And the 3 month count-down begins...
Things are going to get crazy!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Sydney: The centre of Australia's world?
Before I arrived, I had heard lots about this wonderful city. Depending on who you talk to, it is either a great multi-cultural city that is world-class, or it's just another urban jungle with all the problems of the big city. After spending a few days, I can say that it's a bit of both.
Sydney's population is officially listed as 4.2 million but driving around, it seems to be more than that as the city just sprawls out over about 50-75km west of the downtown core. I stayed right in what is called the CBD (Central Business District), a fancy word for downtown.
The first thing I noticed about this city was that the streets are not straight. It is one of the most confusing places to drive in if you're a visitor. This strongly contrasts to the relatively easy navigation around Melbourne.
Sydney is located in a protected harbour and there are ferries that run to all the subarbs from the CBD. These ferries go right by the famous Sydney Opera House. This structure is truly worthy of all the attention it gets and it's just a spectacular piece of architecture to look at. It is the most photographed icon in Sydney. The second-most famous architecture is the "Coat Hanger", aka the Sydney Harbour Bridge. To be honest, it's quite ugly, but it's a symbol for Sydney. I found it real tough to creatively photograph these places as they have been shot in just about every angle you could think of.
Walking around Sydney, it was quite obvious that I was no longer in a small town and people are definitely in more of a hurry and are also quite dressed up for the business world. Amongst the rest of Australia, Sydney has the reputation of being the large, dark, big city that the country needs but that everyone doesn't like. Exactly like Toronto!
Within short ferry rides are several spectacular world-class beaches like Bondi and Manly. I visited Manly and it really was amazing. Only 1-2 hours west of the city are the Blue Mountains. They're called this because from a distance, they appear with a blue haze due to the eucalyptus oil vapours given off from all the gum trees. The park is spectacular with the main attraction being the "Three Sisters" rock formation. I went to the interior of the park to do canyoning. Canyoning is rappelling down into limestone canyons, often through waterfalls. Don't feel bad about not knowing what that is, I didn't know either but it was a lot of fun!
Sydney, like Melbourne is in draught and in real danger of running out of fresh water. The reservoir capacity is expected to drop to 30% and may dry out soon. Scary! The draught might be due to the 300+ days of sunshine that Sydney gets. I guess no place is perfect.
Sydney was ranked the 6th most expensive city to live in; ahead of London and New York City. It is extremely expensive to buy a home in Sydney, I thought Toronto was bad....Traffic congestion is also a concern in Sydney, though not as bad as Toronto.
Overall, my impression of Sydney was that it's a nice place to visit with lots of things to do and places to see. If you like the big city and night life, yet still love the outdoors, Sydney is the place for you. Personally, I would find it much easier and less stressful to live in Melbourne!
Highlights from Sydney:
- Seeing the Sydney Opera House
- Photographing the less-photographed but spectacular Anzac Bridge
- Seeing a chinese commercial/music video being filmed
- Going canyoning and stubbing my toe (losing the toenail)
- Seeing a brown snake while hiking, the most venomous snake in the world
- Seeing the Sydney Aquarium
- Being told to take a day off to go sightsee by managers in Sydney
- Taking a ferry to Manly to see the great beaches
- Eating Kangaroo!
- Shopping at an outdoor market (The Rocks market)
- Witnessing Australia day in the heart of Sydney Harbour
- Watching Australian Open Tennis on an outdoor big screen in front of the Opera House
Sydney's population is officially listed as 4.2 million but driving around, it seems to be more than that as the city just sprawls out over about 50-75km west of the downtown core. I stayed right in what is called the CBD (Central Business District), a fancy word for downtown.
The first thing I noticed about this city was that the streets are not straight. It is one of the most confusing places to drive in if you're a visitor. This strongly contrasts to the relatively easy navigation around Melbourne.
Sydney is located in a protected harbour and there are ferries that run to all the subarbs from the CBD. These ferries go right by the famous Sydney Opera House. This structure is truly worthy of all the attention it gets and it's just a spectacular piece of architecture to look at. It is the most photographed icon in Sydney. The second-most famous architecture is the "Coat Hanger", aka the Sydney Harbour Bridge. To be honest, it's quite ugly, but it's a symbol for Sydney. I found it real tough to creatively photograph these places as they have been shot in just about every angle you could think of.
