Trip to Sydney - 16 Nov 09

This is kind of late. Just don't have time to update my blog. I was at Sydney from 16 - 20 November. Paid trip by the company hehehe I was sent to attend Gartner Symposium there, together with my boss, Mr Razman. This is my travelblog.

Arrived at Sydney airport around 10AM, after an 8 hours flight. Was so excited!

Boring view out of the plane window for most of the flight

The moment I get there, the first thing I was eager to know, how cold is it? It's now summer in Australia, but it's still around mid 20 degrees, which to my delight felt really nice, cool and comfortable. Especially when the wind blows. Stayed at Novotel on Darling Harbour, which has a very nice harbourside view. Expensive as hell, it costs AUD$259 per night which at current rate is more than RM800 per night! Lucky for me, the company pays hehehe To give some idea how expensive it is, later that day, bought a loaf of white bread and a bottle of Gatorade at a convenice shop. That costed me more than AUD$10! Even without translating back to ringgit, it IS expensive.

The hotel room, Novotel on Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour behind me

Right after we checked in, went out to the city, on foot. Since Razman have been to Sydney before, so he led the way. We went from one shopping complex to another. From one shop to another. Due to the price, nothing caught my interest. Spent like 3-4 hours walking almost across the length of Sydney, from Paddy's Market in the south, all the way to the Circular Quay ferry terminal at the north tip! On the way stopped at Starbucks Coffee for drinks, which tasted exactly the same as in Malaysia. But note that there's no free wi-fi at Starbucks in Oz-land, unlike here.

Chinatown behind me

The long walk ended with a very nice ferry ride back to Darling Harbour, departing from Circular Quay terminal, in between the two famous Sydney landmarks, Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. The ferry ride then took us right underneath Harbour Bridge where we can have a magnificent view of the steel underside structure of the bridge. It's much more grander than it is in photos! Marvelous!

Harbour Bridge!

At the famous Opera House!

Getting onto the ferry

Great view of the bridge underside

Great view of the bridge and the Opera House

Sydney city is nice. The atmosphere is relaxed. Not so crowded, nor is it rushing. People are quite laid back and things go calmly. Not much vehicles on the road and there was hardly any traffic jams. The city is also very 'touristy' with lots of interesting places to see. Since the city is not so crowded, we have people running right in the city center itself on the walkway. And quite a lot of cyclist sharing the road with other vehicle. I would say, with the weather and traffic condition there, I wouldn't mind cycling as well.

Also I noted most of Sydney people (they call themselves Sydneysiders) are Asian. Mostly Chinese. I would say, only half of the population are caucasian.

Picked up an Australian Optus mobile phone pre-paid package for AUD$30, but got a total value of AUD$300 usage actually. Great! Later at night, had another frappucino at the Starbucks nearby our hotel.

My AUD$10 dinner

Nice view of Darling Harbour at night

Another angle

Expenditures (AUD$)
$14 - van from airport to hotel
$30 - Optus 'yes' pre-paid
$6 x 2 - Starbucks frappucino
$10 - souvenirs
$5 - ferry fare
$20 - travel adapter & bandage (yikes!)
$10 - bread & gatorade (yikes! again)