Continued from my last post on preparation to Sydney.
iii) Pre-Itinerary
Next after secured the tickets, we planned for the rough itinerary to get idea on which places to visit, any advance tickets we needed to book, location of accommodation, mode of transportation and budget estimation. It was easy to find info on Sydney as there are lots of blog posted about it. Thanks bloggers! Initially we just planned to visit attractions at Sydney City area only and a bit further to Blue Mountain, Katoomba which around 120km from the city. 4days 3 nights were just ample for the trip. Transportations would be by bus and train. However there was one incident that (again) changed our itinerary drastically and also the whole program. Read further down to know.........
Note : For muslim don't forget to check the prayer's time in the country U wanted to visit or download the apps (better application that can show the prayer's time and locate kiblat as well) so that U can plan ahead where & when U wanted to perform your fardhu prayers.
iv) Accommodation & Final Itinerary
This is one of major preparation for every travel. Basically people will consider location, convenient and price as the important elements in making selection of accommodation. Suited with our itinerary and based on my research on the blogs, we decided to stay at Sydney Malaysia Hall. I don’t feel like to share details on how to apply for it here as lots of blog already posted about it. Takut panjang pulak. But since I am a nice person, I attached the link for step by step procedures to book from KAKIBERANGAN blog herewith for your easy reference.
New update, the organisation which managed the students and Malaysia Hall in Australia (previously known as Malaysia Student Department Australia) has now changed to Education Malaysia Australia, thus the website has been changed to www.ema.org.au. 2nd update which is a bad news for those who wish to stay at the Sydney Malaysia Hall starting 1st May 2015, as they are not able to receive any in-house visitors until further notice. You can see the announcement on the link that I’ve provided.
Back to my story, I made the booking on early Feb. Go to website – Download form Borang permohonan Untuk Bukan Pelajar (DMP2) – Fill up form – Print and Scan – Email to myhallsydney@msda.org.au – Wait for confirmation. Surprisingly I received the reply from MH Sydney only on the next day (despite 1-2 week waiting) only to know that my application was rejected due to unavailability of room. Ape lagi cuak la kan… Then once again God actually had a better plan for us.
Most of Malaysian normally choose MH because of the cheap rate at AUD20/night per person. As other accommodations located in the city are very expansive, thus we started to extent our search to outskirts of Sydney and found out the rates for house/cabin accommodation were quite affordable. For your information, since Australia is a very large country, there are tourists/travellers prefer for road trip to explore there from one city to another. And because of that, there are lots of holiday park which included cabins, motorhomes, caravan, camping sites and etc located all over the country (Similar like in New Zealand). We quickly liked the idea of staying in the cabin as we can cook ourselves and save the budget. Halal foods in Sydney are not very hard to find but the prices are quite expansive. The disadvantage of staying outside the city was we would be far from the public transport. We had to think for another alternative.
That is how we came out an idea to rent a car. I will explain on the transportation later.
Then, we thought like dah alang2 stayed outside the city area and rented a car, why not we just extent our visit to another attractions on the outskirts of Sydney. Plan for different routes instead of typical City trip like other's had. Then once again our itinerary took 360deg turn! But the problem to get information on the road-trip in Sydney was quite limited. I only have one source from BIQQUE blog who also went to Sydney's outskirts with her husband. Ok since one is better than zero, I started to draft another itinerary and our rough final itinerary as follows :
Day 0 : Arrived at Sydney City. Check in Hotel 1
Day 1 : Grand Pacific Drive Trip (Otford Lookout - Stanwell Park - Wollongong - Kiama). Check in Hotel 2
Day 2 : Blue Mountain Trip. Back to Sydney. Check in Hotel 3
Day 3 : Sydney City tour (Darling Harbour / Waterfront, Ferry Ride, Opera House & Harbour Bridge). Back to Hotel 3
Day 4 : Checked out, shopping at Paddy Market, last Sydney City tour and returned car. Take taxi to Airport.
Based on the itinerary above basically we needed to search for 3 accommodations. Hotel 1 at the airport area since we arrived at night, Hotel 2 around the Wollongong/Kiama and Hotel 3 near Sydney City area. Finally we managed to find the accommodations that met with our requirements (location, budget, spaces) as below :
Hotel 1 - Ibis Budget Sydney Hotel - Standard Triple Room at AUD89/room.
We booked this through Agoda.
Hotel 2 - Windang Beach Tourist Park, Wollongong - 2 bedrooms Family Cabin at AUD156/night.
