Melbourne Part II

Yarra Valley

Great Ocean Road

The drive along Great Ocean Road that stretches 243 km along the south-eastern coast of Australia was an exciting and spectacular experience for me. We rented a Mitsubishi Outlander, a 2.5 litre SUV, so you can imagine how thrilling an experience it was for me! Yo hoooo...

A bit of history - According to Wiki the road was constructed to provide work for returning soldiers and dedicated as a Memorial to those killed in WWI.

The 12 Apostles

Cape Otway Lighthouse

The lighthouse standing at 91 metres above the ocean sits on a magnificent tip of southern coastline and is the oldest lighthouse on the mainland. Weather forecast that day was 4 degrees but with the wind factor it was -14 degrees!!! I was freezing but the breathtaking view made up for the cold. Beautiful...

Spotted this Koala bear on our drive back from 12 Apostles. They are such endearing animals I wish I could bring it home with me.

Melbourne Part I

Melbourne here I come!!! Have always wanted to visit the Victoria state, don't ask me why. Perhaps my pal is there - she happens to be in KL of all times. Melbourne is what I would describe as "A World on a Plate". To add on to that the cold winter weather is something that I and I believe many fellow Singaporeans yearn for - trust me, your skin and hair just takes a change for the better, or at least for me my pores that always in awe have taken a sit back and my hair is silky smooth. I LUV WHAT THE COLD WEATHER IS DOING TO MY SKIN AND HAIR!

First meal of Day 1 - Spinach Kebab with Chicken filling. The generouos filling and toasted wrap made a nice, warm and filling meal to kick-start my vacation.

Alas! I stepped foot into the RMIT campus. The compound is massive and seems never ending. I walked all the way from building 1 to maybe 30+ all the way from La Trobe Street to Lygon Street and we talking about a 2 to 3 tram stations mind you.

Yours Truly in the canteen of RMIT waiting for my smoothie

Of all times there was an industrial action undertaken by the National Tetiary Education Union enforcing work bans at Universities DownUnder on the day my exam results are to be release and 1 of my exam result was affected by it and since I was in the area I decided to inquire at the student info counter. But to my disappointment, nothing was posted, not even locally of my WER result : ( Looks like I have to wait for God knows how long. So, yours truly is not quite there yet and not sure if I'll get to convocate in August : (

Not quite there but no harm taking a pix I guess

St Kilda

Next stop was St Kilda that is known for their pastry outlets and so we popped by Monarch and savoured their Blackforest cake (Charsiew, it was not bad...) and Monarch's famous chocolate kugelhoupf that goes well with my earl grey tea. It was a little sweeter than I would have liked it but the chewy bit was nice, just the way I like it.

Mighty Melbourne (juicy) burger @ Grill'd that was made up beef patty, beet root, etc, plus a serving of thick cut chips with tomato salsa. Yummy-liciosu!

Freezing cold at St Kilda, even my toes were screaming cold...

Lygon Street aka Little Italy for the foodie

Dinner @ Universal Pizza, Lygon Street. This is the place to go if you are craving for authentic Italian food. This restaurant was voted as Best in Lygon.

Me, not a fan of bacon has never eaten so much bacon in a trip. Baked, oysters in wine and generous portins of bacon on a bed of sea salt. The pix says it all. Slurpy-licious.

Carbonara risotto. It has a smooth texture with a tad of sweetness that doesn't shout ger-lat!

Dockland's Habour Town

Breakfast is the most important meal of my day so no way am I going to compromise with mediocre meal, so I braced the 30m-minute wait at The Coffee Club for my serving of egg benedict with spinach and mushrooms. And boy! It sure was worth the wait... it was done just the way I like it and the mushrooms and spinach went well with it. It was so good I devoured every bit of it right down to the last bread crumbs. Great start to the day before I hit the stores for more shopping.

Hubby's order of Lifestyle breakfast of ham with melted cheese and avocado and poached egg

Victoria Market

This is the place to go for fresh produce. Our first stop was the seafood section and because we late many of the stalls were preparing to end the day and the seafood was going at irresistable offers. We couldn't resist and succumbed to the temptation; bought a dozen oysters (shucked) for dinner. It was so fresh I could taste the saltiness of the sea. Pray hard my tummy won't protest tonite.

