The Land Down Under - Two Weeks in Australia & New Zealand

 A long while ago, we had made plans to travel to the land down under. Flights were booked, accommodation confirmed and bags were packed. All that was left was to pick up those bags and set out. Unfortunately, the dreaded Covid set in and laid waste to all plans. Now that the world has reopened its gates to travelers
, we reworked our plans and, all excited, began a new adventure.

Our first stop was the capital of New South Wales and Australia’s largest city, Sydney. To get there, we flew Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong. HK itself brought back so many happy memories. As the plane began its decent, all the sights felt so familiar, especially that of the Ngong Ping cable cars and the Tian Tan Buddha. Made us decide that a revisit to Hong Kong deserved some serious thought.

SYDNEY

Given the fact that we were losing time, we arrived at Sydney well after dark. A cab drove us the short distance to Arncliffe, to our accommodation at 7 Hirst Street. The room was fairly clean and comfortable, offering a view of the pretty rooftops in the neighbourhood.

View from the room

The apartment was a ten minute walk to Arncliffe Station. Along the way, there are great choices for eating at Espresso Haus. Their coffees are good and their meals are also great w.r.t portions and taste.  During the course of our stay, we learnt that this eating house was quite popular with the locals. Every morning, there’s always a line of people queuing up for a cup of coffee and every evening there are folk sitting at the tables enjoying a coffee and a bite to eat.

Each day, we’d take a train from Arncliffe to Wolli Creek and change lines, alighting at Circular Quai. It’s advisable to check for updates at the station. On certain weekends, as on the first day of our stay, busses replaced trains up to a designated point from where you could then hop on a train.

On day one, we took the replacement bus to Wolli Creek, and then, a train to Circular Quai, an absolutely fun place to be in. It’s a neighbourhood that’s very popular with tourists, comprising of parks, malls, restaurants, and heritage structures. Often known as ‘the gateway to Sydney’, this bustling harbour hosts a number of ferry quays and is also an international passenger shipping port. The pedestrian walkway also offers super views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the famous Sydney Opera House.

Once here, at Circular Quay, we purchased our travel cards, the Opal Cards. As in most places, getting travel cards and topping-up whenever needed is the cheapest and most convenient way to go around town. Just tap-on and tap-off wherever needed and it’s done.

To begin, we ordered some burgers at Hungry Jack’s, an Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation. While the burgers look quite appetising in the advertisements, we didn’t find them all that good, really. 

Anyway, having finished our burgers, we walked along the quay towards the Opera House. The sun played hide and seek, shining down brilliantly one moment and then hid behind the clouds as they came tumbling down as rain. Still, it was quite a pleasant walk, taking us all along the harbour, past lovely restaurants and happy tourists. We stopped ever so often to admire the harbour, the view of the city and the boats going past the Harbour Bridge. If we squinted our eyes, we could even see people atop the bridge, people who were not afraid of heights and who didn’t mind buying tickets starting at $344, for adults. Do note, prices vary depending on the time of the day you choose to climb, and on whether you wish to do the half climb, or go all the way to the summit. Climbing the Harbour Bridge was never on my agenda as I am terrified of heights and will not even attempt climbing a ladder higher than three rungs.

Continuing our walk, we walked around the Opera House, with its large, glistening, sail-like exterior, known as ‘shells’. Formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973, the Opera House is one of the most famous and distinctive buildings in the world.

A number of tourists can be found sitting on the steps, enjoying views of the harbour, the quay and the adjoining Botanical Gardens. After spending some time hanging around the Opera House, we walked back towards the quay and around towards The Rocks, an interesting neighbourhood of historic laneways, that come alive on weekends, with street markets, musicians and lots of yummy things to eat. This area has some of Sydney’s oldest pubs, upscale restaurants and heritage listed buildings.

Cutting across First Fleet Park, just as we were about to cross George Street, we spotted an elderly Asian gentleman seated on a bench. Beside him was perched this beautiful, large, colourful parrot. I would have loved to click a picture of the feathered beauty, but the man seemed most cross when he saw me fishing out my phone.

