Markets and the Rocks

Saturday I set out to check out Paddington's market. Different from last week's Paddy's market, this is supposed to be new and up-and-coming fashion designer market. However prior to the long day of walking and shopping, I stopped by a bakery in Surry Hills, Bourke Street Bakery Cafe. This cafe is famous for its pork and fennel sausage rolls. It is tasty and great to start the day off with.
The cafe is cute with a few seats inside, few outside and tons of people waiting to order.

Paddington Market is full of little stalls of clothes and knick-knacks. There are definitely beautiful clothes that are unique. Once my paycheck arrives, I'll have to visit again and try some on. After which I checked out Bondi Junction as well, which is a large shopping mall.
Sunday after dim sum with my family, I went to check out the Rocks. There is yet another market at the Rocks and filled with tourists. However part of the walk include going down to Dawes Point and right at the end there's a wedding going on. They have the best backdrop for their wedding: the Opera house.

The weekend is finally here

My first full week of work has gone by and it is an odd week mostly because there was Australian day on Tuesday and then I am still meeting new people and learning the ropes. However the weekend is finally here and I get a chance to blog.

Australia day was Jan 26th and my aunt and uncle kindly took me to Blue Mountain which is three hours drive away. The scenery was fantastic but it was one hot day!
This is a picture of the famous Three Sisters and we managed to take a little hike down to it and from there took a picture looking back.

The best question was from this little boy asking his dad why the Blue mountains are named as such, since it is obviously not blue in color! The dad was speechless for a little while :)

Then we went to the Jenolan caves and had a tour of the Joshua cave for 1.5 hour. I have went to some caves before with my family in mainland China but these are more natural and hence more appealing. They are also substantially cooler than the outside temperature so it was a much appreciated break from the heat!

After 3 confusing days at work where I have no idea where things are, Fridy is finally here. There is nothing better than celebrating the end of the week with a good bowl of pho. This is the australian version of #401 in my favourite vietnamese restaurant in London. For Aus $11.50 you get the Special beef noodle: a massive bowl of noodles, beef, tripe, briskets and meatballs. This restaurant (good morning vietnam) is convenient and not too bad but seeing I live close to Chinatown, I will be trying different restaurants to sample their pho.

Today was a day of wandering around the city since I have the travelpass from this past week. Chinatown has the Paddy's market which is an impressive place selling tourist souvenirs, fresh vegetables and factory outlets. Even I got tired of wandering around the place!
then I went over to King's Cross area; next to King's cross is Potts Point and there's a bunch of navy ships parked around that neighbourhood. if you look closely, you can see Sydney bridge and the opera house at the background.
After a long day of walking, dinner was courtesy of the asian market downstairs. Their bakery sold this Bamboo Charcoal bun, which I had to try. I don't actually know what I ate but it has butter and garlic on it. and the whole bun was black!

Finally a roof over my head

During this week I got a chance to visit with the Sniders during their visit to Australia and went to see them in Manly beach. I forgot to take pics which is unfortunate, but definitely it was great to catch up with them and see some familiar faces. This is the Opera House from the Manly ferry

Finally I am all settled in, I always feel like it's a waste to move so often because I have to buy the same things over and over again (such as cleaning supplies and drying rack and stuff) but such is life. This is what you get for $520 Aussie dollars per week in a central location and CLEAN! I know I am a bit of a princess but I like cleanliness with no roaches. Thankfully I will be returning to employment in the fall since I know I would not be able to live in Sydney forever at this price!


In the mean time I got a chance to visit with the Sniders during their visit to Australia and went to see them in Manly beach. I forgot to take pics which is unfortunate, but definitely it was great to catch up with them and see some familiar faces. This is the Opera House from the Manly ferry



My fantastic cousin Fiona is a great tour guide, not only did she went house hunting with me, she also took me to the BEST chocolate drink place, Lindt Cafe. This ice chocolate is to-die for. I have never had anything this good before.

Darling Harbour is now officially just down the street from me and is a great little hang out spot. The weather has been fantastic and the scenery is breath-taking.

Australia is strange to me where they charge internet by Mbytes, so I am currently using the facilities of an internet cafe since downloading pictures are fairly large Mbytes. I am hoping to post over the weekends since I would have the most chance to sightsee. I am sure that no one has ANY interest hearing about my work :)

First day in Australia

After the long wait for a visa, I am finally in Sydney Australia. There is so much to do to settle down in a new country. First thing, money/ setting up bank account; second, cell phone. Last and the hardest of all: housing. There seem to be a lack of housing in Sydney but maybe the second day will be better. In the meantime, my cousin Fiona (who is my tour guide) and I still manage to walk to the Opera house and see Sydney Bridge, only because of an apartment viewing around that area!

One thing that is interesting, not only is Coke in bigger cans than in Canada (375mL), but also there is no recycling anywhere apart from South Australia. So if you really want to recycle this, you would have to carry it all the way to Adelaide. However, for some reason, to recycle Coke it's 10 cents return; to recycle Coke Zero (drink of my choice) it's only 5 cents return! Just b/c there's less calories doesn't mean that there should be less money returned for recycling!

In HK

Six months in Iowa have gone by quickly and now it is time to do my second fellowship in Australia. However a small issue would be my work visa from Australia. I am currently in Hong Kong waiting for the visa to arrive. Hopefully that would come relatively soon!