Griffith Fish Market & Clock

There are quite a few good foods in Griffith. Griffith Fish Market and Clock are among the great places I went and tasted for the foods.

 

Front facade of Griffith Fish Market

 

Chefs were preparing meals at the open kitchen

Griffith Fish Market offers variety of seafood meals with reasonable price. I loved the hot served Fish ‘n’ Chips. 

 

Clock is a restaurant serving Modern Australian cuisine. The selections of food are not varied but all the meals my friend and I ordered from the menu were excellent, they were so good in taste and well decorated.

 

We ordered pasta as our appetizer...

Main course 1: Honey Glazed Duck Breast, with cranberry & star anise reduction, potato spring roll, vegetable & crispy garnish ($34)

Main course 2: Char-grilled Scotch fillet, rosemary scented potato cake, red wine jus & caramelized red onion ($29)

Dessert 1: Classic lemon tart with brulee crust & cream ($13)

 

Dessert 2: Affogato, vanilla gelato, espresso, Frangelico & biscotti ($12)

 

I loved the well-organized interior and great ambiance of the restaurant. Glad that I had a very decent dinner on my birthday at Clock! J

 

 

 

Clock Restaurant

239 Banna Avenue, Griffith NSW 2680

(02) 6962 7111

 

Griffith Fish Market

9 Banna Avenue, Griffith NSW 2680

(02) 6964 2015

 



Random Visit in Sydney CBD

 

-         Chinatown

Sydney Chinatown, the largest and oldest Chinatown in Australia, is located in Haymarket and it’s only a short distance from Darling Harbour and Central Station. In fact, Chinatown is a great place for shopping and scouting for variety of Chinese cuisines. Even if you’re not a Chinese food lover, you still can find something special to dine here.
 

Sydney Chinatown at night



Market City - A shopping place to go



 

Chinese shops & restaurants along the streets

 
We came across a well-known Taiwanese dessert house while having a casual walk in the Chinatown.

 

Many were queuing to order in the Taiwanese dessert house - Meet Fresh

This dessert house serves cold and hot desserts include Taro Ball Desserts, Herbal Jelly, Tofu Pudding, Winter Melon Tea, Traditional Meetfresh Tea, Whipped Cream Tea and Meetfresh Cold Dessert.  This dessert house is interesting and I had the Herbal Jelly my first time. Some of the ingredients they use to make desserts include green beans, pearls, lotus seeds, sweet potato, barley, red beans, peanuts, taro, honey beans, coconut jellies, glutinous cake, noodle jellies and taro mash. You can check out the Meetfresh menu here.



One of he cold Herbal Jellies I tried from the dessert house. It's so tasty and really good to be taken in a hot day.

Meet Fresh
Address: 13 Goulbon Street, Haymarket NSW 2000, Australia.

Phone: (02) 8339 1031
Website: http://meetfresh.net/
Opening hours: Mon – Thu & Sun 11am-12am, Fri & Sat 11am – 1am

-         Circular Quay

Circular Quay is definitely a popular destination being part of the Sydney’s central business district and it’s always busy and crowded with people. Circular Quay is a hub well combined causeways with cafes, restaurants, malls and parks. It keeps Sydney so alive!
 

 

                   



Harbour Bridge

 

Visitors crowded in front of the Opera House

                           

One of the facades of Opera House on the waterfront

 

Swedish ceramic tiles used as the roof covers of the Opera House

 

 -         Hyde Park

Hyde Park is a public recreation park sited mainly at Elizabeth Street. It’s a free access green space for everyone.



Archibald Fountain in the park

-         Historical Buildings

Some of the heritage buildings in city are well worth visiting; I almost couldn’t get my eyes off the fine architecture of the buildings.





 

Visiting Blue Mountains of New South Wales

After the NYE celebration in Sydney, I agreed with my friends to have a day trip to Blue Mountains on New Year.

That day was an extremely sunny day; we took a train by City Rail for about 90 minutes leaving from Sydney Central Station to Katoomba Station. The ticket price can be checked from the City Rail Fare Calculator

There is actually a bus service ExplorerBus.com.au takes visitors from the Katoomba Station to destinations around the Blue Mountains, but we choose to walk from the station all the way up through the shops and houses before we reached the lookout.

