All I can say about Bondi Beach is that it is beautiful. It has the most perfect sand. If I could pack up the sand and carry it back home I would pour it all over my bedroom floor until its inches thick and lay in it all day. Actually if I could uproot the whole beach and bring it back to my house that would be even better.
We walked from Bondi Junction to Bondi Beach (something that wasn't recommended for us to do cause they said it was too far. It WAS too far, but we managed it. Ya-huh! Not without me getting a blister though.), and I'm so glad we did because the beach was fairly empty on a Wednesday afternoon. The weather was perfect that day too, it wasn't too cold and it didn't get too hot either. It felt really nice to just sit there the whole afternoon chatting about everything. We went from sitting on our shoes, to sitting directly on the sand, to covering ourselves with it. I guess you could say we fell more and more in love with it and less concern about getting sand in our everything as the hours went by. The beach emptied out as the sun began to set, making it calm and serene, but soon after we left too to race against time and get back to Bondi Junction before it turned dark.
It was a super chill day, talking about everything from Avatar to LDRs. Loved it. If I could, I would take each of my friends there one by one. Its the perfect place to unwind, escape from distractions, and catch-up.
Eunice
So after our bridge climb adventure, Gen led the way to Lowenbrau Keller at The Rocks. She said its one of the touristy must go places in Sydney, and that statement was supported by it being one of the more crowded places on a Tuesday night (or evening, can't tell cause the sun set at 5.30pm when we were there). But German food! Yay! Although if you were with me that night you wouldn't see any enthusiasm. I started feeling sicker after the bridge climb and leaned towards a more feverish state so I was not in the mood for anything. Apparently except taking pictures, as Gen & Jo pointed out when I reached for my camera. So don't expect much from me this post.
We chose to sit one of the long wooden benches they had outside the restaurant, which at first was like wha-? because its freezing, but it wasn't too bad! They have heaters on the wall next to the tables so it was alright. It got pretty toasty actually! But I think it made me feel a bit worse. I couldn't tell the difference between the heater and if I had a fever and just felt pretty shitty. But the food was good! So lets go on to that.
Bread! Warm bread! The right way to start a meal. Every time. And can I just mention that Gen went "Lurpak!!" when the bread basket came. With the heart shape animated eyes and all. She's funnyy. (It's just butter, Gen. HAHA)
Tell me whats the name of this dish because I have no idea. Serious. It was a sausage platter with four types of German sausages on top of Sauerkraut but I don't remember what each type was other than the tiny one (2nd from left) which was a cheese sausage! I love cheese sausages. Actually I quite like all sausages, which I know is bad for me, but you just can't go wrong with them. Y'know what I mean? You just know they are gonna be yummy.
And for the main dish! I know this one: Schweinshaxn (Okay I found it on their website. they even have a player that reads out the word to you so you know how its pronounced, go try!) This is oven-roasted pork knuckle everybody. Just look at that crispy skin. It sits on a bed of mash potato topped with Sauerkraut, in a pool of what they call Lowenbrau Bier Sauce. It. Was. Yum. And it really fun to cut up too. Good for venting your anger on. Hahaha
While we were eating there was a little German band that came out from inside the restaurant to entertain us (people sitting outside) and the people just walking around the area. They were really cute old men, in their uniform(?)costumes(?) and were really enthusiastic about their performance. They played for really long too. I felt quite bad cause people were focusing on eating and they didn't really get much of a response after each song. But I did like them!
All in all it was a pretty good meal! When we got back I knocked out really early, and for quite a while. Woke up later to feel legit-ly slightly feverish. But that was the worse night! I think I got better after. Although both Jo & I never fully recovered from our flu during the trip. Only after we stepped back into Singapore. But I still enjoyed the meal so yay! Glad my tastebuds still worked enough to taste it. ^^
Eunice
So if you've read my pre-sydney post, I said 'forget it' to going for the bridge climb after I saw the exorbitant prices. But on the second day of the trip, we went! I think we got quite excited after Gen mentioned she has never climbed the harbour bridge and wanted to go too. So we booked it on our first night there, and went for it the next day, even though Jo and I were feeling pretty sick (we caught the cold).
Gen had school in the morning so she left early, and Jo and I got up late before heading down the street to Oiden for some Japanese Rice Bowls. I had the Ontama Beef, which is basically like the Yoshinoya beef rice bowl but with a half boiled egg on top. Yummmm. Joash had one of their curry rice dishes. Really good. I realised after returning from my trip that I do not have a single photo of Oiden on my camera despite having lunch there twice. There is a photo on my Instagram though so you can see it there, or just look at the menu on their site!
We met Gen afterwards and we made our way down by bus to the Rocks area where the BridgeClimb HQ was at.
