Melbourne: The Replay of Great Ocean Road.

Two years ago on a cold morning, I boarded a van and was headed towards the Great Ocean Road to see the 12 apostles and other scenic views along the way.  Ever since then, a familiar feeling has always told me that my first trip there was not going to be my last.  True enough, seven hundred and thirty days later there I was again, at the very same place after boarding the very same mini van that was driven by the very same tour guide. Sweet.

This was the entrance to the Great Ocean Road.  The road was constructed after the first world war, WWI to connect Victoria to Adelaide or something like that.  But really, I think it was just to give the soldier something to do after the war. :P!

The morning grogginess got me here.  First I put the green tea bag into the hot milk.  Then I asked, why in the world is my tea not turning black.  I then frantically stirred my tea and holy smoke.  I actually had a green tea sachet in the cup *stupid!!*  I then  put the black tea sachet in to get the colour I wanted hohoho!  Hence the story of the two tea bags in one cup. 

After quite a fair bit of driving, we headed towards a beautiful place with awesome view.  And then I had three memorable pictures of this place :D! Hohohho! 

What place was this again?  Does anyone know?

After that we jumped back on the van and drove to get the koalas!  It seems that in Australia, Koalas are one of the main attractions but to me, omg, it is like the lamest thing ever.  I’d rather see a wombat than a koala.  Even feeding kangaroos are tonnes more exciting than a koala.  Like seriously really totally.  Therefore, ditching the koala hunting game, we decided to spend our time feeding the wild birds in the park.

Xin Ling at the bird park feeding them.

As we drove through the winding road, a popular lookout became our next destination for a scenic photograph.  The lookout at Cape Patton:

Oops?  The winter day was a cloudy mate but fortunately enough, rain did not come pouring throughout our trip :D!

After a quick lunch of roast and deep fried fish, we were about to see Melbourne’s epic rain forest where the flesh eating snail resides. Spooky at it seems, we all came out alive without even spotting a SINGLE snail, so do not bother wondering about the flesh eating one =.=!! I got a picture of my housemates hiding a tree trunk though. :D!

Nice smile Kelvin! Fits into the emoticon which goes something like this one –> “XD”

After touring the rain forest which makes up approx the entire Malaysian forest, the climax of the tour peaked with the twelve Apostles next up the destination list.  I’ve learn geology for 4 years in university now.  And I know rocks are things which takes ages to reach its current state.  But sometimes when you look at the Apostles, you cannot imagine why there are just twelve of them.  Why not have apostles all along the coast of the Great Ocean road?  Then again, noticing how the waves kept bashing the rocky faces of the cliffs, probably the waves here are magnitudes greater than the rest. 

I’ve mentioned this before I think ehhe and as you can see from this picture, there are two Apostles that have crumbled.

I have tonnes of other pictures but nothing much that I have not posted during my first trip to Melbourne so feel free to just click on the link I have on the left most column :D!  After the apostles we visited the London bridge and Lord Ard Gorge before the guide Simon speeded all the way home!  I think he sped through a traffic camera because I saw it fire a flash =X!

Sunset on the last stop :D!  Goodbye Great Ocean Road.  Fate tells me this is not the last trip too.

WenY

Bites: Stalactite @ Russell St. (Melbourne)

2 years back when I visited Melbourne with Vil, Fishman and JH, we would venture out to the streets randomly bumping around looking for food to eat in the wee hours in the morning.  And yes, I really mean wee hours in the morning.  Like at 3am with temperatures dipping below 5 degrees.  One of the places we occasionally pass by is Stalactite, a Greek restaurant along Russell Street.  Funny thing though, is that we never ate there.  Like never EVER.  Probably the fancy looking cave look-a-like decor felt a tad too costly to eat.  And that was until Boony brought Kelvin and I there saying it was one of the cheaper supper place in town.  And to my dismay, it really was one of the best and cheapest places for supper.  Even fellow Victorians love this place.   Come on Friday night at say 2-3am, and you probably will have to queue for a place to sit! 