 

 

 

The most famous feature there is The Three Sisters. According to Wikipedia, The Three Sisters are rock formation in the Blue Mountains towering above the Jamison Valley. The views of Jamison Valley were amazing. We then spent hours for nature walks and exploring the green environment there.

 

 

 Although we were exhausted from the bushwalking, we did enjoy our trip pretty much.


This video is showing more views in Blue Mountains. Enjoy!

 

 

 

NYE Celebration in Sydney

Weeks before New Year, backpackers had been discussing about the coming New Year celebration. Most of them were planning to visit Sydney. As for me, I had no idea and I seemed not bother so much about where I’d be. Soon, my friends kept persuading me to go to Sydney with them as well. Yes, I bought a train ticket after I finally made up my mind. If there weren’t their help and arrangement in advance, I won’t be so easy to get the accommodation and train ticket. For your information, the price for majority backpacker hostels in Sydney will be raised significantly in conjunction with terms during the period. For instance, one hostel situated in the heart of Sydney may charge $60 per night for 10 bed dorm (ordinary price is $30). In addition, the hostels also required minimum nights that you must stay or pay, usually 8 or 10 nights in between Christmas Eve and first week of January. Don’t be surprise if most of the accommodations are fully booked for 31/12 weeks ahead… Hence, be sure to organize in advance if you’re going to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Sydney in order to avoid any disappointment.

I was glad that I came to Sydney with my friends. In fact, it was my first time in this well-known metropolitan.

As we were told that some destinations in Sydney will be crowded with people for the fireworks event, so we prepared earlier and headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain on afternoon.  Wow! We saw so many people are queuing up to the entrance when we just arrived there.

 

 

 

Moved bit by bit, we eventually did enter to the site. However, we could hardly find a perfect position to watch the fireworks as there was full with visitors who reached earlier than us. As a result, we simply found one place to settle first before more people are coming in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s still half day long before the fireworks show. We chatted, ate foods, walked around…time just seemed moved too slow at that moment. The sky was still bright, I wondered if we could wait for so many hours before the fireworks start and was it worth our time waiting?

An hour before 12, people started to squeeze closer and the ambiance was getting more excited. Everyone hoped to view the fireworks at the best position. We wait…wait and wait, finally everyone shouted 10, 9, 8…3, 2, 1! The fireworks were start blooming beautifully over the Sydney Harbour! It lasted for about 50 minutes and most of the visitors caught photos and videos to record the spectacular moments. It was truly a very stunning celebration! Then I realized that it was well worth waiting although for so many hours :D

 

 

 

Joyful but tired, we got back to our rented apartment on early hour of 1^st January. What a memorable New Year’s Eve!

(I was attempting to upload the fireworks videos, but so sorry that there’s an error occurred. Perhaps I may try again later. Sorry! :P)

 

Christmas Celebration

When Christmas was coming soon, the residential area in Griffith was decorated nicely as if to welcome the significant celebration. Consequently, the hostel owner drove a bus and picked us up for a visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the Christmas Eve, I joined some Hong Kong friends to attend a party belongs to the local dweller - Mick. We knew him from the nursery job. Mick and his family were kind to invite us to join them for a very decent Christmas Eve dinner. See…so many great foods prepared by his wife and son. Yummy!

Appetizer 1

 

Appetizer 2

Appetizer 3

Appetizer 4

 

Some sweets and chocolates

 

Some juicy stone fruits

 

Main course 1

 

Main course 2

 

Main couse 3

 

Main course 4

 

Main course 5

 

Actually there were also main course 6, 7…before dessert, but I know I have already posted too much photos. So, that’s enough. Be frank, the foods prepared were far more than enough for 7 of us. Everyone enjoyed the foods anyway.

We also played some video games after the dinner. Next, it’s time to exchange gift. Oh! I was surprised that I got 2 lovely presents from them, a feminine cup and a pair of silver ear rings. Thanks to Mick and Joy! Thank them once again for celebrating a memorable Christmas Eve party with us.

My first Christmas present...

 

...and my second one

 

On 25/12, I had a great Christmas dinner together with all the backpackers in the hostel.

All the backpackers were waiting for the dinner to start

 

Santa Claus wearing his uniform in short sleeves and short pants

The party was fun and exciting especially during the gift discovering moment… Everyone of us won’t know who’s the secret Santa Claus of our own unless he/she was willing to tell. However, I knew mine and I got a present consisted of lip balm and Cadbury chocolate, nice ;)