Today we were going to Sydney again, but this time for The Rocks Aroma Festival, the largest coffee festival in the southern hemisphere.
We got up at 7 am, fixed some brekkie to take with us, and went to the train. We spent most of the train ride listening to music or sleeping. This way the rides don’t seem so long. When we got to Circular Quay in Sydney and tapped off our Opal cards, the screen displayed that the trip had only cost us A$2.50 each (approx. 16 SEK). That was a nice surprise that we didn’t expect since the usual price is A$8.30.
At Circular Quay where we arrived at 11:30 am, the festival had started. Stalls were located along the wharf towards The Rocks, which you could say is Sydney’s old town. Since Sebastian and Hermione were arriving at noon, we decided to go to the Customs House where we had read that a miniature model of the Sydney City Centre was located under the glass floor in the foyer. It was impressive, and when we got there, we were alone looking at the model.
Walking towards our meeting place with Sebastian and Hermione, we walked past many market stalls. Some of them had queues stretching far; other were less frequented and at some of those, we decided to stop and have a look or a free sample.
We arrived first at our meeting place and decided to look around. We found a market stall where they were selling liquorice! As we were looking at the candy, the owner and manufacturer started handing out pieces of candy while explaining their composition and ingredients. His showmanship and attitude made the comparison to Willy Wonka quite easy. We ended up buying a bag of liquorice and one of peppermint sticks. But the price of candy seems to be higher in Australia compared to Sweden (both in stores and market stalls).
Together with Sebastian and Hermione, we went to a local restaurant called The Glenmore to eat. We shared three dishes, swordfish (first time either of us had that!), squid, and fries. The food was really nice and tasted great!
After lunch, we roamed around The Rocks looking at market stalls. We bought a packet of Vanilla Chai tea from Pukka. Then we bought our first coffee at a market stall from the company Sacred Grounds. We shared a large cappuccino. Delicious!
Sebastian and Hermione went to go shopping while we went for some sightseeing. On our way to Sydney Harbour Bridge, we stopped at a market stall where they sold gilded leather jewellery. Linnea bought a beautiful golden necklace shaped like leafs.
When we arrived at the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we walked along the sidewalk and continued a bit past halfway over before deciding to go back. The view was good from the sidewalk, so we decided not to go up the pylons.
When we came back to the festival area, we got ourselves a coffee each for “free” in exchange for a gold coin donation (gold coin being a one dollar coin or a two dollar coin). At the same time the NSW barista championship final was just about to start on a nearby stage, so we stayed there watching it. The competition evaluated both the latte art and the taste. It was really interesting to watch their technique and the final result.
As the winner of the competition was announced at 5 pm, the festival drew to a close. We went for a last walk alongside the stalls and showed up just in time for when the sushi stall started selling out what remained of the food for half price. We got some sushi and dumplings. We devoured the food in no time as we’re big fans of East Asian cuisine.
Since the festival was over, we went back on the train and discovered when we arrived in Newcastle that our journey was even less expensive going back, this time, there was no charge for either of us. We’ve read up on the Opal card now, and apparently, the maximum charge on Sundays is A$2.50 and after that, you go for free. That means Sunday is now officially “Travelday” in our book.
Last, but not least, here’s the promised video of how to change the direction of a seat on a Sydney train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLclPKrHDAs
/ Linnea and Gustav