We recently returned from a quick trip Sydney courtesy of SBS who were flying me up to their Studios to film an episode of SBS Insight. I brought Kayla and Charlie along with me to take full advantage of my free trip and accommodation.
In order to get the cheapest tickets we could for Kayla and Charlie, we booked very early flights leaving Melbourne Airport at 6am on Wednesday and returning to Avalon Airport on another early flight.
We got up at 3 AM for the flight and mum drove our car with the baby seat for us to the airport. We had to get her to drive us as we were using two different airports so couldn’t leave our car there for the trip.
Charlie’s First Flight
Before our flight, I had a beer and Kayla and Charlie had an Up and Go drink from a store as all the food places had very long lines. It was very busy so early in the morning.
On the flight, Kayla and I sat in different rows to each other and Charlie sat on her lap. Our pram got pretty banged up by baggage handlers, but luckily it was not broken.
Charlie’s First Train Ride
When we got to Sydney, we got a train into Sydney to our hotel, The Mantra in China Town. We were quite impressed that Sydney allowed Apple Pay on your phone as a method of payment. This was really handy as we’d left our old Opal cards from our previous trip to Sydney a few years ago.
Mantra Hotel
The Mantra could be accessed from the two different street sides, when we arrived, we were on the side that only had stairs. It was quite early in the morning when we arrived there, probably around 8-9 AM and our check-in time wasn’t until 2 PM so we asked if we could leave our bags here until it was time to check in, but they let us check in early, which was really handy.
Charlie liked the hotel room because he could reach the door handles and light switches, which were unusually low.
During the day, we went for a walk around Sydney’s CBD to try and find some toys for Charlie to keep him entertained. We ended up in a Myer store and bought Charlie a magnetic drawing toy, like a Magnadoodle.
I had to get to the TV studio at 4 PM and would be filming until 8 PM or so, we knew I’d miss dinner, so we found somewhere quick for big meal to tide me over. We found a food court and I had KFC and Kayla had a very spicy chicken noodle bowl. Charlie ate lots of my chips. We also attempted a nap at some point, but Charlie wasn’t interested.
My Trip to SBS Studios Sydney
At 3.30 PM I got the hotel to get me a taxi, as SBS had loaded my phone with Cab Charges to get around. When I was in the taxi, I took my glasses off when I put on my face mask and I guess I left my glasses in the taxi as I certainly didn’t have them anymore when I got to the studio and realised I couldn’t see a sign at the end of a hallway.
When I got to SBS, there was someone waiting for me and the other guests outside and they gave me some instructions. I then had to go and get some ID photos were taken and some badges and had to go through security. I then went downstairs then had to do a COVID test, which I passed with flying colours. I drank a can of Red Bull I’d brought with me because I was super tired having been up since 3 AM. I was actually in a pretty uncomfortable situation as I was coming down from having a pinched nerve in my neck, something that had happened to me on the weekend, and also my ears were still all weird from the flight.
I then had to wait for about 2 hours before the show started filming. It was pretty boring, but I made friends with some of the other guests for the show. The Philosophy professor and the older lady who would later sit next to me on the show. I forgot their names, but I’ll update this article later after the show airs I guess.
There were some snacks and bottles of drink for us, but I wasn’t really hungry due to eating my big KFC meal. I’d eaten a lot since the producer wasn’t sure how much food there would be there.
When we filmed the show, it took about 1.5 hours.
After the show, I took home a bottle of water and a chocolate muffin for Charlie. I had a good chat with my new friends and some of the producers and crew I’d been emailing in the lead-up to the show.
Sydney Aquarium – Sea Life
Although we have a Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, we had heard that the Sydney one was a lot better. We went here on Thursday. It’s been years since I’ve been to the Melbourne one. This one definitely felt like it had a lot more long tubes for us to walk through. Charlie must have had a good view of the fish swimming overhead from his pram!
Penguins at Sydney Sea Life Aquarium
It was cool to see penguins again, Charlie even had penguins on his top. He has lots of clothes with penguins on them.