 

The stalactite interior of the restaurant.  Suits the place considering it has been here for no longer than 10 years.  The stalactites are miniscule =.=!The photos were taken when I brought Xin Ling here for lunch when Kelvin was away for skiing.  We only ordered two Souvlaki and a appetizer consisting of pita and dips but we only managed to finish part of the food we ordered.

 This 4 dip combo is probably the best for newbies in this restaurant who does not know which dip to choose from.  But from my taste buds I assume that the one with Paprika powder (top right) is the original humus, the pink coloured one has onions in it, the yellow-brownish dip was loaded with garlic and the white creamy coloured one was tatziki, a creamy yoghurt with diced cucumber.  All this was to be eaten with the pita bread!

 

The Greeks answer for the Mamak’s Roti Canai.  Not quite there but its in a class of its own.

 

This was my mixed Souvlaki which had plenty of lamb and chicken meat inside. Only 3 dollars more than the one near UWA and it has like double the meat in it.  Plus the tatziki sauce in it was so yummy!

 

Miss XinLing’s chicken Souvlaki.  We could not finish hers, so we had the remainder for supper as we watched Spain lift the World Cup for the first time ever! So memorable! :D!! Happy!!!  And oh, each Souvlaki can feed to not really hungry tummies.

 

All in all including a hot chocolate cost us 36 bucks.   Without the drinks and the dips, we would only be paying about 23 dollars.  But we thought that we should have an assortment, hence the 36 dollar bill.  But the food we ordered can easily feed like say errr 3 pigs?  So yes its aplenty and can easily be shared ahah.  This place is awesome really.  Or maybe the holiday mood made it taste better than it normally is?  Either ways its good stuff I’m speaking off here!  So head there and get a bite if you have not done so already!!!

 

WenY

Bites:Universal Italian @ Lygon St. (Melbourne)

Time and time over, my tummy would have a sudden craving for Italian food.  Just a couple of days after having a pleasant yet SERIOUSLY cheap Italian food at Sofia’s and again I was in the mood for some more Italian kitchen action.   I could not really figure out where to go but random memories popped back in an instant as I recall hearing about a place called Universal so I goog-led it out and true enough there was a place on Lygon st. called Universal Italian food.  So it was decided then that darling and Kelvin would come with me to try it out too!

 

The place was pretty empty when we reached and the waitress was quick in making us comfortable.  The emptiness got us a bit worked up but then again maybe a quarter past 6 was a little too early? hehe.  Unable to decide what we would have, we decided to start with the Bruschetta!

Not your typical Bruschetta as this was oven baked.   This somewhat killed the freshness of the tomatoes but fortunately, the melted fetta was a blessing.  Overall it was OK although melted fetta + fresh tomatoes would be best!  Ahah and it was funny how my housemates thought the base was drizzled with chocolate sauce but was instead something else which I think is the Balsamic Vinegar.

 

After fondling the menu and turning it back and front we finally decided to order two type of food instead of three as we were still quite full from the lunch before.  I think we had our lunch in Menya but I’m not to sure. It has been quite a while since I had this meal.  Almost two weeks now!  Writing these post makes me miss Melbourne!! Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh *sobs*!  We decided to go with;Ribs and Chicken Wing Combo.

 

This looked like a Carbonara but it was not.  Funnily enough that even though it taste and feels like one, it is called a Fettuccini Roma.

 

These two dishes were not quite as yummy as the appetizer but definitely not crappy as well.  The biggest problem about the wings and ribs was that the seasoning was just too simple.  Perhaps a little more taste will help it shine?  As for the pasta, all it lacked was salt.  More salt would have been good considering how it tasted flat. 

 

Overall the food here is edible by standards but its not killer material in any way.  Maybe we were the few early customers and the chefs were not warmed up yet but either ways it feels as if they were not at their best.  And when we were done at about 7.30 or so, the place started to crowd and perhaps it was then that we should have arrived.  Universal is cheap by a Perth-ling standard.  At 13 bucks, this was nowhere near the 25-30 dollar price I would normally pay for an Italian meal in Perth.  I’m not going to end this saying whether this place is recommended or nor because in the end everyone has different taste.  Just give it a shot.  13 bucks and a meal is not too much to lose!!

 

WenY