By the time this is published, I would already be in New York….or more precisely, New Jersey. I promised that I would get all my Australia blog posts completed this week, and I did!! It did take me 2 months to complete my travelogue….sorry . I promise that upon my return from New York/New Jersey/Niagara Falls, blog posts would be out before I leave for my next trip; which is back to MY for dreybee’s wedding!!!!

This week really seemed like marathon posting week – I dedicated every night to blog posting and manually uploading pictures after my efforts of bulk-watermarking my pictures failed miserably.

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The very last day of our Australian adventure was a bittersweet mix for us – it was another glorious day marred only by my feelings of dread on stepping on that plane in the pm. We also decided (well, bacon left me actually ) to spend the day apart; bacon went on the Sydney cycling excursion provided by VisitNSW whilst I headed off to the beach. So it’s no pictures from me whilst bacon kidnapped my camera.

For my day, it was a perfect Saturday, one that I can imagine doing every Saturday for the rest of my life. Yep- what’s that about falling in love with a city? We got up fairly early as bacon had to make his way to the Rocks for the start of his excursion. I hopped on the ferry to Manly (yeah I know…again??) and headed towards the lovely suburb. By this time bacon had already fallen out of love with Manly, preferring the hub that is Bondi. I sat out on the deck, soaking up the rays whilst flipping through my ipod. Bliss. We arrived before long, and whaddya know, it was time for another one of these….

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Hee hee.

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This time around I took it to-go. I made my way towards the lovely expanse of the beach, and plopped myself down on a nice spot. I did some reading, plugged in the ipod and licking up every last remnant of my chocolate lick.

By 1pm, the beach was heaving with tourists and locals alike…so I decided it was probably best for me to make my way back to the mainland. Saying goodbye to Manly, I had one last bubble tea (heehee) from the Easyway station at the ferry terminal. Easyway is another huge bubble tea chain with franchises everywhere. I had the Sesame tea which tasted slightly odd with a nutty and creamy texture.

I got back to Circular Quay at just after 2 on an empty stomach – chocolate and bubble tea can only fill me up so far! I took a train back to Town Hall to seek for sustenence…..and purposesly seeked out the Malaysian Laksa House. I know what you’re thinking – Malaysian food in Sydney?? Beggars can’t be choosers, and this beggar is very very poor indeed..there are no Malaysian food here in Leeds within reasonable distance not requiring and all-day car trip. So there. I walked past all the other delicious bakeries, salad bars, juice bars, fast food joints…..with steely determination that I SHALL get my fix of nasi lemak before I leave. It is located in the far corner (last shop) of QVB’s food court, in a little self contained shop by itself.

No pictures, but it was heavenly. Coconut infused long grained rice with a side of achar, sambal, cucumbers, peanuts & ikan bilis and creamy nyonya styled curry chicken. Hey, it’s not my favourite dish for nothing you know . The loveliness of nasi lemak never fails me each time, with each bite.

Lunch finished, I did some light shopping before heading back to the hostel to wait for bacon. All done without a map. Go me! Bacon came back all exhillirated from his bike ride, which he cycled past the whole of Sydney and half of the Harbour Bridge

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His cycling group

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The ANZAC memorial

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The English styled pub he lunched at….like we don’t eat enough of it here!

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Dragon boat races at Darling Harbour

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View from Mrs Macquire’s Chair

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View from The Rocks

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bacon’s self-potrait……hee hee.

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Some church – apparently built in the traditional English style.

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Luna Park as seen from his journey over the Harbour Bridge.

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The Harry’s cafe de wheels branch at haymarket. The bicycle tour had a drink stop in chinatown, and everyone was amused when bacon came back with an iced soyabean milk (with bubbles from bubble tea) instead of the cokes and mineral water that everyone else had – I can’t believe in this day in age there are still people who gawk at soyabean milk. Go Bacon, show em’ how it’s done in Chinatown!

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Zona & Lee, our ever gracious Aussie hosts; picked us up just after 5 for a proper airport sendoff. Obviously to do this right we made one last pubstop . We did have difficulties stuffing my mahoosive luggage into their hatchback car, solved by our hosts having to put on their hats to save space. Yep, every little bit matters!

