Oz day 12 - Washed away memories
This is slotted to be the last in my OZ series. Not many pictures - mainly because my poor camera was literally washed away when a giant surf hit me .
Bacon had insisted that even if it was thundering or raining cats and dogs, there was no way he was going to miss out on Bondi. Thank god the sun was shining and all was well in paradise.
We agreed on,Breakfast on Bondi, Lunch at Coogee, Dinner at Darling. Today it was bus time, and we took a bus from just behind our hotel all the way to Bondi beach front. Initially we wanted to catch the bus to Bondi Junction - apparently that was the bus stop,not the beach.Thank god the driver was very nice and asked us if we were actually heading to the Beach.
After a pleasant 40 mins meandering up to Bondi, we hopped off to be greeted by a long beautiful stretch of beach with a matching row of shops and restaurants. Guess what did I have for breakfast?
Mouhahahah! It is actually a very famous Scottish delicacy,but I couldn’t find it when I was up at Edinburgh, so of course, I had to have it.Deepfried.Yumm
Can you see the melty nougat centre?OMG TO DIE FOR. It tastes just like a melted mars bar, gooey,chocy,but warm as well - sort of like deepfried ice cream but warm
Stomach satiated (if not a little nauseus) we headed on to Bondi - where a naked photoshoot was going on! Hahahah! Bacon refused to walk in front of the seedy-looking man shooting this blonde with small tits squirming against the hot australian sun. The thing was, there is nothing wrong with nudity/toplessness - sunbathing topless is a almost a requirement on Bondi (and the other beaches that we went to that day) but the fact that after that naked photoshoot she was filmed running down the beach topless made it extremely hilarious!
Sorry, thought it was rude to shoot her.Don’t know why though.They might think that I would sell those softporn pixs off.
Contemplating Bondi
I wanna bag myself a surfer boy…yumm:)
Can you spot yourself a topless one?
Bondi-ed feet
I want to live in one of em…
After lying in the sun for about an hour, it was time to move on again - Bacon wanted to walk towards Coogee (I think a 3 hour coastal walk!!) but I veto-ed it immediately. We then headed to the taxi ranks and took one of them instead to Coogee, which is a located about 15min drive from Bondi and much smaller and quiter. Plus it also seems to be more local rather than touristy snap happy.
One of my fav food in oz is sushi - due to the closeness of many of the major ports,the fish is VERY FRESH.Heck, all it’s seafood are very fresh and delicious..we had a AU2 for any plate sushi for lunch and popped down to the beach immediately to see what the fuss is about with Coogee. Even the cabdriver said that it was nicer than Bo
Man overboard!
Just as I snapped this picture,my poor Nikon was splashed by a giant wave,so we waved it goodbye for a while..I was quite traumatized by it…but seeing that this was our last beach trip, I just shut my eye and tried to enjoy the sun for a little longer.I still like Manly the best from all three Sydney beaches, and if you only had time for one, I would recommend Manly.Sigh…I miss the sand.
We left at 3 to head back towards the city, and seeing that it was a Thursday, bought a monorail day pass and headed towards the famed Paddy’s market by chinatown(haymarket). We were expecting it to be a full fledged market like Victorias’ market was in Melbourne but it falls short of expectations.However, it had a great selection of souveniers - bought some tea towels and oven mitts to bring home. I also went to the shopping centre next door which had a Mambo discount centre - suffice to say, I splurged again,like I was never going to see mambo stuff ever again. I even bought a makeup bag,like how bizzare.At 5pm the market traders were starting to shut - seeing that we were in chinatown I had to have one last bowl of Pho - this time at a hip pho restaurant just outside of Paddy’s.It was decorated with all red and black chinoiserie chic, but ran by vietnamese they produced a pretty decent bowl of pho. Obviously no pictures=no recollection of the restaurant’s name - now I know why I take pictures. My memories are all intact in Flickr’s safekeeping:).
Sigh- wet camera=no pix
Anyway, I don’t know how I do it, but we headed home to change and immediately left for Darling Harbour again, kiasu what,don’t want to waste the monorail day ticket at AU 9 each.This time, in search of another ribhaven -
Camera showing subtle signs of life…thank god.
We ordered nearly the same thing that we ordered yesterday - the ubiquitious rib platter
I want myyy—baby back baby back baby back ribs, sings the big fat blob from Austin Power.
Yummm…it was definitely better than Hard Rocks’ and did not had such a problem with their service, although, our server, which I think is Japanese, could only speak really broken English.
After the huge meal, it was time for one last walk on the harbor. We took it slow, savouring our last view of the beautiful Sydney nightscape.
Christmas was fast descending..
I love fake-looking pictures that is caused by the twilight back light
Sydney is a very special city. It has so many obvious attractions that are just in-your-face; attractions that makes it uniquely Sydney and unreplicated anywhere else. It has the charms of docks and beaches whilst being a fast growing city. It is so vibrant, and filled with character that it sometimes reminded me of San Francisco, with its crooked Lombard St, Fisherman’s wharf ect.
We were both quite upset to leave Australia.
