Joy to the World: February 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Harry's Cafe de Wheels - Sydney

Harry's Cafe de Wheels Menu

Harry's Cafe de Wheels Chili Pie

Harry's Cafe de Wheels Chicken Pie with Mashed Potatoes

I came across Harry's Cafe de Wheels on Trip Advisor and a few other places before we left for Australia, so, it was on our list for when we got to Sydney. The fact that our guide for our two days on Kangaroo Island also recommended it made it move to the must list. In fact, we were down to our last full day in Sydney and we still hadn't made it there, so, we hopped in a cab to try the pies from this institution.

My husband had the chilli (they spell it with two "l's" there) pie and I had the chicken pie with mashed potatoes. This was by far our cheapest meal of the entire trip (including the price of the cab) except for maybe the cracker and cheese dinner we were forced to have in Penneshaw, but it was also one of the tastiest. We weren't generally impressed by the food in Australia and we tried some of the most recommended spots. However, these pies were good. The chili one was spicy according to the husband and mine tasted homey and delicious. I don't care for gravy, but there was enough sauce inside the pie that it wasn't too dry with the potatoes. Coupled with a Bundaberg Ginger Beer, this was a great, cheap meal.

We opted to walk back to the hotel thinking we could do it through the botanical gardens. Well, we had a h-ll of a long walk. We made it to Mrs. Macquarie's Chair to watch the sunset through the park, but little did we know that the park closed a few minutes before sunset that day. So, we had to walk around the entire exterior of the park and completely out of the way to get semi close to the hotel. So, what should have been a 30 minute walk at most turned into about an hour and a half walk as there were no short cuts. It was a pretty walk, but just unexpected as the map we carried was very deceiving. That walk made the climb up the hill to our hotel, the Shangri-La, that much harder that night.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sydney Fish Market, Darling Harbour, Sydney Aquarium

Darling Harbour

Sydney Monorail - Darling Harbour

Nemo at the Sydney Aquarium

Although we stayed near Circular Quay, we made our way towards Darling Harbour quite a few times during our stay. We visited the Sydney Fish Markets early in the morning to see the freshest of fish on display. However, we didn't get to try any of the food that was available. There are a few places to pick up a quick lunch, so, I'd recommend visiting around lunch if you are interested in trying what the fishermen bring in that day. It is important to note that some of the fish is imported. For instance, there were Maine lobsters. The best part for me was that it didn't smell too fishy. I didn't want to offend anyone by walking around with my nose plugged, but thankfully, that wasn't necessary.

As for the Sydney Aquarium, there was some construction going on while we were there. In fact, Wildlife World which is right next door was closed for renovations which made us quite sad. The Aquarium though was really nice. For the first time, we got to see a platypus. He was very elusive to the camera though. The Great Barrier Reef was pretty incredible as was the large area where you walked through with the stingrays and everything swimming around you. It creeped me out a bit because some of the sea creatures were huge. I suppose it is worth mentioning, if you can't tell, that I'm a bit of a scaredy cat. All in all the aquarium was worth a visit. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to go through everything.

A funny note: Everywhere in Australia it seems people refer to Finding Nemo. Nemo is everywhere!! Even if there isn't a clownfish in sight, people are referencing Nemo. In fact, our theme for the days where we did so much was "Just Keep Swimming." I think Australia might owe some tourism dollars to Pixar.

There are quite a few restaurants and shops in the Darling Harbour area. We gave in and ate at Hard Rock one night because we were craving a good burger. However, I think my husband's favorite part of that meal was the free Coke refills. Soda is incredibly expensive in Oz. The small plastic bottles were about $4 a piece and in restaurants, a small glass of Coke was $4-$6 with no refills in site. So, the refill the waitress brought him without even asking if he wanted one truly made his day.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Taronga Zoo - Sydney, Australia

We kicked off our last full day in Sydney with a visit to Taronga. By now, we had seen lots of kangaroos, koalas (who can have enough?), emus, etc... However, Taronga gave us a glimpse at some of the creatures we weren't lucky enough to see in the wild such as the wombat. The wombat at Taronga was quite the poser. Even the volunteers at the zoo were enjoying watching him put on a bit of a show for us. We also were able to catch a view of the echidna (no pictures) and some other unique creatures.

Taronga is a beautiful zoo. My husband said it wasn't his favorite, but I liked that it was so spread out and there were some beautiful views of the city. The one part of the zoo that I gladly skipped was the reptile area. My husband wasn't going to go in because he has a fear of snakes as much if not more than I do, but he went. I wouldn't even look at the pictures he took in there and it seemed like he was in the exhibit forever. Apparently, it is quite large which is understandable considering the size and popularity of the reptile population in Australia.

To get to Taronga, we took the direct ferry from Circular Quay and then the bus up to the zoo. We purchased a combination ticket for the ferry and zoo which saved a few dollars. Entrance into the zoo is pretty expensive, but it is worth it. It does include a ride on the sky rail as well. The sky ride had just been refurbished that week which is why we waited until our last day, but it still wasn't open that morning. However, we did get to ride the sky rail back down to the pier and it was worth it for the views.

The zoo does tend to get busier throughout the day, so, starting our morning off there was a smart choice for us. However, we did have to backtrack a bit because some of the exhibits didn't open at the same time as the zoo. Getting there early did allow us to miss some of the large school groups we saw as we finished up our visit.

Overall, I think we spent about four hours exploring Taronga and having lunch. There were good options for a quick bite to eat with a food court of sorts that had three or four different options for lunch. We opted for the rotisserie chicken place. It was quite reasonable for the amount of food we received and it was pretty tasty. The sandwich bar looked quite good as well. We saw plenty of people with packed lunches too as I have a feeling a lot of locals have memberships to the zoo which would be the smart thing to do. We could have easily spent more time here if we watched some of the shows, but there was still much to see and do around Sydney.