Costco Sydney

So today I went to the newly opened Costco. It is the second store for Australia and opened last Thursday.
We got there around 10:20am. It was already getting busy but we found an underground parking spot with ease. We went and grabbed a large trolley and headed up the ramp. It only took us about 5 minutes to get into the store as we had already done our membership online. $55 for a business membership and $60 for a regular gold star membership. The membership card can be used at any Costco worldwide and is valid for one year.

The warehouse is huge. There is a wide range of assorted goods as well as your regular groceries. A few things we saw were:

* Office equipment and stationary
* TV's, digital SLR cameras, digital cameras, video cameras
* Kayaks, a pool, playground equipment, sporting goods (golf, basketball, soccer)
* Books, DVD's, Blu-Rays, Soft toys
* Towels, pillows, bathmats, doormats, rugs
* Appliances, power tools, storage and workbenches
* Outdoor setting, BBQ's, hammocks, umbrellas

That is just a small list of things I can remember off the top of my head so you can get an idea of the variety of things they sell. They also had a tyre centre, optical place and 1 hour photo.

For the sticky beak in all of you, here is my list of purchases. $600.25 later........

$22.48 - Sorbent toilet paper 48 rolls
$35.79 - Whiskers dry cat food 12kg
$13.99 -  Mater (Disney character) Cushion
$13.29 - Kirkland Signature (Costco's own brand) Tissues 12 x 100pack
$ 8.99 - Quiche Lorraine
$16.56 - Pork Belly Strips 1.65kg
$19.89 - Finish Rinse Aid 3 x 500ml
$ 5.99 - Chicken Kiev 2 pack
$ 9.29 - Baida Chicken Nuggets 1kg
$ 8.99 - Kirkland Cannelloni (This was being handed out to try and was delicious!!) 1.3kg
$16.49 - Frozen Macarons, Made in France 24 pack
$ 5.88 - Block of Sharp Cheddar Cheese 907g
$15.56 - Lilydale whole chickens 2 pack
$18.16 - Diced Beef 1.8kg
$ 5.99 - Birds Eye Frozen Chips 2kg
$16.99 - Tempura Shrimp 20 pack
$11.49 - Napisan 3kg
$11.49 - Vegemite Bucket 950g
$11.99 - ???
$ 6.49 - Bertolli Olive Oil Spread 1kg
$27.98 - Mach 3 Disposables Razors 14 pack
$11.61 - Buffalo Wings (Delicious and fresh!!)
$15.88 - Thomas The Tank Season 11
$15.88 - Transformers Blu Ray
$15.88 - Transformers 2 Blu Ray
$ 3.49 - Panadol Rapid
$ 6.89 - Season All 450g
$12.99 - Greens Tuna in Springwater 12 x 95g
$29.99 - Finish Quantam D/W Tablets 3 x 30 packs
$ 8.49 - Coco Pops 1.26kg
$ 9.29 - Ranch Dressing 1.4L
$ 6.49 - Lays BBQ Chips (So delicious) 425g 
$11.99 - Sunsilk Shampoo 2 x 750ml
$11.99 - Sunsilk Conditioner 2 x 750ml
$ 7.89 - Heinz Tomato Ketchup 2 x 1L
$14.99 - Dettol Handsoap Refill 3 x 750ml
$13.49 - Gel Pens 50 Pack
$37.98 - Maglite Pack with 1 x Large and 1 x Small plus batteries
$37.98 - Maglite Pack with 1 x Large and 1 x Small plus batteries

$22.99 - Duracell AA Batteries 36pack

We also stopped at the cafeteria place on the way out. We got 2 huge slices of pizza. 1 with just cheese and 1 with everything (pepperoni, mushroom, capsicum, onion, meatballs, cheese, olives) plus a hot dog and refillable soft drink for the grand total of $8.40 or thereabouts!

I found some things quite well priced, some things not a bargain at all and some things comparable to Cole or Woolies on special prices, only difference is it's actually Costcos eveyday prices.

They had a fantastic range of baked items and a lot of fruit and veg but I will check it out next time.

We were back on Parramatta Road by 1:00pm so 2.5 hours from arrival to departure was not too bad considering the crowds. (We had about 6 full trolleys in front of us at the checkout).

Day 18 - Kennedy Space Centre

Today we said goodbye to our Windsor Hills town house and headed to Cape Canaveral. Our mission today was to visit Kennedy Space Centre.

We set our alarms for 6:30am and got up on time to do get ready, do breakfast and pack the car with all our accumulated paraphernalia from the last 2 weeks. We got out by around 9:30am. We programmed the GPS and set off. It was a nice leisurely hour and a bit drive. We saw some interesting wildlife on our way there. The Orlando area was experiencing a higher than usual incidence of Love Bugs those few days and at one stage they hailed down on the car like a rainstorm. It did freak the kids out a little as they aren't too keen on bugs of any kind. Also on our way we say a dolphin frolicking in the water which is always a wonderful sight.

Goodbye pretty town house :(

Brandon thought this guy was pretty cool.....