Oz day 11- And it rains in paradise…zz
Christmas in the sun V 5
We woke up, went shopping,ate,came home,slept,the end.
You think I’m kidding?
After such a tiring couple of days, we were supposed to take it slow today, and head down to the world famed bondi beach.However, after 3 days of perfect weather, it was bound to happen - it rained cats and dogs all day long. We hopped from one shopping centre to another,not buying anything in particular.In fact,I think the only thing I bought in our ’shopping trip’ was a rip curl luggage…and that’s a shared purchase,so nothing magnificient.
Had lunch at Nandos for their ‘chicken riblets’, which is only available in OZ, tender chicken collarbone meat that is finger lickin good.And that’s about it really! No kidding.Oh.Had a couple of KrispyKreme - found them lurking at the corner of a foodcourt *smirks*
The Swarovski christmas tree at QV shopping centre (next to town hall)
So the pretty…
Did not do much at night,but my handy guidebook speaks of a all-you-can-eat ribs at hard rock café….which is strangely enough located at Kings Cross again.Because we had not purchased any bus all day ride tickets today,I had to make that trek up again..
It is very strange where this Hard Rock is. We went up and down the street looking for it,and passed right by it because it was so inconspicious. Hard Rocks are usually in the middle of town..but anyway
Ordered a full rack of ribs to be shared between us.Due to the utterly non-existant service, I was too hungry by the time the food finally arrived 50 minutes later.When I asked to be seated by the bar area (so I can actually snap pictures with the skylight the rude waitress looked at me like as if I was dumb, “You can either sit ON the bar or at the dining area”. Prick. I then asked what is the area by the bar called,wildly gesturing I WANT TO SIT THERE….she then reluctantly explained herself that the bar area are fully booked. There was about 10 customers at that time in the whole restaurant.Bitch.
This was one of the problems that I would regularly have with restaurants in Sydney.It takes them too bloody long to serve the food up, 45mins is de rigeur.If you are hungry, make sure you snack before to ruin your appetite…because the laidback attitute sometimes translate into the tidak-apa attitute, so servers don’t care what you really want…or they are not very helpful bordering on rudeness.Granted, there are exceptions to the rule, Fullhouse was manned by a very very friendly and efficient waitress and Don Don serves their food up on the double. I just realized that both are asian restaurants.Hmm..
/rant over
The only thing that I manage to snap a picture of is the American brownie, because by then I was satieted enough to not lose it any more
No light=bad picture
ps:this is post 301.I’ve come a long way:)
Oz day 10 - Darling-ly Manly
After an exhausting day at the fish market, it was time for Manly beach (Moo’s recommendation) -where boys turn into men.
In 1787, Captain Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy left England with a fleet of ships to establish a colony in New South Wales. He was to be it’s first Governor.
In January 1788, the fleet arrived at its destination, Botany Bay, which was found to be unsuitable for settlement. So, on 21 January, Phillip with others travelled north and examined Port Jackson, so named by Captain James Cook in 1770. They spent three days exploring Port Jackson and Phillip, impressed by the “confidence and manly behaviour” of a group of aborigines in the northern reaches of the harbour, called the place “Manly Cove”.
Taken from Manly’s website
Manly is reachable by the ferry which leaves Circular Quay at every 20min past the hour. You have a choice of going by the Manly jetcat (speedy boat) or the old skool way of ferries. We got up around 9, and went for some breakfast at the Museum Train station, which was diagonally located to our hotel. After some confusion/debate with the station master,we bought the day combination ticket for all rail & ferries at AU 12. We chugged our way to Circular Quay and got off at 10am, which was fairly good time and I was quite proud
Then I realized I left my rings on the bedside table.
AGAIN.So we rushed back on the train, got off at the wrong exit and I ran 3 blocks back to the hotel, by this time it was getting quite late and I was afraid that housekeeping had already been in our rooms and made off with my rings.Thank god it was there, and after catching my breath, headed back to Museum station. Drama over.
Some say that the journey to Manly is half the fun of actually being there, and I must admit that I agree. I ran straight in as the gates to the ferry opened up (kiasu what) and bagged seats on the top open air balcony of the ferry. And I had the best 20min ferry ride of my life..and some absolutely amazing pictures of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge…
It moves! Scroll quickly - sequence of pictures taken 2 minute apart
Ta-da!
Blown over. There were loads of sailing going around that day.
After a very pleasant 20min ferry ride, the Manly Pier was in sight
The terminal itself is quite happening, with loads of shops and restaurants. We did not make it to the Ocenarium due to lack of funds,but headed towards Manly beach with its strip of surferchick shops
I’m dead obsessed with Mambo - my first bikini was from mambo and I bought another one from Mambo this time around
We had a very pleasant lunch at Café Rouge, facing the main Manly beach
My Fish n Chips - looks really healthy
Bacon’s grilled sardines with kibielsa sausage
We went for a stroll down the beach after lunch,trying to find a nice spot to camp. Due to me being an idiot, we did not bring books to read or towels to sleep on - my bag can only carry that much stuff!
.
Butts sunning.
