Nuts and Bolts on travel and Sydney

Exchanging currencies

Sometimes friends ask me where is the best place to change currencies in Singapore. The answer is Arcade at Raffles Place. It's right next to Change alley. Situated on the second floor of the dark, a tad dreary but bustling Arcade complex is a whole chain of Indian money changers. Walk down the aisle and look for the best rates amongst them. The competition for every penny of traveller's cash keeps the forex rates closer to spot than anywhere else in Singapore. The spread is tight and the commission is little. Another good place is the ground floor of People's Park complex at Chinatown. Depending on convenience, you can go to any of these two locations to get good rates. Do not exchange currencies in Sydney itself. The spreads are shockingly huge. The bid/ask at the money changer was 1.38/1.24. Crazily exorbitant, those bloodsuckers.

Multipasses for getting around

So let's get to Sydney. We got around using a multi ticket that covers on buses, trains and ferries. Sydney is walkable by foot but it's still really big. A walk from central station to glebe just outside the city centre centre is about twenty minutes. A one way train ticket costs around 3 Aud. It's a really good idea to get multi passes. The passes have different prices for each of the 3 zones. Most travellers get the zone 1 ticket which costs roughly 42Aud. We got the 60aud zone 3 pass that covers intercity transport to blue mountains. More on blue mountains later.

Day trips out of Sydney

We visited two places on the outskirts of town- hunter valley and blue mountains. Hunter Valley is without a doubt worth going. Besides wine drinking, they have really good Pesto fetta cheese spread at the Smelly Cheese Shop (and italian gelato, see below) and why not visit the Lavender Gate Farm if its on the way? For the novice, expect slightly spicy Shiraz for reds and crispy smeillon for whites. I would buy both if i had luggage space and extra cash. For the ladies, do not miss out on their verdelho that boasts of mango passionfruit melon aroma. I am lusting for a sip already. Visit boutique wineries and some commercial ones. Spend a night or two if you are more interested in wine drinking. Each winery has it's own flavour and style, so don't regret not buying a bottle back. Visiting hunter valley definitely involve driving. The wineries are pretty spread out from each other. We booked a tour which was pretty worthwhile. You don't have to plan which wineries to visit or be concerned about their opening hours and location.

Blue mountains on the other hand is not worth going with a tour. One can easily take a train to katoomba from central station. The journey is about two hours long and the trains depart every hour. Echo point where the famous three sisters rocks are located are a half hour walk away from katoomba station. Alternatively tour buses that allow hop on and off around the area costs around 20aud. taxis costs 8 aud for a ten minutes ride to echo point.