Melbourne Trip (2 ~ 8 July) Day 7 Final Day!!!

On 8 July...

Actually we dont really feel like going to the free half day trip, because it is just a city trip and we have pretty much covered everything in Melbourne. But since it is free, not a bad idea to join though. We hopped on the coach, and I was quite surprised there were quite a lot of people joining the tour. Nothing much, I was too tired and always fell asleep, the driver introduce alot, but somehow most of the things we knew already. We stopped at the flower garden (called Observatory??! forget), and looked at some flowers (boring huh?). And besides the garden is the Cook's Cottage, originally moved from Britain (i guess). I am quite sure you guys know Captain James Cook was the founder of Australia, so everywhere you will see this name. Huh not much, so we hopped on the bus and leaved.

A statue...

Me and Pizza in front of who-know-what plants

My boring face, isk isk!!

We reached at the Shrine of Remembrance (again!?). But this time we felt like leaving, coz we have been there yesterday. So I asked the tour guide's permission to leave, haha and we escape with a tram!

We reached Melbourne city, have our lunch at a claypot shop (wow excellent claypot rice!) and browse some souvenirs shops. I didnt buy much, because Melbourne is lacking of landmark or anything that represents it, not like Sydney. The souvenir shops mostly sell flags, koala toys and things that can be also found in Brissy, so I chose not to buy. We then went back to College Square.

Without delay I transfered the remaining photos to my pendrive, and soon I leaved to the airport. Jason and Pizza have later flight, so I leaved by myself. I reached there on time, and flew back to Brisbane...

The trip across Sydney and Melbourne has finally ended. I was fatigued, but stay tune, 3 days solo Sunshine Coast Trip will be up soon. For a short introduction, Sunshine Coast is a tourist attraction 1.5 hour north of Brisbane City. Some of the attractions are Australian Zoo (managed of late Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin), Underwater World, The Wharf and of course lots of long beaches.

Later...

Melbourne Trip (2 ~ 8 July) Day 6

In 7 July...

Today is not a very good day, as Pizza and Jason both fell sick (haiz...). So, you can assume that the activities on this day is pretty few. To tell the truth, actually today we have the Dandenongs half day tour, but suddenly the tour agency called and said that it was cancelled, and we are offered with a half day city tour the next day. Sob sob... (liars~~)..

We started the day by going to The National Gallery of Victoria. Oops, when we reached there the gallery is not even open yet! We waited there for around one hour before we managed to get in. If not mistaken, it is free to get in, keke. Quite a lot of portraits and art pieces inside, and this is the first time i take my time to appreciate them (coz jason sick, so browsing become slower). We didnt manage to finish browsing the whole building, and leaved.

The side view of the Gallery, with some art pieces..

Me and Pizza on the entrance

Me and Jason posing in front of the great wall..

Behind me is the Art Centre (like a telecommunication tower?!)


'Piece of Art'

I was naughty, keke

Next, we went to the Parliament of Victoria. As you can expect, it is an old-style building with lots of old lamps and doors. We didnt go inside, as we missed the free tour time. So, taking photos outside is not too bad, right?

The picture explains itself



Me and Pizza again, in front of Parliament

After that, we walked to a church. I forgot what it is called, and after all it is not in our schedule, only because Pizza said it was nice, so we just dropped by. A service was running inside the church, and the notice said we could join (aiks). Nothing much outside, but good background for photos.

Front view of church

Me and a statue, forgot Saint something...

The last stop for us for the day, the Shrine of Remembrance. It is also one of the famous spot in Melbourne, and of course, it commemorates the soldiers and warriors involved in The First and Second World War. To me, who is not an Australian, it is not much inside (boring indeed). Some exhibition and statues, thats all. But the outside view of the building is just nice, resembling Parthenon again (i wonder why they like this?)..

Me and Jason and Shrine of Remembrance!!


Different angle of the building, obviously the wind is strong and Pizza is freezing

In the evening, Pizza said he wanna joined Ann and gang for the barbeque, and Jason and I decided to go to Crown Casino. This is the second time I went to a casino (the first in Sydney). Quite nice, and I like the table game there (coz the bet is much cheaper than in Sydney). We registered as members, and have a play on machines. Both of us werent lucky enough to win any money there, but phew, lost a few bucks. I could say it is quite nice, but the sad thing is that it only provides $2 free for us to play, not like Sydney Casino that provides free $10.

Crown Casino here I come!!

Night view along Yarra River

Thats the end of day 6. Stay tune for half day city tour on the next day!!

Melbourne Trip (2 ~ 8 July) Day 5

In 6 July...

