A Chapter of My Travel Experiences Part II Sydney Australia

Even though we slept early, we still woke up late and thus we had a change of plans ....... Our initial plans was to go to the Blue mountain...... My Friend L woke up early and she went out for a stroll first, leaving me to wash up.... We had a simple light breakfast -Turkish bread and a glass og milk and coffee...

Since we woke up late, we decided to walk around Sydney, looking at our map and I have a very good walking compass - My Friend L............. When she is around, you will never have to worry about losing your way around...... 

We started walking in the other direction of the Rocks, walked past the Opera house..... We passed a group of Australian students dressed so cutely for a outdoor class excursion trip...... Don't they looked liked little English nurses.....for the girls and the boys looked like little soldiers......

 As we slowly strolled through this quiet town, we saw a number of people jogging down the road at 11am in the morning and it made us wonder ant's they working at this time of a Monday morning......

We then strolled into the Royal Botanic Garden of Sydney..... it is quite true that a visit to Sydney isn't complete without a walk through the beautiful Royal Botanic Garden....... The garden has been here since 1816. It is situated at the east of the Opera House.... The garden occupy about 30 hectares of  land.

The Sun was shining brightly in the sky, this was a time that I loved the sunshine..... it felt so good to smell the sun in a cold weather...... hahaha This was a time when  I,  travel in a cold weather learns to appreciate the sunshine.......

It was ironic and strange to be wearing a sweater and strolling in a garden beneath an bright afternoon sun...... but I am enjoying every minute of it..... U can't do this in Singapore, you will definitely get a heat stroke.....

As we walked, we came across the Government House which was sited right in the Botanic Gardens, and the house itself was under renovation, thus not opened for tours... However the house grounds was open for us to move around..... The government house was built in a Victorian style architecture between 1837 and 1843, it was the official residence of the governor of New South Wales.......

As we walked around the grounds, we saw something very unique, and you don't see this everywhere, at least not in Singapore.....

There was a Sun dial right opposite the house......

Sundial is a device that enables us to tell the time by looking at the sun position. This is known as a garden Sundial or horizontal Sundial.... this is commonly found in gardens, public places or churchyards....

We actually took a photo with L's watch and to check if the time is correct as indicated by the Sun position .....

The time shown on L's watch was stated the Singapore Time: 1044hrs ..... Since Australia is two hours earlier, then it should be 1244hrs, almost 1300hrs in the afternoon.....
Check if you can read the time on the Sundial......

After checking out the Sundial, we then move onto the next spot, a lake .......

 We walked past many little ponds and even the pyramid glasshouse.... however it was not opened for visiting.... The people there were very friendly and they seemed so relaxed.... at this hour, we saw people in office suit, attire were very comfortable sitting under the trees, shaded from the sun, reading, eating  and even chit chatting.... It makes me wonder if we are able to do so.....  and one more thing, how long is their lunch break......???

There was a restaurant located in the garden, it is an open air concept, however I don't like the idea of sitting by the rails.... it was so open that people walking beneath you are able to see what you wearing beneath your skirts.... I happened to see that...... it is not very nice to see this in the early noon time....

There was a little shop in the midst of the beautiful garden and my friend L bought the first souvenir gift in Sydney...

We continued to walk, and here we came across this beautiful building and I wondered if it is a museum.... nope I was wrong, it is not a museum of any sort..... It is a library.....

 This is the Sydney Hospital building , otherwise known as the oldest building in Sydney since 1788.... it is situated in Macquarie street, Sydney CBD....

Il Porcellino (in Italian means Piglet) , a bronze copy of the Florentine boar, was donated in 1968 and stands outside the hospital.

Here is the Sydney Tower, which at the top has a revolving restaurant, which is about over 300 metres above the city....

 

We had a short break in one the oldest shopping departmental stores known as David Jones, eating sushi....It was here that I bought macadamia salted nuts for my cousin....  

The Hyde Park Barracks Museum is a brick building and compound designed by convict architect Francis Greenway between 1818–19; originally built at the head of Macquarie Street (1819) to house convict men and boys. The site is now a museum

 As we walked down Macquarie street, there are more  and more beautiful buildings that belongs to 17th or 18th century....  We walked all the way to central station where the paddy's market was located..... in Chinatown.........too bad the market was opened only on Wed till Sunday... On Tuesday, I will be going to the Blue mountain and on Wednesday, I will be flying to Gold Coast , thus I have to give Paddy 's market a miss.....   

 We began to walked back to our hotels, passing by the CBD area looking for my stuff to buy for my cousin- Oakley...... He was lucky, I passed by the store....and  had spent more than AUD $300/- in the store alone.... I am going to claim back the GST at the airport.....

 By the time we reached Rocks, we then rushed to the supermarket - Woolworths..... I was so happy to be inside the supermarket... Why, There is free Wii connection.....  hahaha... While L was shopping for food and items, I was busy talking to my cousin about my whereabouts through Whatapps...
It was chargeable for internet access in the hotel where I was staying.... We managed to buy sushi for dinner.... It was then we realized that in Australia, the commonly eaten vegetable in Sushi is avocado...

While checking out our groceries item, we realized that they have express checkouts stations, where you yourself act as the teller.....

 That is really cool, too bad I don't have the cards... otherwise I really want to try it out....!!!!

Ok, folks.. it is time for bed.... tomorrow I got to wake u early to go to the blue mountain....
I will share my stories with you....