Exploring Sydney on a Budget

Yesterday marks one month since we arrived in Sydney. Time passed quickly yet slowly depending on I-don't-really-know-what factors. Even though we are living abroad as a long term visitor (for me at least while Mr. H is hard at work), it would not be right to not make time or effort to explore the city. As we aim to balance budget & experience, we managed to find and complete five activities without costing us an arm and/or a leg.

1. Free walking tours Sydney
This is a great "short cut" way to learn more about Sydney city. While the tour is free, tipping your guide is expected at the end of the tour (that is how they earn their $$). The tour runs three times a day (rain or shine) at the following times - 10:30am, 2:30pm and 6pm. The first two sessions would cover the same sights while the 6pm tour is a different one.

If you do decide to join the tour, my advice would be:

• wear comfortable shoes/sandals/footwear - it's a lot of walking and you need to keep up with the group.
• bring a raincoat or umbrella (in case it rains).
• sunscreen and sunglasses
• cash (for tips).

For more information on this tour, go to http://www.imfree.com.au/sydney/index.html

2. Scenic walk from Bondi to Bronte

View from Bondi to Bronte

You are not limited to walking, you can also jog along the route. We noticed quite a number of joggers/runners covering this route. The view is also awesome and perhaps does help motivate the runner to complete the distance.

If you're not exercising, taking this walk is still worth while - the views are amazing and there are ample of opportunities for picture taking. Along the way, there are also boards with information regarding the history of the place, local conservation efforts, flora & fauna etc.

It was a sunny day (don't forget your sunscreen, sunglasses and also a cap/hat) yet it was breezy. It reminded me of my walk on my way up to Gunung Tahan in 2003. Felt like I was walking in an air-conditioned outdoor room.

In the event you are tired or short of time, you don't have to complete the whole distance. Just take one of the many exits and you are free to head back home (via public transport) or head to the shops nearby for a cuppa.

3. BBQ Picnic at Palm Beach

Bring your own BBQ set or use the grills provided for public use (it is free). The BBQ area itself is opposite the beach, closer to the golf course. This is probably a calculated move as the winds are strong by the beach - making it harder to maintain a fire right? 

Once the picnic is over, feel free to head to the beach for a swim or for some sand play.

Palm Beach

4. Mrs Macquaries Chair

Mrs Macquarie loves to watch the ships enter the harbour. Her husband asked his men to carve a chair from stone so she can sit and continue watching the ships comfortably (this is my version as I remember). 

The chair is close to the Botanical Gardens. In fact, we made a small detour into the gardens on our way to the chair (we were gifted with the magnificent view of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and a huge liner in return). In order to kill two (or more birds) with one stone, you can coincide this visit with a picnic or a jog or a run etc.

5. Sydney Fish Market

This is a popular stop, not only among the tourists but also locals for fresh (and perhaps cheap?) seafood. You can choose your seafood and get them to cook it just the way you like it and enjoy your freshly cooked food outside overlooking the harbour. We have not experienced this exactly but did get the chance to yamcha at a restaurant on the 2nd floor :p

Not bad for the first month eh?

Goals & KPIs

My new year's resolution is to achieve 12 goals/projects by the end of 2014. One of them is this blog. The other 11 will be blogged.. haha. At point of writing, only 6 have been defined. With Mr. Husband away at work, I can now focus on achieving these goals.

Goal #1: Read the Quran daily (or almost daily and "khatam" at least once)

Truthfully, I have not started this yet. After several attempts to purchase one here (silly me for not bringing a copy over), I resorted to asking my mom/brother to send a copy over. Although I know copies are available online, I do like reading the hardcopy - even for normal books. More on this later.

Goal #2: Sew clothes (e.g. blouse)

Before arriving in Sydney, I successfully completed a blouse in 13 hours. Since this goal was achieved very early in the year (my empress cut turned peplum blouse was completed on 28/1/2014), I decided to expand this goal further. I am now working on a scrub cap (the kind you see on Grey's Anatomy & Scrubs) and hopefully a baju kurung Kedah.

Goal #3: Be comfortable in the kitchen

Initially, I was going to name this goal "Learn how to cook decent meals" when I realized I can cook especially when I have recipes at hand to follow. Whether it tastes nice or not, that's a different story altogether :p 

I am just not COMFORTABLE in the kitchen. After 2 weeks of constant cooking, I can say I am more comfortable in the kitchen and I can further improve on this. I am just not sure how I will measure this goal. Any suggestions?

