Impromptu Trip to Melbourne - 25 October to 30 October 2016
Ever since our last holiday to New Zealand, Jianhui and I have not been going for any holidays together. *Grasp* Given that it's so difficult to apply leave (for me), we planned an impromptu trip to Melbourne once my leave has been confirmed! It was a short but fun and totally different trip as compared to our usual Australia Trip. We booked the tickets less than a month ago and in fact, we were still booking accommodation the night before we fly to Melbourne. Iused to get panicked but now I am kinda used to such last minute planning. After all, we're going Australia. How hard can it be, right? That's how we travel =p
25 October 2016 to 26 October 2016
We were so busy that we didn't have the time to pack our luggage. I was still busy packing my luggage the moment I got home after my half day leave. =p Jianhui came back from his medical appt at SGH and it was about time for us to go airport. It was raining heavily. Thank goodness we managed to get a cab to go airport. It was always a long journey to airport.
My parents, sis and Gwyneth were at the airport to send us off. We had quick dinner at Burger King before we went in to get ready for boarding.
It was an empty flight. So empty that we could have 3 seats to each person. Haha. I had 2 seats to myself and so I could lie down to sleep. I would say it was a good sleep for me though I dreamt quite a bit too. I woke up about Singapore time 4am to eat breakfast. Somehow, time passed by faster if you could sleep on the plane.
About 9am, we touched down Melbourne. Now, we had to queue at those self help kiosks to get e ticket to pass custom. After insert the e ticket, we will look at the camera and that's it. Everything is automated. However, I didn't manage to pass this automated customs. Ultimately, I still got to queue and say "hello" to the customs officer.
After collecting our luggage, we went to get SIM card. It costs AUD2 per day for 200MB per day. This is considered cheap as compared to Singtel's Data Roaming charges. Then, we walked over to Thrifty to get our car. We waited quite a while before it was our turn. They gave us a Camry but Jianhui requested to change to a smaller car. And so, we got our little red KIA car.
In time with the Halloween theme for Pokemon Go, there was a lot of Cubone, Ghastly and Drowzee spawning everywhere! We were here to catch Kangaskhan but we didn't see any sighting of it. Nothing but Cubone, Ghastly and Drowzee...
We had our lunch at McD's before going to Woolsworth to buy tidbts and food! Then, it's a long drive (about 150km+) to Silverwater Resort, a place near Phillip Island. We reached our resort about 2.30pm.
And we totally love this resort. Nice, cosy and beautiful place! And there's a big jumping pillow which was really fun. haha. This place is so nice that we wish we should have stayed 2 nights. Haha.
After resting for a while, we went to to information counter to get tickets. We decided that we will just go Koala Conservation Centre since we had been to Penguin Parade for 2 times. It's always nice to look at those koala. They were all sleeping so soundly. You can't help but to be envious of their good life. Haha. They can sleep 20+ hours a day!
Then we went to Cowes - Isola Di Capri for dinner. Pizza was not too bad. It was quite a satisfying dinner.
After dinner, we wanted to go Cowes Jetty for a short walk. And you know what? I actually met Douglas and his family! He stopped his car in front of me and initially I couldn't recognize him. I was wondering what's wrong with this driver? Haha.
I also parked my AMAZING Lapras at the gym here. She was defending the gym for 2 days until I was worried that she couldn't come back to me. She's my only rare amazing Lapras. Thankfully, she came back after 2 days. Haha.
Since it was still early, we decided to drive around. And we came upon a nice place - Nobbies Centre! It was really windy! We were so lucky to catch the beautiful sunset despite that it has been so gloomy for the whole day! This is also the place that Jianhui remembered that he came with the tour group and he has always wanted to bring me to! A positive surprise instead. That's why sometimes you don't have to plan so much for trip. It's about exploring new places and you will be surprised surprised that you might be lucky and stumble upon a new place.
It had been a long day for us. Time to go back to our beautiful place to rest!
27 October 2016
Beautiful view early in the morning!
We ate the croissants we bought at Woolsworth for breakfast. Then we checked out from this beautiful resort. I would strongly recommend all to stay in this resort for those who wanted to come to Phillip Island. =p
We then drove about 69km to Moonlit Sanctuary. Other than the entrance fees of AUD20 per pax, we also paid AUD15 per person for close encounter with Koala. We also bought AUD2 special food to feed the Wallaby.
So many times to Australia and this was my first time being so close to Koala! We took many photos with the Koala. Actually, I feel kinda sad for the Koala as he must be so irritated to be so close to us throughout the day. So, the Koala at the Koala Conservation Centre seems to have a better life!
