Sydney and Schwazenegger, Thinking big!

Sydney!!!

I had been planning this trip since I first heard about it maybe November last year. 21st Century, which is an financial education group who help out investors and like minded people achieve their financial goals etc, were holding a conference in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney June 12-14. Though many self made millionaires and motivational guests would be there, One of the most famous guest speakers would be Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yes, the Terminator! and I would be there to meet one of the biggest influences in my action movie fan's life :) 

I've watched almost all his movies (still havent yet seen his breakthrough staying hungry though haha) and relished his book, but It would be great to get some advice from the man in person into what makes him one of the planets most successful individuals.

I counted down the weeks, worked out the logistics and money and set off on my journey across the ditch to wallaby country the very next night after finishing my shift at work.  Woke up 5am and onboard the Air NZ flight to Sydney at 6.40am NZ time, whoosh....

 My Air New Zealand flight was nice, and touching down in Sydney was a great feeling. I haven't been there since I was a kid, so seeing it with an adults eyes is a new experience. 

After arriving in Sydney at 8.30am I took the train from the airport to the city so I could look around shops and kill time before checking in to my hotel, being a Double Decker train was pretty cool as well as seeing the Harbor bridge straight after stepping off.

The city has so much history, having 4.6 million people in one city is crazy, that's the population of us here in New Zealand as a country! The skyscrapers and modern buildings have swallowed the old brick churches and architecture that survive in this metropolis. Boy was it cold. The wind was biting cold, so much for warmer over the ditch, I missed Auckland weather haha. Settling into my hotel I explored the city, eager to find and discover things that would help me grow and achieve my goals.

The pics below are from the Cambridge hotel, a fair priced hotel, paying a little extra for a balcony was worth it as the view was nice, and how much safer could a hotel be with the Goulburn police station across the road? :)

I spent the rest of the day looking around and shopping :)

By the time Thursday came around I was so excited, I wondered what it would be like, what I would learn, if this trip was really worth coming all this way, I'll share what I learnt next post,  but below are some pics I took :)

The next 2 days I spent looking around Sydney and exploring its awesome shops and attractions, Photos below :)

 My bank for the trip, it was so hard to find a bank that would give me an Eftpos card on signup instead of having to wait 5 days for a card, I was only in the country for 4 days, cmon guys, Thanks St George! Lifesaver :)

 Check it out, Me at the Sydney opera house :)

The shopping malls were heaven. I love shopping, anyone I know would tell you this, I window shop mostly but I waste so much time making plans for stuff and generally just being curious, 5 floors, Yay! :) This photo was from Bondi junction mall, but darling harbour and Sydney city were just as exciting :)

 This bookstore was fantastic, think borders 2.0, bigger selection, I could waste hours in here and probably did come to think of it...

 I finished my trip with a relaxing afternoon at the Chinese gardens...check it out when you are next here, its very well done :)

 After looking around the Paddy markets where I found the hard to find in NZ DVD Chinese zodiac of Jackie Chan (not out in NZ yet -by the way movie was awesome! last half hour Jackie Chan action heavy, so worth the wait :) yes!) I walked past these cops below, I kept thinking of Tony Jaa in the protector when he runs inside the convention center looking for his elephant :)

Anyway, the day had drawn to a close, I caught the train to the airport, had my last meal and headed back home full of goodies, mental notes, experiences and memories :)

Airplane food, was looking forward to this, and flying home with Qantas was dare I say better than with air NZ, better service for me this time around anyway...

When I rolled back in NZ Saturday midnight, wifey was happy to have me back and with her gifts...

And I with mine!!!! Burn notice seasons and Jackie chan finally! Also tagalog books so I can finally learn and Street fighter manga for my research project :)

So yeah, last of all here is my pic with Arnold, I have proof!!!

Schwarzenegger discovers his next Villian, Matt, vampire! Not proud of this photo (kinda am) but in my defense I had no idea this is what it looked like til a couple days later when I got my copy haha, guy took my photo when wasn't ready, I would have liked to smile more but yeah, great experience great trip and I look forward to sharing the things I learnt here next blog, hope you enjoyed this entry and inspires you to make things happen! :)

 Yess!!!