Goal #4: Sort & Print my wedding pictures

Hahaha.. it's been nearly a year since I got married and my pictures are still not sorted nor printed. I am not referring to the wedding highlights - those were ready 6 months after the wedding. I am referring to the other pictures that would generate more interest among the relatives & family members - the ones where they appear in it (nope, they are not interested in the storybook version).

I am just too lazy to go through the 3000+ pictures (with digital, everyone's trigger happy these days).

Goal #5: Sort, Print & Arrange pictures from my Scandinavian trip (include write up)

This trip took place way before the wedding. In fact it probably led to the wedding as they say, absense makes the heart grow fonder.. heh heh. This goal is much easier to achieve as opposed to Goal #4 as I would be happy reliving the memories of the trip (not that I am not happy to relive the wedding moments, just that no one is trigger happy here).

Goal #6: Maintain a blog

m-e-o-w has been around for many years. It started off with Multiply and now it's on blogspot.

A few years back, m-e-o-w went into hibernation. With many changes and firsts taking place in 2014, now is the best time for m-e-o-w to wake up and get going again.

The target is to have a minimum of 12 entries. I seem to be on track to achieving this goal. Today's entry is already the third one. Yay!

Update 28/3/2014: I have since re-branded my blog to Lyn, Life Explorer and will focus more on life's (experiences, observations and self-realisations).

Goals #7 - #12: To be defined

I don't want to rush into this as these are personal goals (unlike work related goals where your bonus is tied to it). At the end of the day, these goals are meant to help me grow and improve myself on a personal level - be it knowledge or skills. As soon as they are defined, I will update them here.

I will share the progress of my goals by blogging about it from time to time. In the meantime, have a great Sunday!

Maintaining a routine (with adjustments)

Today is not only Valentine's Day & Chap Goh Meh, it also marks 2 weeks since leaving home. We arrived with 80kgs of baggage (60kgs checked in & 20kgs of cabin baggage) with no place of our own. 

The biggest concern was to look for a place to rent ASAP. Lucky for us, we managed to rent a place within the first week of our arrival here. The next few days were spent assembling furniture, furnishing the house etc. With setting up house nearly done, I decided to get back into my KL routine (sans work of course).

First thing on the list is to read news.. except I am not sure if I should read Malaysian news or Down Under news. If the latter, where should I source my news from? Hahaha.. I decided to continue reading Malaysian news and just get local news from TV.

Next would be the TV shows - yes, this is a major decision for me now, see what my priorities in life these days are? Hahaha... What are the channels should I watch? I do not have cable TV and totally dependent on free tv. At this moment, I have been watching TV shows that were premiered when I was in Form 2 e.g. Beverly Hills 90210, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, Star Trek etc. Can't seem to find the latest comedies/sitcoms. I also watch a lot of the Winter Olympics Live Telecast. Someone please.. tell me what are the channels I should be watching :D

I am also attempting to be active again in my whatsapp chat groups. Not easy due to the time difference. When I am ready for bed, everyone else is just off work and ready to be chatty. When I am awake and chatty, everyone else is still in bed. Must find a way to work this one out :p

Other than maintaining a routine, I also managed to do the touristy stuff. Yesterday, we took a walk along Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach. It was probably a 4km walk under the scorching sun (to me) except you feel like you are walking in an air-conditioned room due to the cool winds. Needless to say, I am now tanned.

Bondi Beach on a Thursday - these people seem happy to be working on a tan.

Today, we took another long walk.. this time to Mrs Macquarie's Point (located closed to the Botanical Gardens if not within) to check out the view of the harbour and also her chair. Since we were walking in an "air-conditioned" environment, the walk was a pleasant one despite my shoe trying to kill my heel and big toe. Along the way, there is a lovely view of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.

Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Radiance of the Seas (ship)

Along the way, we saw many couples having their Valentine's picnic -- something you would not see in KL (not only couples will have face the heat from the sun, they would probably have to face religious authorities as well). We ended our walk at the Opera House. With all this walking, I do hope there will be positive changes in weight (lighter) and shape (slimmer)!

Monday onward, a new routine will take place - Mr. Hubby starts work and I can finally focus on my other 11 projects (some are identified, some are not).

