hung over...

A real proper vacation.

Wake up when you want to
Do what you want when you want to
Do nothing if you want to
Now, THAT’S a vacation!

Vacations should be just like this...

Wednesday 19^th Dec 2007

Took leave today since I waited till the eleventh hour to pack. Locked my luggage just shy of an hour before the limo arrived.

5.20 pm the limo driver called to confirm his arrival ! … blink, blink... Totally surprised that they are that efficient. I was planning to call him at 5.30 to confirm.

Sharp 6.30, limo arrived.

Driver used this new highway - KL-Putrajaya Highway- and we made it to Putrajaya from KL in half hour! Wow! Would have taken us more than an hour just to reach Sungai Besi Toll Plaza

A little pass 7.30, we were at the KLIA departure hall with driver and airport “bellboy” unloading our luggage and straight to the check in counter.

We were hungry so went straight to the lounge to dig-in. I was craving for smoked salmon so I took nothing else.

Bellies full, we headed for the duty-free shops. With just 15mins to boarding time, we managed to create a significantly big dent in our wallets with the perfumes we bought.

We didn’t know this but apparently for passengers to Australia, Australian regulation stipulates that for all fragrances purchased, the sales person is required to follow us to the gate with our purchases all sealed and hand it over to us at the gate.

Huh?! What kind of rule is that?! What is the significance?! Puh!

Well, never mind. At least we have an extra pair of hands to carry the bags. Ha ha ha !

At the gate, only one lane for hand luggage scanning was opened. So you can imagine the queue. So, instead of waiting in line, we sat and waited till the queue was about less than 2 people and joined in.

Scheduled 2135 take off but instead 2155, took off.

No smoked salmon on flight. Dang ! Thank God I took what I could at the lounge. No ice-cream either ! Tsk tsk tsk…

Overall cabin service and attentiveness: 6.5/10. Pretty poor from what I expected.

Thursday 20^th Dec 2007

8.00am Melbourne time i.e. 3 hours ahead of KL – Plane made descend towards Tullamarine i.e. Melbourne International Airport but cannot land due to strong wind and heavy rain. According to the pilot, we’ll have to wait another half hour before landing.

8.30am – Landed and boy, it feels like coming home. I’m ecstatic! Landed to a wet and windy Melbourne. Very unlike summer in Melbourne. Weather feels more like spring. Just as we went through immigration and making our way to baggage claims, there was a power cut and we were in partial darkness. Announcement informed that those from flight MH149 (ours) will experience delays in baggage claims since works were halted due to adverse weather conditions. Welcome to Melbourne! Ha ha ha!

9.30am – Baggage carousel started moving with bags slowly passing by. I think we waited just a little over 10mins before our bags came passing by.

10.30am – Into arrival hall. HUNNIEEEEE!!!!!

What took one hour from baggage claim to arrival hall?

Queue for baggage scanning !!

When it was our turn, we didn’t even have to open our bags at all. Scan must have shown there were hardly anything in our bags. We filled only half of our bags for the sole purpose of filing it up to the brink on our way back to KL ! Whahaha…

Australian customs are extremely and overly protective and paranoid of what we bring into Australia. I don’t blame them at all since Australia is after all, an island. A huge island. If anything goes wrong concerning diseases, there’s no where to run. Ways out of the country in case of a breakout is through air and sea. Not very good prospects. So I was patient with their strictness. Not my sis though, who was complaining profusely !

Journey from Tullamarine to Melbourne:

Everything looks so familiar.
I cannot believe that I’ve left this place for 6 years. Looking out the car, I feel like I’ve never left this place; like I see these trees, these sign posts, these streets, these cars, these buildings, these landmarks, every single day for all these years.
Everything looks so familiar.
I can recall where one exit will take you, which street to go, which turning to take to go to from one place to another, shortcuts and all. The memory, all just came back to me automatically. Just goes to show how much I am attached to my beloved Melbourne. I surprised myself at how much !

~11.00am: Brekky/Brunch at Amello, St Kilda Sea Baths.

Amello by night

My love latte

St Kilda Sea Baths

It was still quite cloudy but warm, ~25°C. We had a share of lattes, hot chocolate, breads, scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and hash browns alfresco while fanning away flies with our serviettes. That’s the drawback of summer in Melbourne. Irritating flies !!

Victoria Market with Melbourne skyline

~12.30pm: Victoria Market. Broke the bank! Aduh!

~2.30pm: Checked in Seasons Service Apartment, 348 St Kilda Road. Room T309; air-conditioner not working.

~4.30pm: Changed to T206. Much better.

~6.30pm: City. First time laying eyes on Federation Square just opposite Flinders Street station.

On Princes Bridge

Flinders St Station

Headed for Melbourne Central.

Melbourne Central, Corner of Swanston St and La Trobe St

Melbourne Central has gone through a complete makeover.

Exterior of Melbourne Central

Interior of Melbourne Central

I was totally lost.
The only thing familiar was the big clock that rings Waltzing Matilda at every hour.

Signature Melbourne Central

I felt so out of place.
This was the very building I go to everyday while studying in RMIT across the street. My little getaway haven is completely different from last I saw it. I was totally lost. Sad, very sad indeed.

Dinner: Yummy Kamil’s Kebab.

Friday 21^st Dec 2007

Late start

Tram to City; get off La Trobe St and walked to Vic Mart. Second trip to get what we didn’t get yesterday. Lunch: Nando’s, corner of Victoria St and Peel St.

