The Rocks, Flea Market, Sydney Visitor Center, Sydney Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Eastern Suburbs Ferry, Luna Park, and Darling Harbour (Sydney)

Part 5 : Read here for Randwick Lodge, Malaysian Hall, Mascot and Central Station, Circular Quay, Sydney Bridge, Sydney Opera House, Sydney City Skyline, Fort Denison, Garden Island, Double Bay, Rose Bay, and Watson Bay (Sydney)

Part 7 : Read here for Madame Tussauds Sydney (Sydney)

~ Part 6 ~

Once boarded off from the Eastern Suburbs Ferry, we walked to the left side of the wharf. We passed by few high end restaurants and headed to the end of the pier. Before us, there was a small park where street-walkers enjoying unique performances by street-performers. There was a lady in green, singing and dancing, and there was a guy in black suit, playing guitar.

But what caught our ears the most was a tribe group who were blowing didgeridoos, marvelously. The skill of playing it with cheeks and moving tongue back and forth, making different sounds out of it has always fascinated us. Moreover, it is played by the indigenous Australians. This melodious instrument has only single key, so I was pretty sure, if it was given to me, I can’t even produce a sound.

“Booooonnngggggg booooonnngggggg je la yang keluar…HAHAHA!” Hubby laughed at me.

Note : Spend a bit of your quality time to listen to those street-performers. They are unique and original. Buy their CDs or tip in some money, if you can.

While listening and relaxing at the park, I saw one old man in blue cap and sweater, opened his bag pack and took out some foods. He then fed those seagulls. One after another seagulls changed place, sitting on top of his cap. Amazingly, they (seagulls and the old man) looked like have known each other for a long time. He must have been feeding them all this while.

Insufficient supplies, he went to the dustbin and dug some leftovers. He continued feeding those seagulls, what a noble thing to do, I assumed. And so we took this chance to capture few birds by the colorful tiny flowers.

We then sat on one long bench and enjoyed the view of two most popular icons, Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. Watching vessels, water taxis, jet-boats, and private sails come and go, was so serene. I always love a city by the sea, coz I grew up going to Penang almost every quarter. Sydney falls under that category, minus the people. Haha!

“Come, we do some pose.” Hubby forced me this time. Wow sangat.

Hubby sat on the wall and started posing. I looked down, the water was full with jellyfishes!

“OMG! Ayang, sit carefully! Else, you gonna get sting by them!” I shouted at him, knowing the fact that Australia has lots of deadliest animals!

“What…HUYUH! Banyaknyer!” Hubby was busy counting them.

Lost count, hubby and I walked to The Rocks. It was an easy journey, for we just need to follow the rows of old brown-brick-historic-building. These buildings were mostly made of local sandstone. This area was the first European settlement established in 1788 and had a reputation as a slum, due to frequent visit by sailors and prostitutes. Most of the houses, buildings and wharves were demolished for the sake of building the Sydney Harbour Bridge. More buildings were proposed to be demolished and rebuilt, but the Rock Residents Group opposed the plan. It was ultimately successful, as can be seen in the buildings that survive today.

Note : A must place to visit. But still contains a significant problem of urban poverty and street crime in this district. Extra vigilance is good.

We then walked further in between of these buildings and bumped into The Rocks Market, one of the greatest local markets. They were selling foods, handicrafts, souvenirs, accessories, jewellery, artworks and paintings, and many more.

Note : The Rocks Market open on Saturday and Sunday from 10AM to 5PM. Foodies Market open on Friday from 10AM to 4PM.

Before us, there was a monument of The Settlers, in remembering the convicts and immigrants. Once, there were 7 women for each 10 men living in the urban, when others chose to live out of town. Anyhow, the population swelled after the Gold Rush, and signaled the beginning of diverse range of nationalities.

“Today, more than 100,000 immigrants come to Australia per year.” I remembered the fact.

“And most of them Asians kan.” We saw Chinese and Indians everywhere!

With the presence of unique things and street-performers, we enjoyed capturing photos of the flea market.

My heart dropped when I saw a vendor, selling nice-yellow-huge corns! They way they sprinkled seasoning and smoked it, OMG, I had my saliva all over the street! Not taking any lunch yet at that point of time, hubby and I had a quick discussion on whether to buy the corn or not. Both of us came into an agreement to try this special corn, after looking at the meal deal.

“AUD5 for corn and drink. Ok what.” Mouth still watering. 

After we paid for the corn and drink, I straight away grabbed the corn and bit it first. We sat under the roof shade and took turn to bite the corn. Two pigeons kept on coming near our feet, dengan hajat nak mintak skit. Hoi kitorang pun tak cukup kot! But we gave la, sian.

“OMG! Sweet, buttery, and salty!” Imitating Andrew Zimmern from Bizzare Food.