Across the park, away from the cross bird-man, George Street is lined with the most interesting looking shops and restaurants. One of them, the British Lolly Shop. Although I didn’t purchase anything from here, I was quite thrilled to explore this shop because it looked like it had popped out of an Enid Blyton storybook. There was a British tin soldier and a very pink piggy in the display at the entrance and the shelves were lined with glass jars filled with colourful sweeties with names like Sherbet-Lemon Drops, Chewy Apple Bonbons, Fizz Bombs and Citrus Bears. There were more varieties than I could count and I would so have loved to try them all, but it had been a while since our last snack, and we were ready for lunch.

We had a lovely meal, sitting outdoors at The Baker’s Oven Café, a family-run restaurant. We ordered the very juicy Open Special Burger and the Salt and Pepper Squid. The meal ended with some coffee.

Continuing along George Street, we turned left into Argyle Street, heading towards La Renaissance Patisserie & Café, a delightful French Cafe. Judging by the very long line at its entrance, it seemed to be very popular. While you might be tempted to sit at one of its few street-side tables, I suggest you head towards its inner courtyard. It’s cosier and more charming. Perfect for a relaxed time spent chatting over some coffee and their famous almond croissants. The latter leave the shelves pretty quickly, so get here early if you hope to sink your teeth into this flaky, almondy treat. Another must-have at La Renaissance, is a delicious little dessert called Monet. It’s a white chocolate and vanilla bavaroise, on a base of almond and coconut meringue, layered with raspberries and a lychee jelly centre. Just the memory of it makes my mouth water and my soul, happy.

The first afternoon we visited La Renaissance, it was almost closing time (yes, it closed at 4pm) and the last almond croissant was bought by my husband. Not wanting to go leave without trying at least something from the café, I opted for a ham & cheese croissant. Seeing as they were almost shutting shop, the girl at the counter handed me two croissants for the price of one.

On weekends, The Rocks is a great place to be as it comes alive with a weekend market. There’s a lot to explore if you like unique art, street-musicians and food. We quite enjoyed ourselves here, and would highly recommend that you don’t give this a miss when you decide to visit Sydney.

Walking back across the quay, we then spent some time exploring the Royal Botanical Gardens, Sydney, a beautiful green space that is also used as a venue for events. Opened in 1816, it is the oldest scientific institution in Australia and one of the most important historic botanic institutions in the world. People were walk along the promenade, sitting on the grass enjoying a picnic, or just enjoying some quiet time, seated on the lovely wooden benches placed at various spots.

The next day was spent exploring Taronga Zoo, by far, the best zoo I've ever visited. The ferry leaves from Jetty 4 and tickets are available at the jetty, but are available at discounted rates when booked online. The no-so-lengthy ferry ride is very pleasant and offers great views of Circular Quai and the Sydney skyline. Once you reach Taronga, you can either walk up to the zoo from the lower level or take a bus to the upper entrance & walk your way back down to the pier. Do the latter. You will not regret it.

Very well managed and beautifully set-up, this non-profit zoo has much to see and do. Since the zoo is spread out across a large area, we found the map to be very helpful in finding our way around. We saw a huge variety of animals such as Koalas, Lemurs, Giraffe, Quokka, Elephants, Tigers and lots of Kangaroo. Very amusing was this one large kangaroo sprawling within his enclosure, looking rather coldly at the many visitors pointing at him.  There are also many interesting birds to see at Taronga. I especially enjoyed the walk through the aviary and the rainforest.

At appointed times, zoo keepers provide good information and are open to questions at various spots. This is really worth attending. We managed to catch this at the Chimpanzee enclosure. I must say, I was very impressed with the depth of information the zoo keeper is equipped with and their willingness to interact with visitors and answer their questions. 

We grabbed a bite at the zoo restaurant before heading to watch the seal show. This was an entertaining show that aimed not only to amuse the audience with antics of the seals, but also to educate us about the need to keep the oceans clean.

After a very, very enjoyable day spent exploring the zoo, we made our way back, stopping at Wolli Creek for dinner at a place that served Vietnamese street food. That done, we decided to drop in at Woolworth’s to pick up a few munchies before walking back to Arncliffe, a nice, 45-minute walk in the rain. 

