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.
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| 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.
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| Us with Aunt Edwina! |
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| 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.
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| saw this on the way to Carlton Gardens lolol "SHUT UP CUNT" |
Food : 7/10
Couldn't finish it because I wasn't a big fan of mushrooms and the whipped ricotta was sour to me.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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...
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| 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!
31st July 2015
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.
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| 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 :-)
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| Here's one with Uncle David |
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| The screen is where the stage is |
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| I like this photo of us together hehe |
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.
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| Some really good jam filled doughnuts. $1.10 for one. |
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| 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!
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!
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