaysia punya lagi umpphhhh kot. Satu benda yang tak best pasal fast food restaurant kat Australia ni is depa ni tak gemar makan benda2 macam ni dengan sos cili. So kalau nak kena bawak sendiri lah kot dari rumah. Luckily aku memang jenis yang tak minat letak sos dalam burger KFC so takdak ah renyah sangat.

Lepas2 pekena KFC, terus balik rumah. And that's pretty much what we did on our first day in Sydney.

10 July 2015

Okay the next day, the plan was to go to the famous Australian landmark, the Sydney Opera House. So pagi2 lagi dah gerak pi Darling Harbour, again sebab we planned to board on a ferry that goes to the Opera house. But before that, jalan2 lah jugak dekat situ. Semalam pi Darling Harbour masa gelap and tak nampak apa. So teringin lah nak jalan2 masa hari terang. 

Dekat Darling Harbour ni ada Madame Tussauds tapi tak masuk pulak sebab mahal sikit.

We also experienced the 9D cinema, tak lama pun running time dia. Less than 10 minutes I think and that cost us $10. It was fun and I think I screamed the loudest. Even pekerja tu sendiri cakap "Whoa that was a lot of screaming for one ride!". Hahah can't help myself.

Next, we boarded on a ferry to the Sydney Opera House. On the way nak sampai sana tu lalu laa bawah Sydney Harbour Bridge tu. Nak naik cruise, mahal sangat. Haha tak mampu. Naik ferry ja la mampu. The fare was approx. $5+ kot.

Lepas puas bergambar, dah tak tahu nak pergi mana. According to the itinerary yang kami buat, supposedly hari tu punya activity ends there coz our friend Yan has a concert to attend that evening. Not wanting to waste our time in Sydney, we decided to go to a shopping mall at Macquarie Park to fill up the day's activity. To go there, we boarded the train that took us around 1 hour to reach there. Jauh jugak tapi sebab dah alang2 sampai Sydney kan, berjalan lah selagi mampu.

Agak jakun dengan double-decker train kat Sydney

And kat situ seronok jugak lah shopping mall dia. Ada H&M, Zara, Kathmandu, etc. Then that very evening, lepas habis shopping, kami pun return lah ke Sydney. Because we bought a movie ticket malam tu. We bought the tics for the movie Jurassic World at the LG IMAX Theatre dekat Darling Harbour. IMAX tu lebih kurang 3D kot cuma the image is wayyyy more clearer and realistic than 3D. Furthermore this IMAX theatre is the biggest one in the world!

Source : Google

Memang berpuas hati la dengan quality of the image. Very much worth it! It cost us around $30 for a movie! Disebabkan movie start pukul 9.30pm, it ended a lil bit late. Masa tu nak dekat midnight dah. And masa nak jalan ke bus stop untuk balik tu, sangat lah scary. Kena pulak masa tu Friday night where people would drink and get drunk. Orang kat Sydney ni ada la beberapa kerat yang allergic sikit dengan orang Islam ni. So kalau nampak orang pakai tudung tu, memang tak boleh ah. Ada la jugak kena usik dengan beberapa orang mabuk. Tapi alhamdulillah kah dapat balik dengan selamatnya :)

11 July 2015

The next day, the plan was to go sand boarding at Newcastle. Jauh jugak Newcastle dari Sydney. 3 jam naik train, 1 jam naik bas. tu baru pergi. Belum balik lagi. Kalau pergi balik ha, amekau, 8 jam.

 Frequency of the train yang nak pergi ke Newcastle tu setiap sejam. Nasib baik lahhh masa kami sampai tu, ada lagi 7 minit ja untuk train tu depart. Aduhh kalau tak kena tunggu lagi sejam kat central tu. Dalam train tu, toksah kata ah. Pakat2 lena semuanya! ahaha.

Sampai ja Hamilton train station tu, kena jalan sikit pulak untuk naik bas ke Anna Bay (tempat sand boarding tu). And I notice dekat Newcastle ni banyak gilos kedai antique. Kiri kanan jalan memang penuh kedai barang2 antique. And setelah 1 jam naik bas, sampai lah to this wonderful place!

 A week before, we have already booked the trip untuk sand boarding ni. I mean we have booked for the 4 Wheel Drive untuk ke tempat pasir tu. That cost us $25 each (coz we took the family package) for the 4WD and sand board tu. And the name of the company is Port Stephens 4WD kot tak silap.

