Our mini vacation to Sydney

Are you ready for a long post about our mini holiday to Sydney? If not, maybe come back later when you are. :P

SO! On Wednesday James and I got the 3.5 hour bus to Sydney from Canberra. We slept for quite a bit of it so it wasn't that bad...but it did mean it was 21:30 by the time we got there...so late. We then had to get the train to North Sydney, then a short walk, then into the lovely little place we were calling home for the next few days. James' parents and younger brother had left in the car earlier in the day but we left later because I had work. Wednesday wasn't really an eventful day, I just felt like sharing. The place we were calling home was pretty awesome though. It was near the train line, but the train wasn't too loud. We had a living room, kitchen, 3 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms...I think there was also a washing machine if we wanted to do any laundry. Not too shabby. :P We could also see the Harbour Bridge...if we went outside onto the street, but that counts right?

Thursday 4th - Cricket day!

We got up pretty early for the cricket. I'd say around 8:30, which for a holiday is pretty early. Got all ready and tried to find as much pink as possible in my packed clothes to wear for the Jane McGrath day. It's a day to raise money to find more breast care workers in honour of Glenn McGrath's wife, Jane. There was a lot of pink!

The day of cricket was pretty eventful! We got to see quite a few new records set by Clarke.

Highest-ever score by and Australian captain in Australia.

Highest Test Score at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Over 300 runs!

After he had more than 300 runs, and Hussey had reached 150 runs, Australia declared. Meaning we got to see India bat...or see some wickets get taken.

The crowd re-watching someone being caught out.

It was a pretty awesome day.
In the evening we went to Darling Harbour to eat at a brazilian BBQ (where James and I had gone with my Dad). So all in all, cool day. :)

Friday 5th - Harry Potter and Luna Park.
We got up early again to make it to the Powerhouse Museum for the Harry Potter exhibition at 9:30. The trip to Sydney was part of James' younger brothers Christmas present, he is a Harry Potter nut! He also spent far too long in the exhibit, in James' and my opinion. It was interesting...especially to see how small everyone was, but it as really crowded. We'd end up waiting 5 minutes to see a costume, or some sweets. The stuff is interesting, but did people need to stand in front of it for so long? We also weren't allowed to take any photos...so that was my fun gone. :P I'm sounding like I didn't enjoy it, but I did, I just think the Harry Potter module has made me a little sinister towards things that are fanatically HP. That being said, I got myself a Slytherin T-shirt, which I wear as I type, and I got James and I some Muggle Mugs...because I like saying Muggle Mugs...they are black mugs with 'Muggle' written across them in gold.
James and I left ahead of the rest to go an look at an apartment, but half way there we found out it had already been leased. Poo. We still made the long walk to Kings Street and waited to be met for lunch. We took James' family to the Thai place we like to get take-away from. Lunch is $6.50, the portions are large, the food is real good. It's basically awesome. :D It made up for the apartment disappointment.
We then went home for a quick nap before heading out to Luna Park! We had an AWESOME time at Luna Park!! I would so recommend an evening out to Luna Park if you are ever in Sydney.

The view from the Ferris Wheel.

The Ferris Wheel made me nervous...

This ride is awesome!!! 

Lost?

The entrance is pretty creepy.

By the end of our evening at Luna Park I was feeling pretty ill. I don't handle traveling or going in circles very well...but it was fun and well worth it!

View on a walk home.

Saturday 7th - Apartments
On Friday James and I had made a list of apartments we wanted to inspect on Saturday, so on Saturday we inspected them. It was another relatively early start. Up at 8:30, out of the house at 9. but we got to see some apartments. Quite a few of them were grotty, and really not worth the money being asked for them. Others, however, were really nice.
We had time for some brunch between two viewings. We found another awesome place on Kings Street, and had some yummy foods...some of my meals were really not fitting in well with my eating better plan for 2012...but I was on holiday! :P And it was only some.

Pancakes...I could only eat 2, man those things are filling!

We had lunch with James' family, at another lovely place on Kings Street (I think I developed a love for that street on this trip), saw one last place and headed back. James and I had a quiet night in whilst his family went to the Sydney Festival.

Sunday 8th - Chill and 20-20
Sleep in!!! We slept in until 9! Woohooo! Then went round to James' uncles place to give him a Christmas present he would have been able to take back to Sydney after Christmas but couldn't because he crashed his car so took the plane back instead of driving back...yeah it's a long story, he's ok, it was nothing major, all good. We also scanned and printed a whole bunch of stuff for apartment applications. Then we headed out for lunch. He lives in Surry Hills, we liked this part of Sydney too. Sydney is pretty awesome.
Anyhoo, we went to a place called 'bills'. I don't know much about cheffy people, but it's a restaurant owned by a chef called Bill Granger, he's apparently quite well-known...just not to me. There was a 45min wait to get a seat, so we put our name down and went for a walk. I think I'd say it was worth the wait.

My Sesame Chicken Sandwich with spinach, bacon and avocado mayonnaise.

The restaurant was really clean and nice feeling, all the food on display looked so vibrant and fresh, it definitely had a healthy feel about it. I ordered the sandwich above, and oh my was it yum! I only managed to eat half of it in the restaurant, but got to take the other half home. It was delicious. Everyone else's food looked and smelt amazing too, and they all seemed very happy with what they got. The long queue outside seemed understandable after eating the food.
After our yummy lunch we said bye to James' uncle and went back 'home' to do some form filling out. Then off to watch some 20-20 cricket. I feel like people who know me may be a bit surprised with the amount of cricket I seem to be watching, I blame Australia and James. :P It was the Sydney Derby at the Olympic Park, so we went to watch. The 6ers vs. Thunder. We got there a bit late, but the game had been delayed a bit due to rain, so we only missed 10 runs.

The Stadium was pretty crowded.

I love how they wait.

After a pretty exiting game the rain started.

It got REALLY heavy, so the game was finished and the 6ers announced winners.

The crowd was gone pretty quick.

We got soaked on the way back...but it was funny.

Monday 9th - Apartment and back to Canberra
Today we got up at 7, left the house at 7:30 and got to the Real Estate Agents for 8:20. We finished filling in the forms, and handed them in. We then had about an hour to wait until being picked up to go back to Canberra, so went and had some brunch again.

My naughty pancakes again.

Whilst we were having brunch we got a call from the Real Estate Agents saying if we wanted one of the apartments we would need to pay a deposity thing today and that they'll call back when they have processed our forms. So we gave them the deposity thing, and shall be getting the keys to a furnished apartment on Kings Street on the 20th (We have to sign a lease first...but yeah, it's kind of crazy how fast it went. we were the one of two couples that inspected the studio, so we thought it might be likely we get it, but not THAT fast). Yays!

We then drove back to Canberra, I unpacked and sat down to work on this super long update. :P

A pretty good trip if you ask me. :)