December 31st '08 - January 4th '09 Sydney, Australia

"Happy 2009!"

31st of December 2008, we caught an early morning flight from Gold Coast to Sydney. It was nice of Jerry to pick us up at the airport which gave us a bit more relaxing time at our Ibis Olympic Park hotel before heading out into the city centre later in the evening. Our Olympic Park experience was very good. Novotel ran the Ibis check-in counter, the lobby was very impressive as for any Novotel hotels. The construction that turned the former dump site into an Olympic Park for the 2000 summer Olympic games in Sydney is beautiful. although a bit of a commute via train from the city, the park is filled with beautiful hotels and venues. We didn't have much choice as all the hotels in the city was booked up.

We caught a train into the city later in the evening, grabbed a quick bite at a Korean restaurant, before headed down George Street towards the Rocks, there we squeezed ourselves into the crowd and hung around for the fireworks. The 9pm show was good and the midnight show was grand. Sydney is world known for its fireworks display. It was amazing and I think it could have been a lot more enjoyable at a further distance because our best view was the bridge, rather than all three barges.

On the 1st New Years day, we visited the famous fish market. We think is because of New Years that it wasn't as packed as usual. The three of us enjoyed a seafood lunch by the harbour and took a drive a by the famous Bondi beach.

Our first two nights were at the Ibis Olympic Park, while our last two was at another Ibis in the city on Pitt & Liverpool, right across from the World Square and a stroll away from Queen Victoria Building, Paddy's Market, and Darling Harbour. On the first night in the city we did a lot of walking around the World Square before the four of us headed for a moonlight cinema. On our last night, we simply walked around downtown and too pictures, especially around Darling Harbour and Sydney Harbour. We later on waited till it got dark before heading out again for night shots after a Korean dinner.