Have a great weekend all.

We moved Down Under

Sunny day at Sydney Harbour Bridge

I thought it would be USA but ended up in AUS. Still the same letters, just different in different positions. Making our big move on the 1st day of Chinese New Year, this year will be full of firsts for the both of us.

My resolution this year is to complete 12 goals/projects in 2014 - roughly 1 project a month. One of these include having an active blog. I have not decided how often my entries would be and I will not stress myself by having a rigid update blog schedule. Hahaha.. this is obviously an escape clause for me. 

I have not explored Sydney much except for the shopping malls (mainly the household departments) as am busy setting up house. I did join the I'm Free Sydney Walking tour (http://www.imfree.com.au/) and had a great time walking approx 10km. The finale of the tour is a clear view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (I snapped the picture above) and the Opera House (no picture as the view was blocked by a HUGE ocean liner!).

That's all for tonight. While writing this post, I decided in order for me to know if I have met this goal, I must have at least 12 entries (this being the first). 11 more to go.

Living out of a suitcase

In the past 5 months, I've spent 50% of it living out of a suitcase. Through this experience, I've learnt:

1. that I have way too much clothes in my present wardrobe.
2. I only need a maximum 10 sets of clothes for a 3 week trip (you can actually survive with 6 sets).
3. that I've mastered the art of packing for leisure & work.
4. I know how to pack for different durations e.g 3 days to 21 days.
5. You don't really need your hand luggage. Most of the time it's left untouched from the time you board till the time you disembark* (even if it's a 15 hour flight).
   
   * this would not apply if you had kids, or have a 5 hour transit to a connecting flight of 8 hours.

So the next time you decide to pack your whole bedroom, STOP. Pick out what you *think* you need and then reduce it further and you'll be fine.

Leave all the what ifs at home.. and if you really need to bring more than you should, make sure it's the undergarments.

Mt. Kinabalu 2009 - A mother & daughter trip

My 3rd trip to this mountain, although only my 2nd with my mom.

The objective this time was for my mom to get to the peak (since her last attempt failed, but my first was successful). 

This trip proved to be a difficult one for me. Well, of course it would be difficult -- for someone who didn't train, what else would I expect? A walk in the park? Hahahaha...

Well, a walk in the park it wasn't. It started well enough.. my mom and I not far apart during the hike up. However the adventure did not really start until it reached Laban Rata.

The hike from Gunting Lagadan proved to be too much for me. From the start, I was feeling nauseous and giddy. I attributed this to the fact that I was probably sweating beneath all those layers of clothes that I had donned - 2 pairs of thermals, 1 long sleeved t-shirt, 1 soft shell jacket, 3 pairs of socks.

However despite peeling the layers off one by one, the feeling did not leave me.. in fact it magnified. It came to a point I could not see my way as my vision was blurring. It dawned upon me, Mama will have to do this alone (not really alone since there was gonna be a whole lot of others with her, just not me). Not sure how to break the news to her, I kept this to myself.. and tried to convince myself that I will feel better with each step.

We walked at our own pace - me ahead and Mama trailing behind. There would be times I would sit by the rocks and wait for Mama to catch up. Despite my constant breaks and rests, I did not get better.. getting worse ada lah. Upon reaching the rope section, I broke the news to my mom - I was gonna walk with her towards Sayat-Sayat hut, and decide from there whether to continue to the peak or not.

I was not sure how she took to the news, but I think she was more concerned about the rope section.. which was fine by me. Ginik assured me that there was a bed I could sleep on at Sayat-Sayat.. which surprisingly motivated me to at least get to that hut! Hahahaha..

Upon reaching the hut, with my head pounding, strong urge to throw up and my super-blurred vision, I choose to stop. My mom was on her own (and with Darshini of course). Handing my mom my backpack, she continued on her quest to conquer Mt. Kinabalu with Ginik and Darshini. I in turn, slept for the next 2 hours. Upon waking up, I turned left and made my way down to Laban Rata (didn't even cross my mind to walk to the peak).

Mama made it to the peak. Yay!!

The journey down to KK Park was a treacherous one! We were all suffering in our own way, and in such situations.. the true me emerges. Hehehe.. Mama got irritated with me and told me off. I in turn decided to walk ahead and wait for her at the huts instead. I made a lot of new friends along the way.. which was fine by me.

