Worktrip to Australia! [Week 1]
Apr. 22nd, 2026 12:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beelikejA week and a half ago I returned from an extended businesstrip to Australia; I added some personal time before and after the two week international meeting. I made over 2500 photos while traveling through New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia, so there will be several picspams over the next month(s) ;-) This is week 1 of my trip.
I first flew to Sydney where I walked around for a day trying to stay awake to fight the jetlag and I spent a day with my brother and family.
The weekend before work I went to an Australian Rules Football game in Melbourne and visited an underground gold mine, both together with a bunch of colleagues from all over the world.
Day 1 & 2: flying to Sydney
I left home on Monday afternoon. This is the man in the clock in the Schiphol Airport Terminal, where I had Dutch poffertjes and chocolate milk for dinner before getting on the plane to Singapore.
I flew with KLM and the flight started with dinner; I had the Chicken with spicy bell pepper sauce, steamed rice and broccoli. Soon after, I went to sleep.
It takes over 24 hours to get from Amsterdam to Sydney with a transit in Singapore on Tuesday evening.
Breakfast was served right before we got to Singapore for my transit; it was a mini Baguette with an Egg patty and cheese, with fruit and yoghurt.
I had about three hours until the next flight, I had lunch (dinner according to local time): Salt Bread and a Chai Latte. I read until departure.
There are two stages to boarding in Singapore with pre-boarding through another bag-check to get into the official boarding area.
I stayed awake for dinner and dessert: Beef with rice and vegetables, strawberry short cake. I tried to sleep a little bit more.
Day 3: Sydney Opera House
A mini-breakfast was served (Lattice pastry with egg, spinach and cheese), right before landing around 07:00 local time on Wednesday morning. Sydney, I am in you (and it is warm)!
After getting some money and a travelcard, I took the train into the city centre. Loved the old style look of this station.
I had added a day-stay to my hotel room, so I could check in right away to freshen up.
Even though I had slept most of the flights, the bed did look tempting. I resisted though to adjust to local time right away!
The hotel was not that fancy, but my toilet had a heated seat and no lever, but a remote control to flush! There were also buttons to spray water front and back and to blow dry down below, heehee.
(Yes, I tried them all ;-)
I dressed for warm weather and got on the tram to Circular Quay to then walk to The Rocks, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Sydney.
Photo of the Museum of Contempory Art with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.
I sat down at the Tea Cosy: a savoury scone and honey comb drinks (first a latte which I thought was tea, but turned out to be coffee, so then I had a milkshake instead :o). The cafe offers community knitting and crochet to finish while enjoying this calm corner of The Rocks neighbourhood, very cute. (I just sat and ate and relaxed)
After lunch I strolled back to the harbour, where I walked around enjoying the famous view:
I had booked an afternoon tour of the Opera House, as an incentive to stay awake. Can recommend! The interior of concrete and wood is very impressive. I posted more photos of the inside on my Instagram
From inside you can see the second building's cool shape and ceramic roof tiles up close. You also have an amazing view over the harbour from the indoor and outdoor balconies!
After the tour I had dinner at the Opera bar; there were seagulls eyeing my food, but I managed to eat it all myself, unlike an unlucky woman next to me, who lost her fish and chips to several birds!
I had a Cheeseburgerwith lettuce, tomato, onion, Westmont dill pickles, burg sauce & fries.
In the evening I went to see opera Madama Butterfly, which I enjoyed from a seat on the back row with a perfect view, even though I kept nodding off and missing bits: one moment there was a wedding and the next a guy was singing with his chesthair out! No longer able to fight the jetlag, I left during intermission in favour of sleep.
I did have a short evening walk around the quay before grabbing a tram to the hotel.
Day 4: Ferry & Swimming with family
On Thursday morning I took the elevator down to get a breakfast box at the hotel coffeebar. As I'm not used to soaking my cereal in milk, I just nibbled on that dry and drank the milk instead ;-D.
I took the tram to Circular Quay and walked around the Harold Square Tank Stream Fountain (by Sculptor Stephen Walker, 1981) waiting for my brother J. and nephew R.
While they got a coffee and snack at McDonald's (or Macca as they say in Australia) I stayed behind to take a couple of photos of this ibis that was preening its feathers :-D
We got on a ferry to Watsons Bay, which offers a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour *heart eyes*
From Watsons Bay we strolled to Camp Cove beach where we sat down with a lemon drink and ice cream.
