Return to Sydney (and Parramatta!)

I was in Sydney again this year for the ANZMAC doctoral colloquium in Parramatta. It was about an hour to Parramatta by train and although it felt like a small town, I was impressed by the number of restaurants, shops and cafes on offer. Apparently, the biggest Westfield in the southern hemisphere is the one in Parramatta and it was absolutely massive. The girls and I had dinner at one of the italian joints along Church Street on our last day and we had the best pasta ever.

Cheryl and I stayed on in Sydney for a few more days, where we were put up in a hotel which was pretty strange. It had the most abstract layout to its floors, the rooms were oddly-shaped and our room had 2 single beds as well as bunk beds - 4 people could have stayed in our room! It was pretty tiny but the location was smack in the middle of Chinatown, which was great. We were close to food, EasyWay, World Square, and Darling Harbour... for a few dollars more, you could stay somewhere nicer like the Ibis World Square but we weren't spending much time in our room anyway and the location really won me over.

We spent the first day just wondering around Sydney and later met up with Kirsty for dinner and drinks at Circular Quay. She took us to the Shangri-La, which had a cocktail bar at the top floor with amazing views of Sydney, the Harbour Bridge, and the Opera House. We then headed to this pub for dinner with views of the Harbour Bridge on your left and the Opera House on your right. It was quite surreal.

The next night, we met up with the QUT people - Sam, Tom, and Olivia for Happy Hour drinks at Tokio Hotel on Darling Harbour. Olivia, Cheryl and I continued with dinner on the other side of the harbour and it was a pretty fantastic night, catching up.

I went to the Olympic Park the next morning to meet with a professor to get some feedback about my work and ended up staying for one session at the main conference. I met so many people I knew that I hung around for a while before leaving to have a late lunch back in Sydney. A $27 sushi-train meal later, I was ready to head back to the hotel to grab my bags and leave for the airport. I must have spent a bit on the trip overall, but I rather not know!