Then my friend of over 20 years advises me that she and her husband are travelling to Sydney originally in December but put forward to October only advising me of the exact date a few weeks ago which coincides with her birthday in October. She was originally my penpal back in the 1980s at my father's old school and I met her on a family trip to China which is my father's motherland. I won't go into the interesting history of our friendship as it is a story within itself but will say that I haven't seen her for quite a few years now as I haven't travelled back to HK for a while for a holiday - I have been travelling to the West coast of Canada which is my mother's side of the family's adopted motherland.
I also received a text very late one night about paying tribute to the Chinese community that were part of the Gold Rush era - those that have all passed away and buried at Rookwood Cemetery . I have decided not to attend this event as I am not keen on getting up at 7am on a Sunday morning in time to attend the event between 8.45 and 11 am. I can always research my family history at my leasure but I don't get the opportunity to see my overseas friends very often therefore they are priority to me. I also think that my schedule is based on a first in first served basis ie advanced planning - I hate last minute things! This separate blog has been deleted due to a detected virus. Apologies.
If you have been reading my blog one of my very first blogs was about the previous year's Newtown Food Fair. Time to compare.
My blog will also include a review of my overnight stay in a 4 share female dorm at Sydney Harbour YHA on Cumberland street, The Rocks which was an old archelogical site. One of the YHAs I have not stayed at before and one of the newer YHAs and more expensive ones in Sydney. It will be interesting to write what I think of it and take photos of it as it has a rooftop with a view of Sydney Harbour. Hoping it is as good as reviews say it is remembering it is a hostel not a hotel. It is not all about location - everything else is important too.
Stay tuned!
NEWTOWN FOOD FAIR 2016
Finally on my way to have a bit of lunch at the Newtown Food Fair (unsure what the event is actually called). Hopefully it will be a great event. Last year it was the first time the event was split into 2 different locations - Newtown Square a non licenced area and I a licenced area a few blocks down near a park open later and serving alcohol. Not the best locations to hold a food event but it still attracted crowds of people with a great atmosphere. Problem was lack of facilities eg toliets seating etc and too small.
This year the event was split into 2 areas again - Newtown Square across the road from Newtown Railway Station and along a side street named Eliza Street close by.
When I crossed King Street, the main street of Newtown to Newtown Square I was quite disappointed with the amount of food stalls there - a lot less then last year and some of the same old ones. The main line up was for the vegan sausage on a roll stall - a constant line up of people upto half an hour wait. I really wanted to try these but could not be bothered lining up.
Cronuts were also popular and I was tempted to return after I'd had my entrée and main to buy one however by the time I returned my favourite lychee cronuts had sold out completely.
Turkish ice creams were also popular - How I wish I could eat dairy products, I would have tried the baklava, cocoa or turkish delight flavoured turkish ice creams. I decided to walk down to Eliza Street no relising how close it was to Newtown Square. Not as difficult to find as last years event - just follow the crowds of people until you come to the next laneway clearly barricaded off to traffic and with large overhead signs on either end of the laneway to mark location of food event.
Now this was more like it - quite a few more food and drink stalls. I must have walked up and down this laneway at least 3 times before deciding on what to eat for entrée and main. I knew I wanted a protein dish of some sort but wasn't sure if I wanted meat poultry or fish. A few of the stalls there were at last years event eg Marys offering the same dish as last years . Then there was alcohol - cocktails wine beer spirits , tea infusions, soft drinks and water galore. Everyone was offering sausages on rolls, bbq meats pies or vegetarian salads . So I opted for a rather long American style hotdog called the Windy City which contained a frankfaut, sour krault, freshly diced tomatos, chopped white onions, green pickles, American mustard and celery salt with an option to DIY add tomato sauce and extra mustard. I'm not a big processed meat fan but it will do instead of trying jerk chicken with salad which also looked great but took just as long to cook up. It was a 15 minute wait for my Windy City hot dog and when I saw it I had to ask for it to be cut in half as I had no idea how I was going to eat it whole. It would have been better if it was a real sausage instead of a frankfaut but there was no option for one - Coney Island sounded good but it was chilly mince of some sort and melted yellow processed cheese with whst looked like tomato sauce ie it contained no fruit ot vegetable therefore I decided on the Windy City because it was windy today. After taking heaps of photos (including trying to take a selfie of the Windy City hot dog with camera in on hand hot dog in the other) I decided to have a second look at those polenta chips - these were sold out at last year's event therefore I didnt get to try them. I decided to try them and they were OK a little too oily for me and a little too salty. They were smothered in a thin blue cheese sauce even when I was yelling out no sauce, I had to ask for another batch as I cant have gorganzola or blue cheeses. I asked fir some pork gravy instead but they had run out of pork ribs and the sauce was cold still. So I just had oily salty polenta chips. Dessert skipped headed back to Newtown Station to Circular Quay onto my next destination for today YHA Sydney Harbour in Cumberland Street, The Rocks.