We walked a tiny part of the South Head Heritage trail, starting on the 1870s cobblestone road, past the Historical cannon and up to Lady Bay Beach.
Then we walked along the modern asphalt road to the Gap and hung out at the AhirAvina lookout before grabbing a bus to Bondi Beach.
We sat down for food at Glory Days Bondi, I had the Savoury Stack: double pancake, scrambled eggs, bacon & maple syrup with orange juice.
After lunch we walked along Bondi Beach to Bondi Iceberg Ocean Baths.
We spent about an hour swimming (my brother did laps, my nephew mostly just tried to keep warm, I floated, swam and hung on the edge to enjoy the amazing view. It was a great afternoon :-)
White cockatoos up in the tree on our walk to the busstop.
We took the bus all the way back to Circular Quay, took the tram to the trainstation, where we picked up my sister-in-law G. Then the four of us walked to Darling Harbour for dinner.
I had Fish & Chips with a mocktail: Violet Sunset (peach syrup, luchee syrup, lemon juice, cranberry juice, soda water, house-made butterfly pea syrup)
Afterwards we found a lovely spot near the water where we enjoyed an icecream,
I had two scoops: Ube flavour (purple yam) on top and Dragonfruit with Lychee on the bottom.
A lovely end to a great day with my family :-)
Day 5: Flying to Victoria & Birdspotting
On Friday morning I took the train to the airport, where I had to check my own bag, which I find nervewracking. I want professional staff to handle this for me, please!
On the tiny plane I sat right next to the propellor, which looked cute when it was not in motion, but went wonky once it started spinning. For my sanity I assumed this was just a trick of the eye, haha!
Funny thing is that you don't really see the propellor when you take a picture, so I had a good view of the clouds and the world below.
Even though it was a short flight, we did get served a snack: a sandwich with ham, cheese & pickle relish.
Thrilled I could take a photo of the plane and I also liked that we just climbed out and walked along the stopway to the tiny terminal, where a few minutes later the cart with luggage was just pushed in for everyone to get their own luggage.
My Australian colleague D. picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at the fancy hotel (where I was welcomed on the tv-screen by name)
Lots of pillows on my Kingsize bed (You think there is enough? ;-) I even have a terrace!
After I had dumped my backpack, D. came over to take me to a nearby lake for some bird watching: up in that tree there are Galahs and the big bird in the grass is a Purple Swamphen.
Can you see the Rainbow Lorikeets between the leaves?
Back in the hotel I met up with more international colleagues (from NLD, AUS and GBR) for dinner: a Meatball Sandwich (toasted garlic bread, beef & pork meatballs, tomato sugo, provolone cheese, basil pesto mayo and rocket) with chips and ginger ale (listen, that was already my travel drink of choice before it became the fashion ;-)
Day 6: Australian Football in the MGC
Saturday breakfast: a massive bowl of granola with fruit and a dollop of yoghurt.
D. came to pick me up to catch a train to Melbourne. Halfway another AUS colleague S. and his partner got on the train as well. From Southern Cross station we got on a tram to...
The MGC stadium! There we met up with GBR colleagues G. & A. and together we went to see an Australian Football Match.
We watched home team Richmond Tigers vs the Gold Coast SUNS.
Got myself a snack in between the 2nd and 3rd quarter.
I rooted for the Tigers (I was introduced to this team years ago thanks to a wonderful bookseries Tigers & Devils, written by my friend Kennedy (whom I met in the CSI fandom back in the day).
The team lost, but it was great to experience a game plus I bought myself this cool scarf as a souvenir.
G. droves us back in his rental car and we had dinner at the hotel: Pork Belly Bao Buns, mmm.
Day 7: Underground Goldmine
After breakfast on Sunday (a seeded bagel with jam), a whole group of international colleagues (from USA, DNK, NLD, AUS, GBR) went on a tour to a gold mine!
This was 61 meters underground!
Look: shiny! (besides gold, there's also iron and pyrite in these rocks)
Alexandra Fountain (William Vahland, 1881), this Victorian ornamental design was built as a symbol of the rapid development and consequent wealth of this town, as a result of the successful gold fields.
We (D, G, A, T and I) got lunch to eat in that birdpark I had also visited upon arrival on Friday and did some more birdspotting (Ibis up in the tree!)