Some were still flapping!

Tragically fated lovers...

We arrived at the Space Centre and headed straight in with our pre paid tickets. Storllers were free to hire and that was nice as Peyton was tired that day. We toured around the place and got some green screen photos done. We then looked at the gift shop where we got some lanyards, magnets and some freeze dried ice cream, yum! The best one was the freeze dried ice cream cookie! We also had lunch there. They had a nice cafeteria with hot and cold options. After lunch we headed over to the buses that took you to see the launch pads.

Kennedy Space Centre

Look familiar??

Not so sure about this one.

Ice Cream?

Neapolitan

Cookie!! 

On the way there we were shown a giant eagles nest and we saw a real wild alligator in one of the canals that run parallel to the road! That made my day! I found the bus drivers very friendly and informative. We got to the viewing platform and the kids and mum opted for the lift. Brandon was quite nervy up top as he has a bit of a fear of heights. We had a look around then headed back down.

There birds cracked me and mum up. A third stood with these and did the same!

From there we jumped on another bus and went somewhere else where we watched a video about the Apollo missions which was quite interesting. The kids were bored and were being  pain in the butt! We looked around the place and then jumped back on a bus to take us back. We decided to call it a day and headed to the Country Inn & Suites Port Canaveral.

All tuckered out with her space shuttle.

Still unconcious

The room had a microwave, coffee maker and little fridge.

The Country Inn was nice enough for a basic place to spend the night. The reason we chose there was they had the cruise and park package where we could leave the car parked at the hotel for the duration of the cruise and it also included transfers to the port.

We ended up at a little place walking distance down the road for dinner. It was called Zachary's Restaurant. It is not fancy but the food it great home style Greek cooking. Steve had the rack of lamb and I had the lamb gyos which were delicious, so full of flavour. Mum wasn't feeling the best so she asked them to make her a ham, cheese and tomato toasted sandwich which they did and only charged her for a kids meal. Our server told us that at the end of the street was the dugong park and it was highly likely we would see some. So once we finished dinner we walked off our meal by going to the dugong park. I'm pretty sure we didn't see any dugongs but we did wee some fish jump out of the water and a little squirrel. We watched a gorgeous sunset and headed back for the night.

Squirrel!!

Sunset <3

Day 17 - Magic Kingdom

So today was our last day at Walt Disney World *waahh* So we went with the classic Magic Kingdom. We decided to hit the park hard in the morning then home around lunch to pack up while the kids nap then take mum back to see the Wishes fireworks show as she hadn't seen it the whole two weeks we were there. 

We started off with an 8:25am ADR at the Crystal Palace. It was a buffet and the food was quite good. The best par of it was the fresh fruit. The berries were the best I've ever had! (The berries we get at our local supermarket are crap!) We met all the characters from Winnie the Pooh - Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet, although the characters felt quite rushed through and Piglet actually missed us and went to the other side so we had to get his "handler"? to bring him back.

After breakfast we hit Brandons favourite Peter Pan, Snow Whites Scary Adventure, The Haunted Mansion and Flying Carpets of Aladdin. Steve took Brandon on the horse and cart thingo down Main Street then we headed home.

After cleaning, washing and packing etc Mum, Brandon and I headed back to the Magic Kingdom. We spotted Chip 'n Dale so we jumped in the relatively short line for that. They were pretty cute and quite interactive just goofing around being silly. I got some good pics of Brandon with them. Mum spotted the Roy Disney statue and insisted on getting her photo taken with it. 

After that I told Brandon he had time for one more ride then we would have to stake out a place for the fireworks. He picked......Peter Pan. On the way to Peter Pan we spotted some talented cleaners.....

Peter Pan was seriously like a 45 min wait and I asked him more than once if he minded and he said no. So we waited..... After Peter Pan we staked out a spot near the castle and Mum settled down on the ground to wait. I popped over to Casey's Corner to grab a quick bite for dinner. I came back with fries and nachos. The wait wasn't too long, only around 30 mins to go and when the lights went out and they announced 5 minutes to show time Brandon announced her needed to pee. Desperately. I was pretty furious but I dragged him to the closest one all the way over in Liberty Square!! We made it back about 2 minutes after the Magic, Memories and You had started but we found our way back to mum....just! Mum was just as awe inspired by the amazing show they put on as everyone else and it was a perfect ending to our last day at the World :( 


PS: I had vowed to myself no photos of the show tonight. Just enjoy the moment, and I did just that!

I'm Back!!

The move is still ongoing but for the most part we have a functioning home and office. Whilst planning I seemed to skip over the fact that we had to move an office that was once in a huge unit with a mezzanine level into a double garage. Also the fact that in the old house whilst it was only 3 bedrooms and one living space, I used the garage to full advantage as storage. The new house I thought was so much bigger actually was not as big as I thought. Either that or I had to figure out a better way to cram our junk in.

Anywhoo, I have access to a computer with internet so here I am. Blogging for your viewing pleasure! One last note.....My mind might be a little foggy with details as it was 6 weeks ago that I'm trying to remember now.