6 days in Sydney

Mandatory "arrival" pic

My sister and I were almost always last minute planners and packers when it comes to travelling. It was hard to plan early with the kind of work or boss that she had. But anyway, though we wanted a long visit to Sydney, we can only do 6 days because of the above reason. Arrive on a Saturday afternoon and then return on a Friday night. A small budget did not really help much in making an itinerary but I think we made it work for us. Here are a few tips:

1. In Singapore, Scoot has a promotion every tuesday but it is best that you look at the trend. Sometimes, other days are cheaper than booking on tuesdays. Our return fare costed SGD 1,455.18 with just 20kg baggage. I know, but we booked it last minute because again, of leave😟 They say, you  may even get the same price with Qantas. Just do more research about it but at least you can have our price as a comparison.

Purple trees near the apatrment

2. Airbnb - the hotels were very much a pain in the pocket so we resorted to checking airbnb. Fair enough, we did find one that is near Central Station and was in a new apartment. It was at Forrest Lodge and the owners travelled out of Sydney during most of our stay there so we basically had the house for ourselves even if we just rented a room. It did cost us AUD 505.00. No regrets with this as we felt comfortable and safe in that place. A word of advise though, it is best to research for the exact location of the unit/house that you have chosen, read the reviews and most of all, check frequency of bus/public transportation and it's exact distance to any facilities. We had a few friends who just booked away having seen how nice the unit is but only to find out it is actually a very far walk to any bus stops. They would shed pales of tears first before they can reach home after a tiring tour day.

Bus stop signs

3. Tours and things to do - with the very limited time we had to plan, I think my sister did a good job. For our first day, we experienced a local "market" activity at Forrest Lodge. Thereafter, we proceeded to Darling Harbour to wait for the weekly fireworks. The weather was nice for us - not too cold and definitely not hot and humid as in Singapore. But as we waited through the night, it proved to be too cold with my arm hairs standing straight and my feet could barely walk. It was funny, we had to buy coats to help us cope with the cold.

Panoramic view of Darling Harbour

Just because of the word "Cathedral"

Our second day was a Sunday and we definitely planned to go to Church. We attended mass to a Cathedral outside Townhall Station. At first, it seemed like the ceremony was done differently that what we are used and then we realized that it was not a Catholic church. It was Anglican. Feeling that it seems rude to just leave, we waited until it was finished. For me, it's all the same. Still glad we were able to go to church. The rest of our days were spent with the free walking tour. There is a group which leads tourists on a "free" walking tour around Sydney City which is good if you are keen to walk for almost whole afternoon. From what I can remember, from Townhall, they led us to St. Martin's place, St. James where we can see the Hyde Park and St. Mary's Cathedral, to QVB then to Sydney Opera House. For more information, you can check their website at Free Walking Tours. They do not charge but feel free to give any amount.

Harbor Bridge photo op with sister

loving the weather at Sydney Opera House

Blue Mountain was what we did on our third day. We did not book any tour. We just booked this ticket that entitles us to unlimited rides. Yes, we love extreme rides and the Steepest Railway did not disappoint. We only had to do this trice though as we did not have enough time. We just took the train from Central to Katoomba and back. I guess, we should have done this on a Sunday had we known that every Sunday, fares are only to a maximum of AUD 2.50 except the airport line. So there you go, another tip. What amazed me during this trip is that how some stations are very open, tapping stations are just on a pole, how we can freely eat and sleep inside train.

As I have said, we love extreme activities so we did Skydiving for our fourth day. The day started

me skydiving

early for us. We had to be picked up at Holiday Inn hotel by 6 am and then bring us to Wollongong. I slept through the ride. Upon arrival, they briefed us on what's going to happen and then we waited for our turn. It was a bit of a long wait though, considering we had to be up earlier than 6 am. However, the experience was all worth it. Here is a video compilation of our skydive.






Our fifth day was our retail therapy. We went to DFO Homebush and was able to get some good deals. The google maps was really helpful to get us to places such as this. Afterwards, we had dinner with our Singapore friends who recently moved to Sydney.

Bondi Beach was the last on our list but alas, that day was so hot we could not stand to stay longer. The trip to Bondi was longer that the time we spent there, I reckon. We just quickly had our lunch, took some photos by the beach then went back. We spent the rest of the day sleeping in our airconditioned room.  That day, the landlord was back and they told us that Thursday is a late night shopping day so most shops close around 9. They close at 5 pm on usual days. Our eyes glittered when we heard that and we rushed to the nearest mall - Broadway Shopping Centre. We were so happy to be in Target for the first time and bought a lot of cheap items. This led us to our next problem. We only had 20 kg baggage and our latest buys may cause us to be over. With less than 24 hours before our flight, we cannot buy more baggage. We did manage to hand carry the rest so it's all good :)

Also, we subscribed to Singtel's Australia roaming charge for a cheaper rate as compared to relying on Australia's free net which is very slow.  So there you go, these are some of things you can do in Sydney for 6 days. It truly depends on your interests but I reckon the free walking tour is best for all.