So I left Bacon on the beach, and went off in hunt for a beach towel. I returned an hour later with a new pair of shoes,a wallet for me and a wallet for bacon. No beach towel in sight. Extremely shameful.Oh, and a large smoothie.
I heart smoothie
He was bribed to pose(ur) for this ‘manly’ shot
Later in the afternoon…
My poor shopped-out feet.Even my brand new Birkenstocks couldn’t save it from being shredded to pieces.
We laze around the beach without a towel and with sand getting into every nook and cranny - it was a nice sunny day with lovely soft winds from the sea. At around 4pm, the beach started emptying, with daytrippers leaving and those staying on Manly having a drink at the nearest bar as the sun started to be a little tamer.We followed the crowds and rushed into the ferry as it was taking off - I was too tired to snap-happy so was quite content napping in the downstairs bunk. Reached Circular Quay and grabbed the bus back up on Castlereagh…to promptly crash out as soon as I reached the hotel room.
Bacon shook me awake from my reverie around 5.30pm…its time to jalan jalan cari makan (walking around looking for food) again! This time, we braved the unpredictable rain to walk the 20min. stroll to Kings’ Cross, the flesh-ier side of Sydney.Where you come across shops that like to Lick
No, they don’t sell human lollies.
And tonnes of strip bars sitting side by side with bars with only immaculately groomed men holding hands with each other. Wonder why.
As usual, we argued all the way along the strip, unwilling to be the one choosing the restaurant in fear of choosing something that don’t taste good. And then I came across this little cute café, completely crammed inside, there was a piece of paper and a pencil at the entrance and a list of names and seats required.
Go where the locals go. Due to sheer luck, those people who had written their names out had just stepped away, and I was seated 1 min after penning my name in. It was a japanese bento place, and seeing that we weren’t that hungry, orderd some gyozas and a set meal to share. I am having difficulty remembering the name of the dish (??skippy??)
Gyozas
Chirashi-something?Tempura veggies & meat topped a bed of rice, it comes with a teapot of something which looks suspiciously like green tea, and you pour it over.Yummilicious, ableit a little strange.
Christmas in Summer V.3 at Kings Cross centre.
After dinner, we walked around a some more, and decided that since we still had the day pass for buses,ferries and trains, would head towards Darling Harbour, this time by ferry.Caught a bus from Kings Cross to Circular Quay and walked through the Library (!!!) which was where I stepped on this amazing lighted floor.
It was a model of Sydney, all lighted up and under your feet!
The Opera House in minime version.
Christmas in the sun V.4, outside the Library
Like I’ve mentioned earlier, I love ferries, and I must say they are the best photo opp in Sydney,where so much of the attractions are seafront, affording you an interesting view of familiar sights. Due to the lateness (7.30pm) and more importantly, the rain, the upperdeck was quite deserted in this ferry, making it quite romantic actually.We passed by different suburbs of Sydney, and seeing Sydneysiders get off their ‘commute’ on the ferry to head home made me extremely jealous. Journey to work for me is a 25-minute bus ride through the worst areas of Leeds (I pass by the area where the majority of the 7-11 London bombers were born,bred, and lived). Life sucks, get used to it.
Blowing in the wind.
The Opera House in twilight. Sigh…..so pretty.
I like this shot.It looks like one of those cut-out that you photoshop into a background.
Bridging the twilight
Luna Park - I’ve not seen the entrance of an amusement park so cute before.Disneyland nonwithstanding.
By the time we got to Darling Harbour, it was too dark for any more pictures. We walked along under the rain to a brewery and had a couple. It’s been another long, long day in paradise,and we headed back to the comfort of the hotel at around 9pm
One interesting tip. There are many different ways to get to Darling harbour from the CBD (Central Business District):
Walk: 20 mins
Monorail: 3 mins
Ferry: 30 mins
Bus: Untested
Light Rail: 5 mins + walking time (untested)
But I still say that the best way is the get there by ferry.If that was my commute to work, I would happily look forward to getting into work every day.
OZ Day 9 - Fishing for Money
Waking up to sunny Sydney (without the crazed out weather of Melbourne!) was fantastic.The sun is shining, and I am hungry. Walking swiftly past McDonalds’ and Burger King (I managed to ignore them!), we headed towards the nearest Monorail station and purchased the Monorail+Light rail day ticket at AU14.
Zooming by
For those of you new to getting around Sydney, the Monorail is essentially the tourist shuttle linking all the city centre attractions - the Light rail joins with some of the Monorail stops and goes a little further and actually connects towards the suburbs.The train system links even further outwards to the suburbs. Buses and ferries goes to places that no other transportation mode goes i.e. Bondi & Luna Park. If you are staying in the city centre,buy the 1 week ticket for both lightrail and monorail at AU28 - we did not, first fatal mistake which eventually cost us more than double that. Lesson over.
Guess where we are heading towards this morning?
Blue skies ,outdoor seating..
Yeppps! The famed Sydney Fish Market!
I felt like I’ve been let loose on a rampant eating spree…seafood is rare,unfresh and precious here in the UK.