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I came home from this trip feeling melancholy. I can totally picture myself living and working in Sydney, and I came back with a heavy heart. It’s the same departing Hong Kong and San Francisco, in different degrees – although I did live in San Francisco. I’ve decided that I am going to try my darn best to finagle a move Down Under, and with any luck, starting my new job here in the UK will help in my eventual scheme to be Down Under permanently. Woo! Most of this was probably due to the hospitality of our Aussie hosts Zona & Lee (& Chris!) – there is nothing better than seeing a city through the eyes of a local, and it was that I enjoyed the most about this trip.

PS: I say that, but I’m going to come back from NY being in love as well. Grr. Although NY does not have beautiful surfs. Nor sunshine.

There it was. Our second last day in Australia. After our massive excercise session yesterday, I woke up feeling sore and achy….and also slightly burnt. The sea water washed off all remnants of our sunscreen, this is what you get for staying in the water for two hours straight. Bacon had initially booked his cycling tour (again, courtesy of VisitNSW) for Friday, but I convinced him that it was a better idea to lay in bed and take it all slow .

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We walked towards Town Hall and its myraid of shops and stalls – and I bumped into my most favourite food ever ever……

Yay! Traditional-styled proper Malaysian breakfast of nasi lemak, complete with obligatory banana leaf wrapper. It was delicious, reasonably priced and simply what I needed. Great start to a fab morning!

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We spent the rest of the morning just looking at the shops, hopping from one shopping centre to another, just looking at nothing much in particular. Bacon wanted KFC for lunch, whilst I was running out of time myself going down my list of ‘must-eats’ and wanted to have Japanese. However, the ‘water-slide noodle restaurant’ that I had been yearning to get to for a long time did not serve water slide during lunch! Izakaya Kasumi, right smack in the row of restaurants in Haymarket, serves up soba noodles flowing from a toy waterslide – how cool is that? They also had other fun games for you to play with your food (and you KNOW I love playing with my food!) like a sushi russian roulette with one filled with wasabi and make your own tofu kit. EEEK! So I was more than dissapointed that they only serve that for dinner…what do you mean only for dinner? Tis not fair! I already had dinner plans!! In defiance, I actually skipped lunch altogether – If I cannot have my waterslide noodle, I’m not having anything!. However, if you were in Sydney, I definately would recommend going to Kasumi – then you can come back and tell me about all the fun you had with the water slide noodles!

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Dejected, we walked out of Kasumi and headed towards Darling Harbour as it was so close anyway. And what do you know, it started raining fairly heavily when we reached Darling Harbour! We made a mad dash for the ferry terminal at Sydney Aquarium (which I visited the last time) and hopped straight into a ferry….hoping that the ferry did not actually end up bringing us somewhere far far away! Thankfully it was a ferry to Circular Quay – and being a slow sort of tourist ferry, it took 20-30 mins for us to actually get to Circular Quay. Which is not a problem, as it was raining fairly hard by then. So we sat inside the ferry, enjoying the pit pattering of raindrops.

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When we get to Circular Quay we had to decide what to do next – I was seriously still achy and tired from all that surfing stuff that we did. I looked to the left, and there was the Opera House in all it’s glory. I realised that I didn’t actually went up close and personal to the Opera House the last trip, so we took a short pleasant stroll towards the Opera House from Circular Quay. This was by far the most touristic area of Sydney I feel. All the way there were rows of restaurants and bars offering harbour views at a premium. Everything was super expensive. I did, however, make another chocolate stop on my walk…this time it was at the Guylian chocolate bar. Australia is by far the capital of chocolate lovers. There are so many chocolate bars everywhere we look, from Lindt to Guylian to Max Brenner’s and the annoyingly dissapointing Koko Black.

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We (well, me – bacon had a coffee) had a seville orange torte. Dark, with a hint of orange, this was absolutely gorgeous. So in love. If it wasn’t for the fact that I am addicted to Max Brenner, I would say this was my best chocolate treat this trip. Miles better than Koko Black, although I must say it was cheaper at Koko Black. Maybe that says something for the quality.

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The Opera House up-close-and-personal. It might suprise some people, but the Opera House exterior consists of bathroom tiles. Yup. White ceramic bathroom tiles. Nothing more. It’s more amazing then that its such a strikingly beautiful construction. We walked around the opera house in the cloudy and windy afternoon, just marvelling at this one amazing construction amongst the other tourists. A beautiful way to spend a budget afternoon….I think it’s definately picnic central. Two days after that it would be filled with the largest amount of naked people convening in one area – Mardi Gras was in town, and I missed it by ONE day!