Heavy Rain outside Sealife Sydney
We bought an umbrella and plastic ponchos to try and get back to our hotel. We walked across this massively long bridge with no cover and still got pretty wet. When we went back to the hotel room, I spent ages trying to dry out my only pair of jeans and our shoes with the hair dryer from the hotel room. At some point, charlie threw the hairdryer and we thought it broke, but it had just overheated.
Squid Pocha – Squid Game Restaurant Sydney
For dinner, we were meant to meet my friend Kirstin for dinner at Squid Pocha, a Korean fried chicken restaurant themed after the Netflix series Squid Game. However, due to the torrential rain, Kirstin was stuck on a train for several hours and it became clear it was better for her to just go home and catch up with us another time.
The above shows Kayla and Charlie leaving the Squid Pocha restaurant.
Hot Chips
The only size of chips they sold was $15 worth… We got these for Charlie, they were really good, but luckily they let us take us home the leftovers.
There was a variety of Korean Fried Chicken that wasn’t spicy so that we could share it with Charlie. We took home the leftovers of these as well. Overall, we could have fed Kirstin too if the weather allowed her presence.
The drinks were pretty cool, mine had an icy pole in it.
Wild Life Sydney Zoo
On Friday, we went to the Wild Life Sydney Zoo which was next to the Sea Life. There was a special deal when booking tickets that let us go to this place for cheaper.
Here’s Charlie admiring the weird birds.
Charlie looks away from a weird lizard.
Charlie looking at a weird echidna.
A Metre of Lamb at Spice World Hot Pot Sydney
For dinner, we returned to Spice World Hot Pot, a favourite of ours we went to on a previous trip. There’s actually one in Melbourne as well now, but since we were staying so close, it would have been rude not to visit again.
The last time we came here, we got a metre of lamb for free. But really, by the metre is not the best way to measure slices of meat. But I suppose neither is the next photo.
Meat Dress Barbie at Spice World Hot Pot
I guess meat dress Barbie confused Charlie. This is an iconic speciality for Spice World restaurants.
Cooking Hotpot
Somehow, we ended up with 3 soups boiling away, which wasn’t really necessary. But it was still a good time!
Tella Balls Dessert Bar
After dinner, Kayla and Travis were still hungry. They reckon I ate most of the food because Kayla spend all her time trying to teach Trav how to use chopsticks.
Charlie had fun trying to feed himself with a big spoon.
Dance Dance Revolution
After dessert, we checked out the arcade next door. I don’t think we actually played anything but Charlie ran around looking at everything.
I’m glad we didn’t put money in the machine as Charlie mostly liked the poles.
Space Invaders Frenzy Arcade Game
Again, we didn’t play this but Charlie climbed on it.
Powerhouse Museum Sydney
On Saturday, Travis was off from work for the weekend. The weather wasn’t great so we went to the Powerhouse Museum, which had free entry and was indoors.
Apparently, a while back, they had a big Wiggles exhibition here. We were disappointed to learn that it had once existed and no longer did. Charlie would have loved it.
Plasma Globe
It was actually really hard to get Charlie to pay attention to or touch this thing. These were always really cool to me.
LEGO Fabuland Collection
Someone’s LEGO Fabuland collection was here. I have a few bits and pieces from this series from when I was a kid, but I think it might have been hand-me-downs as this is quite an old series.
Kids Arts and Crafts at Powerhouse Museum Sydney
The purpose of this was to make an animal mask. Kayla didn’t even bring it home with us or take a photo of it.
Four Frogs Crêperie – Circular Quay
For dinner on our last night, we went to Four Frogs Creperie with my friend Kirstin, which had really good sweet or savoury crepes. The service was incredibly bizarre, however, with us requesting a table for 3 adults and a kid, and then get given a seat for 2 adults and a kid. Then moving us to a larger table, only to come back later and move us again as that bigger table was booked.
The place was also very confusing in how you ordered, with a 10% surcharge added to everything regardless of whether you ordered from a waiter or from the app. It was really weird and why not just incorporate that mandatory charge into the price of the items if there’s no way around it?
Views of Sydney Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge
It wouldn’t be a trip to Sydney without a photo in front of the Sydney Opera House.
We had to go to bed early as we had another very early flight.
The Flight Home
We had some snacks at the airport.
Luckily this time we had a seat in between us so we had more wriggle room for Charlie.
He did go to sleep eventually.