The oyster shucker…sounds like the oyster sucker.
What shall I eat…hmmm..
My breakfast
Bacon’s breakfast
See the difference??Let me narrate. I had 6 fresh bay oysters,2 oysters mornay(cooked with cheese) , half a lobster mornay,and deepfried squid.Bacon had a mango juice and fruit youghurt.
Hmm.Something is wrong somewhere.
I was quite reluctant to leave..wanting to stay for lunch,but was dissuaded by Bacon - there was frankly not much we could actually do there, so at around 10.30 we left for Star City..which is of course a,
Alas…we could not get in because we were not appropriately dressed.So headed back on towards the monorail
…across Darling Harbour
And towards our second stop of the day…
Eaten by the shark
I have been to ‘underwater world/aquariums’ in HK, Singapore’s Sentosa Island and San Diego’s Zoo and Seaworld.Honestly, I did not enjoy the aquarium as much as I thought I would, and the combined ticket of Aquarium and the Sydney tower at AU35 is downright cut throat and not worth the money paid for it. But I digress.Lets for one moment make believe that it is free ya?
I love this…jellyfishes/ man of war.So pretty
Sad penguins swimming.Compared to those in Philip Island these look so folorn.
Sharks swimming across
I fought a bunch of noisy schoolkids to stroke some baby sharks.They are strangely sand papery.
It’s very strange,but I seem to have forgotten what we had for lunch - probably nothing as I was still stuffed from my delicious lunch.Immediately after leaving the Aquarium, we headed towards the Sydney Tower & OZ Trek.A complete waste of time.
We waited 15 mins to get on a inferior version of the KL Towers escalator - to be stuffed in an extremely hot and uncomfortable lift for a slow ride up.After taking in the half-arsed sceneray of a 360 deg view across Sydney, I was quite cheezed off. It was expensive,not very pleasant and frankly nothing compared to KL towers, and I had never appreciated KL Towers before. Besides, KL Towers entrance is 2.5 times cheaper than this.
The Harbor Bridge view from up above.
So after 15mins, I pulled Bacon to get the lift down. And I thought the 15 mins wait for the lift up was bad - it took us 35 mins to get on a lift down! OMFG.How inefficient is this? I had been up KL Towers numerous times but I had never experienced something so bad. What’s more, some jerk and his family cut the queue by stating that they are late heading for the airport. So yeah, day 2 in Sydney - not good and not happy.
When we eventually got out of the lift, we headed towards the OZ trek, which was combined with the Syney tower ticket anyway - we paid for it, might as well go right.Nothing spectacular, it was somewhat like an advert for Sydney,plying all its routes and other placeses around Australia i.e canberra. A poor man’s version of the Back to the Future rides from Universal Studios,if you ask me
Headed back to our hotel for a nap (I’m like a baby) since it was just around the corner, and got up at about 6 to head back to Star City. It’s a strange little place, like a mini Genting when it was just purely a casino and not shopping+amusement park+mushroom park. Again, no pictures allowed, so nothing to see here.
But Bacon did have better luck with the roulette table this time around, betting on his legendary 18 & 26. He ended up winning about AU300, which was probaby just sufficient for us to spend for that day itself. Taking off the losing bet of Au100 in Crown Casino, we were looking at AU200 tops, but yet we wanted to have dinner at “somewhere nice”
So round and round we walked, noodle bar, a sad-looking sushi buffet, a pathetic international buffet…and headed back home as I can’t find anything I like! But seeing that it was already after 8, most places were already closing in town,refusing to take more customers in (bloody irritating) .
After walking for ages trying to find a nice restaurant that is NOT a chinese restaurant, we ended up near our hotel, right in front of the monorail station in this quaint Jap/Korean Fusion place. We had passed it countless times and I’ve been thinking about eating there anyway.
Tako (??skippy correct me??) Balls - fishball like with a piece of octopus inside
Bacon highly amused by the side dishes that comes with korean meals. I love the kimchi
My Beef Bulgolgi
Bacon’s Sweet and Spicy something Beef
Very nice and very satisfying - I love places that open late.It was very relaxing just sitting on the balcony,having a fag and beer and waiting for our food on a warm summer’s night.I miss summer.*sniff*sniff*achoo*
OZ Day 8 - Sydney ahoy
Waking up at 7am, it was quite surreal as we got ready to leave Melbourne for the bright lights of Sydney. As it was lazy Sunday, not much traffic on the 1 hour drive to the airport…one thing I was glad to leave behind was the long journey into town! We stayed in Central Park hotel on Castlereagh St…very close to monorails and trains.
The flight there was uneventful, with me nodding off to sleep the whole hour,but the taxi ride proved to be extremely exciting with the poor taxi collapsing under our weight and having a flat tire..which was swiftly changed by mr taxi driver.Very efficient! I did not even have to get out…it was 30 deg in Syd the day we arrived. Oh, and on the taxi ride over, I saw a HUGE Krispy Kreme! Ones like they used to have in the states! Woowee! I love kk!But I guess you already know that…
Anyway…the moment we got to the little hotel (only rooms, no F&B or any other amenities…we requested that they order a taxi for us, they promptly informed us that taxis don’t turn up and we’re better off standing at the taxi rank - that’s the sort of hotel they are; unhelpful and unfriendly). We only booked it because Rough Guides listed them as a chic boutique hotel with friendly staff and great rooms.Bullshit. Location was great, but other than that, bleah. It wasn’t only us - we had seen other guests screaming at the useless reception for messages not received.So no, this hotel is not recommended.