After such a relaxing afternoon, it was time to head back for a nap (I know, again?!). I was really knocked out by the surfing and the walking yesterday. So it naptime it was…. and not a moment sooner. Refreshed, it was time for dinner again. We popped by the Scary Canary again for a quick drink or two (love their happy hours!!), and it was off to Kansai for dinner!

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Kansai Restaurant is a small hidden away restaurant on Hunter Street. Blink and you’ll miss it, so if you’re looking for it, be sure to look up, there is a lighting box on the ceiling noting where the restaurant is. As you probably know, I love Japanese food, and in particular, good quality sashimi. Actually, I love all Japanese cuisine, and it is so freaking hard, to come across proper good quality Japanese food here in the UK – especially sashimi. Hey, cooked food I can recreate myself, sashimi I need a good fishmonger for the fish. Seeing that this was our last night in the Sydney, I wanted to go all out and stuff my face full of Japanese food as I don’t know when will I get to have it next!

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Kansai is famed for its eat-all-you-like concept. Priced in two tiers, the first tier costs AU28 and allows you to have everything on the menu (as much as you like) from boiled edamame to chicken katsu curry and chirashi sushi. The second tier at AU38 is pretty much the same, except you have the option of ordering as much sashimi as you like, and sukiyaki. Even before we got there, I had decided that I was going for the second tier…whilst bacon was being a wet blanket and moaning that the second tier seemed expensive at AU38 per person. Well, I don’t care. Eat all you want sashimi for AU38 is dead cheap, and I have no qualms spending that sort of money.

And I was in for one of my most memorable meal ever. The ambience looks like part of canteen, but the exceptional food was anything but bog standard.

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We had extremely fresh sashimi

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We had Unagi rolls

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We had a mahoosive seafood sukiyaki (it was supposed to feed two as a main course with nothing else)

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We had their Rainbow roll with mayo – notice the pretty colors of the sashimi topping the roll?

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More sashimi

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A soft shell crab hand roll

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And more sashimi.

Yes, it was only me and bacon, with enough food to feed a small army. And you know what? It was all very delicious – one of the best representation of Japanese food ever. The sashimi was so fresh it was like as if the fish was still alive. Miles better than the one I had at the fish market. The sukiyaki was tasty, and chock a block filled with scrumptious seafood. The rolls were very well done and imaginatively flavoured (though not very traditionally Japanese). Maybe its because all the staff screamed in Japanese to each other, or maybe it was because the sushi chef was this imposing but cool at the same time dude with a perpetual sulk on his face. The way he pays attention to the details is so impressive.

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The sushi chef. If I could, I would be in love with him and he can feed me sashimi all day long. Everyday. Love it.

Contacts

Izakaya Kasumi
Shop 2, 6-12 Harbour St
Corner of Leverpool St & Dixon St;
tel: (02) 9283 6678

Guylian Belgium Chocolate Cafe
3 Macquarie St
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
(02) 8274 7900

Kansai Licensed Japanese Restaurant
b1/7-13 Hunter St
Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
(02) 9231 5544

Day 12 was a very exciting day indeed – we were about to attend our first surfing class ever! Part of the package that the good people of VisitNSW put together,it was a two hour long having-a-go session combined with rudimentary instructions – there is nothing better than learning by doing.

We were lead to the beach like baby ducks being led to water by our instructor – I think his name is Kai or something. We had to tote our own surfboards, and by golly, was it ever so heavy! On our way there, we actually got to see Bondi Rescue in action – just like its Baywatch! Extremely thrilling for me – well, it’s probably thrilling because I don’t think there was any actual casualty, a swimmer seemed to have ended up at the area reserved for surfers and even after numerous warnings by the lifeguard via their tannoy, she/he was still bobbing up and down on the same spot. So the lifeguard whipped off his top and dragged his surfboard into the seas and off he went! Cool!
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No pictures here, as my bag and my camera was safely tucked away in the locker back at the shop. I have really poor hand-eye coordination and balance, so no suprise there that I didn’t do well in surfing! Bacon, however, did very well, but he had done skiing and windsurfing before. Me, on the other hand, had never had the pleasure of trying to balance myself on a piece of plank. So there. Bleaugh. I did, however, by the end of the hour, manage to stand straight up, surfing the waves back to shore. This was after numerous attempts that ended up in swallowing gallons of saltwater, knocking into my own board, getting washed over by incoming waves…….BUT I SO LOVE IT! Well, I would though, as it IS water based. But I could have continued getting on the board, paddling, getting washed over and pushed underwater…again and again. Love it. Bacon did really well and manage to stand on his board more than a dozen time. It was definately a very rewarding form of excercise, and one that I would happily take up full time if it were possible.

