Hello Sydney

Well setelah gelombang pandemi mereda, akhirnya ada kesempatan juga buat lanjut kerja, yang untungnya juga sekaligus ngasih kesempatan buat travel dan liat tempat-tempat baru. Dan akhirnya nginjek juga kaki di Australia, sayangnya sendiri aja sekarang karna agak susah ajak keluarga kalo anak-anak udah mulai sekolah SD gini, ada ujian etc yang gak bisa dilewat.

Enak banget deh buat jalan kaki keliling kota

Pergi ke Sydney bisa langsung direct dari Jakarta, kemaren berangkat pake Garuda tengah malem dari Jakarta, perjalanan direct sekitar 6 jam, langsung landing di Sydney. Jangan lupa kalo gak perlu gak usah bawa makanan daging etc karna di AU lagi sensitif takut ada penularan PMK dari hewan-hewan Indonesia kesana. Diluar itu sebetulnya proses imigrasi, landing, sampe bagasi lancar jaya, gak ribet, gak delay, airportnya relatif kecil dibanding SHIA tapi modern.

Enaknya di Sydney, lajur keretanya integrated dan well connected, jadi dari airport bisa langsung naik kereta sekitar 15 menit sampai Central area, yep airportnya deket ternyata sekitar 9 KM aja dari Central. Nah buat naik kereta ini beli kartu Opal atau bisa jg sih langsung pake credit card kalo udah pake versi yang tap (sayangnya aku masih pake versi traditional chip and swipe – walau bisa dipake disini tapi limited jadinya gak kayak tap yang bisa dipake di stasiun). Harganya mayan jg guys tapi ke Central 20 dollar, kemaren sampe ada Oppa kayaknya dari Europe terkaget-kaget jg denger 20 dollar karna disana biasa 5 euro udah bisa naik kereta sehari full. Jawaban mbaknya pas liat dia kaget “This is Australia” (tapi gak pake intonasi kayak film 300 sih).

Diluar itu di kotanya enak banget buat jalan kaki, kotanya ramah pedestrian, cantik banget juga bagian deket laut tempat ada Opera house. Ada tram di kota juga bisa buat jalan-jalan dikit, walau jalan kaki enak banget juga ini November suhu sekitar 20 derajat.

Kalo mau agak jauh bisa ke Bondi – sekitar 50 menitan naik bus dari cetral (murah kok 3 dollar), atau kalau mau naksi kayaknya 30 menit gak nyampe. Harusnya ada area-area lain jg sih yang seru, tapi karna travel sendiri lebih banyak main di tengah aja jalan kaki sana sini.

Bondi yang gak seru sih kalo sendirian gak sama anak-anak

Buat yang cari makanan ada Chinatown of course, plus juga kalo cari oleh-oleh cari di Market City aja deket Chinatown bisa setengah harga dari tempat oleh-oleh modern di tengah kota. Mayan jg guys harga-harganya beli gantungan kunci yang ada tangan kanggurunya sekitar 5 dollar (agak serem sih tapi ya unik jg). Kisaran beli baju kaos AU gitu ya 7-10 dollar yang bahan oleh-oleh, yang bagusan sekitar 20 dollar.

Bye for now Sydney!

Gak kerasa udah 3 hari, harus jalan lagi ke tempat berikutnya, Melbourne, mudah-mudahan se seru dan friendly Sydney jg yak.

A Short Trip to Tanjung Lesung

Few weeks ago, we tried to find the best possible way to celebrate so many achievement that we have done to survive 2020, and on the other side also to give some break and entertainment especially to the kids. But on the other side, of course we have high standard of health protection in this pandemic situation, and come to a mission of enjoying a beach, which located a bit far from Jakarta but still reachable by a roadtrip, and minimize the interaction with other guest by getting there on weekdays.

After long search and considerations, we chose Tanjung Lesung as our destination. An area in the West Side of Java Island. Well known for the tragedy of Tsunami happened to the area in December 2018.

With normal traffic, normal speed, and one stop for Durian Jatuh Pohon (which were awesome – but somehow Mischa doesn‘t like the smell until now), it took us about 5 hours to go there. Of course a bit hard to prepare so many FAQs when these two kids were asking „are we there yet“ for about 90% of the trip.

But all the long tiring journey – not too tiring actually, the traffic was great – worth the great white sand beach that the area and hotel offer.

Katya, Mischa, and Krakatoa in the background.

And yes – one of the best two days in our lives! The kids spent like hours on the beach, got tanned, but very happy to get so many corals. Me and Reti were also happy to see the beach were clean, only 2-3 families were there, enjoying time passed quickly. Relativity.

We had also enough time to explore one nearby island – with only one family live there – called pulau Keliwung (if I am not mistaken). What an experience.

Unfortunately the sea were not in its best condition because the wave were too strong in the end of the year, forced us to promise to ourselves to come back again mid of 2021 – the time where the sea are in its best condition for snorkeling or longer boat trip to visit Krakatoa mountain.