Seals on the South Coast

Narooma, NSW

360km from Sydney

Due to lockdown, our original 1.5 week roadtrip was stripped back to a 3 day long weekend down the coast.

 
It was the same week where BOM declared La Niña. A week where it rained every single day.

 
Pitstop at Bodalla Dairy with some questionable customer service from the person manning the ice cream section.

Roadtrip to Cobar

Cobar, NSW

685km from Sydney

This town had been on my radar for a while. It popped onto my 'visit-someday' list many many years ago when a blogger friend wrote about her trip to Cobar to see her partner's family. Many years later, I discovered that I had actually visited Cobar on the trip to Uluru. However, I have zero recollections and suspect it was simply a toilet break.

 
There was a lull in COVID cases during the October period which meant that intrastate travel was possible.

First stop, Bathurst. A loop aroud the Bathurst 1000 course, cruising at <60kmph as it was bucketing.

Pączki

Guys, the search is over. I finally found (well, ate) pączki in Sydney.

Easter Lunch

This year, we had our first Easter meal at our place.

Snapshots from Animal Kingdom (Walt Disney World)

Snapshots from Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World)

Snapshots from Hollywood Studios (Walt Disney World)

Snapshots from EPCOT (Walt Disney World)

Walt Disney World

A short overview of a once in a lifetime trip.

Wild Pear Cafe

The act of hating on the state of Sydney's public transport seems to be a popular pastime, especially on r/Sydney. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I genuinely don't believe it is as terrible as it is made out. Sure, there are cities with a better transportation system. But is it the worst? Far from it. And so off I went to catch public transport to Wild Pear Cafe. Yes, it took me 3 different transfers (bus - metro - bus) and understandably a lot simpler to drive to the cafe.

Central Coast

Despite the Central Coast's proximity to Sydney, it's an area that I have rarely ventured to.

Beijing ii

One overnight train from Harbin and we were back in Beijing.

Harbin

Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, is famous for the International Ice Festival held in January every year.

The Great Wall: Jinshanling

A trip to China would be incomplete without a visit to the Great Wall. During the planning stages, I knew that we didn't want to go to Badaling or Mutianyu which can get quite crowded with the tour groups. However, due to time restrictions, we could only visit a section that was accessible as a day trip. Jinshanling met all our requirements, including being accessible with local transportation (aka without a driver or taxi).

Beijing i

Beijing - the capital of the People's Republic of China.

Shanghai

Is it embarrassing to admit that I didn't know much about Shanghai apart from pan fried pork buns, xiao long baos, the Bund and the fact it is a financial hub?

Terracotta Army

The main drawcard for Xi'an is the famous Terracotta Army.

Xi'an

Xi'an - the capital of Shaanxi province and known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor or the Terracotta Warriors.

I'll be frank. I didn't enjoy my visit to Xi'an.

Giant Pandas

When I was a kid, I watched a Cantonese dubbed movie about a panda cub that was captured by humans, taken to a zoo and then he became depressed and died alone in a zoo. To say that the movie was sad would be an understatement - the final scene where he was remembering his mum (who was killed when he was captured) was utterly heartbreaking. Years later and many obscure Google searches later (i.e. panda movie capture Cantonese) finally led me to the name of the movie -  a 1981 Japanese film called Tao Tao: The Story of Panda.

Chengdu

Chengdu - the capital of Sichuan province and home to the famous giant pandas.