One by one, the injured hikers were walking pass by me, while Mama was still behind. At the hut after the 2.5km mark, I decided to wait for Mama and we walked together from then on. It took us over 2 hours to cover 2km but arrived we did. Thank goodness!

As with all mountain trips, it's not about conquering the mountain - but what you can take back from there. There were many lessons learnt along the way, but I'll highlight only the below:


Lesson #1 - Age is not a factorMy mom was one of the oldest participants in our group, and it didn't stop her from reaching the peak.

Lesson #2 - Move at your own paceThis is not a race. Walk at a pace that works for you. The main aim is to reach your destination in one piece!

Lesson #3 - Know your limitsListen to your body and trust it! Stop when it says stop!

Lesson #4 - Know the difference between physical/mental limitationsIt's important to know if it's a physical or mental limitation you are going against. If your mind says no, but your body says yes.. it is still a can-go situation. However if your mind says yes, but your body says no, it could be a dangerous situation if you decide to go ahead.

Lesson #5 - The Mountain Ain't Going AnywhereIf you can't make it this time, it's ok. Come again next time. The mountain ain't going anywhere, it will wait.

Lesson #6 - Have a good reason in whatever you doThis would save you the trouble from asking yourself again and again "why the hell are you doing this?!?" 

I am seriously retiring from this.. hahahaha

3-in-1 Posting

1. Hunt for the hammerheads - Kite Island, Sabah
After a 3 month self-imposed ban on diving, my immediate diving adventure was to hunt for the hammerheads in Kite Island, Sabah.

Diving in Layang-Layang is very different from my "normal" diving conditions.. I mean the deep blue was.. well, deep blue.

The hammerheads proved to be elusive to us, the closest being the origami towel hammerhead design which was requested by my roomie, Sue. The house-keeping personnel probably felt sorry for us and agreed to create one for us. Hehehe..

However we were presented with a group of devil rays (6 of 'em), a trio of reef sharks, a large school of giant jacks (can be classified as a university) and apparently there were sightings of manta rays.

As with other dive trips, the company was great! Strangers ended up as friends, while friends.. remained as friends.

2. The Ruins of Yesterday (Above Water)
My next destination takes me across the Straits of Malacca. To ensure that we could maximise this trip, we took the first flight out to Jogjakarta. This just re-enforces my belief that I do end up getting up earlier when I'm on holiday compared to when I am working.

Prambanan (a Hindu temple) did not really appeal to me, as I had expected. Perhaps the early morning flight had affected my ability to soak in the wonders and beauty of this place. This place had a lot of sand too.. and I was in sandals.. which didn't go well with me.

Due to an earthquake in recent years, this temple is currently undergoing restoration works and from the looks of it, it will be restored to it's magnificient state.

After a short break, we headed to this place called the Kraton or something like that. It is actually an old palace which is turned into a museum. Nothing much here except for mannequins dressed in the attire for different types of ceremonies participated by the royal family of the place. I wasn't really paying much attention to it.. so whatever I terms I just used could be wrong also. Hahahaha..

Finally, we ended up in Borobodur. This temple, just wow-ed me. It was a one piece work of art, still standing magnificiently. There was a story to it, etched along the walls of the temple. We didn't take the services of a temple guide, so we ended up making our own story as we went along. Hahaha.. most of the time was spent taking pictures anyways.

3. The Ruins of Yesterday (Underwater)

Another dive trip within 2 weeks. I'm on a roll here! Hahaha.. This trip was a leisure trip and ended up diving whenever we felt like it. After the near-like disappointment of the hammerhead trip, I'm happy to say that this dive trip was a "rediscover the pleasures of diving" experience. This was also my first time diving together with Din after a lapse of 3 years (the last dive, made me wanna quit.. but to be fair, he wasn't my buddy then.. hahaha).

First dive itself, I was awed. I "met" all the fishes that I have seen before but somehow did not get to see them in my recent dives. This somehow made me feel at home. What made it better is, I am now able to spot some marine life all on my own, without being dependent on the Dive Master or Din. Yay!!

The wreck dive was pretty alright too.. although the current towards the end of the dive made it tiring for me. So tak payah eloborate on this dive la :p

I love the last dive the most! So many things to see.. so relaxing too.

Well, that's it for this 3-in-1 posting.