Bound for Bondi Beach

July 5, 2005

After catching some sleep in the train from Melbourne, we finally arrived back in Sydney. Since we still have a day to spend here, we decided to use the last voucher that came with the train pass we bought: a return bus fare to Bondi Beach, the world famous beach.

Arriving in Sydney Central Station

For breakfast, we bought some burgers at a nearby McDonald's and soda in a 7-11 Store

Since it's winter time, the beach was deserted except for some brave few souls surfing the waves

Finally, Melbourne

June 27 - July 4, 2005

Finally, 5 days after leaving Brisbane, we were on our way to Melbourne. After taking a bus in Canberra we were dropped off at Cootamundra where we were to catch a train bound for Melbourne.

It was already dark when we got to the city where my wife's sister picked us up and drove us to their place in a suburb about 1 hour away from the city. We were to stay there for about a week.

Since my sister-in-law and her husband had to work, we were left to ourselves to explore the place. We spent most of the time going to the mall and around the neighborhood in the suburb. Every now and then, we go to the city via train. Since the bus going to the train station is not that often, we usually hitch a ride in my sister-in-law's car who also goes to the city to work.

Federation Square

Flinders Street Train Station

Canberra: Australian Capital Territory

June 25 - 26, 2005

Since Canberra was within the area covered by our train pass (via a bus), we decided to include it in our itinerary. Again, a former classmate offered their abode for our 2-night stay there. However, the planned bus trip from Sydney to Canberra did not materialize. Instead, my ex-classmate in Sydney offered to drive us to Canberra to also meet our classmate there. Apparently, they have no idea of each other's presence in Australia.

When we got to my friend's home in Canberra, we were showed to our room. After a few niceties, he invited us to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

After lunch, we went to the Federal Parliament Building. Being a weekend and no sessions were held, we were free to roam around the complex.

Side trip to Sydney

June 24, 2005

We took a lot of detours before we got to our final destination: Melbourne. Since we have two weeks to complete our travel to return to Brisbane, we decided to make stopovers, 2 nights in Sydney and 2 nights in Canberra.

With our first full day spent in the Blue Mountains, we decided to use the free day trip ticket that came with the train pass. The ticket gave us full access to buses, trains and ferry within the Sydney area. Without any actual plans of what to see, off we went to explore Sydney. All we really wanted to see were the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and the QVB. How to get there, we have no idea. 

The train system was quite extensive and all you need to know is where to get off to reach your destination. Very early in the morning, we took the train going to the Circular Quay train station to catch a ferry going to Harbour Bridge. I just can't remember why we picked the place. Anyway, that's what we did and from there took a ferry bound for Darling Harbour. We spent almost half a day exploring the place.

Day Trip to the Blue Mountains

June 23, 2005

Going to the Blue Mountains on our way to Melbourne was not in our original plan in 2005. However, when we bought the Backtracker travel pass, which gave us two-weeks train pass from Brisbane to Melbourne, it came with a free return ticket to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Since its free, we included it as a day trip.

Fortunately, a high school classmate of mine offered their home for us to stay during our 2 night stopover in Sydney. So, when our train from Brisbane arrived in Hornsby, my classmate picked us up at the station and brought us to their place. We had breakfast with his family and right after got a lift from his wife who was on her way to work and uses the train going to the Sydney CBD.

We took a train going to the Sydney Central Station where we were to catch another train going to Katoomba. We heard earlier that it snowed their the night before, so were so excited to go there. This would be our first time to see real snow.

 Upon arrival in Katoomba, we bought our tickets to a hop on - hop off bus where it passes through places of interest both in the towns of Katoomba and Leura. It's a double-decker bus where the bus driver also acts as a tour guide as he keeps the passengers informed of what we are seeing at any given moment via his public address system.

Theme Parks in Gold Coast, Australia

Studying in Australia for 1 1/2 years from 2005 to 2006 gave my family and me a lot of weekends to explore Brisbane as well as the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. 

Travelling by public transport and going to theme parks is not a problem as you can plan your journey by simply logging on to Translink, a website which gives you the schedule and what buses/trains/ferry to take and where to take it. 

Fortunately for us, since I was a student then I got a concession fare with a 50% discount, my daughter rides for free as she was less than 6 years old then. It's only my wife who pays full fare.

It takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours one way to get to the theme parks in Gold Coast, so a day trip there coming from Brisbane is possible. We usually wait for discount vouchers found at the back of grocery receipts to save some from the entrance fees.

It was only through browsing my multiply account that reminded me to post these photos. Multipy by the way will no longer be supporting the photo sharing by the end of the year but will focus instead on e-commerce or something to that effect

Dreamworld

This has the fastest and wildest rides among the three parks. Unfortunately, most of them cannot be ridden yet by Angel at the time because she was too young.

This is also the place where the Australian Big Brother is being shot.

watching a show of sponge bob and friends

the claw

Our two week trip around Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne

I was fortunate enough to be given a scholarship to finish my masteral degree at the University of Queensland in 2005. My family joined me in Australia about 2 months after I got there. My wife wanted to visit her sister in Melbourne but lack of funds made us defer the trip.

We started planning on how to go there the cheapest way we can. It was then that I came about the website of CountryLink which offered a travel pass where one can travel almost anywhere between Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne by train/bus for two weeks for about A$200. The pass comes with four bonus CityRail passes. First there's a DayTripper ticket so you can travel all day on Sydney trains, buses and ferries. Next is a return bus/train ticket to the famous Bondi Beach. And then there is a return train tickets to Katoomba, heart of the scenic Blue Mountains. You can choose between making a day trip or staying in the mountains for longer. The good thing with the pass is my daughter travels for free since she was less than 6 years old then.