On the 2255 02 July 2008 , my nephew came to the world to bring joy to our family. It is actually quite unexpected as this baby angel supposes to come around end of July. But I guess he can’t wait to see us So cute and tiny. He is only 2.7 kg which is considered small for a newborn as the average weight is about 3.5 kg. However, most important that he is healthy.

My baby nephew is a deep sleeper, all he does is sleep (must be very tired yesterday). Eventhough, we are talking loudly,disturbing him and touching his cute cheek, he can still sleep through all the racket. Tomorrow he will be discharged and comes home with his mum (my sister-in-law) to our home. It will be a busy day tomorrow.

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Cockington Green Garden

After the trip to Blue Mountain tour, we booked another one day tour to Canberra with the tour agency. The first stop we went to is Cockington Green Garden. As usual we are always limited by the time constraint… only 35 minutes to tour around Cockington Green Garden and the entrance fee is $15 per pax. Cockington Green Garden houses many different countries’ miniature landmarks and houses. With only 35 minutes, basically we are snapping the pictures as we walked past them. Too rush to really appreciate the miniatures. This is a place where visiting once is enough as there isn’t any thing interesting to see unless you are interested in the miniatures.

Lake Burley Griffin

Lake Burley Griffin and Us
Another short drive along the peaceful street of Canberra, we reach the second destination of the day, Lake Burley Griffin. A magnificent man-made lake and fountain. Under the influence of the hot sun and water spraying about 4 stories high, we can clearly see a  beautiful rainbow formed. We spent about 20 mins there and enjoy the scenary.

Parliament House

Parliament Conference Room I

Parliament Conference Room II

The last stop for our tour is the Parliament House. This is our first time visiting a country’s parliament house. We didn’t even go to Singapore’s parliament house.. Mmm.. Can we even go in? No Doubt! It is tight as all visitors have to go through the X-ray scanning before entering. A short 30 minutes tour in the parliament house is quite educational as our tour guide explained the history of Australia.

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Today my Auntie Kim, 2nd Aunt and her husband bring us to one of the popular hong kong restaurants(Rhobe Phoenix) in Sydney. We waited for 20 minutes… Must be really GOOD. The restaurant sells some of the dim sum that cannot be found in Singapore such as Oyster dim sum etc. The prawns are definitely fresher than what we have at home. Yummy…. I believe it is not cheap…

DFO

DFO

Then after a nice lunch, Uncle Jeff bring us to a Direct Factory Outlet (DFO) that is located in suburb. Inside DFO there are many branded stores that are giving discount up to 90%… Cheap? Ya some of them. We stay there about 2 hours and bought some clothings and shoes. Quite a good place for shopping There are other branches located in different part of Australia

 * Just got back from Melbourne and there is another DFO located at Melbourne, Southern Cross Station

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Going to Central Station

Today our plan didn’t go well as we expected. We planned to go to Paddington Market at 10 am so we woke up around 8 am this morning to prepare. But in the end we still reached Paddington market around 12pm… To go to Paddington Market we have to board a bus, 378, at Central station and alight at Oxford Street which cost us $1.60 each. As usual transportation fee is very expensive.

Paddington Market

Devil Waffle $5.00

Paddington Store

Paddington Market is heavily publicize by Sydney Guide as it claims to be the biggest Market in Sydney with 250 stores… However… To our surprise it is not as big as claimed… Although there are some local artists and merchants selling their wares, it doesn’t have 250 stores at all. Furthermore, the things there are quite expensive. However, it is still worth visiting for a while as some of the stuff are unique and can only be found there. But don’t expect too much.

(Sat) Flemington Market

Next stop we went to Flemington Market to shop some souvenirs, but to our surprise today is “Fresh Food Day”. No souvenirs, only fresh food. Furthermore, its closes at 2.30pm… We only have 30 minutes to take a short tour and bought some strawberries. When its about time to close the market, the fruit and vegetables at really cheap!!!
Cheap as in 1 carton of apple only sells for $3.00! . We bought our strawberry at 3 boxes for $5.00 which is a bargain . But later we spot another stall selling at $1.00 per box. So Cheap

Then when we decide to leave the market, we saw a truck preparing to leave the market without even bother to load his cartons of tomatoes onto his truck and just drove off… Then this happen to the carton of tomatoes…

So wasteful…

Since it is still early,we went back to our favourite place, Paddy’s Market to shop around.