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Obviously by the time we had finished in the water, we were all dead tired. I was so tempted not to go on with my plans for the afternoon, but with bacon’s insistent coaxing, I relented and we didn’t head straight home to bed. But first, food!! All that excercise require refuelling, and we headed towards Hurricane’s Grill. From their website: Specialising in premium quality Australian Beef Steaks, tasty Beef, Pork & Lamb Ribs and BBQ Chicken, Hurricane’s signature dishes are marinated in special basting sauces originating from South Africa. These special ingredients make our flavours unique, delicious and very different from other traditional steakhouses.

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The restaurant was not open for lunch, but I decided I had to have a full rack of ribs anyway, so it was a good thing the takeaway was open. Bacon was very reluctant (what do you mean takeaway ribs for lunch????) but I insisted. So we ended up with a full rack of succulent baby back ribs , chips, a coke and nowhere to eat…..we ended up eating in front of McDonalds where they had public benches up front.

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How yums is that?

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Bacon stuffing his face. He’s sat next to me as I’m typing this – and had just said, ‘That was really nice…’. Succulent pork that melts in your mouth tears apart oh so easily from the bone, and the sauce was to die for. Maybe we were just hungry, but it was REALLY good!

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Eating very delicious ribs by a very busy pathway in Bondi attracted attention of the four-legged kind. We found ourselves with quite a large following, but none as determined as this doggy. She sat next to us for a full 10 minutes whilst we chomped our way through the rack, not intruding, just sitting there, staring.

10 minutes later, her horrified owner turned up, adomonishing her whilst profusely apologising to us. Apparently they were on their way to get some sushi, but the doggy went off track, attracted by the yummy ribs. Her name was Laura (the dog, not the owner) and she is unfortunately stuck with a vegetarian owner!! So we started feeding Laura our bones, and to say she was chuffed is an understatement! I do miss having a dog, they make such good friends . I packed up whatever bones that remained when we finished and offered it up to Laura’s owner to bring home with her so she can have it for dinner. The dog, not the owner. Sigh. It must be so lovely to be able to stroll down to Bondi for lunch on a weekday with a dog.

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Of course after all that salt water that I’d swallowed, it was time for dessert! And when in Bondi, you must have a deepfried mars bar. Yes folks, this is what heart attacks are made out of. A compact deep fried package. OH YUMS. Creamy in the middle, crispy on the outside, sprinkled with icing sugar.

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WARNING: Do not eat every day

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Obviously after all this bingeing my morning surfing just completely went down the drain. It was time for more excercise (I know, AGAIN?) and this time it was the Bondi-Coogee walk, something that I missed out the last time. After all my research that I did for the Awesome NSW tour last year, I had to go on this walk. Instead of rewriting it, I am cutting and pasting (text) from my Awesome Tour Guide….and believe you me, it was an AWESOME WALK (if you know me in real, you would also know that I would rather swallow thorns than willingly go for a WALK)

Looking out on the beautiful horizons, go towards the right of the beach, which is the south end. Go past the Bondi Iceberg’s Club, the only winter swimming club in the world. Its open to public, so do go in to have a paddle (or have a drink – comparatively cheap drinks with unbeatable views!). The path then leads you up to Mackenzies Point showcasing beautiful scenes of North and South Bondi.

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(Edit: When I was there, they were repainting the Iceberg’s Club pool = closed. So check before you head out there if you have your heart set on swimming at the Icebergs)

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Next up is Tamarama, also known locally as Glamarama due to the presence of the beautiful people clique and those practising the lifestyle of the rich and the famous. There is a stretch of cafes (Edit: When I was there, no cafes existed. Nothing. Nada. I was extremely thirsty with nothing to drink. Grr) if you are inclined to stop and just gaze out at the surf or people watch. For two weeks each year in early November, the area from Bondi to Tamarama beaches is transformed into an outdoor sculpture gallery, courtesy of the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition . This is where many people end their walk.

