Yesterday was Australia Day, so it's a long weekend for us so I decided to write a post. There's also an ongoing strike as the NSW train workers are complaining of working over time due to the change in NSW train's time tables so we were allowed to work from home. As for me, I was so busy this week writing RPL (recognised prior learning) which is needed as I am trying to apply for my permanent residency here in Australia. Let's just hope that I qualify.
Anyway this post is for Liberty tours - Sydney! Mainly what you can do around in this lovely city for free or not! I have been inviting friends to come over and I have been taking them around town. For first timers, here is what I recommend adding to your itinerary.
1. Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge at Circular Quay
Of course, this architecture is what made Sydney famous. It's shaped like a shell and you can watch plays here. You can also enter for free. There are I think 5 theatres inside and I've been to three. I've watch Sydney's harmonic orchestra play the Harry Potter soundtrack, the Nutcracker ballet and Swan Lake (dark version!) here. This place is located in Circular Quay where you can also take the ferry to other nearby beaches I will discuss later.
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| This was taken last December 2016. Never get tired of seeing the Opera House. |
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| The Harbour Bridge where the famous Sydney fireworks are shown! I was in a ferry here on my way to Manly beach. |
2. Milsons Point, Luna Park and Olympic Village
If you want to a view of both the Harbour bridge and the Opera house, this is the perfect spot. You can also take a walk from here to the harbour bridge to get a bird's eye view of the opera house. If you come in mid spring, which is on end of October, you get the beautiful Jacaranda trees in full bloom! In my opinion, they are more beautiful than the cherry blossoms in Japan. They're purple and Milsons point is just surrounded by these trees. You can also visit Luna park, an amusement park. There's no entrance fees but you have to pay if you want to take rides or play the games.
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| Gorgeous view of the harbour bridge and opera house |
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| Surrounded by the Jacaranda trees, all purplish! |
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| Luna park's entrance gates are shaped of a clown. There are actual clowns inside which is quite terrifying in my opinion! |
3. Martin Place, Wynyard, Town Hall, Hyde Park, NSW Art Gallery and St. Mary's Cathedral
In New South Wales, it's very convenient to take public transport. The train is efficient and comparing to where I'm from, public transport here is heaven. I hate that in Manila, my 12km drive from home to the office takes about 1.5 hours! In sydney, I live in Campsie which is 14 km away from the city, if I take the train, I'm home in 30 mins and same if I take the cab. There's just so many people and cars in Manila, seriously why do people there breed like rabbits? Anyway Martin Place is just CBD and infrastructure is similar to Europe while Wynyard (where I work) is like NYC. Going to Hyde Park and Art Gallery is just a train ride from Wynyward to Town Hall station. If you're up for it just walk around CBD. I'm used to walking now, my fitbit tracks my steps and my ave is 11,000 steps per day. The art gallery is free you can view all sorts of art pieces as well as contemporary arts in this museum.
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| This is St. Mary's cathedral, catholic masses are held here. |
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| My squad at Art Gallery! |
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| Just some of the art pieces inside the museum |
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| One of Macquarie's head offices is at Martin Place |
4. Bondi Beach, Gap Bluff, Macquarie lighthouse and Watsons Bay
There are so many nearby beaches here in Sydney that are beautiful! Unlike in Manila, you need to fly to be able to get to a good quality beach. Batangas is the nearest, and it's just not as pristine and sand is all dark unlike the beaches we have in our provinces. It's just too crowded too in Batangas and traffic is insane. Not worth driving to in my opinion. Here in Sydney, just take a 30 min train ride and you're off to beautiful coastal walks and beaches. I love that beaches are easily accessible, only problem here is because we are close to south pole, water is freaking cold even on a hot summer day!
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| This was christmas day last 2016, Bondi was jam packed with people! It was like Copacabana beach! |
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| Here's one of the views, coastal walks up to Coogee which is about 5km |
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| My korean friends lol at Macquarie light house! |
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| Gorgeous gap bluff park! You can take a ferry from Watsons bay back to circular quay. :) |
5. Manly Beach
Surfer's paradise. Waves are higher and rougher so this place is not for swimmers. You can normally find surfers here even during winter. So if you want to see some action, buy an ice cream and enjoy the view! Manly beach is just a 30 minute ferry ride away from circular quay.
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| Me and my friends had ice cream here and relaxed while watching people surf |
6. Taronga Zoo, Madam Tussaud's museum, Sydney Eye Tower and Sea Life.
I advise to take online packages. My friends and I were able to go to these attractions for roughly $62 except Taronga zoo (roughly this is $40). If you want to see koalas and kangaroos and other wild life in the city, you just have to pay.. unfortunately. :p
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| Lazy kangaroos |
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| I'm still calling them Koala bears no matter what they say! |
I have tons of photos but since I'm lazy and got more posts to write, I'll end it here. This is just my Sydney post, I'll make another one for New South Wales, Canberra and Melbourne. I'm slowly travelling bits and pieces of Australia, there's just so much to see in this country. On March, my friends and I are travelling to Cairns and Port Douglas in Queensland to go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef! Can't wait to share it with you guys.