Walking around Sydney, it was quite obvious that I was no longer in a small town and people are definitely in more of a hurry and are also quite dressed up for the business world. Amongst the rest of Australia, Sydney has the reputation of being the large, dark, big city that the country needs but that everyone doesn't like. Exactly like Toronto!
Within short ferry rides are several spectacular world-class beaches like Bondi and Manly. I visited Manly and it really was amazing. Only 1-2 hours west of the city are the Blue Mountains. They're called this because from a distance, they appear with a blue haze due to the eucalyptus oil vapours given off from all the gum trees. The park is spectacular with the main attraction being the "Three Sisters" rock formation. I went to the interior of the park to do canyoning. Canyoning is rappelling down into limestone canyons, often through waterfalls. Don't feel bad about not knowing what that is, I didn't know either but it was a lot of fun!
Sydney, like Melbourne is in draught and in real danger of running out of fresh water. The reservoir capacity is expected to drop to 30% and may dry out soon. Scary! The draught might be due to the 300+ days of sunshine that Sydney gets. I guess no place is perfect.
Sydney was ranked the 6th most expensive city to live in; ahead of London and New York City. It is extremely expensive to buy a home in Sydney, I thought Toronto was bad....Traffic congestion is also a concern in Sydney, though not as bad as Toronto.
Overall, my impression of Sydney was that it's a nice place to visit with lots of things to do and places to see. If you like the big city and night life, yet still love the outdoors, Sydney is the place for you. Personally, I would find it much easier and less stressful to live in Melbourne!
Highlights from Sydney:
- Seeing the Sydney Opera House
- Photographing the less-photographed but spectacular Anzac Bridge
- Seeing a chinese commercial/music video being filmed
- Going canyoning and stubbing my toe (losing the toenail)
- Seeing a brown snake while hiking, the most venomous snake in the world
- Seeing the Sydney Aquarium
- Being told to take a day off to go sightsee by managers in Sydney
- Taking a ferry to Manly to see the great beaches
- Eating Kangaroo!
- Shopping at an outdoor market (The Rocks market)
- Witnessing Australia day in the heart of Sydney Harbour
- Watching Australian Open Tennis on an outdoor big screen in front of the Opera House
Friday, January 26, 2007
New Zealand: Inspiration for Lord of the Rings
I'll save you the time of reading this whole post. New Zealand is one of the most spectacular countries you can ever see and should be high on everyone's list of countries to visit. Period. That's it, if you want more details read on.
New Zealand is just incredible. It has rolling lush green valleys that sheep, horses and cattle graze on and these fields lead up to tall green forested hills in the north and dark, barren towering mountains south. The ocean is always nearby and where it meets land, the views are just incredible. You name the scenery you want to see, New Zealand has it. There's a reason why Peter Jackson chose to film Lord of the Rings here...
The total population of New Zealand is only 4 million. That's right, less than the population of the Greater Toronto Area. It's no wonder the country has a peaceful, laid back feel to it that's immediately noticeable from the moment you step off the plane.
The country is divided into a North and South Island. The North Island contains the biggest city, Auckland, as well as the capital, Wellington. The South Island is less populated and has all the beautiful mountains and Fjords that we've all seen in movies. Unfortunately, I was only able to see the North Island with only a brief one-day trip to the South.
Auckland has a population of 1 million and is considered the business center for Auckland. It's a nice city with several volcanic hills spread out over the city. There are also several explorable islands that are only a ferry ride away.
Wellington is the capital, and as such, has many of the government buildings. It's also considered the cultural center and has the spectacular Te Papa Museum. The harbourfront is just amazing and you could walk around the boardwalk for hours without reaching the end. Only 15 minutes out of the downtown core the city disappears and you'd think you were in unexplored terrain.