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Breathtaking scenery makes the 2 hour hike sooooo worth .

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Going past Tamarama and just across a gentle rise is Bronte, a beautiful little picturesque beach, with a large grassy area immediately behind it on the promenade. It has a large surf, so if you’re planning on a dip in the seas, be sure to swim within the flags or in the ocean pool. The ocean pool is really cute, a cordorned off area of This beach is well patrolled, so you shouldn’t encounter any problems

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The Ocean Pool – cool huh?

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This might seem batty, but the Waverley Cemetery has got to be sitting on the most expensive piece of real estate in Sydney. This large cemetery (yes, it really IS a working cemetery!) is situated on dramatic coastline and has some amazing ocean views. Dominated largely by white marble headstones this graveyard is home to many famous Australians, such as Henry Lawson, Victor Trumper, Lawrence Hargrave, Henry Kendall and many more.

You can see the cemetery on the right of the picture…

Clovelly is next, and if you’re more inclined to a gentle paddle rather than magnificent surf, this is your place. Clovelly Beach is a nature reserve, but the true beauty is underwater – so pack your mask & snorkel. However, if you are more inclined to go deeper, wait till you get to Gordons Bay to get some SCUBA done. The dive is fairly shallow and you would probably get to 12 meters, making it a very convenient stop for the casually interested. And yes, the occasional shark is known to show up in Gordons Bay

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Clovelly was my favourite of them all. I actually bought my mask & snorkel with me, so was able to go for a swim in ocean. The visibility was quite low, but seriously, better than nothing right? Love it. Very nice. After all that walking it was extremely refreshing to have a paddle in the seas. I did not enjoy the next part of the walk, and would seriously consider catching a bus from Clovelly to Coogee if I were to ever do this again. There was nothing much to see as we walk around Gordon’s Bay, no shops, no beaches, no humans, no nothing.

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Gordons Bay also signifies the end of the walk, as across the next headland you’re in Coogee. Sheltered by the reefs of the fabulously named Wedding Cake Island, Coogee is a relatively safe beach for a paddle. Coogee is derived from the Aboriginal word koojah (stinking seaweed), a reference to the smelly decaying kelp that used to be left washed up on the beach. Coogee has some first-rate restaurants, shops, hotels and boutiques.

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PHEW. Definately the most excercise I got the whole week. I collapsed at Coogee on the beach, and just remained horizontal for about the next hour or so,

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Bacon, being bacon, took a walk around Coogee whilst I just remained horizontal. But bacon being bacon, he came back with tall tales of huge bars serving up the amber liquid…the perfect antidote and end to a whole day in the sun. So off we went….

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I can just imagine making this bar my local. Can you?

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Our schooners of Coopers’ pale.

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We took the bus back into town rather than bus-train. On our way home I got a text from Zona kindly offering us the ultimate aussie dinner. Yep, we ate Skippy the Kangaroo! After getting back to the hostel, we had a quick shower and by 8pm we were heading out of town again to Zona & Lee’s place for dinner. You can tell how tired I was – I did not take any pictures at all of dinner!! Lee cooked up some kangaroo sausages for starters (sooooo delish), which we paired with a variety of mustards and cheese. Yum. Main course was kangaroo steak, cooked pink , with a side of salad dressed in balsamic dressing. Ah. Love it. So delicious. Wished we could get fresh kangaroo meat in the UK, kangaroo is most definately an underrated meat. I am glad that the Australians take a more pragmatic view and kangaroo had started being widely eaten in Australia. According to Lee, the price for kangaroo had skyrocketed in the past few years due to a speedily growing market.

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Before heading towards their place, we tried stopping for a bottle of wine, or two. Hm. Found out the hard way that 7-11 does not stock alcohol. Neither does the Woolworth’s supermarket. And there are no bottle shops anywhere in the centre of Sydney. OMG. How embarrasing. So we actually arrived for dinner empty handed. However, it was a thursday, and the shops open late, so I offered to bring them out for dessert. And speaking of dessert; perhaps it was time for another shot of cacao…so we headed towards Max Brenner’s. Again. This time we headed towards the one at King’s Cross instead of Manly.