Our last day in Sydney was spent visiting exploring Sea Life Aquarium, located at Darling Harbour. Not sure what to expect here, we were, at the end, quite glad we’d decided to visit here. 

While the sharks and the other fish are interesting to watch, the highlight of this experience is the brief, yet very enjoyable boat ride that takes your up close to the Penguins. Many visitors avoid the option thinking it requires an additional charge, but it’s free. You are seated in a tiny little boat that makes its way along a little ‘river’ cutting through the penguin enclosure. The best part about it is that it’s cold. Really cold. Almost like your very own 2-minute Arctic adventure.

Darling Harbour is also worth a visit, with its many sailboats, restaurants and the pleasant sunshine.

Our next stop, the last on our Sydney itinerary, was a visit to the Sydney Tower Eye that offers 360^o views of Sydney. It’s the tallest structure in Sydney, sitting atop the Westfield Sydney shopping complex. We spent a while here, trying to spot the main points of Sydney – the Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, some churches and Bondi Beach in the distance.

We also dropped into the Queen Victoria Building, a late-nineteenth century building, now functioning as a shopping complex.  

As we are not interested in shopping, our stop here was brief. We headed back to The Rocks for one last taste of Monet, Almond Croissant and Coffee. We also added a Lemon Cheesecake to our order, just for good measure.

                             

The final evening was spent watching the sun set over the city from the Observatory Hill Park, said to be one of the best spots to catch an Australian sunset.

MELBOURNE

When in Melbourne, we stayed in a beautifully furnished studio apartment over someone's garage, in West Kensington. The owner very friendly and extremely helpful, stocking the fridge with crumpets, milk and other essentials we might need, and giving us a ride to the nearest Woolworth’s to get our MyKi travel cards. 

Following her suggestion, we took the train from Newmarket to Flinders Street Station, famous for being the very first steam rail station in all of Australia. Located on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Street, this station is a hub of activity. A very distinctive feature of this iconic station are the clocks at the main entrance. The space ‘under the clocks’ or ‘on the steps’ has been a popular informal meeting place for Melbournians since the station’s opening.

We walked around down Flinders Street, entering the St. Paul's Cathedral, situated diagonally opposite the station. The Cathedral provides informative leaflets for visitors, but one can also use the self-guide app available online. That afternoon, we listened to live music by British concert organist Colin Andrews as part of the Cathedral’s lunchtime concert programme. 

Walking down Swanston Street is a very interesting experience, and one that can be quite enjoyable as well. There are plenty of quirky street installations, art and performers. I especially loved the street marker outside the State Library, Victoria. It’s like a giant pillar that’s fallen to the ground, lying half buried under the earth. 

Walking around, we stopped often, to admire street art & to listen to some fairly skilled street-musicians. I I found it all to be very interesting. We had some coffee at Cathedral Coffee and then, after heading home, ordered in some Thai food from Pims Thai Cafe. 

The sun sets very early here, leaving the streets dark and deserted by 5pm. Even shops shut early, opening much later for dinner, and then stay open until 10 or 10.30pm.

The next day, we ate a lot of crepes, both savoury and sweet. The latter were better and absolutely yummy! Tis was at a French eatery called Roule Galette. 

Everyone here speaks French and there are French newspapers plastered over the walls. The Roule Galette is a popular place, serving a variety of crepes and coffee. For breakfast, we tried some of their savoury crepes and then took a long walk towards the Royal Botanical Gardens Victoria.

Founded in 1846, these gardens are a great place to visit and spend a good many hours in. They include a mix of native and non-native vegetation. Picking up a map at the gate, we enjoyed a leisurely walk, amazed at the superbly managed gardens and the many sections within, such as the Grey Garden, the Herbarium, the Fern Gully and the Australian Forest Walk. There are benches placed at various spots, and I especially loved one that was almost hidden beneath what has to be the biggest tree I’ve ever seen. The public restrooms are also planned in a manner that they fit into the surroundings. Entering one seemed almost like walking into a rustic little shelter in the heart of a forest.

Before leaving the gardens, we spent some time by the lake, watching the ducks & swans swim by.  

