Melbourne Part 3

Day 4 (Sunday, 4 May 2014)

We received a not-so-good news late Saturday night whereby our flight to KUL will be delayed by 3 hours. Instead of flying back on Monday 1230am Melbourne time, we are expected to depart at 0300 Melbourne time. Thanks to Air Asia, we were able to spend more time in Melbourne doing nothing.

The group leader (the tour person) gave us extra free and easy time on Sunday morning to do what ever that we want to do before continuing with our city tour - meeting family and friends. However, the unlucky me, I didn't do much that morning except for the frequent visit to the toilet due to a sick tummy. I suspect this was due to the overloaded of food that I had the day before. Makan macam orang tak pernah makan sepuluh tahun, ini lah jadinya.

Since our flight was delayed, we had no choice but to checked out from the hotel on Sunday (still!) and to pack our bags and bring them along during the last city tour. Lucky us, our tour driver is a superb person that allowed us to pack our bags in the bus.

We had our lunch at the Chinatown and headed to Victoria Market for souvenir shopping right after. It is something similar to the Paddy Market in Sydney where one can get cheap souvenirs. Since I just got back from Sydney not too long ago, I didn't buy much. A basic t-shirt to the family. 

I was really looking forward to the factory outlet visit siap allocated money for it. However, I was very very super disappointed to see that few of the branded label boutique (read: Micheal Kors, Burberry, Coach) were no longer there. Yang tinggal adalah boutique-boutique yang tak seberapa nak best. I walked around and decided not to get anything. Beli sepasang baju Iman at Cotton On (macamlah Malaysia tak ada) and that's it! To be honest, I think JPO (Johore Premium Outlet) lagi best kot!

The plan was to have coffee at the cafe tapi memandangkan hari hujan tanpa henti, niat untuk ber-kopi pon terpaksa dibatalkan. Hai, kecewa lah hati.

Since our flight was delayed, the tour person decided to drive us around the city (again). We visited few entertainment and historical places saja untuk membuang masa before headed for dinner (Makan lagi)

The city of Melbourne

The Shine of Remembrance - A historical building

And we finally had our final dinner together at one of the Chinese Restaurant in the city.

We headed to the Crown Hotel as the rest of the gang wanted to experience the casino but I decided to stay on the bus to re-pack my bag.

And finally at 2300 Melbourne time, we depart to Melbourne International Airport dengan keadaan yang sungguh penat sekali.

I received a not-so-good news again upon arrival. Izwan's grandmother was warded and he wanted to go back to Alor Star right after I arrived - which we did. I was so kelam kabut that right after I checked in my luggage, I ran to the nearest counter to get MAS flight to Alor Star. Memang mencabar minda dan perasaan. 

Dah lah pkol 11 malam, mana ada counter nak buka. Nasib baik ada free internet service, I managed to get us the ticket and boarded MAS to Alor Star the moment I arrived KUL.

Oh, Melbourne International Airport wasn't as happening as Sydney's. Tak ada apa-apa yang menarik di situ. We wasted 4 hours before finally boarding the plane. Sungguh penat menunggu. And, we finally arrived KUL at 0930 Malaysia time the next morning, Alhamdulillah.

All in all, I had a good time visiting Melbourne. Who knows maybe I may come back but with a different purpose and objective *hint*hint*

Melbourne Part 2

Day 3 (Saturday, 3 May 2014)

I've been super busy lately I have totally forgotten about my Melbourne trip. Continuing from part 1, our touristy journey continues to the Yarra Wine Valley on day 3. It took us an hour to reach the place - suburban area of Melbourne.

The overview of the wine yard

Wine testing - definitely not for me

Closer look at the wine yard

We had our lunch at the wine yard too. It was a three course meals and I had teh scrumptious grilled Salmon with a mouthwatering chocolate cake.

We had a lompat-lompat photo session after our lunch which you can view it on my Facebook account. Too lazy to post it here. 

We continue our journey to the chocolate valley nearby the wine yard. I was expecting a chocolate factory like a real chocolate factory where they process and make the chocolate. Sadly, it wasn't. And again, most photos taken at the chocolate factory are saved in my phone. And since I have no access to my phone, I'll post it when I can.

Not to disappoint myself, though I wasn't really into their chocolates, I decided to have a cone of coffee ice-cream on a very cold rainy weather. Super cold that I think my brain just freeze.

After spending half a day at the wine and chocolate yard, we continue our trip back to the city. We had a quick city tour before heading for dinner. This trip memang banyak makan-makan and I actually gained few kilos. Seluar jeans obviously jadi ketat.

St. Patrick Cathadral

Capt. Crooks Cottage

The Fritzroy Garden

We had our dinner at an Italian restaurant and to tell the truth, the food was very disappointing. The spaghetti was tasteless that I had to modify it myself.

