Camping with the Mediocre Dad

Camping tips, tricks and advice from a fairly average parent and a reformed dad blogger

Menu
  • Home
  • About
  • Camping
  • Family Days Out
  • Sponsorship
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Why celebrate mediocrity?
Menu

My Top 4 Top 5 lists from a trip to Australia

Posted on July 11, 2010June 4, 2018 by Henry Elliss

Partially because I don’t blog often enough (at least on here), but also because I felt like doing something a bit different from my normal photos, I thought I’d make a record of a few of my memories from my recent trip to Australia. It was my first trip to the Asia/Pacific area, indeed it was the furthest I’d been from home ever – toppling the 6,000 miles travelled to Cape Town by another 4,000 miles. Anyway, here are a few of my thoughts/memories/observations from the trip:

Top 5 films I watched on the plane:

  1. Green Zone – The ultimate Bourne-combo of Damon and Greengrass have churned-out another cracker, though I wasn’t clear whether it was entirely factual or a bit of both. Didn’t spoil my enjoyment though.
  2. Date Night – I’m pretty sure I heard that this got very bad reviews when it came out, but I liked it – Tina Fey was especially great, and it made me a bit moist-eyed at the end (or maybe that was just the altitude?)
  3. I love you too – Great, home-grown Australian movie, very much under-rated from what I’ve read about it since. Really heart-warming and hilariously funny at the same time – best performance by far was from the pint-sized Peter Dinklage, who stole the show.
  4. The Ghost – A good film by Polanski, and it didn’t take itself too seriously either. I do wish directors would just let Ewan McGregor do his normal accent though – after this, Star Wars and Angels and Demons, I’ve lost all confidence in his mimicry skills!
  5. Shutter Island – Quite a clever and slightly un-nerving thriller, with a very good twist about two-thirds of the way through. I was definitely not my favourite though – it probably didn’t help that I fell asleep half way through, I guess!

Top 5 brilliant things I did while in Sydney

  1. Took a trip on the Manly ferry, across the harbour to visit some friends in Manly – a beautiful beach suburb, so far removed from the heart of Sydney that you’d think it was 500 miles away. The ferry back at 11pm wasn’t quite so cool, filled as it was with drunken scousers, for some bizarre reason!
  2. Went up the Sydney Tower. I know it’s a very touristy thing to do, but it still has absolutely amazing views across most of Sydney!
  3. Ate Sushi, Thai, Australian (I had kangaroo, and it was delicious!), Italian and numerous other types of cuisine. The Sushi in particular was very nice.
  4. Managed to sleep later than my usual 6am wake-up (though admittedly not by much)
  5. Seemed to completely avoid getting any effects of jet lag whatsoever. I don’t know if it was just the tricks I was told (i.e. don’t take naps when you arrive, just go straight in to their schedule) or just luck, but the only effect of the entire trip was being a tiny bit more tired than usual on the day I got home. That was it – bargain!

Top 5 biggest let-downs in Sydney

  1. The Bourke Street bakery – I was told this was a must-see, but the queue round the block (queuing for a room the size of my bathroom) meant it was virtually unvisitable.
  2. Bondi Beach – it’s like the Blackpool of Australia, with very few of the locals having a nice word to say about it.
  3. Sydney Opera House – It’s an impressive building, for sure – but up-close it looks really… dirty. I always assumed it was shiny and bright-white, but it’s actually a rather dirty brown colour, and the glass around parts of it look like the glass you get in old shops where they’ve not had any sun-protection up.
  4. The beer – Australian beer is RUB-bish. Not only is it served in stupid, tiny measures, it’s also really poor quality. The best beers I had while I was there were from New Zealand.
  5. The ‘Winter Festival’ – maybe it was just based on the Australian version of ‘freezing cold’ being about 12 degrees, but the Winter Festival being held in the middle of Sydney during my stay was pretty rubbish too, though in quite a quaint way.

Top 5 favourite photos I took during my visit:

The Skyscrapers around the Circular Quay area, where all the ferrys leave for the various different areas of Sydney.