It's so fun to feed the wallaby! Haha. They are so cute and many have baby wallaby with them! We also fed many of the birds in the park.
The park was not very big so in an hour's time, we kinda finished the tour. We had McD's along the way before we checked in to Quest Moorabin. In comparison, Quest Moorabin is not as nice as Silverwater Resort, but still not too bad. =p
And Jianhui caught Pikachu with AUD1!!! Pika!
We rested a while before we drove 11km to the famous colourful Brighton Bathing Boxes. It was very windy.
After this, we went to Woolsworth again. In Australia, Woolsworth is everywhere, just like NTUC in Singapore. There wasn't much restaurants nearby and so we went to Fat Bob since it was recommended by Quest Moorabin.
It's a very American style restaurant. Though it was hidden at a corner with a weird entrance behind, it was quite crowded.
We had the recommended burger and popcorn chicken. The burger was not bad, though Billy Bombers' burger is still the best! Popcorn chicken wasn't as good as KFC's popcorn chicken too. Nevertheless, it was a good dinner. =p
Time for a good rest!
28 October 2016
Today, we were driving back to Melbourne City! Before driving back to Melbourne, we tried our luck one last time at Princess Park to look for Kangaskhan. However, we were disappointed that there is no Kangaskhan. Sigh.
It's 26km to Pegasus Apartment Hotel. Though we were early, they allowed us to check in. And there was free upgrade to 2 bedrooms apartment! After resting for a while, we went to Queen Victoria Market. It's my favourite place in Melbourne City.
We finally tried the famous Doughnuts and it was really good! I miss it so much now! Yummy!
We walked around to look for food and we came across this stall - Boreks. There were a lot of people buying from this stall and so, we decided to join them!
And it was yummy! We had Spicy Lamb Borek! Very good! Worth trying!
After buying our heavy macademia nuts and nougats, we went back to put our staff. Then we went for walk in Melbourne city. We walked quite a distance to a bike shop but there weren't many bikes in the shop. Then we walked to Hosier Lane for phototaking.
Then we went back to the starting point for Melbourne Age Run 2 years ago. We bought yummy ice cream from the pushcart. We also had drink + fries at Time Out.
After the fries, we were really full and so we decided to go back to our room for maggie mee as dinner later in the evening.
The bed was really bouncy that we didn't have a good sleep.
29 October 2016
Early in the morning at 8.30am, we checked out. We got to drive 152km to Bath Lane at Bendigo to collect our race pack. There were very cars and it was really difficult to find a parking lot. In the end, we parked at some long vehicle parking lot and quickly went to collect the race bib.
Then, we checked in to our hotel, The Schaller Studio. It was a cosy and artistic room. And perfect place to fight gym. After many rounds of battle, I finally managed to win and park my Vaporean at the gym. Yeah!
We rested a while before we went out for lunch. After driving out, we decided to buy whole roasted chicken from Coles for lunch! Yummy!
And the best part, we saw Kangaskhan in sighting! After making a few u turn, we finally saw him! Yeah! We caught him!
There was a nice race banner outside our hotel.
After having lunch, we decided to look for cafe to chill out. To our surprise, most cafes are closed! Nevertheless, we went out to see if there was any cafe that was still opened.
Luckily, we found this cosy cafe! We had a nice mocha and a chocolate muffin which tasted like huat kueh.
As for dinner, we had McD's for dinner (again).
30 October 2016
It's race day today! And it was drizzling! Why is it that it seems like almost all my overseas race are wet and gloomy.
We parked our park somewhere near the starting point then we walked over. Due to the wet weather, the race started late. We had to do 2 loops around the town.
I have not been running actively so I was really happy to complete 10km in 1hour and 6 minute. =p
2 different medals for collection! Yeah!
While walking back to the car, we were bitten quite badly by mosquitoes. To my horror, there were over 20 mosquito bites on my arms and legs! Argh! Anyway, these bites were really very toxic. The bites were all swollen and very itchy!
We had a good shower before we packed out stuff to check out. We had breakfast at the nice cafe at our hotel lobby.
We drove 152km back to Melbourne Airport. After returning the car, we took our luggage and went to departure hall to check in.
We were early so we had a relaxing lunch at Hungry Jack.
However, our flight was delayed. We waited very long before we could board the flight. It was going to be a long flight back. And I tried not to sleep so that I would not feel jet lag. I watched 2 wonderful movies, Interstellar and Inception to pass time.
Home sweet home.
It's always good to be back home.
All in all, it was a good trip. I really enjoyed myself. Thanks my hubby for being my driver though he wasn't feeling well. Looking forward to more amazing trips next year!
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Angeline winks
at |12:15 PM|
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