Back to 70s show

When the sunset, we took a train back home as my aunt wanted to bring us to Menai club to watch a show, Back to 70s. The show is quite nice and entertaining, even though i seldom listen to music…

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Martin Place Station

Today we have many things to do and places to visit so we left home slightly earlier, and reach Martin Place around 11am. Actually we wanted to stop at Circular Quey station as it is nearer the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House. However, Jane wanted to get some local stamps from the General Post Office so we alighted at Martin Place station.
(The stations in the city is much nicer and well managed then those in the suburbs)

General Post Office

From Martin Place station to General Post Office took us about 10 minutes to walk there. It is a nice short walk as we are admiring the resplendent buildings along the road. The General Post Office building encompasses not only the post office, but also many stores, restaurants and a hotel. So we went in and take a look of the stamp collection. The range of stamps displayed is quite limited so we approach the counter for assistance. Jane is quite excited to take a look of their stamp collection, but the person that assist us had spoiled our mood. She is very unfriendly and seem impatient help us. She would say the stamp types (animal, building, places etc) and expects us to only reply YES OR NO! What kind of customer service is this? I thought Australia is well-known for Human Right! We never see or touch the stamps and we are only allow to reply YES/NO! @#$% She even advice us to visit another post office at Market City which is 15 minutes walk from here. Finally we had enough of her attitude and approach another staff instead who is much more helpful. Jane got a few packs of stamp and a post card to send her then we make our way to Circular Quey.

Circular Quey Scenery

Another 15 minutes walk before reach Circular Quey. Luckily not all local are so ill-manner the lady in GPO so we managed to ask for direction. Circular Quey is another harbour of Sydney where you can get very nice sceneries and food. Circular Quey is where the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge are located and where you can go to the northern part of Sydney. There are cruises going to other places such as Tarogan Zoo Or Ocean Manly Park and etc. Furthermore , some cruises also provide lunch, dinner packages which you can enjoy the sceneries of Sydney while having a nice meal.

Opera House

Opera House and Us

Nothing beat the real Thing! OPERA HOUSE is so spectacular! We are totally amazed by the beauty of this magnificent structure and the beautiful sceneries. It is definitely a MUST visit attraction in Sydney. After we are satisfy with the photo taking, we went in to see the interior of the Opera house. Most of the places are off limit unless you buy a guide tour with them. So we went to the souvenir store to see whether we can buy anything to kept as a souvenir. Too bad they don’t sell opera house model …

GPS Map: Sydney Harbour Bridge

Beginning of the bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge Scenery

Northern part of the bridge

Next we decided to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, near the Rock. The Bridge is directly opposite of the Opera House so another 10 minutes to walk there. Walk across the bridge is something worth doing. It is about 15 minutes walk to cross the bridge to the northern part of Sydney. There are 3 ways to admire the scenery of the bridge, SKY Walk ($160+ AUD), Pylon Lookout ($9.50 AUD) or walking across the bridge (Free). At first, we decided to visit Pylon Lookout, however as we are short of time so we dropped the idea. It is also very nice just to walk across the bridge and enjoy the sceneries. On the bridge, the Opera House looks so small, but its beauty doesn’t diminish.

GPS Map: Luna Park

Luna Park (Northern part of Sydney)

Next destination, the Luna Park. The smiley icon of is so prominent that you can see it across the bridge. Luna Park is free to access, but you need pay for the rides. Maybe we came on Friday as the park seems deserted. It doesn’t seem fun to me so we walk around the park and took some pictures before going to our next destination.

Darling Harbour: Jordon’s Seafood

We are so beat that we took a train to Town hall instead of walking across the bridge again. +_+!. When we reach Darling harbour, we went to some of the agencies to find out the cruises’ meal packages as we are planning to go to one of them. Next we had the BEST Dinner at Jordon’s Seafood. The seafood is very fresh the presentation of the food is GOOD! Can’t describe it so if you going to Sydney remember to give it a try. Its worth the money !

To be Continue…

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