City Trip

I’ve realised that I rarely take the time to appreciate the city I live in. The fact is that Sydney has always just been ‘home’ to me, similar to that feeling when something becomes familiar so it loses a bit of its magical appearance. It’s a place where I’ve grown up, where I’ve gone to school and where my friends and family live. But just recently, it hit me, that despite having lived in Sydney my whole life, I haven’t even begun to explore all that this beautiful city has to offer. I have yet to travel to many of the beaches here, or eat at some of the smaller unknown cafes tucked into random corners of the city. But this year, I’m more determined to try new things and see a different side to Sydney. This definitely means that more food adventures and sight-seeing escapades will be on the agenda for 2016 haha. So in this post I will recap a little bit about one of my first in-depth explorations of Sydney.

Pyrmont Bay Park

Since I was young, I associated going to the city as a family adventure or a trip just for special occasions. But ever since uni started, going to the city has lost some of that special meaning, with shopping and lunch dates becoming the norm during uni days. That is until a city trip with the family to celebrate my mum’s and I’s belated birthday.

It was a Sunday, so my family and I started the day with mass at our usual cathedral before we proceeded towards Sydney’s CBD for a late lunch at Critinis. The pasta I had wasn’t particularly great, but my brother enjoyed his spaghetti and my parent’s definitely enjoyed their seafood platter. I’m not usually a fan of seafood, so any piece that I enjoy is actually a big compliment haha. And I have to say the scallops were quite delicious! They were served with vermicelli noodles that were dipped into a smoky-tasting sauce which was the perfect addition to the sweet taste of the scallops: 4/5 stars for that!

Seafood platter for 2

Scallop yummy!

#flatflay

Next my brother and I took a tour of the Australian National Maritime Museum and checked out some of the docked vessels that are open for display on the wharves of Darling Harbour. First we explored the Destroyer HMAS Vampire, which is one of Australia’s largest museum vessels and the “last of the nation’s big-gun warships”.

View from outside the Destroyer HMAS Vampire

View from a door on the Destroyer HMAS Vampire

Second we climbed into the Submarine HMAS Onslow. Seeing how small the living quarters were and how close everything was, it wasn’t hard to imagine how difficult it would have been to be one of the hundreds of men sharing a small space with everyone else in a hot tin can under the water. I would not have been able to survive, but seeing all the food tins and Captain’s quarters and engines and periscope on display certainly made me appreciate what they had to endure during World War 2. To make the experience more real, there are volunteers you can find in any part of the vessel equipped with the knowledge to answer any of your questions.

Lastly, we checked out the Tall Ship HMB Endeavour, which was a replica of Captain Cook’s famous vessel when he first discovered Australia. It felt a bit like going onto one of Jack Sparrow’s ships from Pirates of the Caribbean (but much cleaner haha). I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but seeing my brother so excited about learning the history of these vessels was enough for me to enjoy my time there too.

Tall Ship Endeavour

In addition to exploring the Vessels, our Big Ticket granted us access to the Action Stations and the Special and Permanent exhibitions. This allowed us to check out the Navigators Gallery (which displayed exhibitions defining Australia), the Eora First People Gallery (which displayed the diverse cultures of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities) and the Passengers Gallery (which displayed the long sea voyage millions of people have taken to make new homes in Australia). Not only was I able to learn a bit more about the history of Australia’s naval fleet, but I was able to experience and better understand the stories and historical events that have made us into the multicultural nation we are today.

One of the exhibits at the museum

I have to say, I’m sure you do trips like this when you’re in primary school, but it’s different when you choose to go on a tour like this by yourself without the constant nagging of teachers. I definitely felt like I appreciated everything a lot more and that my mind was more open to absorbing information. I really enjoyed this day and I’m glad that my brother was the one who suggested we do this. I would recommend doing this tour to anyone who has an interest in these types of vessels or if you’re just keen to learn!

It was a particularly hot day that we went, so we ended our visit with ice teas from Chatime. Remember to always stay hydrated!

For this city trip, I opted for high waisted denim shorts with a black and white top for a classic colour combo. This was completed with comfortable white sandals because being in the city means walking, and you want to be able to walk around without your feet aching haha! Check out some of the photos of my outfit below.