Highly recommended Macarons from La Belle Miette & Chocolate from Koko Black.. Yummy Yummy!! All the way from Melbourne~

Melbourne ~ My last destination before end my trip.
第二次重游墨尔本。。
新的体验。。很不错。。
而且。。特别的是这次我的超级好友薇蒂从马来西亚飞到墨尔本会我哦。。
我们终于一起旅行咯。。
认识她15年。。我们第一次一起旅行。。超开心的。。
只是她来的时间太短了。。
严格来说只有4天。。
我本身就在这待了8天。。

说到墨尔本真的很不好意思。。
之前买了便宜机票从悉尼飞往墨尔本。。
还记得当hui ping看到我的itinerary时第一个反应是。。
~Ling,you bought a ticket at a very cheap price with a very good reason..do you know why? Coz u arrive at the airport very far away from Melbourne. Could take 1 1/2 hrs from my place~
Oh Gosh~我不是故意的。。真不好意思勒~
更遭的是飞机delay。。哎~
害他们等了我30分钟。。
载了我之后我们到St Kilda的一间pub用餐。。
他们还没吃晚餐啊~晕！
在Hui Ping家住了两天后才到二姑家。。
呵呵。。HP的两位小公主超可爱。。
好喜欢她们噢。。还会唱中文歌给我听叻。。可爱吧~
每天睡醒都有一杯latte在餐桌上。。好幸福噢。。

其实薇蒂和Calvin到墨尔本之前我也没做什么。。
只是跟HP在市区走走。。
享受一下当地人的生活。。
还跟二姑和二姑丈到Senior Club。。
嘿嘿~真的是很好的经验。。

和WT&Calvin的四天之旅也没有很冲忙。。
因为不想把自己搞得太累。。
基本上花了三天在市区。。
一天在Great Ocean Road。。

这次是跟旅行团到Great Ocean Road & 12 Apostles。。AUD69。。
我觉得还蛮值得的。。
因为路程遥远。。
自己驾车的话还蛮辛苦的。。
大约早上7时从Glen Waverley出发。。
回到来已经是晚上8点了。。
而且超幸运的是我们竟然遇到一只迷路的树熊。。
导游说他在这行九年了第一次遇到的哦。。幸运吧~
呵呵~特别强调这晚WT&Calvin终于吃到满足的一餐~中餐。。
这是辛苦他们了~

四天虽然很短。。
但也尝试了不少当地食物。。
哈哈。。蒂说她应该不能在那生存。。因为不习惯那里的食物。。
分享一下这几天在墨尔本的照片~

Miss you guys so MUCH!!!

Nice Latte from Andreas~ Thanks for the Latte every morning.
My face is RED~ not because of the latte..
I guess is because of few glasses of cider & too warm!

两位小公主~

Cheers~ Beer + White Wine

+ Cider~

Tai Chi time @ Senior Club~
In fact Tai Chi is not as easy as I thought

迷路的树熊~

Take a break~ Sweet Treat time ~ Coffee + Chai Latte + Chocolate + Desert~
Err.. This is how I got FATTTT
Thanks for the treat by my cousin~ Ping & May ~

I can’t remember the name for each dessert.. hehe..
(@ Nikos)Bottom left ~ Baby baklava, Bottom middle ~ Kataifi,
(@ Giorgios) Bottom right ~ Baked cherry Cheese Cake,
(@ Ganache Chocolate)Top middle ~ Hazelnut Fan Slice

来张个人照~

FUN with frensss

Great Ocean Road & 12 Apostles ~ MUST GO place!

Cocktail time ~ Not orange juice eh..
蒂被我们喂到晕晕~哇哈哈！对不起咯~许妈妈。。

Oh yes~ WT is happy now..~ not pie..not sandwich..not hamburger ~ it’s RICE

Very nice scenery @beachcomber cafe St. Kilda..
Great place for a cup of coffee~ Highly recommended

Coffee before departure~

After that we went to Hui Ping’s house for lunch, Hui Ping & Andreas were preparing lunch for us. Andreas really is a good cook where I miss the grill lamb chop.. yummy yummy.. We went to Mentone Beach for a short walk after lunch, then went back to Hui Ping’ house for high tea. really nice….