Seronok sangat sandboarding ni (excluding the part kena panjat bukit pasir tu berkali kali and sangatlah memenatkan). Tak masuk lagi part berapa kali tah aku bergolek jatuh masa sliding tu sebab masa first2 tu tak reti stabilise kan diri lagi. Ahahah tapi sangat2 fun!! We played that sampai la nak dekat senja. Pastu memang bukak puasa pun dekat bus stop ja sebab masa tu tengah tunggu bas untuk ke train station balik to get back to Sydney. Agak memenatkan but we really did have fun!

12 July 2015

Okay the next day, we went to Katoomba, one of the famous tourist spots in Sydney. Tempat ni pun quite far from the city. 2 hours on train. Tak lah se-lama nak pi Newcastle. Turun2 kat Katoomba station tu, tudiaa! Suhu 1 degree celcius! Luckily I wore 2 layers of thermal wear underneath kalau tak memang habis hilang lah mood nak ber-adventure sejuk2 ni. And kebetulan masa tu drizzle sikit and the drops were in the form of snow! Haha dapat lah experience snow sikit (depsite the fact I hate snow very much). Oh and luckily I brought my gloves. As we hopped off the train, we went straight to buy the hop-on-hop-off ticket bus to the Blue Mountain. The price for the tic was $35 (concession fare). And there were lots of stops yang bas ni akan berhenti and ikut suka kita lah nak stop kat mana pun kan dah namanya pun hop-on-hop-off.

Antara stop yang kami berhenti is the one yang boleh bush walking. Boleh tengok this beautiful waterfall.

Bushwalking here is quite nice, at least dapat berlindung from the strong cold wind.

The Three Sisters

Okay nampak tak the three big rocks kat belakang tu? Sebenarnya ada cerita disebalik kejadian batu tu. Cerita rakyat gitu. Orang asli Australia (Australian aborigins) lah yang percaya benda ni. Ceritanya ada banyak version. Tapi version yang dicerita oleh driver bus tu ialah (kalau rajin baca lah), 

Three sisters, Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo had a father who was a witch doctor. His name was Tyawan.

Long ago there was a Bunyip who lived in a deep hole who was feared by all.

Passing the hole was considered very dangerous, therefore whenever Tyawan had to pass the hole in search for food, he would leave his daughters safely on the cliff behind a rocky wall.

One fateful day, Tyawan waved goodbye to his daughters and descended down the cliff steps into the valley.

Meanwhile at the top of the cliff, Meenhi was frightened by a large centipede which suddenly appeared before her. Meenhi took a stone and threw it at the centipede. The stone continued on its journey and rolled over the cliff, crashing into the valley below which angered the Bunyip.

The rocky wall behind Meenhi, Wimlah and Gunnedoo then began to split open and the three sisters were left stranded on a thin ledge at the top of the cliff. All the birds, animals and fairies stopped still as the Bunyip emerged to see the terrified girls.

As the Bunyip began to approach the girls, to protect them from harm, their father Tyawan used his magic bone to turn them into stone.

Angered by this, the Bunyip then began to chase Tyawan. Becoming trapped, in order to flee from the Bunyip, Tyawan changed into a magnificent Lyre Bird, yet in the process dropped his magic bone. Tyawan and his three daughters were now safe from the Bunyip.

Once the Bunyip had disappeared, Tyawan returned in search of his magic bone, yet this was never to be found.

The Lyre Bird has been searching for this magic bone ever since. Remaining in rock formation, The Three Sisters stand silently overlooking the valley hoping that one day he'll find the bone and turn them back to former selves. 

Source : http://www.bluemts.com.au/info/thingstodo/threesisters/

And another stop we went was at Leura. It was a Toy & Railway Museum founded by Dr. H.V Evatt.

[Herbert Vere "H.V." Evatt (aka Doc Evatt), QC KStJ (30 April 1894 Ð 2 November 1965), was an Australian jurist, lawyer, parliamentarian and writer. He was the Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1960 to 1962, the Leader of the Australian Labor Party (and Leader of the Opposition) from 1951 to 1960, the third President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1948 to 1949 and helped draft the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first Chairman of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission in 1946, the de facto Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs in the Australian War Cabinet from 1941 to 1949, and a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1930 to 1940.]