We also visited the local botanic gardens before doing some breakfast shopping for our workweek. (Because breakfast at the hotel restaurant is just too much to handle early in the morning;-)
To be continued!
J.
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/589549.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)
I first flew to Sydney where I walked around for a day trying to stay awake to fight the jetlag and I spent a day with my brother and family.
The weekend before work I went to an Australian Rules Football game in Melbourne and visited an underground gold mine, both together with a bunch of colleagues from all over the world.
Day 1 & 2: flying to Sydney
I left home on Monday afternoon. This is the man in the clock in the Schiphol Airport Terminal, where I had Dutch poffertjes and chocolate milk for dinner before getting on the plane to Singapore.
I flew with KLM and the flight started with dinner; I had the Chicken with spicy bell pepper sauce, steamed rice and broccoli. Soon after, I went to sleep.
It takes over 24 hours to get from Amsterdam to Sydney with a transit in Singapore on Tuesday evening.
Breakfast was served right before we got to Singapore for my transit; it was a mini Baguette with an Egg patty and cheese, with fruit and yoghurt.
I had about three hours until the next flight, I had lunch (dinner according to local time): Salt Bread and a Chai Latte. I read until departure.
There are two stages to boarding in Singapore with pre-boarding through another bag-check to get into the official boarding area.
I stayed awake for dinner and dessert: Beef with rice and vegetables, strawberry short cake. I tried to sleep a little bit more.
Day 3: Sydney Opera House
A mini-breakfast was served (Lattice pastry with egg, spinach and cheese), right before landing around 07:00 local time on Wednesday morning. Sydney, I am in you (and it is warm)!
After getting some money and a travelcard, I took the train into the city centre. Loved the old style look of this station.
I had added a day-stay to my hotel room, so I could check in right away to freshen up.
Even though I had slept most of the flights, the bed did look tempting. I resisted though to adjust to local time right away!
The hotel was not that fancy, but my toilet had a heated seat and no lever, but a remote control to flush! There were also buttons to spray water front and back and to blow dry down below, heehee.
(Yes, I tried them all ;-)
I dressed for warm weather and got on the tram to Circular Quay to then walk to The Rocks, one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Sydney.
Photo of the Museum of Contempory Art with the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background.
I sat down at the Tea Cosy: a savoury scone and honey comb drinks (first a latte which I thought was tea, but turned out to be coffee, so then I had a milkshake instead :o). The cafe offers community knitting and crochet to finish while enjoying this calm corner of The Rocks neighbourhood, very cute. (I just sat and ate and relaxed)
After lunch I strolled back to the harbour, where I walked around enjoying the famous view:
I had booked an afternoon tour of the Opera House, as an incentive to stay awake. Can recommend! The interior of concrete and wood is very impressive. I posted more photos of the inside on my Instagram
From inside you can see the second building's cool shape and ceramic roof tiles up close. You also have an amazing view over the harbour from the indoor and outdoor balconies!
After the tour I had dinner at the Opera bar; there were seagulls eyeing my food, but I managed to eat it all myself, unlike an unlucky woman next to me, who lost her fish and chips to several birds!
I had a Cheeseburger
In the evening I went to see opera Madama Butterfly, which I enjoyed from a seat on the back row with a perfect view, even though I kept nodding off and missing bits: one moment there was a wedding and the next a guy was singing with his chesthair out! No longer able to fight the jetlag, I left during intermission in favour of sleep.
I did have a short evening walk around the quay before grabbing a tram to the hotel.
Day 4: Ferry & Swimming with family
On Thursday morning I took the elevator down to get a breakfast box at the hotel coffeebar. As I'm not used to soaking my cereal in milk, I just nibbled on that dry and drank the milk instead ;-D.
I took the tram to Circular Quay and walked around the Harold Square Tank Stream Fountain (by Sculptor Stephen Walker, 1981) waiting for my brother J. and nephew R.
While they got a coffee and snack at McDonald's (or Macca as they say in Australia) I stayed behind to take a couple of photos of this ibis that was preening its feathers :-D
We got on a ferry to Watsons Bay, which offers a spectacular view of the Sydney Harbour *heart eyes*
From Watsons Bay we strolled to Camp Cove beach where we sat down with a lemon drink and ice cream.
We walked a tiny part of the South Head Heritage trail, starting on the 1870s cobblestone road, past the Historical cannon and up to Lady Bay Beach.