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churning chocolate

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This was our order. Can you spot what I had? Something looks very, very familiar…:) . Bacon and Lee both had the yummilicious mocha, whilst me & Zona had a mocha frappe – it was another gloriously warm night in Sydney.

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Zona ordered the warm chocolate souffle, which we shared. And it was amazing. As expected. I do love everything about Max Brenner, it is just so damned good. Everything is. I kept my little Chocolate Lick to myself and didn’t share…:).

Again, the end to another lovely day in Sydney. By this point I had started to fall in love with the city….and I hate it when I fall in love with cities. When I fall in love with cities I live my life being jealous and annoyed at my inability to BE there. Sigh. I love San Francisco and Hong Kong, because I was lucky enough to get to know both cities like a local would, especially San Francisco seeing that I was a temp resident. I could feel myself falling in love with Sydney the more time we spent there out of the confines of the tourist traps.

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Day 11 was supposed to be the day of our surfing class – unfortunately they could only fit us in for the 9am class, which meant that we would have had to wake up at 6.30am, get showered, get the train to Bondi Junction and the bus out again to Bondi. We managed to negotiate for a later class for Thursday, so it was another slow and relaxed day for us again.

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After some rejigging and replanning, we decided to make our way towards Manly – which, as you know, is one of my favourite place in Sydney. Its the whole ceremony of boarding a ferry, and whilst nearing Manly the fabulous view of the whole span of the beach. Sigh. I love ferries and I love beaches….what more can I ask for? We had not been to any beaches yet in Sydney during this trip, so I thought this would be a good day to head towards the beach. A round trip to Manly from Circular Quay is AU12, however with the AU48 weekly travel card, it’s all inclusive.

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As we were walking out of the ferry terminal, I spotted my most favourite ever, ever chocolate bar. It all started in 2005 when bacon was working in Manila….the ever-famous chocolate by the bald man, Max Brenner’s. It is THE home of everything chocolicious – and unlike Koko Black, I am actually in love with this shop. So even before we hit the beach, we HAD to stop. I convinced bacon that he had to have coffee .

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Bacon’s mocha. Oh My God. It was amazingly delicious. In their signature hug mug of course – it is designed in a way that when you hold it with both hands it warms you up. SIGH. Heavenly.

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I decided to go back to basics and get something decadent yet simple. My warm milk chocolate lick….topped with white chocolate chips. Comes with a ‘paddle’ to dip and lick the yummilicious chocolate off. Oh my. Delicious doesn’t even start to describe the sensation

Sigh. Treat over, we ventured out of the ferry terminal at last, to be greeted by light rain and dark grey skies. Not perfect weather for a day out at the beach most definately. Oh well, I guess it’s gotta rain at paradise sometime, right? Anyway, after being conditioned by the English weather for a good few years, a little bit of rain ain’t gonna stop me. Probably a good thing, by the time we got to the beach the rain had stopped. It was still dark in the skies, but at least it’s not raining.

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It was nice to be able to just lay back and relax on the beach. More like a beached whale than a beach babe, I love the sea irregardless, and love just being close to the sea. We milled about for a few hours, and decided to head back to the mainland after grabbing a quick lunch. Unfortunately our lunch was very unsatisfactory – bacon had blah and boring fish & chips whilst I had a quick and dirty korean fried noodle with teriyaki chicken….which was greasy, cold and downright disgusting. Not having a very good day, huh? Again, proof that it sometimes sucks even in paradise.

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It was amazingly gloomy and windy as you can see from our trip back on the ferry decks.

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Look at how grey the Opera House looks…

As we arrived at Circular Quay, my phone rang, and it was bacon’s ex colleague who was in Sydney for long working holiday. She raved about sceneries from across the Quay, so got us to hop on the ferry over to the other side, where Luna Park was. I guess you could get there by train, but seeing that we were at Circular Quay anyway and have free pass to get on the ferry, we just decided to hop on the ferry instead.

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Its fantastic to see views from the other side of the harbour. After all that raving about the scenery, bacon’s ex-colleague took us to a bar right smack in the middle of a row of shophouses far away from the shores with no views whatsoever – because she fancied having Fosters’ – not many places in Sydney sells Fosters as it is what the Australians palm off to the English. So yeah. We made it all the way across the harbour and no views. Nada. None. Excellent. We did spend a good few hours there, and we only got up and left because I wanted to go back for a quick shower as we have dinner plans.

