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Things to do in Sydney: Boys Day Out
Photo Credit: Flight Experience
When I was asked to consider spending a good part of my day with other media at Harbourside Shopping Centre, in Darling Harbour, to experience a flight simulation and a car racing simulation (which was suggested might appeal to my male readers), I jumped at it. Forget the boys! Let me at the controls of a flight simulator and Formula 1 car please!
I had forgotten how many great retailers are at Harbourside Shopping Centre, and I was certainly not aware of the fun things to to do in Sydney there.
First things first…let’s start with a visit to San Churro where the five of us got to meet and greet and a brief on what to expect. I had already hot a hot chocolate as I was early, which was delicious so when we ordered this time, I had a green tea. It’s really hard being a blogger when you are on a strict diet for health reasons, however I do try and at least have a taste of things that I am offered. I have never had a Churro before and our host put down two plates of these with various chocolate sauces to dip in. OMG I did have a taste and wished I could have eaten more. After this little introduction of 'chocolate galore' it was time to move on.
First on the agenda; we are going to fly a plane! Yes, that’s right there is a real Boeing 737 flight simulator at Flight Experience at Harbourside where people can be coached by a commercial pilot,and experience what it feels like to pilot a plane. My brother is actually an international commercial pilot and he’s in the simulator every three months for training, so I’m familiar with what he has told me. It’s actually like being in the flight deck of a real plane, and years ago, before 911 I had experienced being in the jump seat, with my brother when he flew for an Australian airline. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t nervous being first up to “captain” this flight before the boys. I should note there were 4 bloggers/media and our hostess...I was the only female blogger.
We were shown an instructional video prior to our flight and once in the flight deck, a photo is taken for keepsake purposes later. The video of my flight is below and photo at the top of this post. This was a lot of fun and I can see how Flight Experience get lots of corporate bookings for team building. I’m not to sure about those two disruptive passengers of mine in the video! LOL.
Video Credit: Flight Experience
Flight Experience simulators use leading-edge technology and an immersion experience to give you the impression you’ve flown the real aircraft and it does feel like that.
I really enjoyed this 'flight experience'.
Next on the agenda it was time to do some serious motor racing! Oh yes, get behind the wheel and go for it. Even the professional motor racing drivers come here to practice and the Wall of Fame proves that. This is not your average ‘arcade game’ this is serious stuff, with three screens, mirrors and a simulated seat where you feel the virtual bumps and crashes.
Photo of Mark Winterbottom supplied
You can choose either automatic or manual. I couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel and pretend I was Sir Stirling Moss. Now those who personally know me, understand that I have a very competitive nature and I Iike to WIN!. So up against another female and 3 males I was determined to win our race. We had two practice runs prior to the actual race, and I was shocked at how tiring this was because it takes enormous concentration. Did I win? Hell yeah!
Racecentre is Australia’s most advanced racing simulation where you can choose to drive any car on any track in the world.
Totally worth booking in for the experience!
Photo Deb Carr
After flying a plane to Hong Kong and then winning the F1 Formula race I was pretty hungry. What better way to finish a day like this other than getting stuck into some ribs! Oh yes, time to relax at Hurricane’s Grill.
The view of Darling Harbour is great as you can see from the photo and the food and service very good!
We started with a fresh Mediterranean Salad and followed by Garlic and Herb Bread, which I had a sneaky taste of.
Next on the list was Salt and Pepper Calamari which is lightly seasoned and served with rocket and aioli. I prefer calamari to be tiny little, lightly battered. rings. I was surprised that this thicker method of cooking calamari, which sometimes can be very chewy, this was melt in your mouth.
Next for Boerewors Traditional South African Beef Sausage, mildly spiced and served with Mashed Potato and Spanish Sauce. This was really good, I do love my mashed potato, and as a child, one of the normal family dishes was ‘Bangers and Mash’….this takes B&M to a whole new level. The sauce was really good and I’d describe it as tangy!
By now I was really full and to my surprise three more plates came out and we thought it was to share between the five of us and wondered how we would get through it. Then…two more plates came out so we actually had one plate each! I didn’t eat the steak because by now I was struggling; however my fellow bloggers told me it was great. I did eat a few of the ribs and I highly recommend meat lovers come down and try them!
Photo Deb Carr
We were also served fries and sweet potato fries as well.
To finish it was Sticky Date Pudding, we opted to share one of these between us. We didn’t waste any of the food, doggy bags were put together to take home.
Hurricane’s Grill Darling Harbour is a fully licensed steakhouse restaurant residing in one of Sydney’s most famous waterside destinations – Darling Harbour.
There you have it; a blokey "Boy’s" Day Out….you can always invite me along if you want some real competition in the Car Racing!
Footnote: Does it matter that I raced ploughed the barriers rather than go around them? Just asking if that’s cheating. Wink! Wink!
DISCLAIMER: I was a guest at all of the above, I've written it exactly how it was.