In the bridge climb shop and holding area, they have like little columns where they put up pictures of celebrities who have the done the bridge climb previously! My favourite has to be young Daniel Radcliffe, because I want to know what he was thinking when he wrote 'Magic Rules OK!'. And like, I can only seem to read it in our singlish accent. How do those with the english accent read it? I stood there thinking about it for quite some time... and I'm still thinking about it now as I write this... Hahaha
Above are the only three pictures we have of us actually on the bridge, which we paid a hefty price for. Although we were also given a printed photo of our group shot and a certificate.
The whole bridgeclimb experience was pretty cool I must say. Our group of climbers were mostly tourists except for two Sydney girls, and everyone seemed pretty friendly! There was this french guy (I forgot his name... D:) who was celebrating his 19th birthday! He climbed right behind Joash, so we did talk to him a bit! His family pooled money for him to go on the bridgeclimb as a gift, which was really sweet, but meant that he was there on his own. We also had a fantabulous instructor - Nick (or thats what Joash remembers it to be. I can't remember, I don't know whats wrong with me). He was extremely funny, friendly and easy-going. He made everyone feel really comfortable, and made jokes like 'is this your first time climbing? well its mine too so let's hope nobody gets hurt on my first day at work.' Yeah righttt. Haha We don't have a single picture with him though, which I'm quite sad about. :(
The whole climb experience is about 3 hours, but before the climb we had to go through this process where we suited up and went into a large hall to get geared up with harnesses, caps, walky talkies, headsets and other things. We also had to go on a practice round in preparation for climbing steep steps on a dummy step structure. All that took around 45 minutes or so but Nick's witty comments made it fun. Then we were ready to set off!
As for the actual climb, the initial part and the end part of the climb beneath the bridge were the scariest. Sure, those are the parts when we are closest to the ground, but we had to walk on narrow wooden planks, squeeze through small spaces and climb not just one but a few flights of super duper steep ladder-like steps. And this is all while vehicles are zooming on the highway, even trains, which cause the whole bottom of the bridge to shake and rumble, eeps! And halfway up the flights of steep steps, cars are practically zooming past your head. Trains, in the case of when I was making my way down. My legs really turned to jelly I tell you. But when you are on the actual bridge, everything gets easier. The path is wide and the steps aren't steep at all. The height doesn't really get to you too.
The view from the bridge is spectacular. We were really lucky that we got such good weather. While we were not allowed to bring cameras (or any loose articles for that matter) up the bridge, Nick took 4-5 individual and group shots for everyone. Outside of the photo-taking time, we were given a lot of time to just stand there and admire the view. Which was really nice. Can you imagine if they rushed us up and down. Nick also went around talking to every person and pointed out places to see and things we could do in Sydney and throughout the climb he also gave us knowledgeable commentary about Sydney's history and other stories. I really enjoyed it.
Well, that marks a once in a lifetime experience! I don't think I will ever spend money to climb it again. I didn't even want to spend it this time but my mom said 'If you go to Sydney with us, we will never climb the bridge. So since you're going with friends, just do it.' And I'm kinda glad I did! The feeling of being on top and looking over Sydney, I can't even describe it. Its part surreal, part peaceful, and a whole lot of other things. I guess you just have to experience it for yourself. Just once. ;)
Eunice
KOREAN FOOD. YUM. Gen took us to her favourite korean restaurant in Sydney, just down the street from her place, for dinner on the first night of our trip, and boy was it good. Cafe C'ya is hidden in a little street off George Street so its easy to miss if you aren't looking for it. But you should be looking for it because it is sure to make a hearty korean meal that you are sure to enjoy.
I didn't know I had so little photos of the place, but yeah, you can see above we had bugolgi & seafood korean pancake. We also had kimchi(?) seafood soup that is just perfect for cold winter days, and Beef Jap Chae on our 2nd visit, which is potato noodles. This trip marks my first time trying Jap Chae, which is weird, because I've actually been to Korea, but I guess I just never thought to order it. But I found that I really like it! It has this unique chewy texture, and the dish itself is so yummy. I think I'm going to walk into Korean food places and look out for Jap Chae from now on. Oh and as like any regular Korean restaurant, they serve side dishes. There were bean sprouts, kimchi, macaroni and some jelly like thing in a sauce that I found really strange to eat, but Gen & Jo like it so its probably just me. I must just be weird. Hahaha
This isn't the only time we had Korean on the trip. We ate here twice, once in another restaurant that I'll post about, and another time at a korean buffet place. Gen assures us that in Sydney, whats good is the Asian food. We had quite a bit of Asian food and Cafe food too during our trip and I must say I do agree with her. When we think of the best meals, they are ones when we had Asian food. Korean, Jap, Thai. Those were the best and they never did disappoint. Which might seem weird I guess, it being Australia. But I loved them and still lick my lips when I think of them. Which, since I came back, has been often. ;)
Eunice
Hyde Park is such a beautiful place. After having breakfast at Bourke Street Bakery and everybody taking a pretty long nap back at Gen's place, Jo & I went around to explore the neighbourhood on our own as Gen had a full day of school. Because Joash bought a Optus SIM card which was 30AUD for 15 days with unlimited data, messages and calls to Aussie numbers (pretty sweet deal!), getting around was easy using Google Maps so don't worry, we didn't get lost on our first day. Haha
Before my trip my cousin told me to definitely visit Hyde Park. He said it was beautiful. And it was! And I can imagine that it would look pretty beautiful at night too, what with the lamps lining the wide pathway. Although I think as a park its a bit on the smaller side. We finished walking through it pretty quickly even though we were strolling. But it seemed like the perfect place to unwind and relax. Around the J.F. Archibald Memorial Fountain were many park benches and I could already imagine grabbing a sandwich and just sitting there breathing in the park air during lunch breaks.
