The original plan for the day was to visit the Sydney Tower first thing in the morning, squeeze in the Powerhouse musuem before lunch with ch's friend, then visit the zoo in the afternoon. Well, sometimes things don't go according to plan, so we didn't get to visit the zoo.


The first thing we did at the tower was to go for the Oztrek show. There are two parts to the show. The first introduced some parts of Australia in 3D displays. The props are all there, then the characters are projected into the set. They showed a river system, Sydney city, the Australian Outback and the Great Barrier reef. Between each set, the seats we were sitting on will rotate so we can view the next one.

Next, it was on to the part of the show with motion seating. 3 large screens made it an immersive experience, and they showcased many activities in Australia, such as cattle herding by helicopter and white water rafting. After the Oztrek show, we joined the queue to go up to the top of the tower. Unfortunately, a large tour group was in front of us, and there were only 2 lifts, so we had to wait for quite some time before it was our turn.


The view at the top was magnificent. It was a clear day and we could see very far. High powered binoculars allowed us to view distant objects in great detail. There was also a guide who went around explaining the more significant buildings we could see from the tower. This picture shows Darling Harbour as seen from the tower.


Here's an idea of how powerful the binoculars provided are. The picture on the left shows the view as taken with my camera. The bit circled in red is a stadium.



Through the binoculars, the stadium now looks like this.

By the time we finished, it was too late to squeeze in the Powerhouse Musuem before lunch, so we took a slow stroll through Tumbalong Park near Darling Harbour. There was a finale to Education Week going on there, and it was a very lively place, with many people and quite a few live performances.

Lunch was with CH's friend. He brought us to a Vietnamese restaurant, which served pretty large portions for the relatively low price of $8.50.

After lunch, we went to the Powerhouse Musuem and wandered through it slowly until closing time. The interactive games were quite fun, but there was no time to slowly read through all the descriptions. There was a robotic arm exhibit which was very popular with kids, we didn't get a chance to try it out.


Here's a picture of that arm, I grabbed the frame from my video camera so the quality isn't too good.

Dinner was at Macs again, beside Darling Harbour. After that we went to Woolworths to buy groceries before heading back to the hostel. This is where we discovered large tanks of drinking water, which is much cheaper than the little bottles.

My dad wanted to watch TV, so I got to drive the car alone to pick up my mom. Woohoo, first time.

After breakfast, we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens. Mrs Macquerie's Point proved to be an excellent spot for pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, so the pictures all look gloomy.



After the shops opened, we went to buy a See Sydney Card. For more details, go to this webpage. We bought a 3 day one, and immediately booked a HarbourJet ride and the Magistic Cruise so we could get as much out of the card as possible.


The cruise took us all the way to the mouth of the harbour, where we could see the ocean. As it was a weekend, there were many other boats out there too. There was a large LCD screen showing us the path of the boat in the cabin. Kev asked for an alcoholic drink on board, and the person asked him for ID. Kev asked him for the minimum age, but the guy wouldn't say. In the end kev showed him his 11B and got the drink. It was pretty funny, he really looks younger than he is.


After the hour long cruise, we went back to the Harbour Bridge, climbing the stairs right up to the top of the southeast pylon. There are lots of stairs, but there are also resting areas for those who can't do it in one shot. There was a great view at the top. Timo has requested some pictures of people, instead of all scenery, so here's one to satisfy him. This is kev fiddling with this camera at the pylon lookout while chris looks on.

We spent quite some time up there, and had to rush off to Darling Harbour on foot to catch our HarbourJet ride. As we all took the ride, I have no pictures of it. It was exhilirating zooming across the harbour in a speedboat at high speeds. The skipper also did quite a lot of 270 deg turns. Even with the wet weather gear provided, we still got wet. We watched the sunset from the speedboat, and by the time we got back to the harbour it was getting dark.


Our last attraction of the day was the Sydney Aquarium, as it is open till 10pm. However, the gift shop was closed. The exhibits are nice and we saw many of the fishes very natural looking tanks. However, the artificial lighting didn't really allow us to see the underwater exhibits very well. Perhaps it looks nice during the day. EDIT: Here's the corrected picture. Thanks to YH for fixing the red eye.