Here we finished our Melbourne trip & heading to Perth.

We departed from the Agency sharp at 6:30am. Again, impressed with the punctuality of Australian, there were 5 person been left behind as they didn’t turn up on time. . It was a long journey, I think about 4 hours from Melbourne City. Actually I was expect to experience the snowing as it was Winter. However, as you can see from the photo, No snowing that day. .  Since this is only a day tour, hence, we were not be able to attend the skiing session because the skiing session took around 2 hours for the training. Anyway, I know I will have chance to go for skiing some other time. 

We arrived around 10am & collect our boot @ the counter. Then, we jump on a chairlift & take a quick trip to the top. This chairlift is appropriate if you feel like taking in the views from the top of Mt Buller but don’t feel like exerting much energy to get there. The Horse Hill Chairlift departs from the carpark at Horse Hill and travels across some of the Resort’s northern slops to Spurs Restaurant.

We took the chairlift to the intermediate station & spend for about 2 hours there before we came down for lunch.

The moment we step on the snow. *_*

Again, aunty had prepared delicious lunch for us as well ~ some sandwiches & fruit.

After lunch, we took a shuttle bus to the Hose Hill carpark & took chairlift approach Spurs Restaurant Station. We left Mt Buller @ 4pm & got back to Melbourne City around 8pm. As we reached earlier, thus we spend some time shopping @ the Coles Supermarket.

May’s Wedding story should started on 22 Aug 2008 where Pre-Wedding Party was held @ Aunty House, 23 Aug 2008 ~ Wedding Day & 24 Aug 2008 was the Open Present Day where we were invited to Daniels house for hi tea.

On 22 Aug 2008, all of us woke up early in the morning to help aunty to prepare kueh (Malaysian Style) as well as Curry Puff for hi tea in the afternoon. This is the first time i did the curry puff & cai kueh. wow… is interesting actually.

Don’t ask me why I’m not in the photo.. because I’m the photographer.    ..

The hi tea session started around 3pm. May’s parent-in-law family were invited to aunty’s house.

Chinese tea-ceremony was held that day as well. They were very excited about the tea ceremony as this is the first time they experience it. For chinese culture, only elders will give red packet (we call it ang pow) to the bride & the bridegroom. But, I think they were confuse about the rules, thus, everyone gave the red packet to the couple. 

Next day ~ 23 Aug 2008 which is a memorable day for May & Daniel. We all woke up early in the morning because my sis & me need to get ourselves ready and also did some makeup for mum & aunty.

Here I dress up in Pink with Red coat. 

After that we went to the Montsalvat where May & Daniel had their ROM & legally as husband and wife here.

~ Congratulations May & Daniel ~

Then we went home to rest & went for wedding dinner @ 6pm. The wedding dinner was held @ Wattle Park. This is my first time attending western wedding ceremony, it was a great experience for me and I really impress with the punctuality of Australian (I don’t think Malaysian can do that). We had western dinner (we allowed to choose main course from the menu) and then had dancing session. Now only I realized May is really a great dancer. Even my parents join the dancing session as well. All of us were enjoying the night.

A song to share with you guys.

In the town where I was born
Lived a man who saled to sea
And he told us of his life
In the land of submarines

So we sailed up to the sun
Till we found the sea of green
And we lived beneath the waves
In out yellow submarine

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

And our friends are all on board
Many more of them live next door
And the band begins to play

We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine
We all live in our yellow submarine,
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine

As we live a life of ease
Everyone of us has all we need
Sky of blue and sea of green
In our yellow submarine.

We were invited to Daniel’s house on 24 Aug 2008 for hi tea session & witness May & Daniel opening present session

May & Daniel went to honeymoon the next day. hehe.. Don’t know when we will meet again. Miss them so much.

We spend few hours strolling through the Market & we had our lunch here as well before we proceed to the next stop ~ Melbourne Aquarium.

We arrived @ Aquarium around 1pm which located @ the central of Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra River beside the Flinders Street Viaduct and the King Street Bridge.This building is actually resemble as ship moored on the river.

There is a ‘oceanarium in the round’ located @ the center of the Aquarium where the spectators become the spectacle to the marine life swimming around them.