Rating Newtown Food Fair 7/10
Rating Windy City Hot Dog 7/10
Rating Potenta Chips 6/10
(Photos attached)
YHA Sydney Harbour - The Rocks
(Photos attached)
Ok I am going to be totally honest about the downfalls of this hostel - all rooms have an en suite shared toilet, shower and sink. It does not work in a 4 or 6 shared dorm room as everyone has to work out who is going to use the facilities. I had to plan my shower schedule with the other 2 ladies in the 4 share female dorm the night before - imagine if there was a fourth person in the dorm with us! The ensuite is also very noisy the fan is loud and the toilet and shower are very loud - you can hear everything that goes on the the ensuite and the banging of doors to rooms in particular is very loud.
Another downfall is it gets pretty windy in the corridors when the door to roof top balcony remains open particularly on the top floor where I was staying and there are a lot of stairs to get to the hostel and within the hostel but there is a lift within the hostel once you arrive.
Yet another downside is air conditioning is controlled by reception - you have to there ask fellow roommates if they can leave window open or closed.
Finally location wise there is no supermarket close by. Nearest one is in Wynyard quite a walk away.
Upside good kitchen, open planned chill out area, wifi, 24 hour reception, there is luggage storage lockers for rent and the hostel is on an archeological site - "The Big Dig" and has a fantastic roof top balcony with as good a view of Sydney Harbour as some 4 star + hotels near by.
Overall rating for this youth hostel 7/10 - clean? but "pilly" sheets and hair on doona covers.
Catching Up With My 1984 Pen Pal On A "Chinese Contiki" Tour Around Australia
I am not joking! An approximately 2 week tour up the East Coast of Australia cram packed with everything you would find on an English speaking 18 -35 year old Contiki Tour except done in half the time with no English and for 35 + year olds only.
Their Itinerary Included :
Fly out of China on 6/7th October 2 days/nights in Melbourne to the Tree Tops , Great Ocean Road and 12 Apostles then flying to Sydney arriving at approximately 8 - 9 pm on 9th October overnight Sydney at the Four Seasons Hotel - after a meal at sime Chinese restaurant in Chinatown which her classmates and I had not even heard of (pity all they got to see was the hotel and some uninteresting "sites"!) and leave early at 7 am which included lunch at Sydney Tower, A tour of the Opera House and a visit to the Fish Markets to purchase some expensive and not so fresh Monday seafood - what they intended to do with fresh seafood I had no idea as the tour group was flying out of Sydney bound for their Queensland destinations that afternoon for the rest of their "Chinese Contiki" tour flying back to China on 15th October.
I had a short but good catch up with my pen pal of 20 years plus along with her 2 classmates who both immigrated to Sydney in the early 1990s. We took a walk from the hotel along the East side of Circular Quay towards the Opera House stopping for a drink at a bar which some of our group insisted sold coffee but it turned out they only sold alcohol.
It was very windy we took lots of photos although my camera on my Note 3 failed to focus on subjects yet again so a few of them will end up being deleted.
Time went really quickly and we said our goodbyes walking back to the Four Seasons Hotel where her classmates were driven home by one of their sons and I walked back to the YHA which is just behind The Four Seasons Hotel amongst all the other swish hotels. I arrived back by 12 midnight and tried to get some sleep.
So good to catch up with friends that Ive known for so many years. Her 2 classmates could not even believe that my pen pal and I were still in touch for so long. Had they joined her and her other classmates back in 1984 they may have been my pen pals as well but my pen pals group was a special group keen to learn English conversation and that night my pen pal's classmates admitted that was not their intension so they did not join the English conversation group. Ironically they were the ones that migrated to Sydney in the early 1990s and would have benefited from it whereas my pen pal decided to remain in HK (now China) . (No photos attached to protect identities of individuals).
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