Land of Kangaroo - New South Wales (Part 1)

Day 1 : Mascot - Dural

Hello again Australia and Hi New South Wales. After a long 8 hours in AirAsia X D7222, we finally arrived Kingsford Smith International Airport at 9.10 am (GMT +10.00). It was not a hassle at the airport so we had ample time before pickup time for our motorhome. We had breakfast first at the airport and later we took a cab to Mascot which is a few minutes away from the airport. We booked our motorhome with Travellers Auto-Barn and waited more than 2 hours before we could really dump our stuff in it.

Our driver was not so accustomed on driving manually geared vehicle, so it took him some times to 'acclimatized' with it. If in Malaysia, I considered him as rule-breaker, here in NSW, he seemed to obile 100% to the traffic rules Hahaha...why? Because any traffic infringement would cost us AUD50 per infringement (for the company administration fee), on top of the summon needed to be paid before leaving Australia. This was something we didn't feel good but heyy, no harm would occur if we strictly abide the rule right?

We used the GPS to navigate our way in NSW, throughout the trip. So our first navigation led us to Woolworth supermarket in Mascot. We bought groceries for our breakfast; milk, bread, oranges, pasta, pasta sauce, chocolate drink and others. By the time we were done with our shopping, it was almost getting dark. It was winter here, by the way.

We set the GPS to Sydney Hill Tourist Park which I mistakenly thought to be the nearest caravan park to Sydney city center. But it was more than 20 km away and we had to pass through traffic congestion where people started to leave Sydney city for home. Around 6.30 pm, we arrived Sydney Hill Tourist Park, which was located at Dural district, and lucky there was vacant powered site for our motorhome. We unpack the groceries bought earlier and arranged them properly in the small organizer. It was so cold and I started to have running nose. We were supplied with a gas stove so I boiled some water. We had hot chocolate which became cool chocolate in a matter of minutes.

We were tired with the winter cold and long flight, so we had early sleep.
By the way, there was not a single picture taken today.

Day 2 : Sydney

Good morning Sydney. That was what I thought of when i woke up in the morning. And it was freaking cold to. After having hot shower, we prepared breakfast which was tuna mayonnaise sandwich with hot chocolate and tea. Our check out time was 10 am, so after breakfast we went around the caravan park to see if there were chances we could snap several good photos. It was a refreshing morning and we had lovely walk around the caravan park. There were trees with yellow and red leaves, which made me feel so excited. And this was my first experience where I found a wild cockatoo, nibbling fruit (or something) in the topmost part of the maple tree.

Morning view in front of Sydney Hill Tourist Park entrance

Wild cockatoo on a tree top, nibbling on maple fruit 

This surely a maple tree right? 

Colourful birds on the tree where we parked our motorhome

Done with the short walking around, we headed to Sydney city. We parked our car at Milsons point and walked along Sydney Harbor Bridge. The sky was so blue and cloudless. It was fantastic for our camera to get nice pictures, if not perfect. The Sydney Opera House was really inviting and while walking, we recce the places where we could settle for nice scenery. There was also a fort in the middle known as Fort Denison. The view of the luxurious apartments at Kirribilli was stunning too. I wondered how much did it cost for a unit of such apartment there. We didn't have much time because we parked our car at the 2 hours limited parking area, so it was impossible to explore the city in 2 hours time. We returned back and headed to Kirribilli and spend more time taking pictures there.

Apartments at Kirribilli facing the infamous Sydney Opera House as viewed from the Sydney Harbor Bridge

Couldn't believe my eyes, but I have been there.

The Fort Denison

Sydney Harbor Bridge

A must have picture when visiting Sydney

Sydney CBD skyline viewed from Kirribilli

Next thing we did, we moved our motorhome to a parking area near the Circular Quay. Looking at the parking rates, my goddddd....bloody expensive. AUD12 for 1 hour parking. But it was a lot cheaper to park   at the roadside than to park in the buildings' parking space. So we jumped off and hoped in to the Hop On Hop Off bus which costed us AUD40 per person, valid for 24 hours from time of purchase. We totally forgot that we have parked our car in Sydney and later we realized we made a horrible mistake for purchasing the HOHO trip. After 3 stops, we disembarked from the double-decker bus which was exactly the centre of Sydney. We observed the life of the working people in this area and some of them were pretending to be busy and some people were indeed busy. There were ships selling shoes, boots, and clithing at great discounts but they didn't seem to be cheap enough. We drop by a souvenir shop as well and bought too many things for friends and relatives. Prices were generally more expensive than in other places. We passed through Queen Vistoria building,one of the shopping malls in Sydney but didn't bother to go in. We took pictures of it instead. There was another place known as Victoria Square (if not mistaken). The buildings here have typical European style which are stunning and lovely. Later, we got back to our motorhome and guess what? We paid AUD47 for 3 hours parking. Dannggggg!!!

Queen Victoria building

Victoria Square

We drove out of the parking area and tried to find other place to park our motorhome. We couldn't find any. So the last resort, we parked our car at the basement of Sydney Opera House. Decision to park our vehicle at the Sydney Opera House was a good one because we got to see the Opera House very closely. All sorts of poses for our cameras were out and the best part was when I jump in my stiletto boots. Haha..I thought I would have damaged those boots but fortunate enough they survived until today. The sun started to set and the views of the Sydney skyline, the Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House started to change colour and environment. The clouds reflected the sunshine which made the buildings looked golden. Patches of clouds made the Harbor Bridge looked more dramatic, though I couldn't perfectly take the photo shots that reflect my words.

After having a serene time at Sydney Opera House, we decided to take the HOHO bus (since we have paid for it) to Hyde Park. We passed through the library, hospital, conservatorium and several other buildings. Hyde Park was a  nice place to relax and there was a fountain with decent sculptures on it. It was almost dark so the environment became a bit dull for me. The park would be awesomely beautiful in the presence of  sunlight. Opposite the park, was a huge cathedral, St. Mary's Cathedral. It was not as huge as Notre Dame or Duomo in Milan but I love to see the beautifully engineered building of religious sites; mosques, cathedrals and temples. And later, we saw the Sydney Tower in the twilight setting. It was almost 5.30 pm so we took the HOHO bus (maybe the last bus of the day) back to Sydney Opera House to get our car. While riding the bus, we passed through Kings Cross, which according to a friend, was and is still red light district a.k.a capital of sin in Sydney. Hehe....I missed the fun to observe this place. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not a pervert but I just want to see how people handle their time here. It was already dark when we fetched our motorhome and it costed us AUD36. Siggghhhh....that was a lot of money All in all,we wasted AUD200 for the parking and not-fully-utilized HOHO service. That was a lot of money, wasn't it?

Yeahhh babehh!!

Sydney city when the sun started to set

Another view of Sydney Harbor Bridge from the Opera House

Fountain at Hyde Park

St. Mary's Cathedral

Sydney Tower

After a full day in Sydney, we headed back to Sydney Hill Tourist Park. We were quite starving, so the girls did the cooking, and the guy did the washing. We had Bolognese spaghetti and pumpkin soup at the properly designated kitchen. It was a lot more comfort and a little bit warming then having to cook at the motorhome site.

That was the end of our 2nd day in New South Wales

(Continued to part 2)