the times of kryptoniteglows

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

1/1 I think we didn’t do anything this day because I only have pictures of the TV.

1/2 Went to one of the many clubs they have for lunch, stopped at a lawn bowling club, and then we went to the city. It was a Friday, so I was surprised that everything was closing so early. The stores in Market City were closing at 5! Apparently they are only open later on Thursdays, that was kinda weak… We had dinner at the Chinese Culture Club, yea another club…

1/3 We went to the city again, this time by train. There was some rail work going on, so we had to take a bus first. We alighted at Circular Quay to do the Opera House, Harbour Bridge thing, and took a harbor cruise of the well the harbor. There was also a quick stop at the Royal Botanical Gardens, I mistakenly took the wrong battery (the one that was already dead instead of the charged one) so I didn’t get to many pictures .

1/4 My Uncle was off from work today, so we took a long road trip to Canberra, the capital of Australia. To be honest, it was boring and I could have probably done without it, but we went to Parliament House and drove around looking at the different embassies. The US had the biggest one of course.

1/5 From my pictures, looks like we stayed home and didn’t go anywhere.

1/6 Looks like we were home again, but we had a BBQ.

1/7 Went to a mall, though they call it a shopping center. Whatever it is, it is huge! A couple floors, like 5 if not more, includes 2 supermarkets, a Kmart, a Target, Myers (which I think is like our Macys), and lots of other stores. A little surprised they charge for parking, like it is free for the first 3 hours, but after that you have to pay. It seemed like being punished for shopping more!

1/8 Another chilled at home day.

1/9 Went bowling with my little cousins and their little friends, I got lucky with two strikes back to back and ended up winning. Though I would say I was disqualified since I was like twice as old as everyone else. The boys went off to play laser tag while I wondered around, went into a Aldis. We have those in Philly I think, but I never been in one so I wanted to go look. Nothing amazing, just lots of people..
After the cousins got done with laser tag, they went to the movies to see Bolt at the mall. I already saw Bolt in 3D before so I went off shopping in the mall. I got a bunch of stuff, like TimTams, Twisties, and the like from the supermarket. I also picked up a rash shirt ($30AU) and some Speedo swim bottoms (just $5AU each), the shirt wasn’t that great a deal, but the swim bottoms were a good deal.
After the mall, we went to one of the clubs to have a buffet dinner, I was so full after.

1/10 My aunt drove me into the city, they went off to do their own thing while I went off on my own. I originally had plans to go to Taronga Zoo, but we went late in the day and the zoo closes at 5, wasn’t much time to see everything . So I opted to visit the Sydney Aquarium instead. I head over to the aquarium from the parking garage near Tumbalong Park, there is huge line to buy tickets. However, off to the side they are selling passes for the aquarium, the wildlife world next door, and the Sydney Tower, on top of the discounts for buying admission to all three, you get to jump the line as well. Seemed like a no brainer for me, especially with the line jumping. I was able to get a pass to all 3 places for just $50AU! It was $62AU, but I showed them my student ID and they gave me the student discount!
The aquarium was pretty decent, lots of different stuff to see, including their dugongs which were like our manatees. The tubes to walk under the tanks were pretty cool as well, you could have huge sharks and sting rays swim over you. There were similar tubes for the dugongs and one of the baby ones swam over me.
Next I went next door to Wildlife World, I was mostly unimpressed. Though to be fair, I kind of rushed through the place since I was a little pressed for time. I tried to take some pictures during the walk around by using the S5 and the flip screen, but that didn’t work to well. I actually had my tripod with me, though I was to lazy to get it out to use it. I did get a handful of good shots having others take the picture. After Wildlife World I was going to go meet backup with my aunt, but I couldn’t get a hold of her.
I explored the King St Wharf a bit and even tried to do some geocaching. There was one that was very close to Wildlife World, I ended up looking under the wrong seat first and by the time I figured out which one it was, some old folks had set down on it . I had to abandon those efforts and decided I would go ahead and get the Sydney Tower done too. I got lost getting there because once you are actually closer to the buildings, the tower doesn’t really stick out as much. At one point I had to get out Google maps on my Iphone to figure out how to get to the freaking tower.
Finally I get to the tower and I guess there is a tour group or other large grouping of people that just got there as well. I follow them, which was unfortunate because we ended up wasting about 45 minutes to watch some movie thing about Australia. I could of done without it and apparently if I went into the opposite line I could have skipped it and gone straight up into the tower. Darn!
Anyways, take a cramped and long elevator ride up to the observation deck of the tower. Amazing views! I take a ton of pictures, wish I had done a little better with that and gotten a 360 degree shot of the tower, but the windows were rather dirty so not all the windows would actually suitable for taking pictures from. There was a Sky Walk upgrade for $40AU, that allowed you to actually go outside! That sounded kinda of cool, but being pressed for time I didn’t do that. After snapping my photos, it was time to go and meet backup with my aunt. I circled around and around, but couldn’t find my way down. Finally find the stairs to get to the café below and then have to wait FOREVER to catch an elevator ride down! I almost thought it would have been quicker to take the stairs, but I don’t think they would have allowed it.