Rain and more rain. What is this man?! Actually was glad that it rained since it brought down the temperature. It was getting too hot for my liking.

Walked in the rain to Melbourne Central from Vic Mart for second viewing and more stuff from Sportsgirl. Me love Sportsgirl.

Still raining outside and not just little droplets ok. This was KL-type rain!

I think our arrival has solved the current drought problem in Melbourne. It has been raining two days in a row now. Full, proper rain!

No choice, we made our way indoors from Melbourne Central La Trobe St to Myer Lonsdale St to HMV Bourke St.

Myer, 1st Floor, Lonsdale St

Bourke St

I amazed myself with the ability to get around inside the linking buildings from floor to floor, which escalators to take, which corner in the building to take to get to the floors where shoes and handbags are on. I’m beginning to wonder if maybe instead of studying, I was putting more hours walking from one shop block to another, floor after floor ! Ha ha ha!

Dinner: Kanpai, Chapel St – Teppanyaki seafood with creamy cream sauce.

I’ve been craving for that for 6 years! It tasted just as delicious as it did last time I had it.

Saturday 22^nd Dec 2007

Objective: Penguin Parade, Phillip Island

Since it’s summer, the sun sets at ~8.30pm. The penguins only come up after sunset. No need to rush. It’ll take just 2 hours to get to Phillip Island anyway. Cooked lunch. Left around 4.30pm.

View to Phillip Island

~8.45pm, Penguin Parade: It was absolutely freezing !! I was frozen to the spot! We were facing the Bass Straits at the edge of sea with the wind raging like mad! Must have been around ~8°C. I had layers of clothes on and still freezing ! I can’t believe Hun managed with just a shirt on. Madness!

This must be my 5^th time or more to the Penguin Parade and yet the excitement of seeing them swim up shore and waddling their way to their burrows with their tiny feet – adorable, adorable, a d o r a b l e !! Makes you forget the cold.

A penguin made its way up to the visitor centre. Maybe he's waiting for his ride home on the buggy!

Yes, the penguins can make their way to the car park which is more than 800m away from the seashore and an uphill climb at that!

The penguins at the Penguin Parade called fairy penguins are the smallest penguins in the world. http://www.penguins.org.au/

Sunday 23^rd Dec 2007

Objective: Sovereign Hill, Ballarat

http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/

Late start

Ballarat is even closer to Melbourne. I think I’ve been there as many times as I’ve been to the Penguin Parade. We arrived around 2.30pm at Sovereign Hill.

View to Ballarat

Panning for gold, brass bangle, rainbow-coloured candle making, explosive (scientific way of counting? … One banana, two banana, three banana… Ha ha ha!... Fell for that once before!), name printing on “Wanted!” notices, name on metal horseshoe, lollies, bowling (you throw the bowling ball, you walk the length and roll it back to the starting point. You drop the pins, you put them upright again. No wonder everyone was fit during those days), little houses with little garden of flowers or vegetables, full interior furnishing and fires going at the fireplace…

Main St, Sovereign Hill, Ballarat

Bowling alley

Bowling the primitive way

Candle-making

Horse-drawn carriage

Hammering names on replica horseshoes

Fish and chips from Nicky’s Fish and Chips at a park in Ballarat. What a picnic!

My lord! What fresh scallops! Yummiest scallops I have ever tasted !

View back from Ballarat

Monday 24^th Dec 2007

Chaddy by day
~2am passed by Chadstone Shopping Mall or Chaddy in short and there were still loads of car at the parking bays. What’s going on? Parked, got into the mall and learnt that shops will remain opened till 6pm today !

That’s it! Shopped till 7am!! Erm, well actually didn’t really shop, more like browsed, looksie looksie…

Was up only at 3pm! Horror!

Round round the city we went but most shops were closed by 6pm.

So, headed to Brunswick to check out the Turkish / Muslim area. Since they are not celebrating Christmas they’ll probably not close. Hmph! Closed jugak!

But along Sydney Road, managed to get some lahmajun (minced meat on pita bread) just before the shop closed.

But further down Sydney Road at Coburg, very near Bell St, Hun brought us to this pizza place. My GOD! It’s the yummiest pizza ever – generous portions of toppings, crispy crust, Delizioso!! Magnifico!! Yummy!

Albert Park – Picnic with the pizza, lahmajun and roasted chicken we bought. It was really cold outside, ~15°C, bearable temperature actually but the wind made it bad. Not as bad as Phillip Island but still cold. The wind was fierce. Chicken nearly flew away!

Hun enjoyed feeding the swans, seagulls and ducks. King of the swans, he says! Hahaha!

Everything’s closed today pass 8pm. Even Coles and Safeway. So much for their “Open 24 hours, 7 days”…

St Kilda Pier – I didn't know we could watch fairy penguins here. It's more close up than at Phillip Island but there are no rangers to protect them like at Phillip Island.

Tuesday 25^th Dec 2007

Sighhh…

Time – when it comes, it comes.
There is no way to stop it, change it, rewind it.
When it comes, it comes.

Last meal before heading to airport - Latte and scalamari (scallops and calamari) on Lygon St.

Bye bye Melbourne... I miss you already...

1540 – Take off to KL.

Flying over South Australia

Now everything is the past.

At this point, everything is just memories.