Since I’m on a bitching roll, the pub right next to it, the New Windsor, is run by the same sort of people,but worst. We popped in there a couple of times in the whole week that we were there. The last time we tried to pop it, it was filled to the brim, and the bouncer (which had let us through countless times!) requested for id. We showed our ID to him, politely asking him why,seeing that he had let us through the past couple of times - and we are OLD! He rudely sneered,”Well, welcome to australia to you”. LIKE WTF! This sort of facist remarks by a bullying fatass 350lb white baldy basically ruined the trip to sydney for us. Is it SO WRONG to be a tourist? This was the end of my love affair with Sydney - I will take Melbourne anytime over rude sydney
/rant over
So anyway, we dropped our bags, and seeing that it was still early on a Sunday afternoon, decided to head towards the market at The Rocks. Bacon,being his usual pain in the ass, insisted on walking. And just because I am nice, I let him. And he brought me 8 blocks the wrong direction, all the time assuring me that its ok he knows what he’s doing. Note to self, Bacon is not to be trusted. I walked 20 blocks to get to the Rocks, and was extremely prissy and hot by the time we got there..
Christmas in summer v.2
Bigass strawberries..yumm. I had the one with milk choc.
The Rocks Market.
Loads of wonderful stuff there, ableit mostly expensive.You know you’re in a posh market when the boomerang seller is armed with instructions and explainations in mandarin,japanese,korean…
My first view of the Harbour Bridge
And of course, the first of the many snaps of the overly famous Opera house
And again
Up and down the promenade
As usual, Bacon cannot decide what to eat.rather, he wants to continue walking around and explore his choices.it was 3pm and I was rapidly losing it (he does piss me off with the exploration rather than eating) so we ended up here..fish & chips instead
Not very nice I’m afraid..extremely expensive and just so-so fish
We headed on after that to explore circular quay, the d bacon,again, ended up in the Slip Inn pub.
After me whinging nonstop, Bacon grudgingly said that we could take the bus back to the hotel. I love buses..they are an excellent way of soaking in the city and getting your bearings right. Had to soap off all the dirt accumulated from walking nearly 30 blocks, and took a short nap after that as I was dead from waking up so early in the morning. Woke up at 8pm with a whinging stomach…and it was time to cure its whinging!
The pretty town hall all dolled up for christmas
We walked towards Haymarket, Sydney’s chinatown. On the way, we passed by countless restaurants that look good…but we, of course, ended up in a sucky restaurant with non-passable vietnamese food.Just typical isn’t it.
Chinatown,like all chinatowns in the world, are still buzzing late into the night.
Not my best picture-snapping day I must say,drained from all the travelling and walking I was made to endure by Bacon, I was frankly displeased with him. But the Rocks Weekend Market is an experience, ableit an expensive one, should not be missed if you are heading that-a-way for a weekend.
OZ Day 7- pastas & scones leaving Melbourne
The last day in Melbourne was quite surreal, seeing that it already feels so much like home.After a tiring day walking around yesterday, we were poised for a more relaxed day.
Bacon being the stubborn little pig insisted on going wine tasting at least once in Australia…having never been to one before.I’ve been to countless wine tasting events and visited the vineyard of Sonoma and Napa Valley a couple of times whilst I was still in love with San Francisco.Add that to going to school in the only university in America which offers a degree in winemaking (ableit quite sucky wine) I was sorted. I still remember my ex room mate who used to go out with this bloke working in one of the Sonoma Valley vineyard…every weekend we would get about 1/2 bottles of merlot.
Anyway…fast forward 4 years I had given up on wine drinking,preferring the fast flowing chivas combination instead.So that was the end of my wine adventures,but the rest of them were just getting into it.
Before heading towards the Yarra Valley, we headed towards the famous Miss Marple Tea Rooms situated in Sassafras at the Dandenong Ranges. It was strangely familiar, resembling the typical English tearoom that it aws supposed to be. I guess it was supposed to be a good thing when we found that they serve Yorkshire tea! The tea that I drink every day at work whilst dreaming of a hot steaming cuppa of BOH with condensed milk….served at a premium on the other side of the world.
That is Yorkshire tea! Exclaimed the yorkshire born and bred
The picturesque cottage
Christmas in the summer
We decided to sample half the menu…ordering their pseudo famous Devonshire cream & jam scones, shaped like a cake instead of a proper scone, this one was a let down (tastes like cornbread in redlobster instead!)
Pretty as a picture carrot soup
smoked salmon fingers and the welsh rarebit fingers
The delectable cottage pie
And to end, the very scrumptious sticky toffee pudding, an english classic that I am very fond of.