Sedap…sedap sangat!

Note : Try some local foods. It might give you the best or the worst experience of your trip. But that is the beauty of traveling.

After we finished with the corn and drink, we walked to the side of the building and looked for Sydney Visitor Center. This place is located near The Rocks, with medium sized blue-yellow signboard stated “I” for Information. Watch out for the steps. I almost fumbled. The center was quite huge and spacey, full of brochures, maps, books, and what not.

We didn’t spend much time here, but we did ask the lady behind the counter, on the best option to Blue Mountain (still nak pegi jugak nih!). She suggested few ways but the best was to ride a train from Central Station. She gave us the details (map and timetable) of the train to Blue Mountain and wished us luck.

“Thank you. Now, how do we go to Sydney Bridge?” Hubby asked.

She took out The Rocks map and started to mark the path. We had to walk along the building, turn left and right (many times), find Cahill Walk and Argyle Stairs, which later led to the Bridge Stairs.

Note : Though you want to look stylish, please do take into consideration of wearing a comfy shoes. It helps you a lot.

“Owhkayyyyy…how far do we have to walk?” I asked.

“Walk or run?” Eh eh, buat lawak jugak omputeh ni. “Nahhh…just few hundreds of meter from here.”

And we walked. See hubby’s face? Yes, that far. Coz the street was pretty slope-y! But the excitement outnumbered the exhaustion when we reached the long steel corridor! Hubby and I started to jump and smile.

“We took SOOOOOOOO many pictures of the bridge during the ferry ride, and here we are, WALKING on the bridge.” I was relieved.

Hubby was “deported”. Saluting the architects, engineers, contractors, and valuing the Pylon Lookout was more important than his own wife’s carp.

“I know how you wish you could be on top of the pylon, overseeing the Sydney Harbour. I tell you, surely gonna burn your pocket to ashes! Hahahaha!” (Evil laugh.)

“Ok, fine. I gonna jump of the bridge.” He tried to find the access.

“Go ahead, it’s an offence and you gonna be penalized more than AUD3000. That’s not even burning your pocket, but your pants as well. Hahahaha! (Evil laugh again.)

Laughing at ourselves continued, while we captured more and more photos and videos of us, Sydney Harbour, The Rocks, Sydney Opera House, ferries and wharfs.

We went down and walked back to the pier, and boarded on a vessel to Darling Harbour. More pictures were taken during the ferry ride until we wanted to puke just by looking at the bridge itself. Hahaha!

The ferry stopped at Luna Park, an amusement park by the Sydney shore. Believe it or not, it was opened to public since 1935! (Berjimba jugak orang dulu-dulu ye.) This park was also famous before WWII where servicemen brought their girlfriends for night out. But in 1979, the Ghost Train Ride has slowed it down due to a tragedy that killed 6 children and 1 adult. The restoration and redevelopment was done in 1995 and 2004.

Note : Try this park if you have plenty of time. Entering the “smiley face” could be fun!

The ferry then continued the journey. Overlooking the modern city skyline from Darling Harbour, with antiques ship and restaurant really a “clash of time”. We stopped at King St No.3 and walked on the wooden pedestrian. We saw locals drinking, dancing, attending wedding, seemed like they were enjoying their weekend blissfully.

Note : Visit Darling Harbour on weekend to enjoy people-watching. 

While we were walking…

“Hey, you know me? Huh? I’m a rugby player. You are a rugby player… blablablabla…blablablabla…blablablabla…”

A GROUP OF GUYS APPROACHED US AND ONE OF THE GUYS PUT HUBBY IN HIS ARM! He was mumbling something about New Zealand vs Australia! His friends tried to hold him back but he hold hubby tightly! Hubby was shocked but smiled!

We kept on WALKING, with this guy still HUGGING hubby! A few minutes later, he let hubby off and walked away with his bundle of friends. Hubby and I had NO IDEA of what happened…until hubby figured out that he was wearing a t-shirt, with HUGE CAPITAL of “NZ” on it!

Ironically, in rugby, All Blacks and Wallabies are ENEMY! So we assumed that the guy was unhappy with All Blacks who won over the Wallabies in World Cup 2011! We were there during the rugby season, that’s how we got the t-shirt! Hahahaha! Ok, that was the funny side of the Aussies. Darling Harbour is the place to get drunk over the weekend. Enough said.

REMEMBER WHEN HE SAID WE SAW AN ARTIST IN THE LAST POST? WELL, HUBBY THOUGHT HE WAS. A NEW ZEALAND RUGGER.

“No wayyyyyy…keep dreaming bebeh…” I pat on his back.

“Let’s meet the REAL artist.” I continued.

“HI JOHNY DEPPPPPPPPPPP!” A crazy woman went and hug a WALL!