                         

Back in the room, we rested a while & then took a long walk across the park, towards Kensington station. The train had just left and the next one wouldn’t come by for thirty minutes. So we continued walking until we reached Newmarket. After buying a few things at Woolworth’s, we had dinner at Pho House. The portions are huge, but the meal was not very good. The Seafood Laksa I ordered had lots of tofu and just one big shrimp in it. And the stir-fry smelt funny.

AUCKLAND

We were in Auckland for just two nights. The place we had booked into was extremely pretty with orange trees and a lovely stone staircase, somewhere along Peary Road. 

The homeowner had a dog named Buddy. The first afternoon, on our way home from a brief walk, a black dog trotted behind us right up to the gate & began barking up at the house. Buddy, barking in delight, trotted downstairs accompanied by our host. We learned that the black dog was Buddy’s friend who often came a-visiting from next door. They opened the gate, and both, Buddy and his buddy went trotting up the stairs all excited for their playdate. 

Having reached Auckland fairly late in the day, we chose to order-in that night. Philly Steak Burgers from a neighbourhood joint were what we tried. Simple, but not bad. 

Early the next morning, with just one day to see what we could see of Auckland, we began with a sumptuous breakfast at Orvieto Café, along Mt. Eden Road. 

That day was a very wet one, with frequent showers and really strong, almost cyclonic winds. In fact, the winds were so strong, the traffic across the Auckland Harbour Bridge was shut for a little over an hour. We tried clicking a few pics at the deserted pier, but we were no match for the winds which would surely have flown us off the pier if it wasn’t for the pillars we were hiding behind. My husband’s lens’ case wasn’t so lucky. It got pulled out by the wind and went rolling into the waters. 

We spent our time walking around, braving the wind and the rain, stopping every now & again for pictures. For lunch, we stepped into The Coffee Club Café. While the husband ordered coffee and some pastries, I, eternally hungry, tucked into a large Seafood Platter of deliciously crispy squid, shrimp and fish filet. I wiped the platter clean.

The next morning, we were driven to the airport by a chatty Sri Lankan lady who shared with us her experience of living in Auckland and tales of her family.

QUEENSTOWN

Travelling to Queenstown was an experience in itself. Air New Zealand offers the smoothest self-check-in and baggage drop service. The flight was comfortable and the crew were friendly and very cheerful. Queenstown Airport is the prettiest and most picturesque airport I have ever seen.  

As we neared Queenstown, the pilot advised us to look down on the beautiful expanse of snow-cowered mountains below. We were flying so close to those mountains that I could see the shadow of our plane. 

It turned out that all of Queenstown is breath-takingly beautiful. The sparkling lake bordered by the mountains, the streets and the quaint looking shops, it was all lovely!

Our room at Fernhill was very comfortable and had an awesome view of Lake Wakatipu Lake and the snow-capped Remarkables. The very best feature of the room is that it wakes you up to the most majestic sunrises, if you are willing to wake up nice and early.

The weather was cold and needed us to layer up before stepping out.

We bought the Bee card for local transport. It’s very convenient and makes local travel very cheap. The bus, comes by every 30 minutes so it’s important to download their app and check updates for cancellations, if any.

On day one, we walked around Queenstown and feasted on burgers at their famous (always crowded) Fergburger. Starting in 2001 as a humble burger joint dishing out the most juicy and creative burgers, today this popular eatery stands on Shotover Street alongside their Ferg Bar, Ferg Baker and Mrs. Ferg Gelateria.

The menu sports some interesting names – Cockadoodle Oink, The Codfather, Sweet Julie, Little Lamby and Sweet Bambi. The latter two are rather heartbreaking, me thinks.

The Boston Cream Donuts from Fergbakery are delicious, and so are the ice-creams. Among others, I tried their White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake flavour. It’s divine!

We spent the rest of the day walking around town, exploring the shops, the pier and the many lovely restaurants there, before heading back to our room.

The next day, after breakfast, we visited Arrowtown, an old gold-rush village located on the banks of the Arrow River, 19.5kms to the East of Queenstown. The heart of this historic place is Buckingham Street, a narrow street lined on either side by heritage buildings, now functioning as cafes, restaurants and the like. Keep your eye out for buildings such as The New Orleans Hotel, Gold Nugget and the Post Master’s Cottage. There’s also the Arrowtown Museum, a delightful little space that houses the most interesting of exhibits. It takes you back to the lives and times of the earliest settlers and gives you a glimpse of Arrowtown as it was back in the day. The exhibits are well laid out and very informative. You get to walk through the old print shop, the pub and distillery, the blacksmith’s workshop and the schoolroom.

