Chris's Beacon Point Restaurant & Villas

Chanced upon Chris's Restaurant & Villas while planning the Melbourne trip. It was a toss between them and another resort along Apollo Bay and I'm glad we picked Chris's. Although I can't speak for the rest but our stay at Chris's was more than pleasant, it was out of this world if I may say so. Hubby managed to negotiate for a good deal, all thanks to an overdue advertisement that was no longer valid effective 4 years ago! And thanks to us it has been removed since. Anyway, we managed to negotiate for 2 nights Studio Accommodation plus 1 complimentary 3 course dinner for AUD 560.

The room is spacious and comes with a fully equipped kitchenette with cutleries and utensils. Impressive! The selling point of the room is it's picturesque view, right from the comfort of the bed that I temporarily called mine, overlooking the sea. It felt so good the first thing that comes in sight the moment you pry open your eyes after a restful night is the blue sky and when you sit up you are greeted with more pleasing sight of the greeneries and the ocean. What better way to start your day!

Pix was taken from the same angle but at different parts (and weather) of the day.

Ocean view from the balcony


Day One's Dinner

Hubby ordered mussels on white wine cream sauce. It was the best-est we've tried. Not even the blue mussels I bought from Jasons was close to it.

Mine starter is the house speciality, seafood soup. Thumbs up for this! If I had a baugette I would have polished the plate squeaky clean like an Italian would ; )

Main dish of Sea Bass and Tenderloin in reduced red wine cherry sauce

Day Two's Dinner

Greek Salad

Seared Scallops on a bed of lentils

Rabbit and Figs

Lemon Creme Brulee. Never a fan of this dessert but it was well worth saving space for

Yours truly with Chris, the man and his great culinary skills that have fed many satisfied foodies that went back for more great meals.

Goodbye MJ

On Friday morning when I tuned in to CNA I was received by an appalling news flash that says, "Michael Jackson has died". Was my eyes playing tricks? No, I wasn't seeing things, it's true, the King of Pop has passed on but he will forever live in the hearts of million of fans for his eccentricity and talents as a popstar. The man had a remarkable career. He may be gone forever but his music will live on. He will remain a true legend to all, including yours truly.

Found this lyrics (one of his songs) for "Gone Too Soon". This probably speaks the mind of many right now. How Apt.

Like A Comet

Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky

Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow

Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye

Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly

And Splendidly Bright

Here One Day

Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight

On A Cloudy Afternoon

Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle

Built Upon A Sandy Beach

Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower

That Is Just Beyond Your Reach

Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight

Here One Day

Gone One Night

Like A Sunset

Dying With The Rising Of The Moon

Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

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!!!!