I spent 1 week in Auckland, 1 week in Wellington and 1 day on the South Island. Here are some highlights from my trip:
Highlights of New Zealand:
- Hanging out with my cousin Dan in Auckland
- Eating the best, biggest, most filling mussels I've ever had in Auckland
- Renting scooters on nearby Waiheke Island and falling off (got a few scrapes and bruises)
- Renting a Mazda Miata Convertible on Waiheke Island
- Watching a Budweiser Commercial being filmed in Wellington
- Seeing Comet McNaught light up the sky on the South Island
- Renting a sea kayak and going to a remote seal colony
- Having coffee at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, where the cast of Lord of the Rings regularly hung out
- Sleeping in a youth hostel for the first time
- Driving the Queen Charlotte Drive, the most spectacular road I've ever driven on, even more so than The Great Ocean Road in Melbourne
Next time I come back, and yes, I will one day come back, I will spend more time in the South Island...
New Zealand is just incredible. It has rolling lush green valleys that sheep, horses and cattle graze on and these fields lead up to tall green forested hills in the north and dark, barren towering mountains south. The ocean is always nearby and where it meets land, the views are just incredible. You name the scenery you want to see, New Zealand has it. There's a reason why Peter Jackson chose to film Lord of the Rings here...
The total population of New Zealand is only 4 million. That's right, less than the population of the Greater Toronto Area. It's no wonder the country has a peaceful, laid back feel to it that's immediately noticeable from the moment you step off the plane.
The country is divided into a North and South Island. The North Island contains the biggest city, Auckland, as well as the capital, Wellington. The South Island is less populated and has all the beautiful mountains and Fjords that we've all seen in movies. Unfortunately, I was only able to see the North Island with only a brief one-day trip to the South.
Auckland has a population of 1 million and is considered the business center for Auckland. It's a nice city with several volcanic hills spread out over the city. There are also several explorable islands that are only a ferry ride away.
Wellington is the capital, and as such, has many of the government buildings. It's also considered the cultural center and has the spectacular Te Papa Museum. The harbourfront is just amazing and you could walk around the boardwalk for hours without reaching the end. Only 15 minutes out of the downtown core the city disappears and you'd think you were in unexplored terrain.
I spent 1 week in Auckland, 1 week in Wellington and 1 day on the South Island. Here are some highlights from my trip:
Highlights of New Zealand:
- Hanging out with my cousin Dan in Auckland
- Eating the best, biggest, most filling mussels I've ever had in Auckland
- Renting scooters on nearby Waiheke Island and falling off (got a few scrapes and bruises)
- Renting a Mazda Miata Convertible on Waiheke Island
- Watching a Budweiser Commercial being filmed in Wellington
- Seeing Comet McNaught light up the sky on the South Island
- Renting a sea kayak and going to a remote seal colony
- Having coffee at the Chocolate Fish Cafe, where the cast of Lord of the Rings regularly hung out
- Sleeping in a youth hostel for the first time
- Driving the Queen Charlotte Drive, the most spectacular road I've ever driven on, even more so than The Great Ocean Road in Melbourne
Next time I come back, and yes, I will one day come back, I will spend more time in the South Island...
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Melbourne: The Green City
4 weeks into my 6 week trip and I haven't given a real update on my thoughts other than some small blurbs on my photo blog which can be found here
Melbourne:
I started the trip with 2 weeks in Melbourne for holiday. Melbourne is one of the best cities that I have ever spent time in. I knew it was a great city to live in before and this trip just reconfirmed that it's so easy to fall in love with Melbourne. It's green, it has the ocean, it's multi-cultural, it's temperate, traffic isn't bad, people are friendly and there are tons of things to see and do. Also, the transit system is lightyears ahead of Toronto, even though Melbourne's population is only 3.7M, about half that of Toronto!
That pretty much explains the city itself. As for my time there, it was great. Firstly, it was real nice to spend time with my mom. It had been 4 years since I last saw her so it was a good reunion and we had a chance to spend ample time with each other. She worked most days for several hours and I would drop her off and afterwards, I was free to roam the city and explore.
All in all, it was a wonderful 2 weeks and I was sad to leave but also curious to see how the other cities I was going to visit would stack up in comparison to Melbourne....Stay tuned and I'll tell you about my next part of the trip: Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand.
Highlights of Melbourne:
- Seeing my mom
- Seeing cousins/relatives and their cute kids!