1/11 Went with my cousins and their cousins (which I guess would be my cousins too?) to play some minigolf. I tied for second.

1/12 Not a single photo? I guess we didn’t do anything this day.

1/13 We went to Manly late in the day. My cousins hate the beach, so this was torture for them. I rented a boogie board, I would of done the surf thing, but it was rather late in the day and the surf school was way down on the other end of the beach. I got to use the boogie board for maybe half an hour because they life guards closed the beach because of the currents! I was pissed, but the rental place gave me back half my money since the beach closed.
After I dried off, we went to Watervue to have some dinner. Total came to around $70AU for 3 steaks and a chicken sandwich. My steak was mediocre, might have been better if I opted for the gravy, even if it was $1.50AU additional. The fries that came with the dish were also blah, should of gotten mashed potatoes (+$3AU).

1/14 I went to the city by myself! I didn’t really have any set plans except to go Harry’s for lunch. I took the train to Circular Quay and started from there. There were lots of jellyfish in the harbor that day, I took some pictures along with some obligatory shots of the bridge and Opera House. My Opera House shots would have actually been really nice if those ropes from the cruise ship were in the way..
With no plan in mind, I start walking along George Street, taking pictures and stopping in the gift shops. I actually do use my tripod today, so I’m in some of the shots as well. All that walking gets me pretty hungry, I abandon my plans for lunch at Harry’s since I wasn’t sure how much further away it was and there was a perfectly good sushi place in front of me. I got a platter of sushi for $9.50AU. Later I figure out I was quite far from Harry’s, so it was a good thing that I stopped when I did.
I walk some more and eventually do end up at Harry’s , having already been stuffed with Sushi, I only get one of their seafood pies instead of the Tiger Pie. I have half the pie and stuff it into my bag for later. I head over to Market City and Chinatown for some walking around. Eventually this takes me close to Darling Harbour, so I take a stroll down to Tumbalong Park for some pictures I didn’t get last time. I also head down to King Street Wharf, though I don’t want to admit it, I wanted to find that geocache from last time. Luckily the place was deserted today, so I was able to easily get the geocache. I take some pictures of the area and end up making one of my favorite panoramic shots.

1/15 The plan today was to go fishing at an area called Five Dock. Unfortunately they didn’t actually have any fishing tackle, so we go to the giant mall again. We stop off at Sun Ming for some lunch before we go fishing, while my red bean with ice was good, their sandwiches were very weak. I ordered an egg with bacon sandwich and it arrived on regular white sandwich bread, basically something I could make at home… We make another stop to get bait, shrimp, but my little cousins like to call them prawns… Anyhow, we get to the fishing spot and it’s a like a giant cliff over the water, kinda scary. We try the fishing thing unsuccessfully, eventually call it quits. On the way home, we stop off at a beach if you could call it that to look at stuff. There were these jelly blob things that I still don’t know what they are…

1/16 I went off on my own today, taking advantage of the $17AU DayTripper ticket, which allows unlimited rides on the trains, buses, and ferries.
I take the train from Fairfield to Bondi Junction, then I take the bus to get to Bondi Beach. I take some pictures, do a little exploring before I go have some lunch at Hungry Jacks. Hungry Jacks is basically their version of Burger King, they may even be the same company, the logos look awfully similar. I take some pictures after lunch or until the 333 (express) bus comes again, taking me back to Bondi Junction where I catch a train back to the city.
In the city, I catch a ferry to Sydney Olympic Park. It was a nice hour ride on the JetCat, we get to the Olympic Park dock and have to catch a bus to get to the actual Olympic Park area. Take a few minutes before I’m in front of AMZ stadium. I wasn’t all that interested in seeing the insides of the buildings so I walked around and took some photos before heading back to the city. I was debating on whether to take the train or ferry back, eventually I figured the train would be faster and I could make it back in time go to Paddy’s Market for some shopping. The train station at Olympic Park was HUGE, but entirely deserted on the day I visited. Figured I was in luck as there was already a train at the station, unfortunately it took forever before the train started moving. I met some other Americans on the train, they were probably from around here, but I didn’t bother asking.
Eventually I get to the city and somehow get to Paddy’s Markets from the train station, I don’t recall how, but I got there somehow… I pick up some cheap souvenirs and meet up with my aunt. She brings along her sister and of course my cousins, we go to the Sydney Fish Market. The place was stinky! We get a dozen raw oysters, I had one, not really my thing. I think it tasted sandy…
We head back into the city, my aunt buys a bunch of lotion/crème stuff for me to bring back. I didn’t know at the time, just thought she really like the lotion stuff.. Then we walk all around town looking for a sushi place, eventually we just end back up at MarketCity and go to the sushi train place there. Unfortunately we have to wait since the place is just so darn popular. I’m starving since the last time I really ate was 11 am and it was now 7-8pm! I even spent like $5.xx on a pearl tea from ezway. I dislike ezway and much more prefer gumballs, but nothing else was really nearby. Finally some spots open up and we can sit down to have some sushi. I had like 8 plates, really kicked that hunger in the butt..