OZ Day 8 - Sydney ahoy

Waking up at 7am, it was quite surreal as we got ready to leave Melbourne for the bright lights of Sydney. As it was lazy Sunday, not much traffic on the 1 hour drive to the airport…one thing I was glad to leave behind was the long journey into town! We stayed in Central Park hotel on Castlereagh St…very close to monorails and trains.

The flight there was uneventful, with me nodding off to sleep the whole hour,but the taxi ride proved to be extremely exciting with the poor taxi collapsing under our weight and having a flat tire..which was swiftly changed by mr taxi driver.Very efficient! I did not even have to get out…it was 30 deg in Syd the day we arrived. Oh, and on the taxi ride over, I saw a HUGE Krispy Kreme! Ones like they used to have in the states! Woowee! I love kk!But I guess you already know that…

Anyway…the moment we got to the little hotel (only rooms, no F&B or any other amenities…we requested that they order a taxi for us, they promptly informed us that taxis don't turn up and we're better off standing at the taxi rank - that’s the sort of hotel they are; unhelpful and unfriendly). We only booked it because Rough Guides listed them as a chic boutique hotel with friendly staff and great rooms.Bullshit. Location was great, but other than that, bleah. It wasn't only us - we had seen other guests screaming at the useless reception for messages not received.So no, this hotel is not recommended.

Since I'm on a bitching roll, the pub right next to it, the New Windsor, is run by the same sort of people,but worst. We popped in there a couple of times in the whole week that we were there. The last time we tried to pop it, it was filled to the brim, and the bouncer (which had let us through countless times!) requested for id. We showed our ID to him, politely asking him why,seeing that he had let us through the past couple of times - and we are OLD! He rudely sneered,"Well, welcome to australia to you". LIKE WTF! This sort of facist remarks by a bullying fatass 350lb white baldy basically ruined the trip to sydney for us. Is it SO WRONG to be a tourist? This was the end of my love affair with Sydney - I will take Melbourne anytime over rude sydney

/rant over

So anyway, we dropped our bags, and seeing that it was still early on a Sunday afternoon, decided to head towards the market at The Rocks. Bacon,being his usual pain in the ass, insisted on walking. And just because I am nice, I let him. And he brought me 8 blocks the wrong direction, all the time assuring me that its ok he knows what he's doing. Note to self, Bacon is not to be trusted. I walked 20 blocks to get to the Rocks, and was extremely prissy and hot by the time we got there..


Christmas in summer v.2


Bigass strawberries..yumm. I had the one with milk choc.


The Rocks Market.


Loads of wonderful stuff there, ableit mostly expensive.You know you're in a posh market when the boomerang seller is armed with instructions and explainations in mandarin,japanese,korean…


My first view of the Harbour Bridge


And of course, the first of the many snaps of the overly famous Opera house


And again


Up and down the promenade

As usual, Bacon cannot decide what to eat.rather, he wants to continue walking around and explore his choices.it was 3pm and I was rapidly losing it (he does piss me off with the exploration rather than eating) so we ended up here..fish & chips instead


Not very nice I'm afraid..extremely expensive and just so-so fish


We headed on after that to explore circular quay, the d bacon,again, ended up in the Slip Inn pub.

After me whinging nonstop, Bacon grudgingly said that we could take the bus back to the hotel. I love buses..they are an excellent way of soaking in the city and getting your bearings right. Had to soap off all the dirt accumulated from walking nearly 30 blocks, and took a short nap after that as I was dead from waking up so early in the morning. Woke up at 8pm with a whinging stomach…and it was time to cure its whinging!


The pretty town hall all dolled up for christmas

We walked towards Haymarket, Sydney's chinatown. On the way, we passed by countless restaurants that look good…but we, of course, ended up in a sucky restaurant with non-passable vietnamese food.Just typical isn't it.


Chinatown,like all chinatowns in the world, are still buzzing late into the night.

Not my best picture-snapping day I must say,drained from all the travelling and walking I was made to endure by Bacon, I was frankly displeased with him. But the Rocks Weekend Market is an experience, ableit an expensive one, should not be missed if you are heading that-a-way for a weekend.