Being Singaporean our "passion" to queue led me to this mobile doughnut station. It was nothing near to melt-in-your-mouth krispy kreme and I thought they could do more justice with the sugar coating.

On the eve of departure and we are hit by the worst of news - Australia's count of confirmed cases increased by 47 on Saturday to 254 to over 500 as of this morning. I never want to put on mask onboard the plane but if I have to do it to save myself from the virus, I will. In addition to masks I will also be popping Vitamin C supplements to boost my immunity. Don't wanna sound paranoid but the pandemic is speading like wildfire. Better to be safe than sorry.

Am feeling the jitters now. Few more hours to go and the verdict will be out. Am keeping everything I could think of crossed. May the force be with me!

An Eventful Day - June 4th

To many it's just another day, but it will be a special one for me as it marks 3 events - all happening in a day - which I have mixed feelings for...

Apprehensive, because after 4 weeks of agonizing wait my exam results will be released on Thursday. On one hand I am looking forward to it as the wait is tormenting, however there's also the fear that the truth is gonna hurt. Although I always believe that one should hope for the best and prepare for the worst, it's almost always easier said than done. I will continue to HOPE and PREPARE for what may come.

Happy, because I'll be seeing some folks that I've not had the chance to catch up with after I left my ex ex ex employer, ATK. Time flies, it's been 3 years since I bade goodbye to them and although I make it a point to meet up with some friends on a regular basis there are still those whom I didn't manage to meet. So, for that I'm looking forward to the upcoming Alumni get-together.

Keyed up, because I'm finally going to Melbourne for the long overdue vacation. The cold weather, never ending list of must try restaurants, vineyard tour, Great Ocean, awaits me! I think the most memorable part of the trip is gonna be my first time driving overseas on one of the world's most scenic roads on a Mitsubishi Outlander! I hope for it to be a gentle giant and have mercy on my pathetic driving skills ;P

The countdown begins.... NOW! Arrrrrrrgh!!!!

Is Sorry The Hardest Thing To Say?

Saying sorry can be the hardest word to utter and there's always a concern that you may not be forgiven. However, it is never too late to apologize and is the call of integrity to do so. How someone choose to receive it is up to them because all we can do is to make good and hope for renewal through our courage of being accountable.

In essence, it is never too late to apologize and one should never estimate the power of apology.

'When one person is sorry it doesn't matter, but when two are sorry about the same thing, thats when it does.'

Turtle Soup

The foodie in me is always on the look out for good makan places and more so now that I've all the time I can spare. So, off I went to try one of the many Chinese delicacy, Turtle soup. Headed out to Ser Seng at Macpherson for my first meal of today and I wasn't disappointed at all. Hubby and I ordered a portion each ($13) and yam rice and the soup was packed with goodness. Don't ask me what went into making of the soup but by the taste and looks of it I can tell they were generous with the use of Chinese herbs. Not only did I walk away happy and contented, most importantly I had my collagen fix.

The restaurant is a small setting and sits about 60 pax at max. By the time I left slightly past 12 noon the crowd was already streaming in slowly by surely.

Ser Seng Herbs (Turtle) Rest.
39, Tai Thong Crescent
(behind the former 24-hr Mapherson hawker centre)
Closed on Monday

Just got back from the airport after sending Sis and her Amore off at the airport.  Dad, Mom, Bro and Marisa (Sis' BFF) were there too.  They had so many luggages it was no surprise when the counter staff acted suspicious and asked for documentations, contact details of arrival transfer, details of company, etc.  And it didn't help when Amore's passport has a whole collection of immigration stamps, so I reckoned they must be wondering what is this Italian guy up to. Thankfully they managed to sort it out after talking to to the driver in Korea.

As expected Mom got teary at the departure gate so I made sure to bid our swift farewell and took no chance at letting her shed a tear... We know her too well to want to take the chance.

We're gonna miss Sis for the next few months until she's back for "vacation".  Take care my dear Sis.  I may always call you airhead but deep down you know I love you to bits.  

Sisters don't need words.  They have perfected a language of snarls and smiles and frowns and winks - expressions of shocked surprise and incredulity and disbelief.  Sniffs and snorts and gasps and sighs - that can undermine any tale you're telling.  ~ Pam Brown