Taronga Zoo and its strange inhabitants
Yan wanted to see koalas and kangeroos. We found out that apart from those, there were a host of other indigenous animals at Taronga Zoo whose names I cannot even begin to translate in Chinese for Yan.
They included:
the wombat
the platypus
the kookabura
We did get up close and personal with a koala though. We paid AUD$19.90 for the Koala Encounter, where we could get this close to a koala, take pictures of it, get a complimentary photo BUT not touch it nor cuddle it nor feed it! Hmph.
We also saw some other cute mammals that made us go "awww".
Happy Feet, anyone?
This was rather funny. We spotted those giraffes in the background from some distance away. They were just standing there motionless, chewing away from their pails, and we thought that they were fake, and just statues of giraffes! ^^
Yan commented, "The quality is too good already, until we thought they're not real."
Not forgetting this pretty sulky lil gal...
Strawberries on The Rocks
The Rocks is at the north of Sydney, near to the Sydney Harbour and where the iconic Sydney Opera House stands. The Rocks was where the indigenous Cadigal people lived for thousands of years, followed by the British convicts, and it eventually grew into a vibrant community, much like how Singapore started out as a port city.
And of course, the name lends itself to many allusions to liquor poured over ice cubes, i.e. whisky on the rocks. 2 examples which we visited over the next few days were: Vintage on the Rocks, and Pancakes on the Rocks.
Here we are below in S's car going to The Rocks for brunch. We were really thankful that S, Yan's teammate back in Guangzhou, drove us around almost half the time, saving us a great deal in transportation. Auntie, S's mum, joined us sometimes, though her nagging irritated S a bit.
After the enormous brunch, we walked around at the weekend market. 
Spotted these 2 cool bikes while leaving the market.
Auntie bought us chocolate-covered strawberries! Even though we protested on account of our bursting tummies, we managed to finish all of them. Fruits after meals are considered healthy right? Hehe.
S was rushing for her coaching, but upon hearing that I was looking for macadamia nuts for friends, she drove us to this factory which manufactures many types of nuts sold at shops and airport at inflated prices. The packets here cost between AUD9 to 11. The factory is called "Hong Tai Food Company", but unfortunately I do not have the address of the factory. 
S dropped Yan and me at the Direct Factory Outlet at Homebush to shop our afternoon away. Yan went crazy over Havaianas, which I admit are freaking cheap there. AUD15 as compared to S$60+!
We had our dinner at a Chinese seafood restaurant, where I ended up not eating most of the delicacies, like below. Yan said the food I left on my plate formed a smiley face. -_-
S's clubmate paid for the meal, and as Chinese culture dictates, we were obligated to repay his kindness. In our case, Yan had to "sacrifice" herself, as she joked, to play badminton at their club that evening. I am proud to say that the pair of S and Yan beat all the men's doubles pairs which went up to "challenge" them.
Spring in Sydney - Day 1
Having 2 major holidays in a year has not been my style for 4 years. However this year I really needed a break from everything. A casual shoutout on my MSN nick attracted Yan, who also needed a break from her hectic life. We tossed a few suggestions for destinations around, then finally decided on Sydney in end September, which was the transition from winter to spring. After booking our SQ tickets (on promotion, only about S$800 then!), there was no looking back.The fun part before the trip was checking up on the weather daily about a week before, as friends had warned that it was erratic but also said that the forecast was accurate. However, with daytime temperatures hitting an average of 20 - 22 deg C and night ones falling to 8 - 10 deg C, it was really tough deciding how much winter wear to bring! In the end, I tossed a couple of (cotton) sweaters into my luggage, together with my Birks and a pair of berms, and hoped for the best.We touched down in the evening of 24 Sept (Friday), and only got to our youth hostel at Sydney Central at 6+ pm. Winter means short daylight and sunset was about 5.45 pm. So in short, dark and cold.This was taken at about 6.20 pm local time.
Dinner was at a Cantonese restaurant down the street and round the corner. I am sorry to say that we ordered shao la (BBQ pork and char siew) with Yang Chow fried rice, and we could not even finish the meat dish.
We joked that we cannot reveal what we had for our 1st meal and made up incredulous comments from friends which all went along the lines of "You went to Sydney and ate Chinese food?!"The rest of the evening was low key; we acquainted ourselves with the surroundings and sourced for cheap water. A regular bottle of mineral water in the convenience stores costs about AUD2.50 - 3!Oh, and I discovered Yan had no concept of cam-whoring. What a refreshing novelty! So of course, I had to guide her along for the next few days.I leave you with her best pose for a walking-along-the-streets shot.Yan with no idea how NOT to look at the camera
