Hello Sydneysiders (Part VII Second Chapter)

We went to Bondi Beach. I could not believe this, it was like a dream comes true.

Yes, Bondi lives to its name. Clean, wide open, postcard perfect and this time less people coming due to weekday visit so we had fun exploring.

First dip in Tasman Sea was unbelievable. Though the sea was calm and cold, couples of swimmers made their way to the shore. No surfers. No people in their birthday suit ahaahahah.

       

People walk their dogs around. The local council held an election, as you can see the poster is so small and it is unnoticed, unlike our election, mau jugak satu bandar bermandikan posters, banner... 

Next, it was ride to see all these beautiful township of Surry Hills, Paddington and Darlinghurst. Kawasan yang agak upmarket. Happened these places used to be residence of low income earners or blue collar workers working with shipping industries, however along the way, it started to make way for better and trendier hub and the rest was history. Love to see the design of the iron fences of those terraced houses, classic betul, memang rare. If you wanna roam around, there are many little sidewalk cafes to try. The place is quite hilly, so if you wanna walk, have good comfy shoes to go with. According to travel guide, some nice shops selling house ware items can be bought here, and of course we did not much time looking. Kalau tak silap, Russell Crowe ada beli rumah area area ni jugak!

We headed back to Sydney CBD after completing this half day tour. 

So where we were going after the tour ? Ke mana lagi, Darling Harbour of course. There are many attraction such as Sydney Aquarium & Wildlife, ImaxTheatre and Australian Maritime Museum. Good spot for kids to enjoy themselves, so my dotter would be just happy.

Sydney Aquarium is just a lit bit bigger compared to KL Aquaria, not to be a cramped place which they have amazing species of sharks, which quite an advantage if you want to see them swimming on the surface. Beside the usual indoor aquarium, visitors have chances to feed small fish and of course on the boat itself, me and dotter would glimpse smaller type predators making their round. The bigger ones are kept separated from the visitor's feeding tank. Tak leh imagine kalau campur yang besar tu sekali, mai gila depa, ditolak tolak bot kami, dah jadi macam citer jaws pulak. Just add in AUD10 for the experience to feed the fish. Unfortunately you can see some tamer species like stingrays being bitten by these sharks, sampai ada sekor  hilang ekor, kesian... prove it is not easy to share limited living space with the entire sea creatures, the ones who are on top of the food chain tend to be a little big aggresive eh.

Yeah, i was so pleased with the aquarium staff who assisted us to feed. We were shown some baby sharks, tiger species in the laboratory, amek ko, berbaloi tengok beberapa ekor anak ikan sedang tidur ehehehhehe, anak ikan betul eh... and the funny part was when he asked me at the end of the session, "Who is actually the biggest predator among them all?" aku dah blur abes... He pointed to this bald guy, just  under our own boat in the indoor aquarium, whoa, kelakor siot. What he said we, human beings are the biggest predator, yeah his words make sense... anyhow, mamat ni boleh diberi lima bintang memberi penerangan,  Marvellous!

After some time spent in the gift shop, which of course, the merchandise were so irresistible, we made it to Maritime Museum. Our stomach growled to the extent we were so famished and needed to fill in something. Had lunch in Darling Harbour Shopping Bazaar, kebuluq tak hengat belasah kebabs. Yup, unfortunately we gave a miss for Sydney Wildlife and Imax Theatre due to time constraint, huhu, tak perla nak buat macam mana. So please plan for a whole day in Sydney Harbour if you wanna see them.

People enjoy the sunny weather. Darling Harbour is nice spot to gather and have some picnic. 

Now you guys know where to get your Hard Rock Tees.. right in Darling Harbour. Mine already done, so tengok jerla. This is the place we got our Iventure card on the first day arriving. Kedai Cotton On dalam tempat tu pun murah murah taim sale, ehehheheh, sayang saya tak minat.

National Maritime Museum, awesome experience!

Welcome aboard! 

We really had fun doing our tour to the submarine, which our first time venturing into the machine, kek Mesia tak dapat lagi hor, and my dotter being funny kept teasing me, "Mak, muat tak?" due to my heavy built..Kelakar la tu kan? Yeah, it was so cramped, not for claustrophobic type, but good enough to spend an hour inside. The Museum assistant in the submarine were ex-marine themselves. Siap ada torpedo kat dalam tau. I was asking whether it was permissible to take picture, and this uncle said why not? This is museum, sweetie. pergh, ayat tak leh belah, ahahah. 

Submarine Engine & Walves Room, Toilet (maha kecik) and of course the Periscope to 

The torpedo room and the sleeping deck ... gila sempit, tak leh guling pusing nak tidor, sabor jer la.....

It was an educational experience and we proceed to the next Royal Navy ship, HMS Vampire.

Please be careful with the steps, no high heels please... quite steep and small.

The bridge was uncovered until certain year... wahlau, kalau ombak besar, mau telan air masin dulu dulu. kesian kan!

What a selection of meals on board. Air Asia pun kalah, kantin sekolah pun... amek ko... mak nak beli Kitchen Aid Mixer, dah dapat baek punya atas kapal....

This fleet are interesting to explore, for first timers, and as civilians, you can imagine how tough it was for the marines to live in this ship. It is interesting to know that HMS Vampire did serve for Australian Navy during Malaysia- Indonesia Confrontation or better known as Indonesian infamous campaign "Ganyang Malaysia" , way back in 1963. pergh lama siot. This vessel used to be in Malacca Straits's water at one time. Wuhu. tak rugi mak belajar sejarah, berguna membuat penjelasan. Ni sebab anak tanya kapal ni penah datang Malaysia tak? yes, there is a video show on the ship itself. 

The wood carving is interesting, never see one before, even in the movie set...

Aye, aye Captain! Captain Cook? Captain Jack Sparrow? ahhahahahhahah

The outdoor exhibition range was quite a show, it is periodical and the next ship ventured was a replica of First Fleet. hah, apa tu? Please refer to the previous post, the history helps a lot. Masa ni layan jiwang perasan macam cerita Pirates of Carribean sangat, walau pacik yang jaga bagi 5 minit nak bergambar... ahahhahaha.

Making it to the Indoor, the structure is marvellous, macam dok kat limbungan kapal

We almost approaching the end as there was only half hour left for indoor and the gift shop. To our luck,    an exhibition of Remembering 100 Years Titanic was being held in the museum, so the chances to see the pictures of real person behind the famous film characters such as Mrs. Brown was not to be missed. The rest of the exhibition are mainly touches on the water sports; as Australia is also known for having many gold medals for Olympics, history of Australian women into Navy, evolution of swimming costumes, sea rescues stuff  and a spot dedicated to America's effort promoting sea venture ship to Australia. 

Titanic Exhibition. Informative. I was so into the mugs but the stuff was quite pricier. Abaikan.

In the end, it was nice to make it to the museum, considering it was kind of rare to explore into real submarine and the rest of the fleet. Do not miss this one when you are visiting Darling Harbour.

I do have sentimental moment to see this whaler. Why? I used to be in a whaler in Malacca Strait's water, rowing 40km whole day, way back in 2008 with some mates, whoa,tiring i can tell you, mau  rasa nak mati masa sampai!

To be continued.......