At the other end of Hyde Park sits the ANZAC War memorial. I didn't know much about it when I was there, but a little googling taught me some interesting facts! ANZAC stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and this memorial is dedicated to the Australian Imperial Force in World War 1. The lake in front of it is called the Lake of Reflections, and the trees that line the sides of it are poplars, which aren't native to Australia but are planted as a symbol of the areas of France in which the troops fought. I thought that was pretty interesting. You can click on the link to find out other details about the structure itself! Not knowing all these, the thing that really caught our eye was the etches into the trees that included many hearts, love dedications and other phrases. It led Joash to briefly called it a love park. Haha I guess you can call us uninformed tourists. :S
From the fountain we noticed the beautiful St. Mary's Cathedral just by the side of Hyde Park. If you think the structure look beautiful, you haven't seen the inside. And you won't too, on this blog at least. Photography isn't allowed inside, and out of respect I didn't take any. But we did step in to walk around and really, the whole place is stunning. We spent a lot of time admiring the interior, especially the beautiful stain glass windows depicting different biblical events. It just gave off a certain mood. Serene, calm, and it definitely took my breath away.
We also did a bit of city walk that day, and the one building/mall that peaked my interest was Queen Victoria Building. It looked so grand on the outside and did not disappoint on the inside either. I think the two large hanging clocks were one of the focal points of the structure, but I wouldn't know. It was for us though! They were incredible; so large in size, and extremely unique. They even had little miniature scenes going on on each side of the clock structure. The mall itself, was out of my league. Expensive stuff there, although there is one craft/hobby shop if you're into building toy trains, tamiya cars or gundam figurines. There was also a little Dr Seuss art work museum! Although it was closed when we went past so we just looked at it through the glass.
Not knowing where to go has it perks because we wandered into this little alley, that split into these two gorgeous alleys above. I. Love. Hanging. Deco. I love it. And trust me I have this little obsession with bird cages (don't know if its a symbol I associate to my life of just a Harry Potter thing), so I definitely fell in love with the first one. I still don't know what street these alleys are in though, sorry. Haha
We sure did a lot of walking on our first day, but I'm glad we did! I think we only spent one other day wandering around without an agenda because for the rest of the days we had like a main thing we roughly planned to do for each day. But walking made up a lot of what we did. I kind of developed calf muscles by the end of the trip. Which my boyfriend so kindly pointed out, does not in any way mean you exercised; go and run. X)
Eunice
Hey guys! Sorry for leaving this space un-updated for three weeks. I've been in Sydney for the past two weeks and only got back last Friday so trust me when I say the holiday mood got to me. Year 2 of Uni life starts tomorrow but I have a string of posts coming up about Sydney: things we did, things we saw, things we ate. My friend Gen (whose house we invaded for the two weeks) brought us to all her favourite eating spots and well, spots in general, so while you're just going to get like the little snippets from the tourist I was on this blog, you can follow her as she discovers and shares more Sydney spots over at her blog! :)
So on the first day, after Gen (we were staying with her in Sydney) picked me and Jo up from the airport in the early morning, she brought us straight to Bourke Street Bakery, in all our half-awake and spectacle wearing goodness. Haha! But there weren't [much] complains because we have tried its amazing chocolate tart that one time she brought it back to Singapore, so we were already looking forward to have it again on this trip!
It sure tasted as good as I remembered it to be, and maybe even better. The chocolate is all soft and creamy and had a really unique texture for a chocolate tart. Loved it. Gen also recommended the Pork & Fennel Sausage roll, which apparently they are really famous for!
We had plans to bring a few chocolate tarts back to Singapore, but that didn't work out. Although we had it again at another outlet (last picture above) for breakfast on one of the other days, so I'm pretty satisfied. I'm already missing it though! X)
Eunice