Summary

Melbourne Aquarium

Opening Hours :

• 9:30 – 18:00 (Last Entry : 17:00)
• 9:00 – 21:00 (Last Entry :  20:00)  ~ 1 – 26 Jan
  

Admission :

• Adult : AUD 31.50
• Child (3- 15 years) : AUD 18.00
• Concession: AUD 19.50
• Family (2 Adults & up to 2 Children) : AUD 85.00
• Single Family (1 Adults & up to 2 Children) : AUD 60.00
  
• Additional Children : AUD 13.50
• SENIORS TUESDAY: Every Tuesday at Melbourne Aquarium is Seniors Tuesday and seniors receive a 10% discount on entry.

Daniel & his bro ~ Cameron became our driver for today. Thanks .  Here we stopped @ the Geelong’s waterfront.

The weather was freezing cold today.. a cup of hot latte warm me up for the day. We had our tea break along the way too.

We continue our journey after a short break. We stopped by @ few stops that offers a good view along the way…

We had picnic lunch along the way as well. May & Daniel had prepared delicious food for us.. of course.. never forget the hot chip offered by Cameron.

We headed to Tweleve Apostles after lunch. wow.. it was an amazing scene. The twelve Apostles are a collection of natural limestone stacks standing just off shore in the Port Campbell National Park on the Great Ocean Road. This site was originally called Sow & Piglets where Muttonbird Island near Loch Ard Gorge was the ‘Sow’ and the smaller rock stacks the ‘Piglets’. The name was changed to the more majestic ‘The Twelve Apostles’. However, only eight left at this moment.

From Twelve Apostle, we proceeded to our last destination ~ Loch Ard Gorge which located about 10 mins drive west of Twelve Apostles. The gorge is named after the clipper ship Loch Ard, which ran aground on nearby Muttonbird Island on 1 June 1878 approching the end of a three month journey from England to Melbourne. All but 2 out of 55 passengers & crew perished – Tom Pearce, a ship’s apprentice and Eva Carmicheal, an Irishwoman immigrating with her family, both of whom were 18 years old. According to memorials at the site, Pearce was washed ashore, & rescued Carmicheal from the water after hearing her cries for help. Pearce then proceeded to climb out of the gorge to raise the alarm to local pastoralists who immediately set into plan a rescue attempt.

A lot of farms available along the way. We stopped by while on the way back. Here you can see the sheeps & moo.    . Thanks Cameron that purposely stopped  by @ the farm for us to shot some photo of the animal.

Delicious laksa was waiting for us @ home. Yeap… Uncle had prepared laksa for us as dinner.

Melbourne Zoo ~ Crown Casino ~ Eureka Skydeck

My uncle was our tour guide today. We woke up around 8 and had our breakfast at home. We brought some sandwiches that is prepared by my aunty for our picnic lunch in the Zoo. 

We took a train from Oakleigh Station heading to Flinders Street & transit to Royal Park Station. Melbourne Zoo is only a few steps from the station. The moment we entered the zoo is already lunch time, thus, we had our lunch before start our zoo tour. There are quite a number of animals been showcased in the zoo. Of course including those that can only be found in Australia ~ Kangaroo, little penguin, koala bear & wombat.

After the zoo visit, we took the train back to the flinders street & proceeded to the Crown Casino. Crown Casino os one of the largest & most dazzling gaming facilities in Melbourne offering an incredible array of gaming options in a vibrant & sophisticated setting. We enjoyed our dinner in one of the restaurant available in the casino.

After leaving Crown Casino, our last destination of the day was Eureka Skydeck 88 which is the tallest point in Melbourne where we were able to enjoyed the awesome city night views from the top. You can experience the fastest lifts here where you will arrive level 88 in less than 40 seconds. Skydeck 88 is the only observation deck in he world that can thrill you wuth ‘The Edge’, which is a glass cube which projects 3 meters out of the building, 300 meters up from the ground.

