CZ12

Synopsis: Also known as "Armour Of God III: Chinese Zodiac", "Chinese Zodiac" is a Hong Kong action film produced, written, directed by and starring martial arts veteran Jackie Chan. The movie is a sequel to "Armour Of God" and "Armour Of God II: Operation Condor", where Chan stars as a Chinese hero named Asian Hawk, who is not unlike Indiana Jones. This time, he has to bring back the bronze head statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals, which were sacked by the French and British armies from the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860. [Source: Yahoo! Singapore Movies]

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The movie was not as spectacular as what I expect. Most of the movie featured the old Jackie Chan style, running and jumping all over the place doing those seemingly impossible moves. One point that was interesting was the fight while free falling in mid air. That was really something new that he have not done before. Other than that, all is pretty normal and expected of a Jackie Chan movie.

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Rate: 6/10

Australia Day 6 part 2 - Fireworks at Darling Harbor

27 Oct, 1800 - With little time to spare, we decided to make full use of our pass bought on the first day and do sightseeing on a boat.

Enjoying the sunset at Manly Wharf

Luna Park in the night

Sydney Harbor Bridge with its lighting

As the time creep towards 8pm, we make our way down to darling harbor to wait for the last event of the day - Darling Weekend Fireworks

We had an enjoyable day indeed.

Australia Day 6 part 1 - Circular Quay & The Rocks

27 Oct, 0800 - Woke up early in the morning to visit the Rocks and to eat its famous pancake for breakfast. However, as we have forgotten where the restaurant is located, we have to resort to searching the shops around the area based on our memory from 3 years ago.

Managed to snap this beautiful picture from circular quay showing the Sydney Harbor Bridge in the background

A tree in full bloom

The iconic soldier on the Rock

And the restaurant "Pancakes on the Rock" selling its famous pancake. Luckily, we managed to find it and have a fulfilling breakfast =)

The weekend market out in full force. (Available only on Sat and Sun)

The Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House from a slightly different angle (Taken on a boat)

The Sydney skyline

The Luna Park, which we did not have a chance to visit

The Sydney Harbor Bridge

Live band performing in a cafe along the Opera House

 

Australia Day 5 part 2 - Wildlife Sydney Zoo, Madame Tussuad's & Sealife

26 Oct, 1100 - After the morning breakfast at Sydney Fish Market, we rushed off for our next part of the journey - to complete the Wildlife, Madame Tussuad's and Sealife in 5 hours. These 3 attractions are situated next to each other on the banks of darling harbor. We didn't plan for this initially, but since we have bought the entrance ticket as part of the Sydney Tower package, we have to at least tour them to make our money worth.

Wildlife Sydney Zoo, Madame Tussuad's & Sealife

Interesting facts about Koala at Wildlife Sydney Zoo

Curious wallaby

Is this bird a statue?

Lunch at I'm Agnus - Juicy steak

After lunch, we decided to visit Sealife to view the beautiful underwater species, starting with corals and jellyfish

Sharks swimming lazily above us

Last destination - Madame Tussuad's and here I am taking a picture with Hu Jintao, the president of the People's Republic of China

A racer for the Formula One Red Bull team!

Night view of Sydney

Too bad, we could not take any pictures on the Sydney Tower as loose items are strictly forbidden to be brought out of the building. We did managed to catch the sun setting on the horizon (which was beautiful) and the weather is freezing cold with wind blowing at you 100m up in the sky. =p

Australia Day 5 part 1 - Sydney Fish Market

26 Oct, 0700 - Sydney Fish Market, a must stop landmark if you visit Sydney. It served the locals as a wholesale center and market and the tourists as a place to eat the freshest seafood for the day. 

Sydney Fish Market

 

With a waterfront view

Arrays of seafood on sale

Breakfast - Assorted seafood

The paddy's market is another place tourist must visit in Sydney. It offers souvenirs that you can get at the lowest price in Sydney and local produce (Nuts and stuffs) that are fresh off the shelves. One point to take note is that it opens only 6 days a week (Tuesday closed) and typically closes at around 5pm daily.

Pyrmont Bridge

7th Year Anniversary

I was so busy this week that I didn't even realised that this blog has reached its 7th year milestone! Time really pass by so quickly. I guess I am one of the few that still blog nowadays after leaving school. Going forward, this blog will be more like a travel sharing blog, keeping tracks of the places I travel to and occasionally, letting me vent some of my little grumbles with life.

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Some Statistic:

Page Count: 47166 +3424

Year on Year increase: -535 -13.51%

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Well, as expected, lesser and lesser people coming to this blog. Haha

Australia Day 4 - Hunter Valley

25 Oct, 0640 - Woke up early today to wait for our coach which will be bringing us for a 1 day Hunter Valley tour. The gathering point is just directly opposite the hotel we were staying, which we managed to book at an unimaginable price. Imagine AUD$30 per person per night for a room right in the middle of Sydney, where can you match that? The only point to take note is that their rooms are all non air-con. So I guess it will be all right to stay in it for the Spring, Autumn and Winter period. For Summer..., guess will have to give it a miss.

Our Hotel - Crown hotel Sydney

Our coach from Sydney Boutique Tour

We reached the first boutique wine tasting station (Iron Gate Estate) after travelling for about an hour on the road. The winery has a richly European feel as seen from the architecture of the building.

Red wine tasting

Some brownies to munch on before tasting the sweet desert wine

A mock up fireplace

And a full refreshing view of the wine yard.

The wine cellar

Second boutique wine tasting venue - Mount Pleasant

And we managed to sneak in a visit to the Smelly Cheese shop in the middle of the tour

A row of smelly cheese. When I say "smelly", I really mean it. =p

The third and final boutique wine tasting venue - Ernest Hill

By the time we finished the tour, it was already close to 5.30pm and we began our journey back. On the way across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we chanced upon this beautiful sunset.

For our dinner, we decided to visit the recently opened Westfield.