Rainy Day in Sydney

It was a rather rainy day in Sydney when I decided to check out the QVB. Along the way over, I walked through Hyde Park, but didn't spot the elusive giant chess board. It must be further north in the park!



Then, there it was, the QVB!





It was very pretty, a bit out of my price range though. :)

I then walked several blocks away to try some Malaysian food. It's hard to find good Malaysian food in San Francisco, sadly. Since I am out here, I decided I better get as much as I can. :) I went to Mamak, and it was lovely. Affordable first of all. The Roti canai was delicious and flaky. The satay was to die for - tender, and the peanut sauce it came with! The Mee Goreng was also lovely. Of course I left with leftovers - perfect for my lunch tomorrow! (All three dishes = $23.50) I think I may need to come back before I leave Sydney.

I can't believe that I only have about 10 days left. I don't want to go back to the US.

Masterchef Australia!

So good this week that I have to post about it.

Marion is my fave to win and she beat the Masterchef this week! Yay!

And the next challenge looks awesome!

I better be able to watch MA once I get back to the states.

Sydney Harbour and Manly Beach

I started the day with a migraine but after loads of caffeine (in the form of espresso) and ibuprofen (Neurofen here in Australia) and Tylenol (Panadol here in Australia), I managed to make it upright. As the day sort of cleared up - I decided I should make use of the ferries and check out some of the Sydney sights.

Here is the first ferry I took leaving from Circular Quay:



Finally - proof I am indeed in Sydney! :)



Pretty Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge:












I then went to the famous Manly Beach where pro-surfers from around the world come to surf here. It was a bit gloomy out but I did see some surfers out. The surf didn't seem very high. But what do I know?





Then, I went to a fantastic restaurant at the end of the walking path - Le Kiosk. Seriously? Best meal in Australia so far. I started with Sydney Rock Oysters and a glass of Australian Chandon Brut. 2 were natural and 2 were warm - all were excellent. I then had the Blue Crab Tagliatelle (entree portion) 'cause I couldn't eat too much more, but darn if I didn't wish I got the main portion size! :) The crab melted in your mouth, the tagliatelle was just perfect. Mmmmm.



Btw, I love my Kindle - I take it EVERYWHERE!



On my way back to the ferry, I saw this:



I can't believe the mother let her kids climb this 1) because it probably shouldn't be climbed on and 2) her kids were little and this thing was high - with nothing but concrete below! What if they fell head first???!!!

Daintree Rainforest

On Sunday, we head off to the Daintree Rainforest to engage in some Jungle Surfing - ziplining in the forest!

The drive there was pretty - very rural, sugarcane plantation after plantation. Kind of like Hawaii was back in the day! Once we hit Daintree Rainforest, we saw lots of signs warning us of the Cassowary bird, a flightless bird. The best was this one:



Again, because of Jocelyn's excellent research, we went with the Jungle Surfing company. We got geared up in a harness and a helmet - all with their own name on it. Je was Tinkerbell (she was almost Stifler's Mum!!!), Sean was Spiderman, and I was Cinderella.

There was a total of 4 platforms. I think we expected the distance between the platforms to be longer, but no matter - it was still fun! Especially when they let us go fast or upside down. :)



After, we drove back but stopped along the road to check out the beaches. It was relatively low tide so we got to see some cool things. Like this:



Obviously something was under the sand, oxygenating, and thus sending up piles of wet sand - almost seemed like gross worms! Ewwww!

Je and me on the Beach:



Later, we stopped at another beach and this time, we saw these sections covered in little sand balls!





But they made beautiful patterns.



We also happened upon the Daintree Ice Cream Company. Mmmm. They have a gorgeous orchard of all different fruits in front and they make ice cream with what is in season. They had Black Sapote, Wattleseed, Mango, and Coconut. We all had our favorites - mine was wattleseed and je's was mango - but honestly, they were all very tasty!

Cane Toad Racing

My former co-worker Toby had told me that we had to check out the Ironbar in Port Douglas to see the Cane Toad Racing.

Cane Toad Racing you say? I know. But the host, Nick, is hilarious, and watching audience members race the toads is hilarious. Except when drunk people are so obnoxious it makes the evening uncomfortable (ahem, at least the lady in question was NOT American - phew!). Cane toads are feral and a huge problem in Queensland, originally brought from Hawaii to Australia to combat the cane beetle - too bad the cane toad couldn't jump high enough to reach the beetle so instead Queensland had 2 problems.

Anyhow, enough of the history lesson. The cane toads are brought in by Nick for racing. Here were the names of the toads:



The Funny Owner and a Toad (I believe Jerry Springer)



Once the audience members are chosen, the toads, in the middle of the table, are to be encouraged to move by using a noisemaker (you know, blow into it and the long tube of paper gets blown out while maker noises). In theory, this scares/encourages the toad to move and once you get the toad to jump off the table into your hand, you then drop them back into a bucket - first one in wins!

At the races... (these guys definitely didn't win!)



Too much fun, I must say. If you are ever in Port Douglas, check it out. It starts at 8 pm.

Port Douglas and Intro to Diving!

On Saturday, I got to participate in an Introduction to Diving Package with Poseidon Outer Reef Cruises. Jocelyn had (of course) done some great research on the different operators out in Port Douglas and what she found was that they 1) didn't take too many people out, usually max 80 and more importantly, 2) they were supposedly very very good with the intro divers. Her research was right - this company was fantastic and their instructors were the best - patient, funny, always mindful of us. We always had 1:4 instruction and when the other girl and I were getting caught in the currents on our first dive, our instructor (Ross) held us by our hands and helped us navigate the beautiful reef and showed us lots of stuff.

