19th July 2008

This is the day that I most look forward to for the month and that is a day trip to Sydney.
*Boooo~~~~*
"Chup Chup!!"
Not that going to Sydney is something fascinating but WHAT we are going to do there is!! We have the whole day planned. *Hehe* This day, Lin Kooi drove 5 of us, including himself down to Sydney early in the morning. We wanted to catch dim sum and Max Brenner in Sydney CBD before the climax of the day. I suddenly came out with the Harbour Bridge Close, Road Close issues due to the World Youth Day. Oh crap! Now how can we get in? We have no choice but to park our car at Chatswood and catch a train in. However, we couldn't find a good parking - i.e. a cheap one. Guess what, we drove into the parking of Chatswood Shopping Centre and realised that the first 3 hours for the parking was absolutely free. Wow, this sounds like a good deal isn't it? But wait till you read further, you will cough out blood like we nearly did. AUD40.00 maximum for one day!!! Without seconds thoughts - 5 of us shouted out, GET OUT!! Just before we wanted to try our luck at the next nearest train station, Lin Kooi's friend called. We found out that there's a good dim sum at Chatswood Shopping Centre. Oh well, since we are already in chatswood, we might as well just have our dim sum here. So, there we go... back to the parking! *Haha* The road in sydney is something like in KL, once you miss the turn, you have to go one big round. Same goes to this place, one big round back to the shopping centre. Just then, we found out that there was one cheap parking near Chatswood train station!!! AUD11.00 for the whole day? This sounds a better deal! "Let's come back after dim sum!" So, we parked our car at the free parking in the shopping mall while having our dim sum there. The dim sum was fabulous, though I think dim sum in Malaysia taste better. It cost us about AUD17.70 per person and it is reasonable too! Everyone felt contented after the meal! *Happy happy*

Next, we headed towards the so-called cheap parking. In fact, it was even cheaper than AUD11.00 because they charge until 5.00pm on Saturdays and it's one dollar per hour. By the time we parked our car there, it's already almost 1.00pm! Do the math yourself! The train ticket from Chatswood to Central wasn't that cheap. Cost us AUD4.60 per person two-ways but there are around 9 stations apart? So, it's not that bad. Normal price in Australia anyway. Due to the World Youth Day, everywhere is crowded. The train, the stations, the road sides, the roads... Basically everywhere, every corner. These are not important anyway. The important event is at Darling Harbour - Sydney imax!! Yup! We have planned this long ago to watch The Dark Knight!!!

The Dark Knight - imax experience!!! Hurray~~~~~

Oh before I forget to mention, we had no time for Max Brenner due to the inconvenience caused by World youth Day. So we headed to imax straight after we reach central. Speaking of the imax ticket, it's only AUD16.00. It was originally over 20 dollars, but we went in a group of 12 and they gave us a special offer. What's more? All the seats for all 3 screens for the day were sold out! Luckily we had our tickets booked prior to the day. Stupidly, the seats were not allocated. So, if you really want a GOOD middle seat, you have to line up VERY early. Probably one or two hours ahead? I don't know. We queued up 30 minutes ahead and the line was already "snake-shape". What's more to say? The movie was GREAT! I don't understand why some people, like Jesselyn's friend said it was boring and some reviews said it wasn't that good. BUT for me, I really LOVE it! Come on, it's Batman!!

After movie, we went to Hurricane Grill at Darling Harbour. Once again, we booked this place a week in advance. Can you imagine that they can only fit us in at 6.00pm because other times were fully booked and we booked it A WEEK IN ADVANCE!! Their speciality was the Grilled Pork Ribs. Half cage was AUD26.00 and the full cage was AUD32.00. HL and I planned to share one full cage, but Sze Yee and Jesselyn wanted some too, so 4 of us shared one full cage. They also wanted the New York strip so both of them further shared the steak. It was not enough for us, especially HL since he is a big eater and originally planned half a portion, became a quarter of the portion. I didn't want to share the steak because they wanted it medium rare and earlier that day, we had this "beef tendon/ligament" at dim sum which I find it quite disgusting. I stole a piece from them though. The side piece without blood. It was very tender. Although it has no sauce, it's not dry either. However, I cannot say I like it. I still prefer the pork ribs.

Since it's still early, Jesselyn suggested going to Max Brenner. Yay! Since we have missed it earlier that day, we can finally fulfil our craving. Jesselyn, Sze Yee and I shared a double Belgian Waffle while HL and Lin Kooi shared another double Belgian Waffle. KH did not order anything though. Other than that, Sze Yee ordered a dark hot chocolate and I ordered a pink granito ice shake. Honestly, the waffles were not enough for me. But they are really GOOD!

Great time flies. After Max Brenner, it's time for us to head back to Newcastle. Reluctantly say goodbye to Jesselyn and we were off to Chatswood to get the car.

No photos because never take any. xD!! Good memories are meant to be kept to yourselves. =p

*****

An estimation of money spent...
Transportation: AUD15.00+AUD4.60
Dim Sum: AUD17.70
iMax: AUD16.00
HurricaneGrill (Shared pork ribs): AUD8.00
Max Brenner: AUD10.00
Total: AUD71.30

AUD71.30 for a memorable day trip, worth it~!

PS. Get tuned for my Surprise surprise surprise Part II!!