Summary

Melbourne Zoo

Opening Hours :

• 9:00 – 17:00
  

Admission :

• Adult (16 years and over) : AUD 23.60
• Child (4- 16 years) : AUD 11.80
• Adult Concession: AUD 17.00
• Seniors Concession : AUD 21.20
• Family (2 Adults & 1 Children) : AUD 53.90
• Family (2 Adults & 2 Children) : AUD 53.90
  
• Family (2 Adults & 3 Children) : AUD 60.40
• Family (2 Adults & 4 Children) : AUD 66.90
  
• Family (2 Adults & 5 Children) : AUD 73.40
• Disabled Adult : AUD17.80
• Disabled Child :  AUD5.80
• 3 years & under – No charge

Skydeck 88

Opening Hours :

• 10:00 – 22:00 (Last Entry:21:30)
  

Admission :

• Adult (16 years and over) : AUD 16.50
• Child (4- 16 years) : AUD 9.00
• Concession: AUD 11.00
• Family (2 Adults & 2 Children) : AUD 39.00
• Family (1 Adults & 2 Children) : AUD 29.00
• Extra Child : AUD 7.00
• 3 years & under – No charge

As you can see, this bus is very confortable provided with TV too. But, I didnt’t bring my earphone with me.. so sad.. .. No meal is provided, we only provided with one pack of  biscuit & mineral water.  The bus journey took around 5 hours and we reached SG around 1pm. hehe.. After that we took taxi to toapayoh where my family waited for us there… We stayed overnight @ Singapore &  we departed from Singapore the next day ~ 17 August 2008. Our flight departed around 6:15pm & reached Darwin @ 12:15am 18 August 2008 as this flight transit @ Darwin for 2 hours. Then we took the flight from Darwin to Melbourne @ 02:20am. We landed @ Melbourne 7am on 18 August 2008.

Wow… The weather is really cold. Maybe around 10 degrees. May & Daniel is already waited for us there. They already prepared jacket for us.  . We got back to auntie house around 8:30am & our journey started after we took some rest there. This whole melbourne trip is actually planned by my auntie. They brought us to dim sum lunch where we met up with Hui Ping & 2 of her lovely daughters ~ Fiona & Alicia there. The dim sum damn nice… really miss the dim sum

We started our trip of the day @ Rhododendron Garden. Rhododendron Garden is actually a botanical garden where you will be able to enjoy the native birdlife & brilliant floral scenery (of course not during winter).

After that, we proceeded to Mount Dandenong.

We visited May’s house after we went back from Mount Dandenong.

This trip has been decided since chinese new year (around 6 months before). We made the ticket reservation on 29 April 2008 which cost S$810.23 (Tiger Air). Well, my sis & me did a lot of research for the cheapest ticket to go to Melbourne. By default, this journey should be on 17 Aug 2008 ~ 27 August 2007 (SG -> Darwin -> Melbourne -> Darwin -> SG). However, they cancelled the flight from Melbourne to SG (Melbourne -> Darwin -> SG) on 27 August 2008. We got this news a month before our departure date.    Thus, we were given 2 options, we can either back from Perth on 28 August 2008 or back from Melbourne on 31 August 2008. After some discussion with my family, we selected the first option ~ Perth (SG -> Darwin -> Melbourne -> Perth -> SG). Anyway, this changes gave us a chance to go for Perth day tour. Yeah…

This journey actually took us around 13 days. Yeah.. long journey. ~ 16 August 2008 – 28 August 2008. We traveled in a group of 5.

This trip start from KL where my sis & me took a bus(First Coach) from 1 Utama(KL) to SG. At the same time, My parents took flight from Kuching to Johor & of coz go to SG after that. We met up @ toapayoh in the afternoon for lunch. We stayed over night @ SG (of course shopping as well). We took Tiger air & departed from SG on 17 August 2008 around 6pm. The journey took around 5 hours & finally we reached @ Darwin (around 0015 18 August). We waited for around 2 hours before depart to Melbourne. On 0200.. our flight departed from Darwin and ahead to Melbourne. We reached Melbourne around 0700 (19 August). We spend around 8 days in Melbourne before we proceeded to Perth on 27 August & spend another night there. This Australia trip ended by taking Tiger air from Perth back to SG on 28 August. We reach SG around 0300. We took FirstCoach bus on 3pm 28 August & back to KL.

Details :-

• Day 1 – KL ~ SG
• Day 2 – SG ~ Darwin
• Day 3 – Darwin ~ Melbourne
• Day 4 – Day 11 – Melbourne
• Day 12 – Melbourne ~ Perth
• Day 13 – Perth ~ SG ~ KL