Then we walked along the modern asphalt road to the Gap and hung out at the AhirAvina lookout before grabbing a bus to Bondi Beach.
We sat down for food at Glory Days Bondi, I had the Savoury Stack: double pancake, scrambled eggs, bacon & maple syrup with orange juice.
After lunch we walked along Bondi Beach to Bondi Iceberg Ocean Baths.
We spent about an hour swimming (my brother did laps, my nephew mostly just tried to keep warm, I floated, swam and hung on the edge to enjoy the amazing view. It was a great afternoon :-)
White cockatoos up in the tree on our walk to the busstop.
We took the bus all the way back to Circular Quay, took the tram to the trainstation, where we picked up my sister-in-law G. Then the four of us walked to Darling Harbour for dinner.
I had Fish & Chips with a mocktail: Violet Sunset (peach syrup, luchee syrup, lemon juice, cranberry juice, soda water, house-made butterfly pea syrup)
Afterwards we found a lovely spot near the water where we enjoyed an icecream,
I had two scoops: Ube flavour (purple yam) on top and Dragonfruit with Lychee on the bottom.
A lovely end to a great day with my family :-)
Day 5: Flying to Victoria & Birdspotting
On Friday morning I took the train to the airport, where I had to check my own bag, which I find nervewracking. I want professional staff to handle this for me, please!
On the tiny plane I sat right next to the propellor, which looked cute when it was not in motion, but went wonky once it started spinning. For my sanity I assumed this was just a trick of the eye, haha!
Funny thing is that you don't really see the propellor when you take a picture, so I had a good view of the clouds and the world below.
Even though it was a short flight, we did get served a snack: a sandwich with ham, cheese & pickle relish.
Thrilled I could take a photo of the plane and I also liked that we just climbed out and walked along the stopway to the tiny terminal, where a few minutes later the cart with luggage was just pushed in for everyone to get their own luggage.
My Australian colleague D. picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at the fancy hotel (where I was welcomed on the tv-screen by name)
Lots of pillows on my Kingsize bed (You think there is enough? ;-) I even have a terrace!
After I had dumped my backpack, D. came over to take me to a nearby lake for some bird watching: up in that tree there are Galahs and the big bird in the grass is a Purple Swamphen.
Can you see the Rainbow Lorikeets between the leaves?
Back in the hotel I met up with more international colleagues (from NLD, AUS and GBR) for dinner: a Meatball Sandwich (toasted garlic bread, beef & pork meatballs, tomato sugo, provolone cheese, basil pesto mayo and rocket) with chips and ginger ale (listen, that was already my travel drink of choice before it became the fashion ;-)
Day 6: Australian Football in the MGC
Saturday breakfast: a massive bowl of granola with fruit and a dollop of yoghurt.
D. came to pick me up to catch a train to Melbourne. Halfway another AUS colleague S. and his partner got on the train as well. From Southern Cross station we got on a tram to...
The MGC stadium! There we met up with GBR colleagues G. & A. and together we went to see an Australian Football Match.
We watched home team Richmond Tigers vs the Gold Coast SUNS.
Got myself a snack in between the 2nd and 3rd quarter.
I rooted for the Tigers (I was introduced to this team years ago thanks to a wonderful bookseries Tigers & Devils, written by my friend Kennedy (whom I met in the CSI fandom back in the day).
The team lost, but it was great to experience a game plus I bought myself this cool scarf as a souvenir.
G. droves us back in his rental car and we had dinner at the hotel: Pork Belly Bao Buns, mmm.
Day 7: Underground Goldmine
After breakfast on Sunday (a seeded bagel with jam), a whole group of international colleagues (from USA, DNK, NLD, AUS, GBR) went on a tour to a gold mine!
This was 61 meters underground!
Look: shiny! (besides gold, there's also iron and pyrite in these rocks)
Alexandra Fountain (William Vahland, 1881), this Victorian ornamental design was built as a symbol of the rapid development and consequent wealth of this town, as a result of the successful gold fields.
We (D, G, A, T and I) got lunch to eat in that birdpark I had also visited upon arrival on Friday and did some more birdspotting (Ibis up in the tree!)
We also visited the local botanic gardens before doing some breakfast shopping for our workweek. (Because breakfast at the hotel restaurant is just too much to handle early in the morning;-)
To be continued!
J.
X-posted to https://beelikej.livejournal.com/589549.html
Lurk or comment wherever you like:)