A very festive finale

I somehow returned to the Rocks again on the last day in Sydney. It was definitely worth it! There was the Art Festival at the Rocks. Although I'm not particularly interested in the painters, there were groups of musicians playing here and there. It ranged from quartet, claroon (clarinet+basoon), recorders, accordions and xylophones duet. Oh, there's also jazz band playing and people dancing along with the music!


I also had a very scrumptious meal at a German restaurant. After a few days of starving myself trying to save money, I made the decision that I must have a very meaty meal. I've walked past the German restaurant a few times but never had the courage to walk in and look at the menu. But I saw a huge plate of pork knuckles and belly on the waitress' hand, I just couldn't resist anymore. I ordered pork belly with sour cabage and crispy potatoes fried with bacon. The crackling was SOOOO yum and was just as what I was craving for, but the sour cabage was a bit gross after eating too much of it. Another interesting thing about the restaurant is that all the waiters and waitresses were wearing their costumes of shorts and very short skirts. The girls also had 2 ponytails.

I've never liked a city so much!

Shoppaholic defeated

I was originally going home today, but postponed my flight till Saturday this morning. I ended up shopping in a shopping mall called Bondi Junction. Too many things to buy, but too little money and luggage space... Completely defeated by the shopping in Sydney.

Places revisited

I had lunch at this Italian suburb as recommended y my friend. The pasta was really nice, but the sauce was a bit plain. Maybe my taste buds have been killed by all my heavily-flavoured food.

A day in circles

Today is not my day. Firstly, it's raining and very windy. Secondly, all the places I went to today were boring. To make it worse, I took a lot of effort to find those places.

Will explain later. I couldn't access all my stuff till 11:30 because my friend didn't get home till then and all my stuff was in her room which is always locked.

Tired.

Sydney University

Sydney University is just like Harry Potter Land.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour disappoints me quite a bit. It reminds me of Odaiba in Tokyo, but I got bored after a few hours. I think I still prefer cool little lanes and historic buildings The Rocks has to offer.

Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House is just unbelievable, both on the outside and inside. They were designed by two different architects, costing Australians ~100 million dollars. But they managed to pay the money back by lottery.

The Rocks

If you imagine Circular Quay (a wharf like Ferry Building terminal in Auckland) as U shaped, the Rocks is at one arm whilst the famous Opera House is at the opposite arm. The Rocks is a very historic place with many earliest buildings in Sydney/Australia.













It's sort of like the Viaduct but bigger and right next to/underneath the Harbour Bridge.

I took a walk up the bridge right next to the traffics. The bridge has a pedestrian walking path and a rail on both sides. I saw a brief documentary whilst on the Python Lookout. The bridge was built starting with the top arch. Then starting from the mid section, the actual road hung from the arch. I just felt that they didn't plan it properly when they first built the Auckland Harbour Bridge compared to Sydney. It's too narrow and is going to be very difficult to expand. There is also no possibility of having trains going North through it!







On the other side of the bridge is the Observatory Hill. The observatory was built in late 1800's. Apart from austronomy, it also served as purporse for notifying sailors the time. The top of the building is a chronometer. When it is exactly 1 o'clock, the circular ball would drop. The observatory could be seen by ships all over the harbour, which ccould then adjust their time accordingly.


This is from within the observatory dome. I think people actually had to sign up on a tour to go in. I didn't, but I saw a door open and then walked in. There's a fat guy explaining the astronomy stuff and finding stars. It's all set up electronically now that he simply entered the star he wanted to find and then the telescope moved accordinly. The ceiling of the dome could also be rotated by clicking one button to align the opening with the direction of the telescope.

After the visit to the Observatory Hill, I walked to the other side of the hill, where there are some more nice old residential buildings. This is the Garrison Church, which was the colony's first military church.