(Split king bed and 4 single bunks, ensuite, fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, air conditioning, TV, DVD player, mini stereo system, large undercover verandah with lake views and private bbq)
Visit this WEBSITE for booking. Once you made a booking, you will received a booking confirmation via email. Payment can be made via cheque or Visa / Master Card. I emailed to them my Credit Card details and they process my payment. So far the transaction was secured. Then after payment succeeded, they sent to me the confirmation and receipt of transaction. As simple as that :D
Hotel 3 - Base Hill Tourist Park, Hume Highway Bass Hill - 2 Bedrooms Cottage Cabin at AUD150/nite.
Similar facilities like our cabin in Windang but a bit smaller. I made a booking at the Base Hill Tourist Park website however I just checked just now and it is no longer available. But don't worry my dear friends, you can still make a booking at other accommodation booking services like Agoda, Booking.com, Wotif, hotels.com and etc. Unlike Windang Tourist park, payment had to be made straight away when booking. Then we received the confirmation email and receipt of transaction. Simple also...!!
Quite satisfied with our selection as this was also my 1st time staying in the "mat saleh" cabin/cottage. Such a great experience.
Now with the accommodations all settled, we proceed with transportation (Car Rental). I will share on this on the next post so to be continued.
You may read other topics on preparation to Sydney and TOTAL EXPENSES here :
Preparation 1 – Flight Tickets & What to Wear
Preparation 3 - Car Rental
Preparation 4 – Visa / ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) & Foods Declaration
TOTAL EXPENSES
Then, we thought like dah alang2 stayed outside the city area and rented a car, why not we just extent our visit to another attractions on the outskirts of Sydney. Plan for different routes instead of typical City trip like other's had. Then once again our itinerary took 360deg turn! But the problem to get information on the road-trip in Sydney was quite limited. I only have one source from BIQQUE blog who also went to Sydney's outskirts with her husband. Ok since one is better than zero, I started to draft another itinerary and our rough final itinerary as follows :
Day 0 : Arrived at Sydney City. Check in Hotel 1
Day 1 : Grand Pacific Drive Trip (Otford Lookout - Stanwell Park - Wollongong - Kiama). Check in Hotel 2
Day 2 : Blue Mountain Trip. Back to Sydney. Check in Hotel 3
Day 3 : Sydney City tour (Darling Harbour / Waterfront, Ferry Ride, Opera House & Harbour Bridge). Back to Hotel 3
Day 4 : Checked out, shopping at Paddy Market, last Sydney City tour and returned car. Take taxi to Airport.
Based on the itinerary above basically we needed to search for 3 accommodations. Hotel 1 at the airport area since we arrived at night, Hotel 2 around the Wollongong/Kiama and Hotel 3 near Sydney City area. Finally we managed to find the accommodations that met with our requirements (location, budget, spaces) as below :
Hotel 1 - Ibis Budget Sydney Hotel - Standard Triple Room at AUD89/room.
We booked this through Agoda.
Hotel 2 - Windang Beach Tourist Park, Wollongong - 2 bedrooms Family Cabin at AUD156/night.
(Split king bed and 4 single bunks, ensuite, fully equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, air conditioning, TV, DVD player, mini stereo system, large undercover verandah with lake views and private bbq)
Visit this WEBSITE for booking. Once you made a booking, you will received a booking confirmation via email. Payment can be made via cheque or Visa / Master Card. I emailed to them my Credit Card details and they process my payment. So far the transaction was secured. Then after payment succeeded, they sent to me the confirmation and receipt of transaction. As simple as that :D
Hotel 3 - Base Hill Tourist Park, Hume Highway Bass Hill - 2 Bedrooms Cottage Cabin at AUD150/nite.
Similar facilities like our cabin in Windang but a bit smaller. I made a booking at the Base Hill Tourist Park website however I just checked just now and it is no longer available. But don't worry my dear friends, you can still make a booking at other accommodation booking services like Agoda, Booking.com, Wotif, hotels.com and etc. Unlike Windang Tourist park, payment had to be made straight away when booking. Then we received the confirmation email and receipt of transaction. Simple also...!!
Quite satisfied with our selection as this was also my 1st time staying in the "mat saleh" cabin/cottage. Such a great experience.
Now with the accommodations all settled, we proceed with transportation (Car Rental). I will share on this on the next post so to be continued.
You may read other topics on preparation to Sydney and TOTAL EXPENSES here :
Preparation 1 – Flight Tickets & What to Wear
Preparation 3 - Car Rental
Preparation 4 – Visa / ETA (Electronic Travel Authority) & Foods Declaration
TOTAL EXPENSES
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