Off to Sydney

Sydney, Australia May 7 to may 14, 2005

Friday May 6th and Saturday May 7th , 2005 – Off to Sydney

A medical check up with Dr. Zainal, the Vascular Specialist, following the findings of the CT Scan two days ago, went ok. I had an early morning appointment and was done by 9.30am. “Come back in six months time”, he said. That meant I am ok for the time being, I guess. My scheduled appointment with my regular doctor at the University Hospital in the afternoon also went ok and I got to replenish the same medications. At the same time I got additional medication for my cough which had been lingering on for the past three weeks or so. I was done here by 3.00pm. So, we were clear in our minds that it is ok for us to proceed on our Sydney trip. Continued with packing our clothes and got ourselves ready to go.

Tessa had gone to Pasir Gudang, Johore for her work . So we left home by cab for the airport at 6.30pm for our flight that was scheduled for 8.40pm. All ok with checking-in for the flight, immigration, the flight itself and the immigration and customs inspection on arrival in Sydney Airport. We arrived in Sydney at 6.40am Sydney time, two hours ahead of KL time.

We were warned by others, before we made this trip, not to bring any foodstuff, raw or not, and that customs in Australia is always very strict. Indeed they were. They were really very thorough in their inspection. They went through every luggage and bag and asked many questions. Since we had declared the medicines we brought along, the Officer that attended to us, although asked many questions, just cursorily went through our luggage, but every piece of luggage nevertheless, and we were off in just a short while. We were done by 7.15am. It is still too early to get into the city or to the hotel as check-in time at the hotel is 2.00pm. We decided to while away some time at the airport.

I checked out the facilities at the airport, the flight departure area, tourist information booths, money changer and changed some cash. I also checked out a prayer room made available to the public, that’s convenient. At the tourist information counter I confirmed most of those information gathered through the internet. I decided to purchase the 3day Sydney Pass ticket which includes the train ride into the city from the airport. We had breakfast at one of the airport cafes and then caught the 9.00 am train into the city.

Using the city map as a guide we stopped at the station nearest to the Apartment Hotel and walked slowly to the hotel, luggage and all. It was not a hassle as our luggage bags are wheeled and this day being a Saturday, the streets were empty that time of the morning. We got to the hotel ok, and checked in. Our room was already available then so we do not have to wait until 2.00pm. Our one room apartment was very comfortable and the facilities made available in the room are indeed as described in the internet when we made our reservations. After washing up and catch up on sleep I decided to scout around the vicinity of the hotel. There were a number of convenience stores nearby in all directions and not too far away is Chinatown, a food court with shops selling a wide variety of food from various parts of the world and I found shops selling foods that are suitable to us. There is also a wet market, a ‘flea’ market called Paddy Market, and various shopping complexes and supermarkets, all within walking distance from the hotel. I bought some food, fruits, bread, salads and laundry stuff. We had lunch/dinner and rested the rest of the day.


MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Sydney, Australia