Source : http://www.toyandrailwaymuseum.com.au/drhvevatt.html

Seronok jugak masuk toy museum ni coz  Dr. Evatt went all around the world to collect all those rare and limited edition toys. As a big fan of Barbie, memang excited gila lah aku masuk tempat ni. Oh, and the entrance fee was $10. Banyak dolls (yang agak scary) and other toys yang antique. Budak2 confirm suka tempat ni!

I wish I could take pictures of the interior design of the house tapi no photos allowed. And I must say this place is quite famous because Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sendiri pernah ke museum ni.

Curi2 amik gambar barbie collections. Sebenarnya banyak lagi tapi banyak pulak cctv kat situ.

This is the house museum and it is currently resided by the Dr Evatt grandchild and his wife.

Creepy jugak lah kalau nak hidup berdua ja dalam rumah besar ni kan. Haha dengan penuh dolls nya.

But the mansion also has a very big garden yang memang sangat cantik!

They even have the replica of the locomotive head in their garden!

The last stop was at Leura Village. We went to the candy shop and found some disgusting candies. Taktau lah apa masalah orang putih ni dok buat candies macam ni. These are made of real insects kot! Yeck! Aku tengok pun takdak selera kot. Terfikir gak ada ka orang nak makan?

Masa nak dekat2 senja tu, we went back to Katoomba station and balik ke Sydney. Buka puasa pun dalam train.

13 July 2015

Pagi2 buta tu, dah pergi strolling kat the famous Bondi beach, yang selalu keluar berita orang kena baham shark tu. Hahah masa pi tu ada la geng2 surfers ni dok water surfing ala2 kat California tu. Haha aku pun tak faham depa ni tak reti sejuk ka apa. Aku yang pakai baju siap pakai thermal layer pun sejuk, dpa boleh pi mandi pulak air laut yang sejuk tu. Haih hebat betul. Ni nasib datang masa winter, orang pun tak ramai. Cer pergi masa summer, bersepah umat manusia kat sini.

Next destination, Queen Victoria Building (QVB). Its a shopping mall and the architectural design (interior and exterior) of this building, mashaAllah sangatlah classic and cantik!!

Source : Google

Next, I went looking for the Ladurée macarons at the Westfield shopping mall nearby. Punya lah teringin sebab selalu dengar orang kalau pi London/Paris mesti wajib beli macarons from Ladurée ni. I picked the cheapest box of 6 macarons, priced $28 (around RM70+) macam tu. Quite expensive for something that small tapi sebab teringin and sekali sekala kan, beli jugak. And ternyata memang sedap pun! And the texture was soooo perfect!

Lepas shopping (or should I say window shopping haha) dekat area city tu, we went to the La Perouse to watch the sunset. Sejam jugak la naik bas ke tempat ni. Takdak apa pun kat sini cuma ada ligh house kecik untuk bergambar cantik la kot.

La Perouse was named after the French navigator Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–88), who landed on the northern shore of Botany Bay west of Bare Island on 26 January 1788. (Source : Wikipedia)

And lepas dah puas bergambar and tengok sunset, we went back to the city to have a proper iftar. Malam tu we had our iftar at a restaurant namely Taste of Thai. I ordered Tom Yum Fried Rice (sebab rindu nasi goreng tomyam kat KMKN dulu) and memang tiptop ah TY Fried Rice dia. Tapi tak sehebat yang dekat KMKN lah. Ahaha we had our iftar with UNSW friends yang tak balik Malaysia.

14 July 2015

Last day in Sydney! Pagi2 berjalan ke UNSW for the last time sebab nak pi ke bus stop. Sambil2 tu sempat la ber-photoshoot sikit2.

Naik bas pulak, pergi Sydney University (USyd). Kalau UNSW punya bangunan moden belaka, USyd punya bangunan sangatlah classical. Rasa macam kat Hogwarts pulak.

Ala2 menunggu Harry Potter gitu

And disebabkan macam banyak pulak masa before nak ke airport, kami pun pi lah tempat shopping semalam, shopping last time punya.

Lepas2 shopping tu, terus menuju ke airport untuk pulang ke Adelaide. Nasib baik laa tak terlambat sangat kalau tak memang dah terlepas dah flight tu. Dah tak memasal kena book ticket lain.

That's the end of our Sydney trip. Akhir kata, I had lots of fun there, and if I was given a chance to go back there, I definitely will! And of course, thank you to our Sydney friends for the delicious food and hospitality!