Melbourne: The Philip Island tour.

Some update on my recent happenings, I just came back from a killer steamboat @ Vil’s place before finishing the meal with a 2kg Korean barbecue meat fest by his pool with just 5 people.  I do not think sleeping nor showering is too favoured at the moment so here I am.  Xin Ling has gotten herself the new Iphone4 after queuing for almost 6 hours. I on the other hand was devastated to find out that the call centre messed up on their information about my delivery time.  She confused days for weeks! Bloody disappointing but fair enough, it should be in my hands this week I hope?  I was waiting with XinLing so I could have just helped myself to one really =X Bummer!!  But its ok, I was never too keen to keep up with the hype.  But it really does look beautiful.  I’m no hardcore mobile warrior so really, the aesthetics are somewhat the more important feature for me hoho!

Winding the clock back a bit to my trip in Melbourne, we went on another tour to Philips Island after deciding that spending 90 bucks on a tour is cheaper than spending 200 bucks on shopping.  Ahaha even now the hole in the pocket has yet to be mended for the little girl. xD  The main highlight to Philip Island was meant to be the penguins, but at the end of the day, it was the other activities which brought more joy to us.

The sleeping devils.  Look like angels don’t they? :D!

hahahaha look at her smile. So distorted, but she was nervous as hell really.

Me feeding the kangaroo, this kangaroo was the centre of attraction because it is bloody big.  Like seriously.  It’s probably slouching or something in this picture.

Kelvin xD! Kelvin’s hidden hand on the right looks as if he is ready to slap the kangaroo if it does anything funny xD!!

After the trip to the animal reserve, we headed over to a beach. A lovely one I must insist.  SO happy just to be there doing nothing.  Sometimes you just get the feeling right?  “Happy to just do nothing” that kind.

This beach however was no match for Cottesloe beach.  Still more pristine and populated with good looking people xD ahaha.  Even the tour guide which hails from Perth thinks so too. ahaha

The uncle’s height = 6ft, my jump 6.5ft.  No joke its the shoe. Oh wait its not a pair of Jordans.  Must be me then. xD no la ahaha jk jk.

Heyya!

XOXOXOXO. xD!

Later on after doing all the monkey acts on the beach, we recouped and our next destination was the seal observatory in which you have to view the seals by hiring a remote camera.  How lame.  Why not just watch National Geographic.  So instead, I walked about and tried to take a few pictures of waves smashing against the rocky coast.

Liked the way it smashed when viewed through my eyes.  Not my camera  :(!!  This occurrence of nature is one spectacular show that occurs every minute.  Funny thing how we overlook this beauty so easily.

Stairs by the hillside.

On the other side of the hill. So niceeeee!  But I think it could have been a whole lot better if it was not so rush that day.  All because of those midget penguins booooooooooo!  And believe it or not, we waited for the penguins for like 1 hours only to see the timid side of them.  Each time they came up to the shore after a day of hunting, they just run back into their little hole.  And no pictures allow because their eyes are too sensitive.  So yeah, we wasted the whole night being cold and hungry just to see things we thought was cute when we were young :(!  Truth be said, penguins actually looks quite evil @.@!  Their eyes are so full with intent. Ackkk! But the kangaroo, wombat and other stuff was quite fun though.  It was only the night that felt wasted!  But on the bright side, we did get to eat kangaroo and crocodile meat pizza eheh.  Something different but with an OK only taste.  Do not fancy those kind of meat of which one animal I consider very fun to feed.

WenY

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