17 July 2006 – updates

More than a week since my last post. Simple reason being: Limited internet access over here at our new rented apartment. Only has internet access when using my office laptop and thus, not very proper to use it for personal use. Had started actual work for 1 week. Really need lots of adapting as the accounting and auditing standards over here is a complete new ball game compared to Singapore. Also, the auditing approach over here is so different and similar in different ways.

Enough said about work. Not gg to blog about work as it would turn visitors to this site off. Also, will not talk much about the new rented apartment that we had moved into yet as everything is still not very tidied and presentable yet. Give me time k… Haha…

Let’s talk about our after-work activities. Let me introduce you to the ‘Paragon’ of Sydney! It’s called Queen Victoria Building (left). A huge historical building boosting of branded names! Haha.. can’t be cheap definitely… din bother to check the prices of coz…

Watched our first and maybe last movie (Superman Returns) in Sydney on a Friday night (were thinking of what post-dinner activities we have but couldn’t find one, thus decided on movie!). Get ready to exclaim. 1 tix costs AUD15.50! To think that we Singaporeans are complaining of ‘expensive’ movie tickets @ S$9,50 on weekends and Friday nights! It is so expensive here in Sydney throughout the week, except on Tuesdays where 2 tix go for AUD17 (very much cheaper!). But, who would go watch movie on the 2nd day of the working week? I would try surely if there is a good movie to catch!

One great thing in Sydney is that there are free concerts once in a while and both Haz and I caught a performance on a Saturday evening at a floating stage at Darling Harbor (left). Cool right? It was an opera-type musical brought to Sydney pple FOC and with a short fireworks finale! Good chance for me to become more cultured in arts over here. Really feels so good to be able to sit by the waters, enjoying a performance with cool (very cold) wind blowing… Awesome!


Okie, now for our weekend sightseeing trip to the Blue Mountains! Hazel’s maiden visit of the wonderful must-visit tourist spot at the West of Sydney. Kudos to Max and his sister for driving us there and back! It was a full 2+ hours drive (1-way)!

We got there early at around 9am and it was such a fantastic sight! Look at how the Three Sisters look at that time and how it looked less than 2 hours later!

You are right if you guessed that it must be very cold. It was soo cold in the morning with strong winds AND also the fact that we are relatively high up in the mountains. We did the ‘Giant Stairway to Three Sisters’ trail – virtually crossing a suspension bridge to touch 1 of the Three Sisters.

We also ‘hiked’ along a couple of the nature trails, which are so refreshing given the cool weather. Highly recommended is the Scenic Walk, where we can choose to either to take the tram on rails that are virtually vertical when it makes its way down the mountain AND take the cable car up OR the other way round. To give a feel of the steepness of the rail, you can see from the following picture (our reactions are abit exaggerated..)

All thanks to the Tay sister and brother for making this trip possible! Trips to other tourist attractions around Sydney would be planned for this weekend but it’s back to work for now!