I went back to Sydney in March 2019 to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday but being back after 1.5 years felt good! When you live in London, in the hustle and bustle, you forget just how nice home is – the weather, beach, people, food – just to name a few things!
The purpose of the trip was to pick up my new UK visa (and still working remotely) but it was a great excuse to catch up with family and friends.
Some highlights from the trip back are below:
- Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb – it was the Bridge Climb‘s 20th anniversary and what a great way to spend it on the bridge itself with sweeping views across Sydney!
- Celeste Barber at the Sydney Opera House – such a funny lady!
- High school (10 years!) catch up! We started off at The Green Moustache in North Sydney then went to good ole Greenwood then the Crowie.
- Beach – there was only really one hot day whilst I was there to go to the beach but it was so great to be back in the sand and water, especially at the beautiful Balmoral Beach.
- Exploring the sights of Sydney including the Royal Botanical Gardens. The views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House never gets old!
- All the food – Sydney in my opinion has one of the best food scenes in the world! Most of my catch ups with friends were based around eating out.
Lunch with mum, dad and Liz at Chat Thai (Thai) in Circular Quay.
Lunch with Wendy at Hello Auntie (Vietnamese) in Darling Square.
Dessert at Koi Dessert Bar in Chippendale.
Dinner with Jess and Athi at Automata in Chippendale. We did the 7 course tasting menu and everything was delicious!
I headed to work with Liz so in our lunch break, we went to BBQ One (Chinese) in Eastwood with Liz’s work mate, Peter.
Dinner with Carmen at Ho Jiak (Malaysian) in Haymarket.
Lunch with Kai and Mags at Marigold (Chinese) in Chinatown for my trolley yum cha fix.
After a big night out on Saturday at The Sheaf in Double Bay, I had lunch with Davina and Rob at Chin Chin (Asian fusion) in Surry Hills.
Dinner with Liz, Nikki, Simon, Norman and Fatty at Taste of Shanghai (Chinese) in World Square.
Dessert at Messina (best gelato) and Kurtosh (for their chimney cakes).
Bindy’s birthday drinks at Hotel Palisade.
Dinner at Myeong Dong (Korean) in Chatswood with Liz, Sam, Mandy and Schmoo. This is what proper Korean BBQ looks like with all the banchan (side dishes).
Dinner and drinks with Georgia at Prince of York in the city.
Brunch with Norman at Goodfields Eatery in Lindfield. Had the bougey lobster benedict.
Lunch with Nim at Bund (Chinese) in Barangaroo. Barangaroo has changed so much even since I was last there 1.5 years ago – it is so nice!
Dinner with Gloria and Liz at Masuya (Japanese) in the city.
Cocktails at Matteo Downtown.
I really enjoyed being back, catching up with family and friends but wish I had more time!
As I will be in London a little longer now, I really appreciate being back home and look forward to the next time I will be back!
Day In, Day Out 