The sunset over Manly Bay, one of the most beautiful areas I visited.

A great contrast of very-modern and beautifully natural, taken from the Botanic Gardens.

A man delighting children with giant bubbles in Sydney’s Hyde Park.

A view over Woolloomooroo from the Sydney Tower, aka Centrepoint

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • WhatsApp
  • Print
  • Australia
  • Journey
  • Sydney
  • Trip
  • 1 thought on “My Top 4 Top 5 lists from a trip to Australia”

    1. Giovanna says:
      July 12, 2010 at 5:17 pm

      Hi Henry ~ thanks for visiting the my blog. We participate in the 365 Project hosted by Work of Heart and Soul at http://workofheartandsoul.wordpress.com/365-project-2/
      There are detailed instructions on joining the group and it is really easy to follow along.
      Visit the hosting website and if you like to join, I will look forward to seeing your pictures. It is a nice group of photographers : )
      Your pictures are awesome! I love the Manly Bay one : )

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    henweb

    henweb

    Pun-loving, 👨‍👦‍👦 dad-blogging, 📷 photo-taking, 🏰 Lego-making, 🎅🏿 beard-wearing, 👶 child-caring dad of 2. 💍 Husband of 1. 💩 Strategist

    View Full Profile →

    Instagram Gallery

    Spent a few hours in a client meeting this week wh Spent a few hours in a client meeting this week where this was the view from the meeting room. I’ve definitely seen worse views.
    Swipe to see where I spent today. It got busier, I Swipe to see where I spent today. It got busier, I promise
    Good morning from a frosty Brimpton Good morning from a frosty Brimpton
    Had the absolute pleasure of seeing @actualbenfold Had the absolute pleasure of seeing @actualbenfolds again last night, this time at the @royalalberthall. Not only was it an amazing concert, there was a big surprise at the end when he bought out both @doddleoddle AND the legendary @realmattlucas - what a treat!
    Went to the ‘Spectacle of Light’ at @welfordpa Went to the ‘Spectacle of Light’ at @welfordpark (where they film @britishbakeoff) and had a lovely autumnal stroll amongst the lights
    As today is ‘Back British Farming’ day, I want As today is ‘Back British Farming’ day, I wanted to give a shout-out to all the farmers in the local area, especially Brimpton’s own @mbowden1954. One of my favourite aspects of living where we do now is being surrounded by countryside and farm land - and being able to see an actively-farmed field at the end of our garden. Every time something’s being done to the field I’m out with my camera, usually trying to figure out the names of all the machinery - and it’s so nice to see a product being grown right from seed to harvest. I know it’s not easy for farmers at the moment, and I dearly hope ours are able to keep farming for many years to come - so if you have one near you, make sure to show them all the support you can!
    Load More… Follow on Instagram

    A little ad for some stuff




    Subscribe by RSS

    RSS Feed RSS – Posts

    Recent posts

    • The 7 Reasons I don’t post as much as I’d like to October 31, 2023
    • 5 Tips to Make Family Travel Easier December 2, 2022
    • 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow August 18, 2022
    • Summer Holidays in the Mountains? 4 Reasons Why You Should Go for it! June 7, 2022
    • Family Camping for Beginners – A Guide to Buying a New Tent May 31, 2022

    A bigger ad for some stuff

    Recent Comments

    • RayCaldereta on 5 Great Camping Blogs You Should Follow
    • Family Camping for Beginners - The Ultimate Guide for first time campers | Camping with the Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for beginners – Food, glorious food
    • Tiana on Fatherhood²: The Ultimate Octonauts Quiz
    • The best camping gadgets for your next trip with the family | The Mediocre Dad on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers
    • Dynamite dad blogs | Samuel Windsor on Family Camping for Beginners – The Ultimate Guide for first time campers

    My Brimpton Village history website

    My Mastodon profile

    © 2025 Camping with the Mediocre Dad | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme
    Find me on Mastodon