.
This meal was topped up with steaming bone china cups of tea…coming from Yorkshire on a hot lovely day, I prefer the tall glass of iced coffee:).
Pleasantly filled to the brim, we made our way from Miss Marples at 1pm…we arrived at 12 and it was empty,by the time we left it was filled to the brim with people making the trek up from Melbourne.They do not take any reservations, so if you are planning to visit this little piece of brittania, GO EARLY! It’s around 45mins -1 hour from Melbourne to Sassafras (reminds me of Sarsi). They have driving instructions on their website and it looks fairly easy to get to.Don’t think there are many public transport up to the Ranges,but I might be wrong.
Anyhoo..next stop is the first of the many vineyards that we would be visiting for the day - I had forgotten most of it,so will probably not mention their names..there are just dozens and dozens spread around that area, have a drive around, get lost, you will probably bump into one. Alternatively, my good friend Walter runs tours to the Yarra Valley as well, so if you are there for a spot of something drunkenly good and need a ride, go with him instead.
Mom going nutters at the vineyard
The dairy farm where you can taste cheeses…but it was so expensive( AU 25 for a platter of 5 cheeses) that we did not bother
….the fact that we can smell cow dung as the cows were actually passing by at that time to be milked does not help our appetite for cheese.And no one absolutely loved cheeses except Bacon.
Mom was more amused at the peach tree more than anything else.Went around discreetly plucking fruits from trees
I’ve always loved haystacks..I call these marshmallows as it can be seen all around the English countryside wrapped in bright sorbet green plastic
The secret garden at the de Bortoli Vineyard.As OZ was in the middle of a drought, farmers were not allowed to water anything at all.But since they had their own dam, the vineyard and its surroundings were as lush as can be
Ivy league of the crop, their wines were delicious as well….
The last of our vineyard tour was the Oakridge, where they serve food as well as free tipple.I was too enraged to take any more pictures at that time because Bacon was flirting with the barmaid :/.
Ahhh…..a nice lazy afternoon..ableit I was half asleep most of the time as you can probably tell by the lack of pictures even though we were going through beautiful countryside.
We headed back home and got a shower before heading out for dinner again, this time at Lygon St in Melbourne’s little Italia
This was the bro’s choice…and in a spur of coincidence, it was where Yi Jen waitress every Sunday as well! Like, how more bizzare can it get! It was so strange when she popped over during dinner to pass a gift to me and confused the staff there which were wondering why was she working on Sat!
We had some spinach/chicken pasta,Marinara pasta, seafood pizza and the ever-there meat pizza.
Lygon St meal ended with a spate of delicious gelati in the flavour of Durian..which tastes suprisingly like the real thing.Yumm…
OZ Day 6-The end of an era
I can remember my graduation - can you remember yours?Being fairly antisocial, I did not actually enjoy it much,realizing too late that I had not branched out enough during university days.It gave way to “the mad days” of pure hedonistic fun of the next 2-3 years.But it also signified a period of depression,readjustment and a great sense of loss for me…from having my own place and a sustainable job, I went to nothing at all.
Oh, the beginning of the digicam era - I remember walking aronud with a brick that provides only pictures up to 2mg on my DC200
Anyway.Fast forward about five years later and my phone produces better pictures than my brick of my camera.Fast forward 5 years later on the other side of the globe is another graduation, this time of minime V.2, or my brother as most people would describe. As I was never quite satisfied with the pictures I took during graduation, this was the opportunity for me to camwhore and pretend that I am graduating too and hopefully get more displayable pictures out of it. Plus my parents wanted the traditional holding-the-paper graduation family potraits….so my gown was brought along as well.
Another time, another university, another graduation
The nice poseur sun-in-hair snap
Poseur shots of my brother.I feel like I’m trying to shoot a fashion layout.Poor gf had to oblige the crazy snap happy sister.
Mascots united!The guys are so compliant..
I insisted on shooting him non-stop because I never want him to lose out on Graduation Day - it all goes downwards from here.
The proud owners of a not-so-little prat.
The proud owners of the very-big prat
The *cough*super sotong girlfriend*cough*. She’s damn funny..I like.
I got him a koala…was too cheap to get myself a bulldog
The beginning of it all
Classic line: “That gown cost about the price of a house, at least you got to bring yours home to keep, his is now being returned to be recycled”, remarked my mom to me.
The whole afternoon was spent snapping photos, waiting for the man of the hour, listening to in one ear out the other speeches.Was an extremely pleasant blue skied day (as you can see from the photos) so it wasn’t actually that bad. When we were taking the studio-like pictures that is so classic of most University’s graduation, the photographer was quite puzzled at my gown…especially since only Masters students from U of Melbourne have that square-hat thing to wear.Yeah,for all that moolah spent on my own education I can’t remember what’s the name of that tassle-thingy so sue me. Anyway, she was quite amused seeing that my graduation gown is completely different from what everyone else was wearing and she were probably wondering if I faked my graduation;).
