// morsels of life //

just had the best (so far) stress-free vacation! :) just got back here in melbourne from a 10-day break in one of the nicest places i've seen, sydney.

day 1, dec 23: our first day in sydney. we arrived at the airport around 9am. our flight was quite safe as we expected. even our train trip wasn't so complicated because the city has a very good transport system. we easily learned the train route on how to go to tita cely's place (woodcroft near blacktown suburb) which is 1 hour away from the city. tonton and i just spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with tita cely and then taking a nap to save more energy for the days ahead.

off to sydney

day 2, dec 24: first day to explore the city. we strolled around the darling harbour and bought combined tickets to sydney aquarium, wildlife world and sydney tower. but since we ran out of time that day 'cause we almost spent an hour in the long queue, we just decided to use the ticket for the aquarium. we enjoyed the sydney aquarium as how we enjoyed the one in melbourne. tonton liked watching the seal feeding show and i enjoyed observing the sharks and stingrays swim above us while we were walking in the life-sized aquarium hallway.

look at that!!!

enjoying the view along pyrmont bridge

then in the evening, we received some christmas presents from tita cely and cousins (eunice & edy). they gave us a pair of bath towels. tonton also got his favorite dilbert book and i got a silver necklace with blue butterfly pendant.

christmas in woodcroft

after that, we got the chance to video chat with some of our relatives and friends in manila and melbourne. we even wore christmas "props" just for fun.

drunk santa? and his cute reindeer, hehe...

day 3, dec 25: we just spent christmas day at tita cely's place in woodcroft. we attended the morning mass then around noon tita cely's filipino nun friends arrived and sang some christmas songs with us. tita told us that this has been their tradition since they moved to the place few years ago.

then afternoon, we had video chat again with my in-laws.

day 4, dec 26: tita cely and cousins accompanied us to westfield mall at parramatta town where we watched the movie flushed away and had italian lunch afterwards. we're supposed to do some shopping that day but sadly boxing day (shopping time after christmas day) is only being done in the major cities in australia not in suburbans like parramatta and blacktown. the stores in the mall are closed and moviehouse is the only places you could go to. oh well, spend less, more savings... :-)

inamorata in parramatta

then before sunset, tonton and i walked around in the lake in woodcroft. it's a nice place for jogging, biking, picnic or simply be one with the nature. we wanna build our own house in sydney someday and hopefully near a lake like that.

sunset in woodcroft lake

day 5, dec 27: again, we explored the city. we dropped by sydney wildlife world which is located right next to the aquarium. 'twas the first time we had a bit close encounter with koalas. the keeper only allowed us to take pictures of the animals. then after we had lunch in harbourside mall, we headed to sydney tower. we arrived at 1pm and sadly the queue was very long already. plus, it was so unfortunate to see that only one lift/elevator was working during those moments then when we're almost near the lift, it suddenly malfunctioned! grrr talaga! we waited for almost 2 hours (whew!) to finally join the batch to go up. and we just spent less than an hour at the observation deck and 30 minutes in the OZ trek (virtual adventure across australia’s cultural history and geography) so i think, it was not really worth enough to go there during those peak times. you'll just be spending hours waiting and can't do nothing about it.

sydney at daytime (view from the tower)

that same afternoon, 'twas the first time we saw the sydney opera house from afar (we were at the other side of circular quay). it's really a scenic spot! i think i fell in love with the place :)

nice view of the house

Labels: sydney