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Friday, 16 May 2014

Sydney Day 6: Bondi Beach, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life & Wild Life Sydney

We almost couldn't wake up this morning! When we finally dragged our tired bodies out of bed, we headed to one of the most famous beaches in the world, Bondi Beach. Bondi Beach is the location for the documentary on TV "Bondi Rescue", which the hubby and I watch occasionally. The beach was so crowded in the show that when we arrived at an empty beach (probably because it was too cold to swim), it looked really strange to me!

Exploring Bondi Beach
It's almost winter that's why the beach is so empty.
Selfie with my Olympus OMD
Girl loves Bondi Beach!
Love the feeling of soft cool sand in our hands and feet!
Family photo taken by a kind stranger

I really enjoyed digging my feet into the uber soft sand and enjoying the natural breeze. It was like switching on the aircon at the beach, which never happens in Singapore so that was a treat for us!

My girl really didn't want to leave! We had to drag her away, literally. Poor girl.

Anyway our stomachs were calling out to us so we returned to the Sydney Fish Market since we enjoyed it so much the last time we were there (directions to the Fish Market here).

Eating our favourite bread from Gregory's Bread
Feasting on cheese-baked oysters, fresh tuna and alcohol
Fresh raw oysters, scallops and eel
Tasty sea urchin flesh that's relatively cheap

After our tummies were suitably satisfied, we drove about 10 minutes to Darling Harbour and parked at Darling Quarter, one of the designated carparks where visitors of Sea Life Aquarium can enjoy cheaper parking (Google Maps search term: "1-11 Harbour Street"). To enjoy the cheaper price, simply present the parking ticket at the Sea Life Aquarium counter for verification before paying at the Autopay machine.

Darling Quarter
Darling Habour

We're at Darling Harbour to visit three of the five attractions of the combo tickets that we bought 4 days ago. Each of the attraction requires at least 90 minutes so do take note of the opening hours in order to avoid disappointment.

We began with Madame Tussauds as my girl was taking her afternoon nap. This was our second time visiting a Madame Tussauds wax museum, with our first time being the Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong. It was the siblings' first time though and they were super excited!

Madame Tussauds Sydney 
(Opening hours: 9am to 8pm daily)
Took this for the brother, who wore one of the props provided for this shot
We saw Kate Middleton at the airport and managed to get a picture with her!
Yah right, we wish..
Pretending to be royalty
Fulfilling his secret dream of being an F1 driver
Jackie Chan says, "yo, you guys wanna be in my next movie?"
Covering Marilyn Monroe and chilling out with Wolverine
(Hugh is like the hero of Aussie!)
Clockwise from top left: Up close and personal with Kylie Minogue;
Bruce Willis would rather be going somewhere else than take a picture with us;
Hubby would rather sleep than have Breakfast with Tiffany; but I totally would =P
Clockwise from top left: Cuddling up with Leonardo Dicaprio (don't tell the hubby);
With the beautiful Nicole Kidman (top) and the classy Kate Blanchett (bottom), who're both so much taller than me!;
I simply love Johnny Depp! Who doesn't love Johnny Depp?!
Husband-snatcher!
Sorry Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt is mine! *laughs*

There were a lot of wax figures that we had no idea who they were as they were Australian celebrities. Nevertheless, we really enjoyed taking tons of selfies with the wax figures =)

Next we proceeded next door to Wild Life Sydney Zoo. I had expected something smaller and less impressive than Taronga Zoo but boy was I wrong!

Wild Life Sydney Zoo 
(Opening hours: 9am to 5pm)
A vivid photo of a frog,
which was the result of me trying out the micro function of my Olympus OMD under the tutelage of my brother
Snakes

One of our favourite enclosures had to be the kangaroo, where we were allowed to come close to the kangaroos and interact with them!

Kangaroo enjoying the sun rays
Touching a small kangaroo which, according to the staff, was an adult despite its size
Another staff telling us the characteristics of the kangaroo
Girlee managed to worm her way to the front in order to feed the kangaroo!
It was her first time and she was beyond thrilled!

When we turned around and saw that the staff was also allowing visitors to interact with a cute Australian porcupine, we rushed over! Girl was so excited!

Holding the spoon and feeding the porcupine
See the long tongue of the porcupine licking from the spoon! So cool =)

She was invited to touch the spines of the porcupine and when she did, she promptly withdrew her hands and exclaimed very loudly, "Ouch!!" *laughs*

Definitely one of the highlights of our trip for me! =)

Another memorable experience was our encounter with a lizard who was about to have his lunch, literally!

Lizard biting onto his lunch, a dead white mouse

In the video, people were shouting as the lizard swallowed the mouse whole. He looked slightly incredulous at our reactions, wondering what the whole commotion was about.

Finally we arrive at the last enclosure (and also the one I was looking forward to the most) where we can see the koalas close up, something we didn't manage to see at Taronga Zoo. We paid about AUD 22 (which included hard copies of our photos with the koalas) to take photos with them inside the enclosure itself! That was quite a treat for us =)

Girl was a bit scared of being so close to the cute little koalas
A family photo which the brother helped us to take

The hubby wanted to carry them but alas they were all sleeping soundly. Nevertheless, it was an experience that I'm sure we will never forget! =)

We then proceeded on to Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, which was also located nearby (don't forget to get your parking tickets verified at the counter).

Sea Life Sydney Aquarium
(Opening hours: 9am to 8pm daily)

We managed to find some nice seats within the aquarium where we were able to sit and admire the stingrays while I pump milk. Killed two birds with one stone =)

The hubby and I have visited many aquariums all over the world, which include Sea World in Gold Coast, Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Noboribetsu Marine Park in Hokkaido, COEX Aquarium in Seoul, Bali Safari Park in Bali, SEA Aquarium in Singapore, just to name a few (not really a few but well, you get the point). Hence, the Sea Life Aquarium was just like any other aquarium to us, nothing special.

Shark enclosure
Much like all of the underwater aquariums all over the world
The biggest Stingray I've ever seen!

The most interesting thing of the aquarium had to be this stingray, which was about 1 meter wide! This poor stingray had its tail cut off by some mean fishermen (I think it was fishermen, can't really remember) but was rescued by the Sea Life Aquarium (it would not have been able to survive in the wild without its tail as its form of defense). She was really big and beautiful! =)

When we were done, we made our way back to the apartment, making a stop at the popular Gelato Messina at Darlinghurst for some tasty ice cream! (Google Maps search term: "1/241 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst").

Gelato Messina
(Opening hours: 12pm – 11.30pm)

With so many flavours to choose from, we had a really had time deciding! I can't really remember what we ended up choosing but it was really good! We loved it! =)

As it was one of our last nights in Sydney, the brother and mother cooked up a storm in the kitchen, trying to finish cooking all the food that we had bought from Woolworths the day before.

Homecooked goodness. Yummy!
Even the hubby chipped in, helping to cook the mussels that they bought

We can't believe that we would be going back to Singapore soon! It felt like there were still so much to see and do! *sigh*


Continue to >> Sydney Day 7: Outlet Shopping, C3 Church & Darling Harbour Fireworks
<< Back to Sydney Day 5: Blue Mountains


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