Day 4 : 4 Jan : 50 60 80

I should be at work but I'm driving around Sydney instead

Macquarie - easy driving
Went to Macquarie when the shops were open but only had a quick look around. We were interested with Chatswood so off we went.

50 60 80 Driving Sydney 50 60 80
Wherever you drive it's either 50 = absolute residential driving filled with humps, 60 = main roads, 80 bigger than main roads/motorways/highways.

Driving to Macquarie is essentially driving down a v long road = easy
Driving to Chatswood is another story
Not that it's hard, with Nick as my trusty navigator I can't go wrong direction-wise. What's hard is which lane to take. It's normally really obvious in NZ as there's normally one lane. However let's say going down Epping Road there are 3 lanes which then split into at least 5 lanes when you get to the traffic lights, it makes turning at traffic lights interesting... you don't know whether the road you're turning into is one, two or three lanes so you don't know if you should be on the absolute right lane or can be on the second to right lane.

I've learnt to switch lanes faster in much more congested traffic now :) Don't worry the car is perfectly fine, I've had NO close calls or anything like that. Just learnt how to move quicker than in NZ. I now wish that I have my own automatic car. Ok I wish I had a car, but now I want an automatic one. :) All in all the drivers are rather nice drivers.

Another curiousity is that if there are 2 lanes you really should drive on the right to avoid driving into parked cars. Have found out that in the evenings, people tend to park their cars on the left lane so beware.

Yum char - thousand seater style
Found a thousand plus seater yum char restaurant in Chatswood Westfield. Imagine Grand Century restaurant but double or triple the size and put in a ton more of tables with streamline lanes for carts, waiters for food, drinks and payment allocated to the different quarters of a room and you've got yourself a well-oiled yum char restaurant.

Survival of the shops
What I have found interesting in Chatswood is the survival of small independent shops. Chatswood has two shopping centres - Westfield and Chase. I love the shopping centres but I also like walking around malls/pedestrian only streets. It's interesting in an area such as Chatswoods with two giant shopping centres, the small shops not attached to the mall survive and are bustling. Strength of the spending power :)

Food critiques tour:
Kam Fook - Chatswood Westfield
Budget: $$ (under $50)
An experience to be had to see so many people having yum char. Even at 1:30 it's still packed and you have to take a number to get in!

Vietnamese place
To be critiqued :)

Pedometer:
15361 + 700 steps which is over 6.144km