Holiday in Sydney - Feb 2010

13 February 2010

It was time again for our annual visit to Sydney to see our son Kenny and this time we decided to fly in the daytime going via SQ 223 leaving Singapore at 8.00 am. We arrived on schedule at 6.00 pm Sydney time, collected our Hertz rental car and found our way to the Medina Grand Service Apartment in Chinatown where we were to stay for 3 nights.


It was a great place to stay, centrally located in Chinatown / Darling Harbour neighbourhood. we had a suite on the 28th floor which allowed us a great view of the city on one side and Darling Harbour on the other side...... Dinner on our first night in Sydney was at a Thai Restaurant at Milson Point, North Sydney near Kenny's workplace - nothing to shout about, but a good meal none the less.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast with Kenny and fetching him to work, we were back in Chinatown where we spent the whole morning shopping at Paddy's Market. It was great to see the many lion dance performances all over Chinatown, -it was after all, the first day of the Lunar New Year. What impressed us were the many 'ang mohs' doing the lion dance and the REAL noisy, smokey and littering firecrackers!



Our first stop in Paddy's Market was to Lee's Fashion Shop - we visit her so often, we've become good friends.
Another regular shop we go to is 'B.B.Q. King' roast duck / char siew shop - we decided to 'ta pau' a variety of the roast meats for lunch in the apartment.

For dinner we decided to go to Darling Harbour to try out one of the nicer restaurants - no luck there - it was also 'Valentine's Day' and there was going to be a firework display at 8.30 pm that night - every good restaurant was booked solid, many had also jacked up their prices for 'Valentine's Day Special meals'. We decided to have a quick pasta meal and headed back to the apartment where we were able enjoy the 10 minute firework display from the suite's balcony...


Monday was spent at Bondi Junction shopping mall - where we shopped and shopped, had a 'yum cha' lunch at Kam Fook and tried out the massage service. That night we headed back to Darling Harbour again - we were not happy that we could not get a good meal there the previous night ; we just had to try again and landed up in the popular Criniti's South Italian Restaurant. The seafood platter they served up there was really good....yummy!
The next two days were spent in the company of Peter and Liz Heath and their Line Dancers of South Australia in Adelaide. See next article posting for story on our stay in Adelaide.......

Back in Sydney from Adelaide we spent Friday and Saturday on more shopping and .....eating -
'Yum Cha' lunch at Market City with Rosemary's sis April who drove 5 hours from Cowra for lunch......, - dinner at the well-known Billy Kwong Restaurant and breakfast at the sidewalk cafe outside Kenny's apartment block.



The best meal we had had to be the one at the 'Quay Restaurant', reputed to be one of Sydney's top restaurant. Situated at the water side opposite the Opera House, it was a great setting for a romantic dinner.
For dinner there is a fixed 4-course menu at $155 per person. The menu allows some choices for every course and we were able to find something we like for each course.
We started dinner at 7.30 pm when the sunlight was still shining bright onto the Opera House. and through the dinner, we were able to see the slow change of colour on the 'sails' of the Opera House as it got dark. Truly a great gastronomical experience. well worth the price we paid for that dinner.