After all that hoohah, I went off to meet Yi Jen for dinner and drinks whilst my parents celebrated with the other parents on how they had just thrown away hundreds of grand on the bunch of little prats who were more excited in ordering the most expensive item on the menu than how to write their cv.
Was just shooting the streets of Melbourne when this carriage just so happen to pass me by
Obligatory Chinatown shoot
We had dinner at Camy’s Shanghai dumplings..one of the best, if not only the cheapest place to eat in Melbourne. It is up some alley down the main Chinatown drag and it’s BYO and also pour your own tea - therefore the cheap prices.I let Yijen lead us along and she rattled off our orders…she might’be been ordering ratmeat for all I know!
Camy’s Shanghai Noodle and Dumpling
25 Tatterstalls lane,
(03) 9663 8555
Fish flavoured noodle and shanghainese chicken noodle (I think!!)
Excellent xiu loong pau/shanghainese dumplings with the lovely suckable sauce inside
Potstickers/wor tip with the lovely vinegar dipping sauce
Yum
After an extremely satisfying dinner we rambled along the streets of Melbourne. As it was getting late and my teeny camera’s bad at nightpictures, did not take shots of the different pubs and bars that we popped by (I know, I know…I should!!) but it was all hopping with the after work Friday crowd, the graduates celebrating with giddyness and the arty farty crowd. I absolutely love Melbourne’s nightlife - if only for a night. I had my first taste of Beez Neez , a beer made with honey and tastes like honeycomb…mmm..I can drink that literally sweet nectar all night long..yumm.
We did not stay out for long - by 12 I was tired from walking all day and all night long and thus we made a move to return to the far away place of clayton.Thanks babes for a good night out xx
I like this backstreet shot which looks like it belongs in KL rather than Melbourne.
OZ Day 5- Kangaroos and Penguins
After yesterday’s long tiring day, day 5 was looking up to be the most relaxing ever - and in our opinion,the best day out. We had the luxury of waking up really late (9am??) and was greeted by the lovely hot sun - for those that had been to Melbourne, the typical 4 seasons in one day is so completely true, we touched down at 41degrees and woke up to 16degrees the day after.Go figure. They are mad I tell you, Mad!
After breakfast, we made a beeline for the Chadstone mall, one of the biggest in the suburbs around Melbourne - in the style of Midvalley.I had been obsessed with shopping in Australia; as for the same price as a Wal-Mart top, I can get a good quality Esprit top - in a much nicer design.But enough about me.
We were picked up by Walter again at around 1pm - this time around, we are heading towards Philip Island, famed for the penguins that made the island its natural home
First stop- San Remo. This is where the mainland meets the island with a bridge that is around 2 KMs in length. I fell asleep in the 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne to San Remo - and woke up to find out that it had dropped 10 degrees in the last hour. Was wearing shorts initially, but obviously had to change out od that to get into something more realistic. Ho ho..the weather had began.
Lonely alone - walking along the freezing beach.
Another 20mins drive after that took us into the heart of Philip Island.On the way we passed chocolate factories, a Kidzone thing and a koala sanctuary. I was fretting that we did not stop at any of these—I wanna go to the choc factory! But I was silenced when we eventually stopped,at the Philip Island Wildlife Sanctuary.
At the entrance (AU 11 per person, included in our tour), we were given a pack of animal feed each that we can use on any animals that we fancy.I went absolutely bonkers seeking for wild roaming kangaroos
My fav was this female red kangaroo
Echinda.Looks like a cross between a porcupine and a tortise
My first kangaroo.Can you see that bundle of joy peeping out of its pouch?
Bacon’s friends.The red kangaroos are a nice shade of blue-ish white
Turning tricks with my favourite kangaroo.
You’ve gotta admit, she’s a cutie.
We went deeper in search of kangaroos in a dried out forest…it looks like children of the corn here - can you spot the kangaroos?I thought they were going to jump us.
But they were as tame as hell…attacking bacon for food
After playing with the kangaroos for 45mins, it was sadly time to go again. I was quite reluctant to leave,so we went and have a peep at the koalas again,hoping that they would’ve woken up - but they were obviously nocturnal…bleah.
Highly recommended, this was the highlight of our trip. I loved how much they took care of the animals and how well maintained the place is - excuse the dried out grass, Australia is at the height of a draught so no watering is allowed.
Next animal up -
Heading towards the Philip Island Penguin Parade (no pictures allowed), we stopped at the Nobbies, where there was a nice broadwalk along the cliffside and also you can look into the burrows where the penguins sleep at night - we found a snuggly couple.it was way too windy to walk even in my winter coat, and pouring it down as well, so didn’t go far before I trooped back to the van.
The angry seas..
Next stop, the famed Philip Island Penguin Sanctuary.
Stomping around with the cliché tourist picture
Nothing else to see due to the ban of all cameras - but it was a trip well-taken. It was the penguins natural habitat and they returned there on a nightly basis. It’s so cute to see them waddle up the beach - to be scared off by the slightest change in the wind and all tumble back to the sea…peeping over the waves to gather enough courage to move on towards their homes at last.
