Sydney

Last weekend Phil and I went to Sydney. Phil has his CFA exam in the exhibition centre on Sunday and we decided to stay a few days longer and do some sight seeing.

Saturday
Philippe spent his whole Saturday in the library studying for his exam. I went for a run from the hostel to the Botanical Gardens, to the Opera House where I started walking and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. Then I walked to the Rocks where a market was on. Here are some pics of my Saturday run:

My first stop on the run: view on the Opera house and the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Markets at the Rocks (the old part of Sydney)

Opera house & Bridge on the way back

Sunday

On Sunday Philippe had his exam in the exhibition centre from 9am to 12pm and from 2pm till 5pm. I went to Paddys Market in the morning.

Wikipedia:

Sydney's Paddy's Markets is a commercial enterprise that has two large markets in Sydney. Sydney's Paddy's Markets specialise in the sale of fruit, vegetables, fish, clothes and giftware.

In the afternoon I went to the Rocks to catch up with Gaby, one of our roommates at Malanda Place. Unfortunately it was raining :-( We did the markets and then we went to the Belgian Beer Cafe for "ne Kriek"!

After the exam of Philippe we caught up with a friend of Philippe and we went for dinner.

Monday
On Monday we visited the Chinese Gardens. Very nice! Some pictures here:

We walked around in Darling Harbour and then we relaxed on Town Hall Square.

Pyrmont Bridge @ Darling Harbour

Chilling in the relax chairs at Town Hall Square

In the afternoon we did a guided tour. The guide was a local and was really good! We now have some nice stories about Sydney and the history of Sydney. It was a 3 hour guided tour from the Town hall to Hyde Park, through George Street, Martin Place, Circular Quay, the Rocks... below some pics.

Queen Victoria Building (Shopping Centre)

The Talking dog and the guide

Hyde Park

The pig

There are 2 places to rub the statue to bring you good luck.. the nose and ... 

(if you look well at the picture you can see 2 shiny places)

Big Christmas tree at Martin Place

Jessie & Bob

 

Phil & the Harbour Bridge

As it had rained during the guided tour and we needed a break after all the walking, we went to the Guylian Belgian Chocolate Cafe. Mmmm...

In the evening we went to the movies... Don't ask me which movie we saw... I fell a sleep!

Tuesday

On Tuesday we walked to the Opera house and the Harbour Bridge for some more sightseeing.

Then we took the boat to Cockatoo Island as there was a Street Art Exhibition. Some pics from on the boat:

The art exhibition:

After the boat trip back to Circular Quay we climbed the bridge. Nice views up there!

The Opera House

Circular Quay

The Bridge again :-) 

Then we walked to the botanical graders to a nice look out point and waited for sunset.

Before sunset

Sydney by night

ooooh

Jess & Phil

On the way back to the hostel we passed the Town Hall which was bueatifully illuminated! These are just a few pictures:

Wednesday
On our last day we went to Bondi Beach. Unfortunately it was clouded and cold again so instead of tanning on the beach, we did the Coastal Walk along some of the other beaches.

Bondi Beach

The Icebergs pool

Me & Phil

one of the other beaches

Bondi Beach again

Wednesday afternoon it was time to get on the plane to the Gold Coast. We had a great time in Sydney, but the weather could have been better. For me it was the second time that I visited and the second time in the rain. We wanted to go the the Blue Mountains but decided not to go because of the weather... 

This morning I went for a run at 6.30am! We (me and 2 other friends) did a 5km run and some exercises on the way we got all wet because of the rain! After studying, Phil and I went to the broadwater to play with the beach rackets my parents had sent by mail. We are trying to break there record, a rally of 140 hits without missing... after one hour of practising we got to 56... but then we gave up. We also bought a little Christmas tree today to decorate the house! 

Cheers,

Jess & Phil