4 signs a kangaroo might wanna sock it to ya

Soon it will be holiday season and some of you will be descending on Sydney and among one of the must do activities is to go see a kangaroo.

Imagine if you are that kangaroo and have to put up with annoying humans wanting to touch you every other day. Who wouldn't be cranky right ? But you know , while the kangaroo may look like a soft toy , it can deliver a kick that can fly you to New Zealand free of charge. From what I observed , kangaroos in Sydney conservatories and enclosures , aren't particularly fond of Chinese people and white kids . Incredibly , it loves the attention Japanese women shower and cooooo away at them and that category of people are the ones that can single handedly get away with every kangaroo shot you ever wanted for yourself.

The rest of us will have to look out for these signs below.

1. The eyes are closed. Tail ramrod straight between the legs. Like it's gone for Anger Management Classes and is trying to find inner peace.

Only the brainless sasquatch would attempt to touch it. Oh wait a minute , that's me 

Ribs & Burgers - 2nd visit

Yesterday, I found myself lusting after the steak while wondering if they'd ever feature Mr Movember Moustache at their food blogger masterclass. Mostly women were in attendance at the recent event, because well, if you didn't know already ladies, they've got some really fine beefy specimens outback

at the grill .

Wow Mr Movember , I never thought those silly looking old fashioned moustaches  could make a man look so attractive.

Loaves and the Dishes - Leura

Stopped for a meal at the local deli in Leura called ...

Scenic Cableway - blue ride both ways

The weather up in Katoomba Scenic World can mist up pretty fast. So if you're pressed for time ...drat . Btw , how many times have I said it before, I just love this app. Love it to bits.Time. Date. All there , so handy and helpful for forgetful people like me.

Katoomba Scenic World - Skyway ( Yellow ride )

The rides at Scenic World aren't cheap. Since it was part of our itinerary, it was either we cough up the excluded fee and take all 3 rides , or wander around for the next hour and a half. 

Henry's advise was to go do the Yellow , then Red and Blue rides . Heed him we did, 

 only we spent too much time on the bush trail, partly because my partner did not believe the time indicated to get to Echo Point . Believe it. Learn from our mistake. There is no way you can walk there and back in 15 or 20 minutes. Also we did not count on enjoying the short trail until we got so carried away, we almost lost track of 

time.

Anyway, part of the appeal lies with the glass floor which is highly dependant on clear weather. If it mists up, you probably won't get to see the treetops. 

Returning boomerang

All thanks to Henry, who sensed that some of us tourists would be going a boomerang hunting very soon , we received tips on what to look out for , in particular. 

He cautioned us against fancily decorated ones. 

Because according to him, there was a high chance we'd never get it back since it would probably get stuck up on a tree.

" You have to get a Returning Boomerang "

Looks like we managed to get the best of both worlds, functional yet decorative at the same time.

Arisun

Teeming with patrons and open till late, we popped in for a late night dinner. The outside is for smokers hence we were ushered inwards but heck,  they put us near a bunch of Soju guzzlers , it came to a point where the noise level became quite unbearable .

Henry of AAT Kings

This is Henry. 

Lol I hope he doesn't mind me putting up his mirror pic.

He was our guide / driver for the 3rd day .

Cheeky fella who's quite a character. 

The tales he told us , made me think he's something like Gibson, Clooney and Hugh all rolled into one but a Dundee he is not haha

 ( to do with a crocodile encounter )

Fireworks display at Darling Harbour

Thanks to info from John, we managed to catch a big fireworks display at the Darling Harbour. 

The tourism authorities here know how world famous their New Year fireworks display is, thus in the run up to that hotel packing event, they've hatched an idea so tourists don't feel left out. There are specific nights where you catch it a bit earlier and tell everyone back home 

- I've seen it ! -

Very clever of them don't you think ? 

Come an hour beforehand and pick your spot. There'll be people waiting to see it at every available space especially those nearest to the water  .

Super stunning Anna Bay

The next few pictures may look the same to you but I wanna keep them and publish them to remind me of that moment when my jaw dropped.

Moonshadow Cruises - water slide into the boom net

We're at Nelson Bay and the atmosphere is just so vibrant. 

There's a good mix of families having picnics, wading by the shoreline and generally having fun .

As we hurry along the pier to the Moonshadow for yet another lunch cruise, ( what ? ) , I notice that there are quite a few boat homes beside the commercial operators like this Shaolin junk below.

Jam on the Pacific Highway

Using the Pacific Highway can get you all the way to Brisbane.

But you know, this was unexpected. John, our driver grew more anxious as if this was a really bad jam but heh , this is minor compared to Paris, KL, Jakarta and Bangkok.

Guzman Y Gomez - World Square

After the previous night's Chinese sit down 

it was such a relief to find a cute little Mexican cantina.

Part of a flourishing chain , I love what they did with these plastic crates.

70th Sydney to Hobart regatta

If you don't own a dinghy , one other way to get as near as possible to the starting line of the famous event, is by booking a lunch ticket on Captain Cook Cruises. 

Lunch onboard Captain Cook Cruises

Soon it was time to disembark from the bus and get onto a boat for our lunch. Got ready the sickness band but there was really no need for that, this boat is incredibly stable ! No matter how prone to seasickness you are, you won't be sharing your lunch with the seagulls, that's for sure.

He took us places

Had a hearty breakfast before boarding the AAT Kings bus 

BBQ King - Goulburn Street

Our hotel lay just round the corner from Chinatown. We came out quite late  in search of food as I needed to soak my poor feet from all that zig zagging earlier or someone would have to push me in a pram ! 

Anyway we discovered that besides Chinatown , there was now, a thriving Koreatown, also Thaitown. Though there there was no Vietown nor Japantown there were specific restaurants catering to those communities with Sushi bars looking like the most hip thing to hit the area . The growing amount of Malaysian restaurants in the city might one day neccessitate the creation of a Malaysiatown ! 

We looked at the options that were open and Viet was out of the question. Malaysian.... you got to be kidding me. Thai ones were full to the brim. Didn't feel like Korean , so in the end we trooped in here .

(=_=')

Google maps is not always right

Warning : long winded post

We love our smartphones so much that when we discovered that the hotel had no working wifi, we popped into Chinatown to get a tourist sim card. 

Thus for AUS 2 per day as opposed to AUS 25 per day at the hotel , we were able to access google maps so we didn't need to worry about getting lost.

When we finally reached the Opera House, the rainy weather was beginning to get under our skin. Quick nip into tourist shop selling these ghastly kangaroo paws, then out again to look for reasonably priced food to fill our tummy .

A cloudy day's stroll through Hyde Park

White Ibis birds have a fine time picking the grounds fronting the Anzac War Memorial monument

Lindt Cafe , Martin Place - after the tributes

The whole plan was to walk through Hyde Park and see if that would lead us straight to the Sydney Opera House ? Then it started to drizzle and we ducked into the CDB , spotted the name Martin Place . Guess that sums up how we found the Lindt Cafe most unintentionally.  

As you can see, the flower tributes are gone but it still draws pockets of gawkers