Day 2 was really fruitful, we had gone for 5 attractions, 4 of which are included in the See Sydney Card.

Went to watch Over the Hedge with YH today. Happened to meet Zq there. He was behind me in the queue, buying tickets for Da Vinci Code. He told me he was alone, but he looked too dressed up. Anyway, kev confirmed later that he was with a friend. Haha. Stop trying to hide zq.

Anyway, the show was really funny. Shan't put any spoilers here, but for a good laugh, this show is worth watching.

As promised, I shall begin blogging about my trip to Sydney with some of my platoon mates. Actually, I kept a diary while there, but I won't put it all here as it's too long, about 3 to 4 A6 pages a day. Also, Kev is still sorting out the pictures, so I only have the ones I took from my own camera. I shall start on the day we landed, 190506.

The first thing we bought there was a 1 week Travelpass, which gives unlimited bus, train and ferry rides in the red and green sectors. These sectors are actually quite large, and we never entered the green sector except on the trip to the Blue Mountains.


Took the train to the Central station and placed our bags there, then we proceeded to explore the area on foot. It was still early and most of the shops were closed. At Market City, we went up to the food court and saw the crazy prices. Check out the menu.


Next, we walked to Darling Harbour and waited a few minutes for the National Maritime Musuem to open. Admission is free. There wasn't much there, most of the exhibits are passive, with lots of words. We looked through quickly before taking a ferry to Circular Quay as we wanted to see the famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The trip by ferry gave us great views of both as we passed under the bridge and had to pass the Opera House as the ferry entered the quay.



After lunch, we checked into the Sydney Central YHA (Youth Hostel Association) and took an afternoon nap. We chose to stay in the YHA because of the low prices, in this case A$37.50 per person per night. That price is for a dormitory, which can take 6 people. There were 5 of us, so we had the room to ourselves. The toilets are common, as are the TV rooms and laundry. There's also a common kitchen and arcade downstairs. The only complaint I had was that there was way too little lighting. Every bed has a light, but the room itself had too few lights.

The original plan was to take a 2 hour nap or so, but all of us overslept and we only woke up at around 630 pm, just in time for dinner. After dinner, we went back to Circular Quay to see the bridge and Opera House by night. Took a few pictures then walked over to the bridge. We found the stairs leading up to the pedestrian walkway and crossed the whole bridge on foot. The view was great, although the walkway on the bridge was surrounded by a very high fence. See the pictures and judge for yourself.



After we reached the other end, it was getting late and we were too tired to walk all the way back, so we caught a train back. For a different perspective on day 1, refer to CH's blog. Click on the link "Hock" in my Links section.

I've just tried using Hugin to stitch my panorama together. I did it yesterday manually with gimp, and while it was ok, the lines are still visible. Using Hugin and Enblend, I got a better result, although the cropped image was just a little bit smaller.

These are the Blue Mountains, about 100km west of Sydney.

I'm back from Australia, which was why there have been no updates for a week. I'll do more detailed posts over the next few days. It's nice to be home, but coming back to reality is pretty harsh. Housework to do, things to tidy up, mail to settle, university things to do. Need to read the freshman guide quick, before I miss any deadlines.

Here's a little sample of the pictures I've taken created with the collage tool in Picasa.



One thing I really missed about Singapore was the cheap and good food. Unless you do your own cooking, food is expensive in Sydney as compared to Singapore. Fast food is one of the cheapest options. We ate chips till we were sick of them. Each meal cost at least AUD$5. S$2 chicken rice simply doesn't exist there.

I've finished my stint of relief teaching. Was woken up by my dad this morning at the usual time, I told him I didn't have to go anymore, but I couldn't get back to sleep after that. Looks like I'm used to the hours already. I remember that one caveat of the network marketing sales pitch was the flexible hours. After waking up early for about a month, I realise I don't mind at all. After a couple of hours, it's only 9am. It feels a bit empty with nothing to do now. I think I'll miss my class. It has been great fun teaching them for the past few weeks, although they can be quite a mischievious bunch, but their youthful vigour is really infectious. I hope the detailed notes I left for the next teacher will be helpful. Maybe I'll try going back to the same school in Term 3 for a while, before my university term starts.