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After a quick shower, Zona and Lee were there to pick us up again. This time around we were off to the famous Harry’s Cafe De Wheels – which I had touched on during my project for VisitNSW last summer. Located at Wooloomooloo’s Finger Wharf, it was slightly off centre – somewhere the locals hit rather than the tourists convene. There is a branch of Harry’s at Haymarket, but it’s really more for the tourists rather than where the locals convene.

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The thing with Harry is more about its environment rather than the food – even though the food was totally yummy. Located by a dark windy wharf, we sat by the pier and just chilled out munching on our food.

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The menu

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I got the Harry’s Tiger – which is chunky lean beef pie served with mushy peas, mash & gravy.

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Bacon got the Hotdog de Wheels – a continential Viennese smoked frankfurt served with mashie peas, mashed potato and chilli con carne with cheese sauce. Oh noms noms.

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Delicious OR WHAT?

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We chilled there for a few hours, with each of us occasionally getting up to get more grub from the cart, chatting away and just talking garbage and having a laugh or two. Sigh. It was one of the best night in the whole holiday, we were just so chilled out, sat by the wharf with the salty sea breeze blowing in our faces, getting up for random pies or hot dogs. After we were satisfied, we thought it would be a good idea to go off for a coffee session as well, and headed towards Cafe Hernandez near Kings Cross. Again, another hidden gem, Hernandez stocks the best coffee ever, thick, dark and aromatic. However, he did not have a loo, and suggested that Chris & bacon had to go off to the hedges for a wee. Heehee.

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Contacts:

Max Brenner’s (various locations in Sydney)

Harry’s Cafe de Wheels
Corner Cowper Wharf Roadway
& Brougham Road
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011
Phone (02) 9357 3074

Cafe Hernandez
60 Kings Cross Road
Potts Point NSW 2011
tel : 02 9331 2343

We woke up in a leisurely manner on day 10 of our Great Australian adventure. We were not in a hurry today, and did not have any concrete plans set up. I purposesly designed our itinerary that way to enable us to get some rest days in between our busy adventuring, and after the day that we had exploring the Blue Mountains, I was ever so glad to have done that!

The last time we were in Sydney in 2006, having breakfast at the Fish Market was one of the highlights of my trip, being a lover of all things fishy. How odd, when I was a child my mom always ensured that there was seafood dish on the table come dinnertime, and it came to a point where I hated fish and most seafood. Moving away from home taught me a lesson in food appreciation, and ever since my stint in CA, my appreciation for fishes had increased tremendously. This is what happens when the only fish you could eat was in the shape of a finger…I did not know how to cook fish you see.

We walked the 20 minutes from Town Hall to Prymont, where the Fish Market is located. The last time we were there, we hopped on the monorail and light rail, but actually it’s not that far to walk, just past Darling harbour really. However, doing that on an empty stomach (not to mention caffine-less) is not a good idea, I was VERY hungry by the time we got there

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It was nice to see that nothings’ changed, all the stores are still there and so are the tourists.

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Including Bacon’s favourite fruit, yoghurt & muesli combo, washed down with freshly squeezed orange juice.

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Salmon sashimi. Nom nom…annoyingly enough, they tried charging me AU1.80 for a small dip pot of soy sauce – I can get a 250ml bottle of soy sauce for that price

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Bacon gorging out on seafood. We had the sashimi, lobster with chips, yoghurt & muesli, juice and 1 doz Sydney rock oysters

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The oysters are so fresh, the barnacles are still alive. OMG. Both refreshing and disgusting at the same time.

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Yummy lobster

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You’d think I was done, wouldn’t you? I thought I was. On the way out, we walked past Doyles’ branch at the Fish Market, and they did Abalone with spring onions! I HAD to try that….so we got a baby abalone and a deepfried soft shell crab. Bacon did not like the Abalone that much, but quite enjoyed the crispy soft shelled crab. For me, the abalone tasted like abalone – chewy.

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Stirfried abalone with spring onions.

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Tummies overflowing, we walked (rather, crawled) back towards Darling Harbour. Bacon had an ice cream (yeah, I know, how can he still eat after all that) and we just sat down for some people watching…it was what I call an English day, grey and slightly depressing, but it was still so warm and the cool breeze from the harbour just makes the whole experience of people watching by the harbour so pleasant.

