MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (2015) PT II

It's the first day of a new school term and I just ended my first lesson! Blogging while waiting for my friends to be down with lessons then go for dinner :-) Here goes pt 2 of my melbourne trip!



1st August 2015

Brighton beach was one of the places I was most excited to visit because I have seen people taking pictures with the most vibrant bathing houses all over my Instagram. Uncle David kindly drove us there or else, we would have taken much longer to reach the place. 

Everything at Brighton Beach was like a wish come true. The sea breeze, the sun, the bathing houses. Since it was winter, the beach wasn't as crowded, making it easier for us to take good pictures. I also collected seashells which I stuck into my travel journal!! 

Uncle David then showed us around St Kilda so we would get our bearings. He then went home and we went to LUNA PARK!! I am a theme park enthusiast and the scarier the rides, the better it is. I bought the unlimited rides ticket which was around $47. The theme park is about half the size of USS, and there were significantly lesser rides. But I still enjoyed my time there. Some rides were really scary and this marks my first theme park experience in winter!! 

I went for most of the rides alone since Nat wasn't too keen on riding the scary rides. On one of the rides, I met the cutest little boy ever, Jett. He's only 9 years old but behaves like a gentleman! When I was queuing up for the ride, he turned around to say "hello!" and when we were walking to the attraction, he gestured for me to sit inside and said "Ladies first!" OMG MY HEART :-))) such a sweetheart! We talked and held hands throughout the whole ride, and took pictures before we left!! Before I left, he asked me when would be the next time I would go to Luna Park again and I said 
"Ahhh it won't be anytime soon, maybe like next year or something..."
"Ohkay! I'll come next year too! See you then!" 
:'-) I was so touched and I know he's going to grow up to be one hell of a gentleman. Lots of girls will swoon over him!! 

Jett!

After Luna Park, we went to walk around St Kilda and settled on a Japanese bistro for dinner. The rice was a little too sticky but the unagi satisfied my Asian food cravings hahah.
We sat beside a middle aged couple who started talking to us after they realized we weren't from Melbourne. The guy had a super interesting outlook on life and gave me his namecard at the end of the day. We went for desserts then went home!! 
On the tram home, we met 2 Singaporeans whom we saw earlier at Brighton beach too and started talking to them. Turns out Athena is also schooling in NUS! Both Edwin and Athena were really friendly and we made plans to hang out the following day.
That day was the best day in the entire Melbourne trip. Finished 2 of my Favourite things and I had so much fun!!! 

2nd August 2015

Woke up early to go for a morning walk with Uncle David. He walks really fast and I had to jog to keep up at times. He showed us around the neighborhood and recommended the best coffee places in town for us. 

Uncle David also prepared breakfast for us and it was hands down the best savory croissant I have ever eaten in my life. 

He drove us to Flinders since we wanted to explore more of that place again. We also visited Hosier Lane which is a graffiti area. Anyone could go and create their work of art of the walls. It was a sight I have never seen before! 

Flinders Station is so beautiful!!

We then met Athena and Edwin to go to Westgate Park together. Westgate park is a place rarely visited even by the locals there, and it's understandable since it was really inaccessible. We had to walk A LOT to get to the place, but we were greeted by the sight of a PINK LAKE!!!! Quickly spam pictures hahaha 

Sadly it rained shortly after we reached and we had to go back. Thank God for yummy home cooked food which really perked me up!

3rd August 2015

Went to Top Paddock for lunch. Top Paddock is apparently one of the highly raved about brunch venue! I ordered Eggs Benedict with Duck and mehhhh, I didn't finish it. BUT I think the Ricotta and Berries hotcake Edwin ordered was AMAZING. It's really sweet and I liked it so I kept taking his food hahaha.

Food : 7/10

Ricotta and Berries hotcake!

It was so cold and we were sitting outside so I died and couldn't enjoy my meal sianz. Whatever...

The girls then went to SouthWharf DFO (Direct Factory Outlets) to shop!! OMG I LOVE THE SHOPPING. It's really cheap. 

Taylor Swift's Keds for $30?!?

Jays Jays and Factorie were selling their clothes for dirt cheap prices. Think $2-$3 for a shirt. I bought a lot of stuff but we had to rush home because we were cooking dinner that day!! Can't believe I didn't take a picture of the Brandy Chicken but it was SOO good. It's Natasha's family recipe and I just helped her with the cooking process.

Rainbow vegetables w Potatoes

Brownie!

