We took the number 378 bus to Sydney again for a big day of adventure to discover the Opera House, the Harbour and Manly. On the way into the city, we decided to take a look at Bondi Junction and have some something to eat at the food court (in the Harbour room!)on the 5th floor, which has a fantastic city view. The food wasn't bad there but quite dear, I think but we are starting to think in Aussie dollars now instead of converting everthing to VND which can make you crazy!
We took a train to Circular Quay by the harbour to take a ferry heading to Manly Town. It's a small lovely beach suburb northeast of Sydney which has so many shops with great deals. Most of the stuff was on sale up to 70% off and I wonder how can they earn money if they offer such discounts? Most stuff of course, is made in China and I think that's the reason why it's so cheap. We walked toward the beach to have a wander then went into the pub on thebeach to have a schooner (big beer) and play a game of Keno. It was fun and we managed to play for a half hour on $10!
About 2 hours later, we took another ferry back to Sydney to have a close look at the Opera House. It's a great piece of architecture with an amazing shape in the best location in Sydney. There are hundreds of people hanging around there taking photos and lots of them are from Japan, Korea and Europe. I think I was the only Vietnamese here. Also there are quite a few couples taking their wedding photos around and between that, their families and friends are having drinks at the Opera Bar. This bar has great views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and to the north shore. We decided to have a beer here to take a break and look at the great view in the afternoon. It's a shame that we couldn't make it till sunset as Australia has daylight saving at the moment which makes the day seem longer. Maybe next time.
Sydney has so many festivals and functions almost everyday and we tried to go to the Asian noodles festival near Goerge street but it was too crowded and we didn't want to queue up for hours to get a delicious bowl of noodles as we didn't have as much time as other people. We changed our mind and took a train back to Bondi Junction to have dinner then another bus to Bronte. We kept changing our mind about food and we missed two buses by just half a minute. We walked into Chu Bay II, a Vietnamese restaurant to eat after a few kilometres walking. We ordered some fresh spring rolls, and chicken salad which was not very nice and quite salty. The main courses included stir fried beef with chilli and lemongrass and fried rice which wasn't too bad. I can't believe I paid so much for very average Vietnamese food!
We will take a flight back to Melbourne today for my friend's brother in law's birthday party then we head to Tasmania for 10 days od discovery. See you guys in the next post.