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After bacon finish licking up his ice cream, we headed back towards Haymarket. I wanted to check out Market City as I’ve heard through the grapevine that there were some shops selling bento stuff there as well as a massive grocery store selling bento edibles. When we were there previously, I also remembered a Mambo outlet store; so the hunt began for all that I wanted to find.

Unfortunately all this visit left me with was a petulant pout. There were no shops selling bento making stuff – well, there IS (not bento shops, more like kitchen utensils shops) , but it is of the non-kawaii variety and their accessories are basic onigiri making molds, which I already own. Oh well. However, I did come across some fabulous M4S boxes which are all the rage in the bento making community. Anyway, I digress. The grocery store was very impressive, it sold a huge variety of foodstuff that would be like gold dust here in the UK. I stupidly thought that I was going to return, so did not buy anything.GAH. And the MAMBO outlet had shut down from when I was last here in 2006. Double Gah.

Seeing that it was already 3.30pm, we started out journey home towards Town Hall, which was really only a short 10 minute walk away. As we were stood in front of Market City trying to get our coordiantes correct, someone handed bacon a flyer for a buy one get one free bubble tea. Now, there is only one place in Leeds which I can get bubble tea from; however, bubble tea in Australia is nearly as common as coke….so it was so refreshing for me to just have a bubble tea whenever I want, much to Lee’s amusement (Lee is not a bubble tea fan). Bacon had never been a big fan of bubble tea either, but my enthusiasm rubbed off on him invariably. Heehee. So we jumped at the chance of a buy one get one free bubble tea!!! If you have no idea what am I talking about, bubble tea is basically normal milky iced tea (with a variety of flavours) with some tapioca balls at the bottom, symbolising the ‘bubble’ in the bubble tea.

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An all-asian queue..Until bacon joined the queue. He was very pleased as he’s the tallest person in the queue

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Look at the menu – chatime (translated into tea time) http://www.chatime.com.au/ is a massive bubble tea chain throughout China, Vietnam, Australia and even in LA. I picked a brown rice green tea bubble tea whilst bacon had the hazelnut

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Bacon smirking at his large order of bubble tea

It was decidedly gloomy in the skies by then, and we were both doozing off – so an afternoon nap was most definately in line – we’ve not had many afternoon naps during this trip, so one was sorely due that afternoon. We woke up around 5ish, and popped down to the bar adjacent to BASE Backpacker, the ScaryCanary. There was nothing scary about this place, other than the price of its drinks. Its scary cause it’s dirt cheap! Happy hour of 4pm-6pm means drinks are only a mere AU3.50 for a small glass of wine or a schooner. I had my favourite Semillion Chardonnay – during our stay here I must’ve had at least two glasses of Semillion daily. Was starting to think myself alcholic – this all started during my ‘throw an Aussie Styled event’ night where I kicked it off with winetasting – and fell in love with Brokenwood’s Semillion.

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The crisp limey flavour is refreshing and perfect for a hot summer’s day.

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We met up with Zona for dinner at Waqu http://waqu.com.au/home.html … a famed fusion Japanese degustation-menu only restaurant. Unfortunately Lee was unable to join us due to work constraints, but we were joined by his lovely friend Chris. Chris kindly played chauffer and picked us up from our hostel….again, this is not one of the restaurants that you would just stumble across as it’s out of Sydney, so getting a ride there was probably the best idea rather than blindly strolling around Crow’s Nest.

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I was going to take a picture of the menu, but the waiter kindly stopped me and offered for me to just take the menu with me. How very nice – other than the fact that left the menu behind and now have no idea what I ordered! ARGH! I am not doing justice to the menu by my inability to describe all the wonderful food that was served up to us and for that, I am very ashamed and annoyed. So please bear with me –

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Carpaccio of Wagyu beef

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Soba noodles with crabmeat

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Seafood in dashi stock

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The AMAZING lamb..

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Bacon ordered the Belly pork

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Zona got the seafood (sigh I hate it when I forget what I ate)

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Dessert of mochi with peanut brittle, vanilla pod creme jelly & red bean mousse .

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Contacts

Market City
9 Hay St
Haymarket NSW 2000, Australia
(02) 9288 8900

Waqu
308 Pacific Highway
Crows Nest NSW 2065, Australia
(02) 9906 7736