Going to Kev's house later, we need to plan a detailed itinerary. Hock mentioned that we will need backup plans as well. We haven't fully evaluated some costs yet too.

Not much to write about. Just watched Triple X on TV just now. Just an action movie, nothing much. I like the stunts though, they look thrilling, and Prague seems like a nice place to visit. Maybe next time, when I'm not so poor.

After much research, repeated trips to Chans Brothers and a trip to the airline ticketing offices, we've finally booked our air tickets from Chans Brothers. Their price is slightly higher than if we booked online, but as we have no credit card, we don't have much of a choice. Anyway, they'll handle the visa for us too at a fraction of the cost.

We'll now have to do lots of planning and research, to find the best deals and decide what to see. Not much time left.

There have been spectacular sunsets for the past 2 days. Here are some pics.






The following picture has been edited.

Went to the airport today to check out SIA's ticketing office there. Before the other 2 got there, zq and I went to check if that was the correct place. Since we only had a few queries, we didn't take a queue number and went up to a staff member with a sign "Staff engaged" in front of her. She said that full fare will be charged here. On asking her what full fare meant, she said, "Please take a queue number, I'm currently engaged." She said this while pointing to the sign. What poor service, even if she's engaged, she should at least answer that question first.

They charge higher prices there as compared to their online booking, and there's also an agent fee of $50. Might as well go through a travel agency then.

Not wanting to waste the trip, we went over to T1 to check out Qantas. They charged an ever higher fare there. Looks like we'll be going back to the travel agency, or we'll have to borrow a credit card so we can book online.

I saw this in today's Straits Times, Home section. The words in italics are my suggested responses :)

1. I am buying it for my father.
Tell him to come himself.

2. I forgot to bring my IC.
Come back when you have it.

3. I'm 17, and my birthday is in two days' times
Since you've waited nearly 18 years, another 2 days isn't too much.

4. I know the boss here, it's cool.
The boss isn't bigger than the law.

5. It's only 2 per cent alcohol, it doesn't count.
Ok, if 2 per cent is so insignificant, buy some grape juice. No difference right?

6. My friend bought some yesterday and you didn't check him leh.
Well today I'm checking you.

7. Yesterday, the newspaper reported that the age limit is now 16.
All right, show me.

8. I'm not drinking, it's for my science project.
What's your project about?

9. What if I buy in bulk?
Even worse.

10. How about I buy you one too?
I don't drink. Don't want to destroy my liver.

Exams period is here!!! Starting to feel the stress. I'm more worried than my students. Somehow this doesn't seem right.

Went Funan today with my mom to buy a laser printer, HP LaserJet 1020. I think the recommended retail price is $239, but we managed to find a shop selling it for $199. I also found out that the Canon Link shop there is just a showroom. Woohoo, that means I can go there and try cameras to my heart's content without worrying about stares from salesmen when I don't buy it. I especially don't like those who say, "So I'll get you a new set?" when I have given them no such instruction, it's just that I didn't mention any major flaw in the current model I'm playing with. Then when I say no, they follow up with, "What's wrong? Then what are you waiting for? It's a great deal." Sheesh, I just want to look around and try out other models first can? So much pressure, totally takes the fun out of camera shopping.

I still remember this salesman who spent 20 minutes telling me about how wonderful Leica lenses are, and how they play such an important part in a camera that just about nothing else matters.

But I digress. I tried out the Canon S3 IS camera. Pretty nice, I like the number of features and the very friendly button layout. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to persuade my dad on the next family holiday, haha.

Having heard that yh is having no such problems with his matte paper, I checked mine and realised I had taken the cover cardboard and printed on it!! Gosh I feel so dumb, haha. I did think it looked a lot like a piece of cardboard but I thought matte paper was like that, since I've never used it before.

Anyway I ended up with an interesting effect, will print another one with the correct paper when I have another printworthy picture.