Travel Guides and Stories

This travelogue boldly mentions: Fish Market

Jan 18–27: my husband and I took our 4-year-old daughter and 9-year-old nephew to Sydney and the Gold Coast. Sharing some photos first—enjoy!

Sculpture in front of St Mary’s Cathedral

A remaining fragment after St Mary’s Cathedral was damaged by fire

Strolling the paths of Hyde Park

Ice cream was delicious, a bit pricey—AUD 4.5 per stick

Parking near St Mary’s Cathedral is tricky and expensive—very much like Beijing. The difference is the blue sky, green lawns, lovely environment, and fewer crowds. On Hyde Park’s emerald grass, lounging on a bench, watching the three kids (plus a friend’s child) play while pigeons waddled nearby—no noise, no pressure—I almost dozed off.

The Fish Market is famous, but smaller than Beijing’s Jingshen Seafood Market. It’s spotless, without any fishy odor. Counters with fish, oysters, and other seafood are very clean, and prices are truly reasonable. Perfect spot for lunch.

Queen Victoria Building (QVB) square

LEGO mosaic inside the aquarium

Underwater tunnel

Close encounters with amphibians in the aquarium

Free playground at Darling Harbour—the three kids had a blast

Day 4 · Jan 21

Took a ferry to the zoo. You can’t hold koalas for photos here—only view them in their enclosure and you need to book in advance.

Took loads of shots of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from the boat.

The bird show was a highlight—with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge as the backdrop.

At 4 pm we toured inside the Sydney Opera House and happened to see a newlywed couple having their wedding there.

 

 

It rained in the morning. By the time we were at the wharf, it tapered off, but the sky stayed gloomy—so the bridge and Opera House have stormy backdrops. Australia really does get a lot of rain—we truly learned that on the Gold Coast later.

 

Bird show

 

Day 5 · Jan 22

Chinese New Year’s Eve. Many places in Sydney had Chinese banners celebrating the Year of the Dragon.

Our friend made dumplings for us.

Afternoon flight to the Gold Coast.

We flew Virgin—aside from water and coffee, all food and drinks are paid, but you can simply skip them and pay nothing.

Car rental was smooth. We’d booked online, just showed a credit card and a translation of the driver’s license. Apparently no notarization needed—self-translation works.

We’d booked a Camry. Tank was full; car was spotless. Leaving the car park stumped us—no ticket! Remembered there was a code on the rental folio—found it and exited fine. The GPS we borrowed kept looping audio and wouldn’t turn off, so we tossed it in the boot and followed road signs. Our area was “Surfers Paradise”—a long name, so signs took some effort. Luckily my husband has a built-in compass and great sense of direction, so we reached the town, then easily found the hotel after asking once.

This was our New Year’s Eve dinner at our friend’s place.

 

 

 

 
Gold Coast car rental

 We'd planned to rent for three days but ended up keeping it five. It really saved the day when we returned to Sydney, too.

 Our Gold Coast hotel room. Since we’d registered two adults and two kids, we got two double beds.

 

 

  

Complimentary champagne from the hotel—we remembered to take a photo only after, so it’s a bit of a mess.

 

Day 6 · Jan 23

All day at Sea World—loads of fun. A sudden downpour drenched everyone except me; I was under a shade having coffee.

They start clearing out at 3:30 pm and close at 4:00 pm.

In the evening we shopped along the Gold Coast strip and bought lots of UGG boots.

 

Shopping haul

 

 

Day 7 · Jan 24

Movie World today—rainy, so many outdoor rides were closed, though plenty of people still played in the rain.

We didn’t miss the highlights: Hollywood stunt show, 4D movie, and lots of characters parading for photos—Batman, Monroe, and more. Before we knew it, it was 4 pm closing again.

 

 Queueing for the 4D movie

 Rides right at the entrance—tickets are all-inclusive; once inside, rides are free

 

 

Hearty farewell dinner—thank you, dear friend!

 

 

 

Jan 27 · Day 10: flew back to Beijing.

This trip was truly different and fun. Later the news said many roads from Brisbane to the Gold Coast were flooded and closed—including the service road we saw underwater on the way to the airport. If we hadn’t acted fast, two hours later we might not have gotten a car or even onto the road. That night, family back home saw the news about heavy rain disrupting all transport in eastern Australia and called to check on us. We played it down so they wouldn’t worry.

 

 

Our trusty Camry that worked so hard for us—photo for the memories

 


 

 
Close-up of the Sydney Opera House

 

 

 

Since the Opera House is the symbol of Sydney—and even Australia—we had to shoot it from multiple angles

 

 

 

This one was taken on an iPhone 4—seems prettier than the DSLR shot above