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Australia 2013: Ashes and flies
posted : Saturday, May 03, 2014
It was a two hour journey to Sydney from Melbourne. Unlike my arrival at Melbourne, there's nothing dramatic about the temperature change and so on.
First order of business was to get a MyMulti3 pass. There are various kinds of passes depending on your needs but this one gives you one week of unlimited travel on all public transport modes including trains, buses and ferries. And since I was planning for a trip to Blue Mountains I got this one, at a hefty price of AUD 61. Pretty reasonable considering it's valid for a week, though I don't need it for one full week.
Headed down to the train station but was denied entry. Checked at the counter and found that I needed to buy another Airport Link ticket which was not included in the pass =.= that costs another AUD 20.
I really think Sydney should upgrade their PT ticketing system...it would probably be a real hassle to buy passes all the time.
Sydney has double decker trains! (Okay I know this is not the best photo)
Dropped off at Museum station and switched to a bus to Potts Point. #likealocal lol. Seriously, technology these days. It's so damn convenient to find your way even though it may be your first time there. Uh, for the bigger cities at least. Sadly I dun think this applies in Brunei....
Anyway, for Sydney I chose to stay at Potts Point, not too far away from the CBD but far enough to be about 20AUD cheaper per day in terms of accommodation. Stayed at this place called Macleay Lodge. Room was pretty okay though expectedly small. At least it's clean and comfy. My room was only a couple of doors away from the shared toilet/bathroom.
  
There's a microwave, fridge and sink in the room too, convenient. Though have to walk out to toilet
Dropped off my luggage and immediately head out coz I wanted to catch the 2.30pm I'm Free walking tour, Sydney version hahaha. Had a good time in the Melbourne version so I wanted to start off Sydney with it. If I am not wrong they actually started out in Sydney before adding Melbourne to their "business". The assembly point was at Sydney Town Hall, so caught a train from Kings Cross, about 5minute walk from my place, and alighted at Town Hall station itself. Easy peasy.
In hindsight this was actually a really bad day for a walking tour. New South Wales, particularly in Blue Mountains, was in a midst of its worst bush fire disaster in a while. Noticed that the weather was a bit stuffy, half an hour into the walk everything seemed to be orangy and brownish in color, ashes flying around and a faint burnt smell of haze throughout (surprising coz the sky looked super hazy but didn't smell too bad). Most annoying of all was the legion of flies that just kept buzzing in our ears everywhere we go. Can't even focus on tour guide urgh. Coming from Melbourne and made aware of the ever ongoing "competition" between Sydney and Melbourne for the title of Australia's biggest city I would definitely give it to Melbourne, hands down lol. I just had a rough start in Sydney.
Anyway back to the tour, pictures below.
Sydney Town Hall, gathering point for I Am Free tours.
Queen Victoria and her building...
...and her dog.
Hyde Park.
Old Sydney Hospital
Down Martin Place
General Post Office.
Very nice public art display.
Thick blanket of haze.
Circular Quay, was looking forward to visiting it.
First glimpse of the iconic landmark.
Headed into the Rocks for a brief tour.
Clear skies trying its best to breakthrough
Ending point of the tour. One of my favourite photos, not everyday you can catch a photo like this.
Was contemplating continuing on The Rocks walking tour also organized by the group but decided against it in the end. Atmosphere just wasn't very conducive. Instead, made my way up to the Harbour Bridge! Quite a bit of a walk and staircases but got there in the end.
Up a set of stairs (and more more stairs) to reach the bridge.
Structural design back then...must be a nightmare
View from the bridge
Bridge carries pedestrian, vehicular and train traffic.
No point crossing the bridge to North Sydney side so I turned back and descended after a while. Sat down and stoned for a while by Circular Quay while deciding my next course of action. Wanted to do Tower Eye but there isn't any point considering the haze. Then quite spontaneously decided to dine at Pancakes by The Rocks, realizing that I hadn't eaten anything that day except for a Krispy Kreme doughnut at Melbourne airport heh. Like most of the blogs I read recommended the place so why not, even though I didn't actually include it in my itinerary.
Always like the combo of chocolate and orange.
Pancakes are really thick and fluffy, pretty nice. Though I did wish I had ordered another one, or maybe tried something savoury but oh well. Hung around at Circular Quay for a bit, considering walking over to Opera House but ultimately ended up heading back to explore Potts Point a bit. Then laziness took over and I just bought some random groceries at Woolworths and called it a day hahaha.
Sydney skyline, minus the two landmarks.
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