Port Douglas Marina


The Great Barrier Reef from above




I decided to concentrate on diving and not photos, so no wonderful underwater photos of what I saw, but the highlights included petting of the gigantic fish under his - chin? You can see a photo of him here on page 4, look at the upper left, lots of fishes including Nemo, seeing huge giant clams that were maybe 4-5x bigger than this one:



I don't think I will ever be able to settle with snorkelling after this! This definitely goes on my list of some of the best things I have ever done (some other things: walking up Huayna Picchi to see Machu Picchu, kayaking Doubtful Sound, walking the Great Wall of China). I think I may need to 1) get certified and 2) come back to the Great Barrier Reef at some point!

------
New addition to post:

Just so you have an idea of how far away Cairns (closest airport to Port Douglas) is from Sydney

My sister has arrived!

Jocelyn and Sean arrived Friday and after work, I met up with them at the Circular Quay! They saw more of the classic Sydney sights in 8 hours of being in Sydney compared to me - here for almost 2 weeks!

Je and me! With the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind us!



There is always a Didgeridoo band playing in Circular Quay. The one we saw on the Friday was better than the one I got to see later on.




Next post, we'll be in Port Douglas - easy access to the Great Barrier Reef!

Sydney Aquarium

So. I asked around 'cause I knew it was pricey to go to the Sydney Aquarium. $34.95AUD expensive. Everyone said go, so I went! Too bad, because the Baltimore Aquarium blows this one away. In fact, the California Academy of Sciences Aquariums blew this one away. It wasn't the worst - the National Aquarium (aka baby fish tanks in a basement) in DC wins the worst award. But this definitely was disappointing for me, and especially considering their tariff.

Oh well, on the the day. It started off POURING rain this AM and I was not relishing the idea of trudging in my slightly-too-long-pants-which-LOVE-to-soak-up-dirty-rain-water to the train station. But as I went down stairs, my building manager was in the house and about to leave - and he offered me a ride to the train station! Yippee! I managed to stay nice and dry and actually got dropped off at the more convenient train station.

Then, the clouds parted and the sun shone - and stayed! It was beautiful this afternoon and so I decided to make use of it and explore Sydney. I looked at my list of things to do (TTD) and decided that I would check off the Sydney Aquarium and a place multiple websites list as having "the best dumplings!"



In order for me to feel like I got something out of the #35 entry free, I decided to take lots of pictures. I mean LOTS. Now granted, I had my point and shoot which is good, but not so great with 1) no flash use and 2) quickly moving fish. I was lucky to get a few decent shots.




Someone's bored!






Peek-a-boo!



I see you!



And seriously, I was not joking about the quality of the aquarium. Check out exhibit A, Sydney Aquarium jellyfish:



Exhibits B and C, California Academy of Sciences jellyfish:




I rest my case. There is nooooo comparison.


Now, as for the second part of my night adventure, the dumplings. I took the monorail and got off at Paddy's Market. I was a little worried about safety, but tuens out the stop is right next to the University of Technology, Sydney. It was busy and safe.

I found the place - not as easy as it seems as apparently it had been known as the Chinese Noodle Restaurant or Cho Dumpling King. But now, it is the Silk Road Chinese Restaurant, noted only because of the fake grapes hanging from the ceiling - WTF? Anyhow, I went in and ordered the Potstickers - good thing I asked about the meat, because all they had was beef/lamb or veggie. I opted for Veggie which was egg and chives only. Again, WTF?? No pork? For dumplings? That's just plain weird. As I was waiting, this other table had this dish that looked like stir fried bamboos and so I asked the server about the dish. Turns out it was potatoes, spicy and sour. I decided to try it because it was just plain different. Here it is:



Considering she asked me twice if I could handle spicy and I said yes both times, it wasn't very spicy. Garlicky, yes. It was definitely interesting, but there was no way I could eat it all and certainly a bit too garlicky for me to want to eat it again. But it was good to try. The potstickers? Just ok. I've had better (ahem, *cough* my mom's and dad's! *cough*). Makes me want to make some myself when I get back to SF. Needless to say, not my favorite.

BTW, the 2 dishes + tea = $16.76

Oh, and I'll just end this post with one observation - the Australians smoke WAY more than we in the US do. I swear. I smell it EVERYWHERE. Very blech.

Billu's Eatery

I was told the other day that Harris Park, a suburb of Sydney was THE place to go for authentic delicious (South) Indian food. Of course I needed to check this place out. One place that I heard mentioned quite a few times was Billu's Eatery. I decided to check it out.

The eatery was bright and sunny and clean. I talked to the staff and told them to tell me if i was ordering too much. I wanted to try their samosa, so i got one of those ($2) and then their masala dosa ($9.90) and then went on to try and order a chicken main (either the vindaloo or the tikka masala). The staff told me, whoa! The samosa and the dosa would be more than enough.

The samosa was too bready on the outside and heavy. The innards were fine, but the tamarind sauce it came with was very watery and not sweet enough for me. Then the dosa came out. Holy moly!



Thank goodness they stopped the ordering from there. Because as it was, I barely ate 1/2 of it. It was... okay. I still remember the dosa from the indian restaurant in Singapore... Mmmmm...