Today we are going to go to Philip Island, place that is pretty famous in Melbourne, or maybe around the world, due to the Penguin Parade. I was warned by many frens that Philip Island is freezing, so I was well prepared for it too.

But Philip Island day tour starts in the afternoon, so what should we do in the morning? Well, we went to The University of Melbourne, top university in Australia. However I am a little bit disappointed after I reached there (sorry melbournians). The buildings are neither as organized as in UNSW, nor they are as old as the ones in UniSyd or UQ, but I cant deny its reputation across the globe. Photo time!!!

University of Melbourne

Me and Pizza..

Our tour guides are not here, so I dont know what is the building behind me..

Unimelb famous for medicine, sure have to come... if not Andrew will be angry, keke..

We quickly made our way to city centre, and have our lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. After that, we waited for the coach to come. The coach came, and of course we grabbed some nice seats this time, keke.

Pizza was still recovering from Mt Buller

After 1 hr journey, we stopped at a small farm, where we were allow to handfeed kangaroos and wallabies. It wasnt new to me to feed kangaroo, but it seemed new to Jason and Pizza (they were crazily happy when doing that). I fed the kangaroos, and also geese (this is my first time feeding geese, they are small, but big eaters) We have some nice photos there, and after 45 mins, we leaved.

Eat eat...

Pizza and Jason went crazy when feeding kangaroos

Geese are really big and fast eaters.

Wallaby!?

Next, we reached at Wildlife conservation centre, and of course the focus it koalas! Again it was not new to me, and we rarely find koalas there (isks, and there are so high up the trees). Disappointment, if you really wanna see koalas closed up, or even wanna cuddle one, come to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. We have hundreds of koalas here, in fact the largest koala conservation centre in the world!! (advertising...)

Me and a koala - similarity: lazy

Dont disturb me, ok?

We continued our journey on the coach, and soon we reached the Nobbies, place that is famous for seeing fur seals. That is just a stopover, and of course we didnt see seals (they are far away). The place is really windy, I felt the wind is pushing me towards the sea (man I am so heavy yet i felt it). It was sunset then, and so we have got some nice pics of sunset.

the Nobbies, entrance only

Haha, me in front of the place where fur seals come

Sunset at the Nobbies

We reached the focus of the day, the place for Penguin Parade at around 5pm. It was a small building with information centre, exhibition about penguins, some food outlets and souvenir shops. We have some photos here, coz it is forbidden to use camera during the Penguin Parade.

Entrance of Penguin Parade

This is not the real one, of course, hehe

We walked to the sitting place where penguins can be seen. Unfortunately all the nice seats were occupied and we really didnt have a choice. After 15 mins of waiting, the first group of penguins surfaced and they walked away from us (sob... sob.. cant really see, i should have brought binoculars). Most of the time we actually saw seagull walking and flying around (haiz). The penguins are really selective, they always walk towards the viewing platform (you need to pay more to be there). To make it worse, during winter penguins dont really go hunt in the sea, so less penguin coming back. I would say this was not penguin parade, but seagull show. The air was not really freezing, and some people even bring blankets there (crazy!!). But there is one extra bonus, with extra dim light, we got to see the sky full with stars and it was spectacular.

We leave after one hour, and hopped on the bus and leaved. We stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant at Cowes Jetty, and that was expensive and the food is no good compared to Sydney. Haiz then we went back to Melbourne city.

Melbourne Trip (2 ~ 7 July) Day 4

On 5 July,

Today is another great day for us, because we were going to ski in Mount Buller, yahooooo!!! For me, this is the first time I see real snow, and first time skiing of course. Again we waited for the coach to come, and went straight to Mount Buller.

Before reaching Mt Buller, we stopped at a place to hire our equipment and clothes. I hired my poles, skis, goggles, boots and a winter jacket (We paid it during registration, so no payment here hehe). We were here for around one hour (coz it really was crowded terribly), then we leave.

After another half an hour, we finally reached the entrance of Mount Buller. Nothing much here, except the free shuttle bus to Mt Buller and a track for toboganning. We quickly hopped on a bus and charged straight to the mountain.

Wow, what a great scenery to me when we reached the Mt Buller. I love the snow very much, huhu. People were just skiing around, or just enjoying the view there. Without delay Jason and Pizza carried our backpacks and went to store in lockers. This was the beginning of a nightmare, as there are too many people there to hire lockers, and we spent 45 mins just to put our stuffs alone. It was already 12.30 pm and quickly we bought a large pizza and eat outside. Imagine eating hot pizza in the place with only -2 degree celcius (Crazy!).

Mt Buller!!

A snowhouse?!