- Great Ocean Drive trip (12 Apostles!)
- Day trip to Phillip Island (Koalas!)
- Petting and feeding Kangaroos in Ballarat
- Making $500 at the Crown Casino!
- Walking around southbank, the main harbourfront of Melbourne
- Learning to drive on the left
- Photographing the city!
- Eating the biggest shrimps I have ever seen
- Eating some of the best chinese food I've ever had
- Doing a hook-turn (like making a left-turn in Canada from the right-most lane)
Melbourne:
I started the trip with 2 weeks in Melbourne for holiday. Melbourne is one of the best cities that I have ever spent time in. I knew it was a great city to live in before and this trip just reconfirmed that it's so easy to fall in love with Melbourne. It's green, it has the ocean, it's multi-cultural, it's temperate, traffic isn't bad, people are friendly and there are tons of things to see and do. Also, the transit system is lightyears ahead of Toronto, even though Melbourne's population is only 3.7M, about half that of Toronto!
That pretty much explains the city itself. As for my time there, it was great. Firstly, it was real nice to spend time with my mom. It had been 4 years since I last saw her so it was a good reunion and we had a chance to spend ample time with each other. She worked most days for several hours and I would drop her off and afterwards, I was free to roam the city and explore.
All in all, it was a wonderful 2 weeks and I was sad to leave but also curious to see how the other cities I was going to visit would stack up in comparison to Melbourne....Stay tuned and I'll tell you about my next part of the trip: Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand.
Highlights of Melbourne:
- Seeing my mom
- Seeing cousins/relatives and their cute kids!
- Great Ocean Drive trip (12 Apostles!)
- Day trip to Phillip Island (Koalas!)
- Petting and feeding Kangaroos in Ballarat
- Making $500 at the Crown Casino!
- Walking around southbank, the main harbourfront of Melbourne
- Learning to drive on the left
- Photographing the city!
- Eating the biggest shrimps I have ever seen
- Eating some of the best chinese food I've ever had
- Doing a hook-turn (like making a left-turn in Canada from the right-most lane)
Friday, December 15, 2006
www.tsaiphotography.com
My new website is live. Right now it's just a simple photoblogger but I'm working on making a full-featured website. Until then, I'll try to update pics every day. I'll likely update pics everyday when I'm in Australia so check the site often!
Update: I was having some problems with the site, but I think I got the basic functions working properly now. Some of you have asked about shooting data for my pictures. Just click on comments and the data is there. It's not in a pretty format (yet) but it's there!
My new website is live. Right now it's just a simple photoblogger but I'm working on making a full-featured website. Until then, I'll try to update pics every day. I'll likely update pics everyday when I'm in Australia so check the site often!
Update: I was having some problems with the site, but I think I got the basic functions working properly now. Some of you have asked about shooting data for my pictures. Just click on comments and the data is there. It's not in a pretty format (yet) but it's there!
Friday, December 01, 2006
I've been so blessed with my job over the past 2 years and the icing on the cake is that I will be going to Australia and New Zealand this coming Christmas. It begins with a 2-week holiday to spend time with my mom in Melbourne, Australia, and then I'll be travelling to New Zealand and Sydney, Australia, for 4 weeks of work. I hope to come back talking like an aussie, but we'll see!
I'm really looking forward to spending time with my mom. Just too bad that the real reason for the trip (Christina coming to meet my mom) fell through as she couldn't find a flight back to Canada in time for the January school start.
Anyhow, I plan on taking LOTS of pictures down there. Part of my travels will take me into Wellington, New Zealand, where Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings production was based out of and where much of the footage was shot. I can't wait!
I might be forced to wear long sleeves though. Christina's orders are that I don't tan too much otherwise by the time the wedding rolls around, I'll be african-american.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Go Leafs Go!
I love hockey and I love the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm a realistic fan I know their chances of going deep into the playoffs, or even making the playoffs are slim but I will still cheer them on this year and I like what I see in the team this year.Teams I like:
San Jose Sharks
Calgary Flames
Teams I hate:
Philadelphia Flyers
Buffalo Sabres (I respect them as one of the best teams in the NHL)
Ottawa Senators (mostly feel sorry for them)
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