4th August 2015

Athena met us for brunch at The Kettle Black! The kettle black and Top paddock have some sort of association so everything on the menu was about the same. I ordered the ricotta and blueberries hotcakes ($18) and it was so yummy yay!!!!

We saw this great dane outside kettle black and wondered whether we should ask the owner for a photo with her dog. The lady was really friendly and introduced us to her pup, Daphne! Daphne was so big sized that when she leaned on me, I almost fell over lewl hahahah

Went to the Shrine of Remembrance which is some place to remember the lives sacrificed during the World War era. The architecture is just so amazing and breathtaking?!?

For the last dinner in Melbourne, Aunt Edwina and Uncle David took us to Jimmy Grants, a famous bistro near our place. 

Food : 8.5/10

The chips were really tasty and the burrito was so yummy too!! Also, the food here is relatively cheaper. Around $10-$12 for a burrito. 

4th August 2015

The last day in Melbourne!! We met Athena and Edwin for brunch and ate at South of Johnson. Nat and I reached earlier, so I just drank some tea while reading gossip magazines. For a short moment, I felt so Australian hahahah like the life of relaxing and waiting for friends to come for brunch

Then walked around Collingwood together!

Uncle David fetched us to the airport and we were off! We took an Emirates flight back and it was so comfortable!! The in flight entertainment was really good too heheh. Saw this view from the plane and it was so breathtaking. 

That marks the end of my Melbourne trip and I give thanks to God for safety and great company!! Australia, I'll be back :-)

Till then, back to the grind. Wishing everyone a good school sem too! :-)

Watch my Vlog here : http://youtu.be/MD0AId3AcAY

Love,

Xin Hui

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA (2015)

Hope everyone's enjoying their long NDP weekend! Going to Botanical Gardens for their Jubilee celebration since The Sam Willows are performing later (I missed their segment yesterday for NUS Rag), so before that I'll blog about my Melbourne trip!

The whole trip was a very spontaneous idea. Nat just messaged me asking me whether I wanted to travel to Melbourne with her, and I agreed. Less than 2 weeks later, we were off to Melbourne! Natasha's aunt and uncle live in Australia, and we stayed in their apartment. Yay to free accommodation!! Uncle David and Aunt Edwina were really hospitable and I had so much fun staying with them. They are also really great cooks, and they took care of all of our dinners (expect one)! This family takes food very seriously and every dinner was amazing!! I'll share more in a bit :-)

27th July 2015

Dad kindly fetched me to the airport and I met Nat there. We had to first fly to Perth for our connecting flight and the flight was around 4 hours. It was a Qantas flight and I hated it. There were screaming and crying babies on board, and the small boy behind my seat kept kicking my seat, and banging the tray on my seat. I didn't have a very good rest the night before because I was having a high fever, and this flight was not helping at all.... Boy was I glad when we touched down in Perth and left that flight. We had a 6 hour stopover at Perth which we spent eating, talking and surfing the internet. Perth's airport really pales in comparison to Singapore's one. There were very few rest stations, shopping and F&B options. But before we knew it, we had to leave.

have this obsession with snapchat's geotags. 

The connecting flight from Perth to Melbourne was much more enjoyable. It was a relatively empty flight, and the in flight entertainment was great as well. I slept really well on the flight and we finally reached Melbourne!!



28th July 2015

Uncle David came to pick us up at the airport and it was so funny because he waited at the gate to welcome us. He took photos of us walking towards him, but I didn't recognise him because I didn't know him beforehand and I was going "Why is this angmoh taking photos of me??" HAHAH we laughed about it later on.

We reached Melbourne around 12/1pm and I was so excited about the weather. It was pretty cooling that day, I think it was 13- 15 degrees. We went to our apartment, got our SIM card, our gelato fix at Messina (Nat said this gelato was LIFE CHANGING lewlll but it's really good) and got ready for dinner. Uncle David bought for us this MyKi card which is the equivalent of an EZ Link card in SG. It was less than $40 for unlimited train and tram rides which was really worth it.

Uncle David and Aunt Edwina brought us out for dinner with their German neighbours, and we ate at Crab Shack.  The food was pretty decent and I got a first hand look at how expensive food in Melbourne was going to cost. Each mains was $18-$25, so I had to mentally prepare myself to spend that kind of money.

Us with Aunt Edwina!

LOLOL does this remind you of something??

When the waitress gave us this plate of white things, it reminded me of the movie SPY hahah. The lead actress in the movie thought the above were sweets and ate it. HAHH it's hand towels!! Lucky I watched the movie lewlll.

