I can't believe the last day of school in Ngee Ann just passed like that. I still remember complaining about school back in year 1, and how much I wished I was graduating that year. Now I regret everything I said, and I wish time didn't pass so fast.
It's the final study break now for our last war. Here I am blogging in school and I feel really sad? Sigh pie. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm pretty sure I will miss this school a lot, especially my classmates :(
So yep, I'm drawing some time out from my study date with Fang Ying and Yi Wei to do a blog post on the final days of my Sydney trip. Time for some life and sunshine in this rotting blog of mine!
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On the 5th day of our trip, we decided to visit a Zoo. Since Australia is famous for their wildlife reserves, we figured that their zoos will be da bomb. After reading through reviews an Tripadvisor, I suggested Tangora Zoo because it was the top rated zoo then.
To get there, we have to take a ferry from the beautiful Sydney Habour. So happy to be able to say hi to the Opera House and Bridge again!
Our ferry that has WiFi access
The ferry ride took around 10 minutes or so and we had a magnificent view of Sydney's skyline. It is pretty much like the River Cruise at Singapore River - but better (hahahaha everything's better overseas)
Mandatory Zoo entrance group shot :)
Luckily for us, we got to get in the zoo at a student price!
Okay I have to admit, since I blogged about this trip like 294586348956 years after I came back I kinda forgot about all prices of the tickets and I am super duper lazy to go find out, so please forgive me *puppy eyes*
Oh and within the zoo itself, they had a cable car that sends us right to the top of the zoo so that we can slowly make our way down through suggested trails.
The main reason way Tangora Zoo is the top rated Zoo in Sydney. dsdjgnbsdgkj view.
I wouldn't really want to spam this blog post with animal photos that you guys would probably skip in a heartbeat so yeah, here's the legendary Koala bear which we didn't manage to hug :( Accompanied by a huge-ass lizard that looks quite handsome here.
Oh yes, the myth about Koala bear stinking like hell is true...
The tourist photo hotspot.
The only animal that we saw moving in the zoo LOL.
1 out of 2 kangaroos we saw in the zoo.
To be honest, I was really disappointed with the trip. Maybe because it was a non-peak period, but they literally cancelled all the animal shows which would've been the highlight of the entire trip. Apart from that, most the of the animal were lazing around (as usual), and there won't any animal feeding shows..
But I have to admit that the zookeepers there were knowledgeable and extremely friendly. When we went in to the kangaroos enclosure and they saw us leaving just within minutes, one of them actually stopped us and shared some information about their kangaroos and even pointed out a quokka that was snoozing under the bushes.
And...
The view compensated for the all the disappointment.
After spending about an hour or so in the zoo, we took the ferry back and went to the habour bridge!
Crossing the habour bridge was something everyone wanted to strike off from their to-do list. Even Dylan took a 30-minute long video of the entire process (just imagine the file size!)
Omg I look so tan. Living up to my Twitter/Instagram username.
Why I always kena the sun :(
Dylan and his iPad.
After crossing the bridge and back, we went to The Rocks again. As mentioned in the earlier post, I strongly encourage everyone to visit The Rocks!!
We missed our last bus back to our hostel, so we had to walk way back. Although it was a 40-minute walk, the weather was really pleasant so it was still bearable. In fact, I really enjoyed myself because I LOVE walking :D
Oh, and halfway through our walk back, we heard someone shouting "hello" at us. When we looked up, we saw this
A bunch of adorable kids trying to make friends!!
When we waved back and shouted that we were going to take a selfie, the whole kampong of kids squeezed through the windows omg so cute la!!
Back in our hostel, we decided to cook dinner again. As usual, we went to the supermarket and got the ingredients and started cooking. We made spaghetti with sausages, together with a tomato base.
What I really like about cooking in YHA was that we get to see what the other people were cooking.
There was this Chinese guy frying noodles that smells damn good, an Italian family cooking risotto and more. We also got to interact with them while borrowing certain condiments! It was really an unique experience that you can't get when staying in a hotel. #perksofstayinginahostel
p/s: Dinner was great. And we drank. Again.
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Day 6 was reserved for a shopping trip at a factory outlet mall which Michael recommended as well. We finally got to take their train and guess what!
Their trains are freaking double-deckers.
Like seriously, why didn't SMRT consider about this design right from the start?!
Another cool feature of the train was the seats. The directions can be changed just by adjusting the backing of the seats. Oh, and the train was super empty as well.
After a 20 minutes ride, we reached our destination - Homebush! It was away from the city and honestly speaking, the streets were not as clean and houses there were pretty rundown.
The mall was around 15 - 20 minutes walk away from the train station. By now, you would've already realised that we walked A LOT throughout the entire trip. This is seriously not for the weak.. Unless you are keen to rent a car or take a cab wherever you go (which is very expensive).
The girls and boys shopped separately. It was a mad rush since all the shops were closing at 5pm. This actually explains the lack of photos LOL. I highly recommend shopping at Cotton On, Jay Jays, Colette, Ripcurl, Billabong - basically all the local brands there. Prices are mad there! Most of the clothing at Cotton On were going for AUD$5 and they were legit nice clothes.
Last Sydney sunset we got to see.
After we got back to town, Tasmay and I decided to shop more while the guys retreated. As usual, we drank again and also started packing for our flight back.
Since Michael's flight was a few hours earlier than ours, he left first :(
Final group shot in front of our hostel for the trip!
Hello Sydney International Airport :(
During our cab ride to the airport, we had a long conversation with the Sri Lankan cabbie. He told us about the benefits and challenges of working and living in Australia. It all seems really feasible and he was genuinely happy about making the decision move his entire family to Australia.
It is a big sacrifice to leave your home country, but it seems like more and more people in Singapore are leaving. Could it be the society? Or could the grass be really greener on the other side?
This pretty much sums up our trip to Sydney. It was definitely an eye opener and a great experience for me. Of course, I really appreciate my parents for entrusting me so much to allow me to go on a trip with my schoolmates. I learnt many things and got to interact with so many people from different countries.
This is why I love travelling X
