The best thing about our holiday?

12 days is just about the maximum number of days we can stay in Sydney (without getting sick of the place or getting broke first after eating out so much).

It’s a wonderful cosmopolitan place, with lots to see and do, even for kids. However, most things are just too expensive. Shopping is about 30-40% more costly than Singapore (unless you limit your shopping from only Target, K-mart or thrift shops) and eating out is pricey. Besides there is hardly any service to talk about. Shopping is only fun when it comes to fresh produce, like meat, seafood, fruit and vegetables, however try not to even consider imported produce. I still find it extremely ridiculous that ginger (obviously not grown in Australia) costs like AUD$50 per kg!

Apart from little peeves like the above, it is still a nice place to go for a family vacation. The region offers a vast variety of nature and wildlife attractions, extremely apt for children who love nature and animals.

For K, there is one memorable thing that he remembers fondly from our trip…

The best thing… from Rachel T on Vimeo.

RIMG2300blog
Share it:

Related posts:

Kyle’s Sydney adventure Day 11

To the west of Sydney lies the World Heritage-listed Blue Mountains region. With its temperate climate, coupled with beautiful scenery, a trip to Sydney will not be complete without a visit to the Blue Mountains. The close proximity of the Blue Mountains to Sydney (about 1 hour plus drive away) makes it ideal for a day trip, however, due to the lack of time, we only managed to view 3 sites and would have probably need a few more days to experience the many scenic sites of the region.

RIMG2435blog RIMG2433blogWe stopped by a town Leura in Blue Mountains for lunch. Instead of walking around town to look what slowly explore what other cafes had to offer, we were hungry and fully trusted the map (that we purchase from the Blue Mountains information stop) for its recommendation. RIMG2439blogWe ended up having a simple sandwich lunch, french fries and nuggets (for K) for AUD$40, another one of many over-priced meals that we experienced during this trip.

RIMG2445blog RIMG2448blog

We went on to visit the Three Sisters, a famous rock formation in Blue Mountains. A little less magnificent than I envisioned it to be, maybe the cliffs are slowly being slowly broken up by erosion and may one day be eroded away completely? Regardless, I still appreciate the wonders of nature with the view of the beautiful scenery. RIMG2454blog RIMG2459blog

poseblog Our last stop in the Blue Mountains was taking rides on the scenic skyway, cable car, railway and a short nature trail on the broadwalks of a rainforest.RIMG2479blog RIMG2484blog

railwayblogRIMG2500blog We drove back to the city thereafter and met Uncle Nick for our dinner for our last night in Sydney. Was not feeling too adventurous after a couple of expensive and disappointing meals in Sydney. So we ended up having our dinner in the same Italian restaurant in Darling Harbour, that same one that we dined in the last 2 nights. The four of us shared 1kg of bbq ribs, steak, 2 pasta dishes and were fully satiated after the wonderful and reasonably-priced meal. RIMG2507blog

Share it:

Related posts:

Kyle’s Sydney adventure Day 10

The weather turned a little chillier on our last few days in Sydney, as it started raining in the morning of Day 10. From the hot 28 – 30 degrees celsius that we experienced the last couple of days, the temperature went down to about a windy 20 degrees celsius.

Australian MuseumRIMG2330blogWe had to re-schedule our plans to visit Luna Park in the late morning and went instead to the Australian Museum. The wealth of exhibits encompassing natural history is really impressive, I like that there is an interactive area; Kids Space, specially for kids under 5s.RIMG2336blog skeletonblog kidspace1 kidspace2 kidspace3 RIMG2366blog

Luna Park

We headed over to Luna Park after lunch despite a drizzle, we figured that the rain might stop and there will still be a couple of rides in the amusement park that will be sheltered from the rain. When we got there, we realised that Luna Park was closing in about 45 minutes time at 4.00 p.m. We also could not plan to return the next day as its opening days were only on Friday – Monday. So we tried our best to fully maximise our visit to the amusement park.

I realised that there is a similar amusement park like this in Melbourne in St. Kilda’s, and we never really bothered to visit the place when we were there about 10 years back. Guess a lot of things change when you have an additional little person in your life. RIMG2378blogPark entry is free, but the cost of taking the rides were really pricey, about AUD$10 per ride if no special passes were purchased. But since being little has got its privileges, (K’s admission to many of our visits to the various places of interest has been FOC, since he is below 4 years old). we got a special pass for K that cost $20.00. We specifically chose rides that he could either take himself or were allowed an accompanying adult without an extra charge; i.e., the carousel.RIMG2383blog

RIMG2395blogCoincidentally, the carousel is also K’s favorite ride at most amusement parks that we visit. Besides the rain got a little heavier, so dh and I made our money’s worth by taking turns to ride the carousel with K. The little boy was so thrilled that he got to sit the ride for at least 4 times over. RIMG2399blogAs there was only 20 minutes left before closing time, we braved the drizzle and ventured further into the park to search for another ride that will be suitable for K. Overall, I think we really made our money’s worth with all the rides that K took, it only averaged about $2.00 per ride. Plus, it is really quite nice to be the few customers left in the park with hardly any other people around to vie for the rides. rideblog lunapark

Share it:

Related posts: