Sydney, Melbourne 10 Days Trip Feb 22 to Mar 3, 2013

Day 1 Sunny and warm

Fly to Sydney from Hong Kong took about 9 hours. The plane is a huge A380 plane. The seats are wider and the legroom is wider too. It's more comfortable compare with Air Bus 330. The purpose of the trip is to visit my daughter in Sydney.

                             

My daughter picked me up at the airport in the early morning. I must say the immigration and custom in Sydney are very efficient and fast. It was a sunndy day. After settle all the baggage at my daughter's house, we began our tour. As my daughter had a medical check near China Town, our first tour was the China Town. 

Way to Central Station

Day 2 Rainy

Sydney is 3 hours ahead of Hong Kong. At 10 am Sydney time is 7am in Hong Kong, so I had to adjust the time. It's a rainy day. We went to the Sydney Fish Market where we had lunch in a Chinese restaurant. There were lots of seafood there and you could request the cook to cook the seafood the way you like.

Seafood  Shop

My favorite Crab Leg

Sydney Fish Market

After Sydney Fish Market, we were heading for the Bondi Beach. A very windy day at Bondi Beach, one could hardly stand still. The umbrella was useless as the wind was so strong. The waves at the beach were high and rough in the rain.

Bondi Beach

Day 3 Sunny

We had a big breakfast at the beautiful seaside restaurant ripples at Chowder Bay. The food was good and the service was good too. 

After the big breakfast, we walked around and enjoyed the scenic view of the seaside. We walked along Balmoral beach. The beach was big and the waves were mild compare to the Bondi beach yesterday.

After the big breakfast, we drove to the famous Sydney Opera House - The landmark of Sydney. How I wish I can see one opera or concert there.

The Sydney Opera House 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

Not far from the Sydney Opera House is the Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can go up to the top of the bridge for an eye-bird view of Sydney harbour. Next of the Opera House is the Royal Botanic Garden. We walked through the beautiful garden and to the Art Gallery near by.

Royal Botanic Garden

The Art Gallery

We toured around the Art Gallery and enjoyed the oil paintings, the modern and the ancient ones, the sculptures and the Australian arts.

Day 4  4 days Bus Tour from Sydney to Melbourne, Sunny

Getting up early in the morning as I had to go to the pick up point in China Town at 7 am. There were 37 persons joining this bus tour. Most were Chinese from Mainland China. On the way to Melbourne, there were green fields, farms and faraway hills. The scenery was beautiful, like a panorama picture. 

On the Way to Melbourne

After almost 12 hours, we arrived Melbourne city center at about 7:30 pm and had dinner in Melbourne China Town.

Melbourne China Town

After dinner, we checked in a 4 stars hotel The Sebel & Citigate near Albert Park. 

Day 5  Rainy

Buffet breakfast in the early morning, we were heading to the Yarra river cruise. Its about an hour cruise along the Yarra River. The cruise would pass through some bridges which had a very low head room. One had to seat down when passed through these bridges. The rain was not heavy so we could enjoy the scenery on the open deck.

Yarra River Cruise

Bridge with Low Headroom

Melbourne City View

Central Station

After the cruise, we went to Eureka Tower Skydeck 88 (about 300 meters tall) where we could see the whole Melbourne city. We took the elevator (the speed is 9 meter per second, total journey from ground to 88 floor is 40 seconds) to floor 88 where the Skydeck situated.. We could see the whole area of Melbourne city.

View of Melbourne City in the rain

Another View

Our next itinerary was the Melbourne Aquarium. The most spectacular one was the Penguin Rookery where you could see the lovely penguins on the ice and how they swam in the water.

Melbourne Aquarium

Penguins

After lunch, we were going to the Philip Island to see the little penguins return home from the ocean. On the way to Philip Island we stopped by a Chocolate Factory where we could make our own chocolate.

Chocolate Factory Philip Island

Chocolate Making Machine for Visitors

At dawn, we arrived at the Philip Island seashore. We could see some little penguins already landed under the walkway or their wooden homes at the hillside.

Sunset at Philip Island

Shy Little Penguins Hiding Under the Deck

After walking around the deck, we would see a lot of penguins coming back. Our main show was not at the deck but the stadium on the other side of the beach. We had to keep silent, no flash, no photos, otherwise we would scare the penguins away. At around 9 pm, groups of little penguins (in 4 or 6) paddled through the beach and to their homes on the hillside, Its almost 11 pm when we returned to our hotel. A long day but  lots of exciting and beautiful things to see.

Day 6   Sunny with Occasional Shower
Morning call at 5:30 am and breakfast at 6 am. We had to get up early because we would go to the greatest scenery in Melbourne - the Great Ocean Road , the 12 Apostles. After breakfast, we went to the Soverign Hill and the Gold Museum. We went to the Gold Museum first to see the history of the great Australian gold rushes in 1850. There were impressive and valuable collection of gold nuggets, alluvial deposits, priceless gold artifacts and gold coins.

After the Gold Museum we entered the exciting Sovereign Hill. First we joined the gold mine tour. We boarded on a gold mine train to the underground mine to discover the dark, dangerous world of deep lead mining and witness the discovery of the famous welcome nugget.

Inside Sovereign Hill Street

Gold Mine Tour

Inside the Gold Mine

                  

Gold inside the Mine

Gold Panning

After the Gold Mine adventure tour, we went to the gold panning area. If you were lucky, you could find real gold and it's yours to keep. Some of our tour members found golds during panning.

We were all happy to get some gold from the Sovereign Hill. The next great tour would be The Great Ocean Road. 

Twelve Apostles View from the Deck

If you want to see all 12 Apostles, you have to get on a helicopter.

Day 7
12 hours bus back to Sydney. Arrived Sydney at 7:30 pm. My daughter picked me up at China Town. Its heavy rain in Sydney.

Day 8  Rainy and Thunderstorm
My daughter took a day off (Friday) and we were going to Sydney Fish Market to have our lunch.

At the Sydney Fish Market, you could ask the cook to cook the seafood the way you want, in Chinese style fry, steam, oven or sashimi. There were a lot of ready made cooked seafood.

As the rainy was heavy, we decided to take a rest at home and had dinner at Billy Kwong's Restaurant. The crispy-skinned duck with blood orange sauce and the vegetable dumplings are highly recommended. As this

place was small, we had to share with other couples.

After a delicious dinner, we had our ice cream at the Messina- the most popular ice cream in Australia.

Messina Ice Cream

Day 9 Cloudy

We went to Eveleigh Market. The market only opened on Saturday mornings. From the market you could test product from local farms such fresh vegetables, fruits, bread and cakes. Besides the market, there was a Chinese artist exhibitions-Song Dong Waste Not. He used the used materials like water bottles, dishes and bowls for his exhibitions.

Billy Kwong  food at the morning market

After appreciation of the arts, we drove to the Manly Beach. Manly received its name from Captain Arthur Phillip in 1788 who was so impressed bt the "confident and manly behaviour" of the local Aborigines(kay-ye-my people) that he called this town 'Manly Cove'.

Manly Beach

Surfers at Manly Beach

Dinner at home with home made dishes.

Home made dish

Day 10  Sunny

As my plane scheduled depart in the late afternoon, we had breakfast in Zetland area and then drove to Paddington for a walk. There were unique boutique stores along the street.

Paddington

Boutique

Boutique

Boutique at Paddington

All my bags were packed and ready to go. My daughter's friend drove me to the airport. Its sad to leave my daughter. My 10 days in Australia brought me quality time with my daughter and her friends. I enjoyed my stay very much.

Goodbye Sydney