TWENTY-FIFTH OF MAY
Mom decided to spoil all of us by cooking the most amazing breakfast everrr.
Everything felt better and nicer when we're on a holiday, except the currency exchange rates, bleh.
Anyways, we had a long day yesterday so we decided to chill a bit around Melbourne city and enjoy the typical city life. First agenda: Melbourne Zoo!
This was recommended by Nicholas Choong. We had already bought the tickets online when he finally realized that what he wanted to suggest was Sydney Zoo! G.
Winter was not there yet but already, we were feeling it and of course loving it to the max! I don't know if anyone of you would agree with me when I say that we can never have too many different winter jackets because its just never enough.
Everyday for sure must wear different because that's the only thing that's visible when you take photos all. You can even see what we wear inside because we had to put on the jacket most of the time.
So it is very important to have different winter jackets :)
Special thanks to my sister in law and brother in law for lending us all these jackets and scarfs!
You may already know this (or you may not) but the parking rates in Australia is insanely expensive - like it makes no sense kind of expensive.
So, please do prior research or ask friends who live there about the cheapest parking space in Australia - if not you will find yourself being bitter about having to pay so much for just few hours. Heh. Not that we were bitter or anything, but we were in constant culture shock since day one. Hah.
Good thing the parking space at the Melbourne Zoo was one of the cheap ones (I think). We paid about $4 for few hours.
Melbourne Zoo was horrible! Do not ever spend your money there! Taiping Zoo is better than this zoo! Taiping Zoo definitely has more animals that this one.
NOT WORTH ANY CENT SPENT HERE.
Never again.
Nicole recommended Don Don (a Japanese Restaurant) for a quick and cheap(er) kind of lunch because we were all so hungry already by then.
It was a very good recommendation may I say because it was super fast and really yummy, and so huge please.
Then again, the food portions in Australia are mostly super big so Adrian and I actually shared most of our meals because it's just too much food, and the others usually are not able to finish theirs. So, let's not waste food and money shall we.
We parked at QV Melbourne (Queen Victoria Mall) which I believe is located pretty strategically in the city itself. So many humans that looked like us I cannot. I want to see more orang putih please.
We walked around the area and just commenting on people's daily doings. Hah. There was this one man on the bench with a book and a humongous sandwich that looked so yummy - Koay and I just stood behind him enjoying the sight of him enjoying his lunch. Heh.
That is not weird at all.
So, you see the pretty doughnut pop-up stall above?
Vanessa and I wanted to get 1 each because they all looked so pretty, like Insta-worthy kind of pretty. We were salivating at the sight of it but when we saw how much it costs, our eyes literally came out from our socket! Hah.
After conversion, it's about RM18 per piece. RM18! That's like a Nandos meal here!
Nope. Not Insta-worthy anymore.
The weather was cold so it was not difficult to walk everywhere. My parents, Vanessa and Kelly went to have dinner on their own and the rest of us had dinner with the ex-fireBRANDS squad, or former FGA-ians, which ever way you feel you like better la.
Andrew, Adrian and myself decided to walk to Crown Casino to look-see look-see because we still had a lot of time before dinner. Indeed very grand and posh and guess who was there as well.
THE CHINESE PEOPLE.
From China.
And they were all like covered in diamonds and gold or something because from the way they gamble on the tables, it seems like their money cannot finish wan.
I had a good time just looking at them.
Then, we walked to D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar (the meeting place) and after walking for about 30 minutes (with Google Maps as guidance), we realized that the restaurant is really far from where we were at.
We ended up walking for an hour (ONE HOUR OF WALKING NON-STOP!) in the cold. Now you see, if you walk casually in the cold at night, it's actually very enjoyable, but if you were walking on a fast pace and had an empty stomach, you get cold really fast. Then, slowly it became painful.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the random laughs on the way there.
Always good times with these two crazy boys.
The parents finished their dinner and decided to join us , by walking! Hah.
Mistake!
When they arrived, I guessed that they used all their energy and burned a lot of calories already because they got themselves a table and ordered 2 pizzas. Hah.
After dinner, the parents wanted to go home but the Melbourne-locals wanted to bring us from dessert - famous gelato! so they drove home and we walked some more. This time, very nearby so not an issue.
Again, how crazy is it that the night was already so cold and yet, there were so many people lining up to get this famous homemade gelato?
I had few mouthfuls and that was it.
Outside body cold, inside need to stay warm.
We really enjoyed that night. So much catching up we did with the bunch. It felt so good for me to finally meet with Daniel in Melbourne! Never a dull moment with my almost-boyfriend (Jud, this is for you by the way) Hah.
TWENTY-SIXTH OF MAY
Rise and shine again, Melbourne people! Heh.
Today is roadtrip day!
We drove to Mt Martha to see the colorful mini houses and take photos like typical tourists. The supposedly famous place for this is the Brighton Beach but it was not on the way to Phillip Island, so this will do.
There was a small town nearby and we decided to brunch there. It was very nice that we were finally able to sit outside under the sun and enjoy eating. Probably got sunburned after that on our faces. Heh.
Adrian and I had the most amazing lentil soup with pancetta there. Can never forget the taste. Loved it so much we want to try making it on our own. Heh.
All the best to us.
Rachel got us the Phillip Island - 3 Parks Pass Combo tickets online via Klook because it's cheaper and for the price of about $35 per person.
First stop: Churchill Island Heritage Farm
In this Churchill Island Heritage Farm, they have many types of shows available at certain time, but because we want to be at the Phillip's Island by 5-ish, we only get to experience a few things like cow milking and sheep shearing.
The entire farm itself is so beautiful that if you just want to open up a mat and sit down enjoy the view, that can be an activity itself.
Second stop: Koala Conservation Centre
Of course we had to make special stop to see the lazy koalas - part of the package actually heh.
We saw a few that were sleeping and a few eating but all quite far away. Nothing so wow. Heh.
Since we have some time to spare, we decided to drive to The Nobbies (which is a must-see please!) and enjoyed the panoramic view of a side of Phillip Island, I think.
It was sunset time and it was soooo nice.
Too bad we could not stay long there.
We also saw the very first live real kangaroo since this trip began. Heh. Told you Melbourne Zoo was horrible. Kangaroos pun takda.
Third stop: Penguin Parade at Phillip Island
This is highly recommended! I would pay to go again to see these little creatures.
Do be well-prepared because it gets really really cold and windy while waiting for them to appear. Bring some food because it may take some time for them to show up. Heh.
Really must-see!
Once they have opened up the door, everyone will walk towards to beach. Here is a piece of advice for you if you want to catch the best view of the little ones.
There will be two sitting platforms (see in photos). If you go to the right one, you would want to sit the most front part on the left side. If you decided to go to the most far left platform, sit on the most right front part. The penguins will be parading in from the sea right in the middle of these two platforms.
Once some batches come up, you can actually leave your seats and walk up (the same way you walk in) because then you will get clearer views of the penguins. Their mini houses are everywhere!
We were told no photos allowed because the flashes would scare them something like that. But I could not resist la please. I have a blog come on.
I made sure the flash was off so no penguins were harmed for all these i-try-my-best-for-clear-photos-shots. Heh.
Really loved the penguins.
After that, we stopped at a San Remo Restaurant for dinner at one of the towns on our way back. We had a feast man, too bad no photos because everyone got too hungry already. I probably Insta-storied the dinner but now it's all gone.
That was a great day/night spent :)
Okay, to be continued..
Stay tuned!