What was cuter was seeing them march on dry land back to their individual boroughs..eeek! They were noisy to boot with a cross between a duck and a chicken (what a shite explaination) and seem to be chatting with each other after a long day’s work at the seas eating up all the pilchards..It is such a shame that no photography was allowed at all even those without flash,but fair enoguh - we had had enough of wildlife flee public areas due to the super invasion of the irresponsible humans.Again, I love how they take care to preserve the natural environment of the animals indigenious to the country and I can say I had not seen a better run animal-friendly country.
After an hour and a half of gawking at penguins, it was time to leave again for the long drive back to Melbourne - I promptly fell asleep as usual whilst Bacon continued chatting the driver up about beer - discussions on why Fosters’ is only good enough for export and no one in Australia drinks it. It is true! No one in Australia drinks Fosters - the only place I see it sold is at the airports. Go figure. It’s like the Irish not drinking Guiness…public outcry.
Arriving at 11pm, my bro decided it was high time for pancakes - at the Pancake House at Doncaster
The Mexican panacke -at AU15 it was overrated and overpriced
Walnut and Pecan banana pancake - better at AU9 but still quite steep I thought.
The retarded family - it’s in the genes that we all have short legs. Loved this sort of trick mirror.But they probably shouldn’t put a short and fat mirror where you are leaving after gorging on their high fat pancakes.
OZ day 4 -The Great Ocean Road
Waking up at 6am, this was a huge shock to the system that was just getting used to the long australian days - but today we had to be in town early - we’re off to a one-day tour of the Great Ocean Road! After beating the KL-like traffic away with a broomstick (at 6.30am!!!! The aussies are mad), we managed to get to the bro’s downtown apt where we were going to be picked up. 30mins late.
It is a long,long way to go for just a day - stretching for more than 400kms, we did not want mr nicedriver/brother to tire out - seeing that it was actually his 21st birthday.Yes, 21 years ago I woke up to find that my parents had dissapeared - they returned 2 days later with what looks like a mini-michelin man. So anyway, we ended up with Walter of around and about tours , anyone heading up waaay down south should check him out - affable chap running his own operation for tours originating out of Melbourne.He does overnight stays as well as tours to Dandedong Ranges, Ballarat, Yarra Valley wineries ect…so do get in touch with him if you’re heading that-a-way.Beats the huge inpersonal bus tours anytime.
A boomeraged van to make sure you return
Strolling into the deep blue seas..
Our first stop and I was dead excited. Oh, and Walter’s wife baked some real wicked pastries - her danish are out of this world! No pix - I was too slow.
The day trip is extremely tiring, I would recommend a couple of stops along the way if you’re planning on going by car.Beware though..the outbacks can be quite harsh on the unprepared - I had not seen one petrol pump in all of the 400km….it is quite deserted except for the occasional surfer towns.
The whole day was peppered with 12 stops (!!!) along the road to take in different views of the craggy coastline that is Victoria. I had seen oceans and seas and different beaches,but nothing compares to this…
I snap you,you snap me.
In Australia, DRIVE ON THE LEFT! I have no idea why but I found that absolutely hilarious.I had never seen a sign in any other country instructing you which side of the road should you drive.
One of the great thing of being in a small group is exclaiming that you want to see a koala and have the driver/tourguide stop to search for some wild koalas up on eucalyptus trees by the road side.
Peekaboo.
This one was staring right back at me. I SO need a proper SLR.
The star attraction - the 12 apostles
Secret cove
I like how the tip looks like a choc sundae with white chocolate sauce.Yumm
Bridging over
The group thingy with the token blonde.
The feeling that is unique to the biggest island in the world - the vastness of the ocean and that you are but a tiny blip.
On the road, caught sight of this crazy house on the pedestal…apparently the eccentric owner wanted undisturbed view of the ocean.And I believe it is for rental as well.
Gone swimmin’
Being a total waterchild, I was totally taken aback by the great ocean drive.A must-do for anyone that appreciates nature and not just the usual clickhappy tourist attractions.
As mentioned earlier, it was also mr nicedriver’s birthday! And no birthday is complete without the parents splurging on a complete dinner even though we were all dead tired and it was 8.30pm. We headed towards Limor’s http://www.limors.com.au/ , famed for its huge platters and also the venue where his 16th birthday was celebrated on the family trip to Melbourne back in 1999 -I was not invited seeing that I was in Paris..pffft! I was way too tired ,oily and hungry to snap anymore after snapping nonstop for hours..so not many here.
Hugeass platter bursting with schnitzel,kebabs,sausages,lamb,chicken wing ect ect. Mr nicedriver was off to fetch his gf to the restaurant but I was left with instructions from the night before to order the most expensive item on the menu at AU 79.
Additional seafood platter of sauteed garlic calamari rings and king prawns with a delish creamy dip
My fav part of the night - death by chocolate - this platter of dead sinful dessert is at par with Max Brenner’s creations.Oh, and the smirking birthday boy.
See how it arrives with sparklers..i love sparklers 
Can you blow out sparklers?
Completely dead by the end of the meal, we made a beeline for the showers and then a beeline for the waiting bed - thus end day 4 down under.