You also get to learn about the transition from old to new. Most entertaining was a peep into the doctor’s operating room, where you get to watch a funny shadow play.

In many of the exhibits, there is something placed that isn’t meant to be there, and visitors are encouraged to spot these odd objects & find them all. I think there are thirteen in all. I found ten.

Woke up at 5am the next morning to catch the sunrise on the banks of Lake Wakatipu. It was 1^o outside and very dark at the Saint Omer Park.  We set up camera at the water's edge and waited to catch the sunrise. Two hours we stayed there, watching the sun rise from behind the mountains, trying to stay warm in the freezing cold. A few joggers, dressed in skimpy pants and tops passed us by, quite comfortable in the 1^o cold, while we tucked our gloved hands deeper into our pockets.

Once we’d had our fill of the sunrise, we walked towards town for breakfast, which was not very easy since nothing really opens until close to 9am. Having nothing better to do, we walked around enjoying the place without the clamor and rush of tourists that would slowly start filling the streets with their noisy presence.

With the help of a little map, we took ourselves on a hunt for the Heritage buildings of Queenstown. They’re all right there, scattered around, within walking distance of each other. We spotted the Coronation Bath House, the Masonic Lodge, Williams Cottage, a Flood Column, Eichardt’s Hotel and the William Rees statue on the lakefront. We also visited the nearby St. Peter’s Anglican Church.

That same evening, we hoped to catch the sunset on Lake Hayes, but took the wrong bus and lost out on the sunset.

                      

There was poor bus service on our last day in Queenstown. Instead of wasting our time at the bus stand, we walked downhill towards Crowne Plaza. It was a lovely, long scenic walk, one that we highly recommend you try.  Somewhere along the way, we took a detour down a wooded trail as well. That turned out to be a really super thing to do.

Back at the mall, we tried out Devil’s Burgers. Delicious, but so huge, we struggled to finish them. Having eaten what we could, we paid a short visit to the nearby Botanical Gardens. 

There is a lovely play area at the entrance and what one might call a musical bridge. We didn’t explore too far into the gardens, just a short, winding walk leading back to the town.

We then visited Kiwi Park, nice, small and interesting, family-run wild life reserve that is dedicated towards protecting and preserving the native species of birds, especially the Kiwi. Walking through the reserve, we spotted birds like the Whio, Brown Teal, Morepork, Buff Weka, Scaup. We also met the Tuatara, a lizard-like reptile belonging to the reptile family called Sphenodontia.

The Kiwi Park creates an awareness of the importance of protecting native species that are decreasing in alarming numbers due to predators such as possums and rats.

Finally, after purchasing a few souvenirs, we took the bus back to our room. We had a flight back to Sydney the next morning. It was the end of a wonderful vacation, one that was long overdue.

Back in Sydney, we spent the night in a shared apartment somewhere along Princes Highway, not very far from the Airport. We just managed to have a quick dinner and grab a few hours’ sleep before it was time to call for an Uber and make our way to the airport around a little after 4am. Quickly going through security check, we found our gate and then went for some breakfast and much-needed coffee.

Now that we were heading home, the tiredness was setting in. I think I slept through the entire flight to Hong Kong, waking up only when meals were being served.

The flight from Hong Kong was packed to the hilt, with passengers and their many bags. The crew had quite a task trying to fit all the bags into the overhead bins. A loud group of Indian men, taking full advantage of alcohol being served, stood blocking the washrooms, believing the aircraft to be their own personal bar. A spoilt little girl three rows behind us spent the entire flight throwing tantrums about anything and everything. It was rather annoying, but after watching a movie (or two), I was able to drown out the sounds and fell asleep.

What did I like best about this vacation? I’d say it was all really splendid! Australia and New Zealand wasn’t really on my bucket list, but I’m glad I visited. Looking forward to another adventure in another part of the world. For now, Haere rā.