Day 1 - All my bags are packed, and i'm ready to go...

Dear Readers,

After a completely depleting and exhausting attempted sight-read of Paganini's 24th Caprice, a drained theokwek sends us the first pages of his diary from the Australian Odyssey he embarked on in the past week. Here are his fond recollections (and photos)...

We left early in the morning of the 10th of December, just four hours after a meal at the Changi Airport Mac's with YangZhi and TzeYan's family. I think it was the last cheap meal we had in one and a half weeks. Yep.

So we arrived in Sydney Australia, spirits sky high. After touching down and getting the bags (and crashing through the extremely tight customs - it's worse than NY's JFK airport) we met up with Jess and Andrew and Abigail, who went earlier to recce a few days before we left. Jess immediately planned a quest for the Airport Post Office so we set off to find it while the Dads were waiting for our rented cars.

5 stamps, 1 postcard and 2 cars later, we left the airport.

First we checked into our motel room at Comfort Inn, West Ryde, Sydney, Australia (I shall leave out the last two from now on) and Dad and I changed into shorts (!!) and slippers (!!) Little did we know how unappropriate this attire would be for a tour of the city centre but it was too late.

So we went for lunch and shopping (for essential travel supplies) at the mega-minimart Woolworths. I discovered that this was probably the same chain as our Cold Storage because their motto is "The Fresh Food People" too.

We were immediately struck by the hugeness of the Australian diet: (a whole chicken and a mountain of chips and a tub of salad for LUNCH!!)

And the beauty of their roadside plants (this is one we saw at the motel garden):

So after buying cartons of water (for the long drives to follow) and breakfast (for the next few days) we headed off for the McQuerie Chair Park via Arts Gallery Road. And this offered a glorious view of the city centre from across the river. Here are two photos:

But from a distance shots weren't enough for us, and soon we headed off to the CENTRE OF ATTRACTION itself. Here... i present... cough... the Sydney Opera House

That was about enough photography and chatting and laughing and eating for a day, so we headed back to the motel (after spending a bomb on the Sydney Opera House parking) and slept soundly and peacefully.

Next day to the BLUE MOUNTAINS!!