After that we joined the free ski lesson. Me and Jason in the same group and Pizza in different group. We have two tutors and both of the are quite good. We first learn about the structure of ski, then about how to 'wear' the ski, how to move forward, how to brake, how to turn left and right and how to move backward. These were really basics but I kinda find them really hard. To make it worse, to avoid relying much on the poles, the tutors confiscated our poles after 15 mins of exercise. Sob.. sob.. without the poles it was really terrible, moving became almost impossible. Haiz, it was extremely tired, and of course i fell down zillions of times (paiseh).

The School....

A lot of people right? They are waiting for the snow lift

So energetic before skiing...

After one hour, phew...

CHEESE...

What is he doing (must be falling down, keke(?

After the lesson time was running out already. We didnt make it to the ski lift, and we were busy taking photos around (since Pizza didnt take photos during ski lesson). At 4 pm we rushed to hop on a shuttle bus and return to the entrance. Then, for sure we were fetched back to Melbourne City!

Changing shoes and putting down equipment, sob sob very tired..

Me with a statue (I dont even have time to look at details)

Dont think 0 degree celcius wont happen under the sun!

Pizza is posing.. I love his hat (or whatever it calls)

Three guys, pose before leaving Mt Buller

Me and Pizza

Phew, what a tiring place! My arms and legs all were painful, including my bottom (huhu, I fell and sit on floor several times...). I would say this is a new experience for me, but unfortunately time is limited and we only ski for around 2 hours, which is not enough i guess. But, I swear I wont go to ski anymore...

Melbourne Trip (2 ~ 8 July) Day 3

On 4 July...

This is indeed a great day for us. We were going to The Great Ocean Road, one of the hottest tourist spot in Melbourne, well-known for its Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and Loch Ard Gorge. We joined a guided day tour, so we just waited for the bus in front of the nearest hotel - the Rydges. It was a double decker, and we managed to grab the upper seats haha.

The morning part of the tour is pretty boring, as said by the driver-cum-tour guide, 'Don't judge Great Ocean Road by what you are seeing now...'. Most of the time the driver introduce a lot along the journey. We had our first stop at Bell's Beach, and we had our breakfast there. Nice cakes and coffee, as well as vegemite (my first time tasting it, urgh it doesnt taste good..) An ordinary beach...

Bell's Beach

Me and Pizza before Bell's Beach

Next, we reached Urquhart Bluff, the official starting point of The Great Ocean Road. We are only allowed to take photos for 5 mins, and of course we made good use of it..

Real journey starts!!

Still journey, and we stopped at Apollo Bay for lunch. A small village that has an IGA and a fish and chip shop. Nice beach as well. I like the place a lot, small and peaceful, together with the beach. We spent around an hour here, and soon we leaved for some real action of The Great Ocean Road...

Beach of Apollo Bay

The driver then drived straight to The Twelve Apostles, the main attraction of the Road. Believe me, it was such a magnificient, spectacular, awesome, wonderful, undescribable scenery. It really fits the name very much. The tour guide said at different time you will see different type of scenery. True, it changes when the sunlight changes. Even Pizza, who is picky said it was fantastic (he even said 3 Sisters in Blue Mountain is nothing compared to this). Of course, photos must be taken here!!! A lot!!!

Besides the noticeboard...

Isn't it just gorgeous?

With the Apostles behind me...

Pizza seems reluctant to take photo with me...

Group photo is a must!

Nice angle huh?

Me and Pizza again, with Apostles standing behind us

The remaining few Apostles at the other side

Magnificient Twelve Apostles (Dont be mistaken, this is only a postcard!!!)

After that, we made our way to Loch Ard Gorge. The driver talked about a real story of a shipwreck along the journey, and how the hero and heroine survive and such a love story... (what am i talking?) Another piece of art by the mother nature, spectular view, just cant describe with words alone...

Me and Jason in front of notice board

Loch Ard Gorge behind!!

Loch Ard 'Gorge'ous

What so funny, Jason?

The beach, where the hero and heroine washed to...

Me and Pizza, behind is the shelter taken by hero and heroine of the shipwreck (I wonder if i can find c_ _ _ _ _, haha joke)

Next, we went to London Bridge, of course this is a natural one, not the real London Bridge. Have you heard of 'London Bridge is falling down'? Indeed, it was true. London Bridge here had suddenly collapsed sometime ago, and now it is separated into 2 portions. Very nice, I just cant describe how beautiful it is... let the photos tell, ok?

'London Bridge is falling down, falling down~'

Me and Jason again, boring huh?

Time passed pretty fast, and it is the end of the trip. We cruised back to the city, and after having our dinner in Chinatown, we went back and slept. Have to prepare for some real action tomorrow - Mount Buller Snow!!!