29th July 2015

We woke up early to go to Carlton Gardens for a morning run. I definitely wasn't dressed to exercise for Melbourne weather, and I ran with my hands in my pockets hahah. Carlton Gardens is a beautiful place and I think running in cold weather just feels better. You don't sweat, and you feel cooler.

saw this on the way to Carlton Gardens lolol "SHUT UP CUNT"

We went to Hardware Society for brunch and I had the Herb Roasted Mushrooms ($20). Note that all the prices in this bloogpost is in AUD but the currency is aroundd SGD$1 = AUD$1!

Food : 7/10
Couldn't finish it because I wasn't a big fan of mushrooms and the whipped ricotta was sour to me.

Nat's food

We went shopping at the legendary H&M! It was like at least twice the size of the H&M in Singapore. But the stuff inside are mostly the same. I managed to snag a $5 white canvas shoes and a $24.90 sweater which I wore the following day.

We then took the train back. We stayed at Collingwood which is outside the city area. 

Aunt Edwina makes really great dinners!! This was tacos with mozzarella cheese. And every dinner had a huge serving of salad because they are healthy people haha.

Aunt and Uncle!

30th July 2015

We went to Melbourne City Central to shop. I bought a few dresses, shoes and accessories. The prices were very much like Singapore's shopping prices. 

We also visited the State Library of Victoria. The dome was really breath-taking and we took lots of pictures there. 

messy hair cause the wind was crazy

Then tragedy struck... my Olympus camera's screen topped working. The screen was blank and although I could still take photos with my camera, I couldn't see anything from the screen.... I was so upset and tried to google how to fix it to no avail. Are you kidding me?? Not even halfway through the trip and you failed me...

Why do you hate me, camera??

Ok no time to be depressed during my holiday. We went to The Pancake Parlour for lunch and I ordered the Salted Caramel Pancakes with hot chocolate. I ordered it under the student set email so it was $15 altogether. Very worth it!!

Food : 8/10

I know it's crazy how I can finish 2 whole pancakes drowned in salted caramel but I just did... It was very sweet and I might have died of diabetes back there, but very worth it. The pancakes were fluffy and light!

Then came the most extravagant night out ever!! Aunt Edwina was REALLY generous, paying for all our expenses that night. We started out with a dinner at Radii, Park Hyatt Hotel. Aunt Edwina works there in the marketing sector, so we took a tazi there with Uncle David to meet her. 

dressing up in winter was a first for me

The only photo I took from dinner was the appetiser because it was rude to whip out my camera during dinner hahah but it was really good. I ate semi raw food for the first time in my life (I hate eating uncooked food but this was so expensive I had to eat a little). There were chips, calamari risotto, pasta, desert platter which I added to my vlog, etc etc. Fine dining is quite uncommon for me, since it's not really my kind of thing, but I was very grateful for some hospitality. 

Food : 8/10

AND THEN!!!! We watched The Lion King Muscial!!! WOAHHH. The tickets were freaking expensive, like $150 per person. We were super near the stage, like 7 rows away only. I was soooo excited!! The music was really good and I had so much fun that night :-)

Here's one with Uncle David

The screen is where the stage is

I like this photo of us together hehe

31st July 2015

Started the day going to Queen Victoria Market. There's a food section and art and craft section which takes around 2 hours to finish exploring everything. 

Some really good jam filled doughnuts. $1.10 for one.

 Went to Royal Arcade!! It's just some shopping place w beautiful interior design.

Flinders Street Station 

Flinders Lane is a must go when in Melbourne! It's a very hipster place full of cafes and we chose to eat at Healthy Burgers. The food in Melbourne is generally very healthy?? There are lots of gluten free options, organic food options, vegan options blah blah.  If I didn't forget, the burger was $14 and the small chips were $4. This cafe had a really cool local charity initiative. Every customer would receive a small bottle cap and can drop it in one of the three bottles in the cafe. The bottles each represent a charity organisation, and at the end of everything, the charity organisation which received the most number of bottle caps would receive a donation of $300. The remaining 2 organisations would receive $100. I thought it was a really great concept to include the neighbourhood into such a meaningful project.

Food : 8/10

Burger was juicy and filling. Chips were somewhat soggy, but the spices helped to make the taste more interesting.

 Alright so that's the end of my Melbourne blogpost part 1! Check back soon for part 2! Hope y'all have a great time ahead. And sharing good music with y'all - go listen to settle down and sixty five by Gentle Bones! It's eargasm!

Watch my Melbourne Vlog here : http://youtu.be/MD0AId3AcAY

Love,
Xin Hui