Day 41 April 16 – Sydney, Australia

Day 41 Thursday April 16th (79 days to go) — We started a little late this morning after our late night at The Sydney Opera House. Jackie needed to pick up a few things we walked down to Sephora in the Pitt Street Mall. I took one walk inside and saw wall to wall women and cosmetics and made the wise decision to sit outside. While sitting there all these greyhounds were being walked towards me and then were in a group next to me. I saw the handlers had adoption t-shirts on but did not realize they were filming a commercial or video for Greyhounds as Pets, an organization in Australia that helps to have former greyhounds that were used for racing to be now adopted as a pet. While watching them film the videos I spoke to a man that was with the group and did not realize he was a TV personality in Australia by the name of Todd McKenney. He is an ambassador for the group and was in the video. Just a crazy world when you meet people and don’t even realize that they can be a personality. The guy probably said the same about me. 🙂

One of Australia’s most versatile performing artists, Todd McKenney is an award winning and critically acclaimed performer on stage and screen. As an actor and the leading man of song and dance in musical theatre productions, he has entertained Australians for over 30 years from the main stage to intimate venues.

To read more about this program, click the link below

Greyhound Adoption Program | Dogs for Adoption as Pets | NSW

Todd McKenney

The Sydney Fish Market is a fish market in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The market formerly sat on the Blackwattle Bay foreshore in Pyrmont from 1966 to 2026, 2 kilometers west of the Sydney central business district, it has been relocated to Glebe, New South Wales since 2026. It is the world’s third largest fish market.

Home – Sydney Fish Market

We did not expect to see these Portuguese pastéis de nata as soon as we walked into the market. Put a dot on this spot because I am sure we are returning before we leave the market 🙂

This place is MUCH cleaner than any fish market we have ever visited.

Sydney Fish Market incorporates a working fishing port, wholesale fish market, fresh seafood retail market, a delicatessen, a sushi bar, a bakery, a gift shop, a fruit and vegetable market, a new meat deli, a beverage outlet, a seafood cooking school, indoor seating and an outdoor promenade for visitors. There are daily wholesale auctions for Sydney’s seafood retailers. Since 1995, the markets have been open continuously over a 36-hour period stretching from 5am AEDST on 23 December to 5pm AEDST on Christmas Eve each year that is known as the ‘Seafood Marathon’.

I apologize for the quickness of this video. I need to learn to slow down when taking a video on my iPhone

Another store in the fish market

This guy can open oysters fast!!!

He was trying to teach her how to open the oysters.

Also sold fresh fruits and vegetables in the market

Pineapples

Papaya

Mandarins

Apples Missiles

Rockmelons

Naval Oranges

Lemons

We went to Chinatown in Sydney for lunch today. Chinatown is an urban enclave situated in the southern part of the Sydney central business district, in New South Wales, Australia. It comprises the majority of the Haymarket suburb, between Central station and Darling Harbour. It is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, and is Australia’s largest Chinatown.

Sydney, and the colony of New South Wales, experienced Chinese migration as early as 1828. The first group of Chinese labourers from Amoy (modern day Xiamen) embarked for New South Wales in 1848. With the discovery of gold in 1851 Chinese immigration increased, and by 1855 the number of Chinese immigrants reached around 17,000. The Chinese population had traditionally been represented by those who came from Southern China (i.e. provinces such as Guangdong and Fujian), due to the majority of colonial ports being located in the southern coast of China

Chinatown & Haymarket – Things to do, where to eat & more | Sydney.com

One of the many nationalities to arrive in Australia during the Gold Rush years of the 1850s were the Chinese, and large groups stayed on after the Gold Rush itself ended. They settled largely in their own communities, working in locations across Sydney, with many of these Chinese immigrants becoming market gardeners on the city’s fringe. By 1861 there were some 13,000 Chinese living in New South Wales, and during this time the Chinatown was in The Rocks district, also known as the ‘Chinese Quarter’. Anti-immigration sentiment was rife during the 1880s, and a Royal Commission into “Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality” began in 1892, due to the number of opium dens and brothels that were found in the area, similar to Melbourne’s Chinatown. This attitude of negativity towards the Chinese had settled down by the time of Federation in 1901. By the 1920s, Sydney’s Chinatown migrated over to Campbell Street, in the vicinity of the popular Capitol Theatre.

Since 2019, Dixon Street and other intersecting streets are completely vehicle-free every Friday from 4pm, in order to host the Friday night markets. Different stalls selling Asian street food, desserts, and confectionery line the streets and alleyways, and the markets can become extremely busy.

Officially, Chinatown does not have clearly defined borders, due to its continuous growth. The traditional core of the Haymarket Chinatown has been centred around Dixon Street, a pedestrian street mall with many Chinese restaurants, and with a paifang (a traditional Chinese gateway) at each end. At the eastern side, running parallel with Dixon Street, are Sussex Street and George Street, Sydney city’s main thoroughfare. Other streets and lanes within Sydney’s Chinatown include Factory Street, Goulburn Street, Little Hay Street, Kimber Lane and Thomas Street.

This is where we decided to eat for lunch

We kept it basic for lunch with pork fried rice (we miss Chinese Garden’s Polka Fried Lice :-), Pork dumplings and Mongolian beef

We are not sure if the pigeon was not served for dinner tonight in Chinatown

Making dumplings

Market City is a shopping center in Haymarket in the southern end of the Sydney Central Business District, Australia.

Market City is located above Paddy’s Markets inside the heritage listed red brick façade built in 1909 as a fruit and vegetable markets building. In 1997 the Market City shopping centre and factory outlets opened above Paddy’s Markets.

On 18 November 1998, Reading Cinemas opened on level 3 along with Galaxy World amusement arcade. Reading Cinemas closed down on 26 August 2009, and in 2011, Galaxy World refurbished and converted the former cinema space into an extension.

In 2013 Galaxy World closed down and was taken over by City Amusements. City Amusements was taken over by PLAYTIME in 2017. This was then taken over by Timezone which opened in 2019.

In 2018 Market City refurbished its food court on level 1. On 16 April 2019 Market City opened its new dining precinct on level 3 on parts of the former cinema space. The dining precinct is known as 1909 Dining Precinct due to it being located inside the heritage listed 1909 building. 1909 Dining Precinct features rattan furnishing, antique-style finishes and a classic color palette, complete with a custom-made rickshaw installation to fit in with the style.

Market City Sydney | Best Shopping in Chinatown & Haymarket

This is the type of crab I ate yesterday for lunch with linguine

Tonight we took a harbour cruise around the Sydney Harbour and had a great time. Captured a fantastic sunset over the city of Sydney. The food was good and the company was AWESOME. We sat with a couple John and Denise from England who have been on a 11-week tour of Australia. They are a super nice couple, and we enjoyed learning about their adventures in Australia and picked up some useful tips for a return to this magnificent country. Also, John showed Jackie an app he uses called speedometer 55. She is going to enjoy that app for the World Cruise. I am going to kick myself in the ass for a long time for not taking their picture.

Replica of Captain Cook’s ship

This was the ship we cruised on tonight.

Luxury Sydney Harbour Cruises – Journey Beyond Cruise Sydney

We both had cured yellowfin tuna as a starter

And we both had the ravioli for a main course

Jackie had the tiramisu for dessert

Lane had the Apple Crumble and had to use Denise’s dessert for the photo as I had already started eating on mine 🙂

Tomorrow is our last day in Sydney and I think we have a visit to the Taronga Zoo. We have to see some Australian animals before we leave this country. We also have plans for harbor taxi rides to the Zoo and a beach.