December 24, Thursday

At the airport…

Sydney City Guide: We saw a rack filled with Sydney City Guides when we alighted from the plane. Make sure to get them as they provide not just detailed itineraries that you could read through, but also DISCOUNT coupons for a lot of the major attraction sites the city has to offer

Optus mobile sim card: To purchase an Optus mobile sim card, would suggest you look for the Optus store beside WH Smith which should be on your left side when you exit the baggage claim area. This store typically has shorter queues compared to the store nearer to the airport-city train station. You can opt to buy either the AUD 10 mobile data sim or the AUD 20 mobile data sim. Just keep in mind that 500mb per day (12:00am-11:59pm) will cost you AUD 2.

Opal card: For efficiency, you can buy at WH Smith (beside the Optus store), or you can buy at the airport-city train station. Queues at both location should be short, as they’re quite efficient. Top up at least ~AUD 40, as the airport to city train fare already costs AUD 15.36 one-way

Hotel: Breakfree on George

653 George Street

We chose Breakfree on George because of its location and its room size

Location is amazing, given that it’s incredibly near the city center. This gave us greater flexibility, e.g., wake up later since we lived near the Central station, grab dinner nearby as George Street has a variety of restaurants to choose from
Room was good for five people (my family size) – with 1 queen bed and 3 twin beds, as well as 2 bathrooms
Other amenities included: Kitchen and small dining table (where we had breakfast every morning)

In addition, the staff was incredibly courteous and polite. They quickly attended to our needs, and took into account our preferences (higher floor, room not facing out to George Street or Sussex Street – as we felt it might be noisy, 2 bathrooms)

One downside however is… there’s NO FREE WIFI in the rooms. This wasn’t a problem for us as we simply used the Optus mobile data sim and put up a personal hotspot. Never realized how far 500mb can get you when all you’re doing is Facebook, Instagram, and Google! But just an FYI for you folks

All in all, would definitely recommend this hotel, especially for families travelling together

Lunch: Pho Pasteur

709 George Street

Yummy beef pho at reasonable prices – servings are really big so if you aren’t big eaters, you can opt to share a large bowl between two people. NOTE: This is a cash only restaurant

Grocery shopping: Coles Supermarket

Found inside World Square

Coles Supermarket has an extensive selection of food at quite affordable prices (by Aussie standards). In fact, my family ended up stocking up on milk, juices, pastries, fruits, as well as bread, ham, lettuce, cheese, and smoked salmon (for our picnic lunch the next day)

Aside from the normal goodies though, other items you may want to purchase here are:

Fruits: Their cherries are ridiculously good, so sweet and tender! Keep in mind that they were in-season at the time we were there. Blueberries and red mangoes were also pretty good (depends on the brand however). We didn’t particularly like their raspberries and strawberries, but perhaps it was because we didn’t know how to choose the ripe ones properly!
Alcoholic drinks: Sydney is pretty strict about where you can buy alcohol, so you won’t be finding beers and hard liquor in your neighbor supermarkets or 7-11. However, there is a liquor store beside Coles Supermarket and you can opt to buy from there

The Rocks Free Walking Tour @ 6:00pm

Meet-up at Cadman’s Cottage

Do it if you’ve got time to spare. I always love free walking tours because they’re such good value for money!

In this case, I really enjoyed the 1.5 hours walking tour with Ross, as he shared stories, myths, and legends surrounding The Rocks. At the end of the tour, I felt that I had learned more about the history and present turmoil of The Rocks and could therefore greater appreciate the city I was in, which I would’ve never have had if I had not joined the tour

Christmas illumination

Martin Place, Pitt Street, and Town Hall

I wasn’t particularly impressed by the Christmas decorations, but this might be because I come from the Philippines where Christmas is THE holiday of the year. In my country, Christmas is celebrated starting from September (with matching bright, colorful Christmas displays in every single mall, radios playing Christmas songs, and so on). Nevertheless, do check it out as it gives you a good sense of how locals celebrate this season. NOTE: most of the Christmas illuminations are only until December 24, so check them out before they disappear

Another place we were hoping to check out was St. Mary’s cathedral where I heard there was both a lights illumination and a choir (7:30pm until December 24). Unfortunately, we were feeling pretty tired at this point

Dinner at Hungry Jacks

For dinner, we wanted something quick but uniquely Australian so we settled on Hungry Jacks, a fast food chain that we haven’t seen anywhere else. Their burgers were decent, but nothing exceptional. Oh well, what can you expect from fast food? It reminded me of Burger King though…

For more details, feel free to click the links below to read specific parts of our 6-day Sydney journey:

OTHER SYDNEY BLOGS

MELBOURNE BLOGS

Goldie Goes Global

Sydney Day 1: Airport + The Rocks Tour + Christmas illuminations