We (me and the usual gang) decided to have a night walk around the city as this is our final night at Melbourne. We actually walked the entire streets just to look for the McDonald's to have a cup of coffee. Sekali, bila dah jumpa, the McCafe dah tutup. Sedih betol!

Melbourne City at night

Future Uni perhaps?

That's a wrap for day 3. I'll continue with day 4 - our final stay at Melbourne soon. Hopefully, soon means very soon!

Have a nice weekend lovers!

Melbourne Part 1

Last week, my company hosted a company trip to the country down under. There were two groups departing on 30th April and 1st May 2014 and it was a 6 days 5 nights trip to Melbourne. I was in the second group so, my travelling dates were from 1st May to 5th May 2014. Well in total, it was actually a 3 full day spent in Melbourne. The other two days were spent solely on travelling to Melbourne.

We (the second group) departed from LCCT at 1330 hour (Malaysia time) and arrived Melbourne International Airport at 2345 hour (Melbourne time). The weather was freezing cold and finally arrived our hotel - Fraser Place at about 2 in the morning.

Memandangkan kami sampai di tengah-tengah pagi buta dan sangat kelaparan, we decided to have a walk down the streets nearby our hotel to look for food. Me and the rest of the gang punyalah jalan redah the town hoping to find a nice place to eat sekali semua dah tutup. Haruslah tutup dah pukul 2 pagi.

Melbourne Streets at 2am

We found a cafe nearby to have our coffee fixed and to makan supper alas perut sementara nak tunggu esok punya breakfast.

We walked a bit on the streets and I must say, it reminds me so much of Kuala Lumpur. The streets were dirty unlike Sydney. I guess maybe because it's China Town and hence why it's dirty, I don't know.

China Town entrance

We didn't do much on day 1 as most of our time were spent on the plane, a long hour journey to Melbourne. Amat memenatkan. Our activities started on day 2.

Day 2 (Friday, 2 May 2014)

Our schedule started at 10am with 12 degrees weather plus it was raining heavily that morning. Everyone was advised to wear thicker clothes as the weather is expected to be colder in the later day. 

We headed to Warrook Farm, about 2 hours away from the city to visit the sheeps, cows, kangaroos dan yang seangkatan dengannya. 

We were on a mini truck to see the farm

This farm was once a place where pengguguran bulu kambing di lakukan. The instructor was showing us how it was done from selecting the right sheep to the procedures on shaving off the wool. Agak menyedihkan tapi tengok sheep to relax je!

After that we were taken to see other parts of the farm to see how they train their dogs to ensure that the sheep in the farm were all being taken care off.

The smelly Kangaroos

The highlight of this visit was the lunch. A nice tender beef steak was served for lunch to all of us.

And it is certified halal too. This farm distributed halal meat to the Muslim butchers in Melbourne and other parts of Australia too hence the meat is halal. I can still taste the tenderness of this beef steak. Sungguh menyelerakan. 

We then headed to Phillip Island for its nicest view. The weather was extremely cold my cheek all became numb. Despite the coldness, the view was magnificent, MasyaAllah.

Tangkap gambar dengan kecanggihan camera baru! Keciwi namanya

The ocean to Tasmania.

Muka tengah tahan sejuk.

And at 6.30pm, we made our way to the Penguin World also at the Phillip Island to see the penguins. Ohh they are all so small and cute. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos or videos on these penguins. Too bad! Else, I would have shown it to Iman and I'm sure she's going like them so much.

Everyday, at this hour, the penguins will walk past the shore to go back to their homes in the jungle. Too bad, I don't have the pictures to show the cuteness of these penguins.

And our dinner was served at the Penguin World. Tapi, bukan makan penguin ye kawan-kawan!. We had a plate full of seafood!

Makanannya MasyaAllah banyak sangat! Sadly, I did not finish my meal. I guess due to the coldness of weather plus the oh-so-yummy beef steak I had earlier for lunch killed my appetite. I had most of it except for the crab. Sangat kecewa!

That's the end of our day 2. Shall continue soon.

Sydney Day 5

Well hello! As much as I wanted to complete this series of Sydney trip, this is the final post of our 2013 family holiday.

It was raining heavily on day 5. Our initial plan was to visit the Tango Zoo but unfortunately, the weather doesn't permit us. Hence, we went for a short jalan-jalan around the city. Our first pit-stop was the ever famous Queen Victoria Building. Since, our main objective doesn't includes shopping hence, it doesn't wow us much. We walked through the first floor of the mall before heading our to the city. We walked through the streets without any fixed direction. Jalan-jalan redah hujan namanya.

The famous Queen Victoria Building

You're Welcome :)

To be honest, I can't remember these streets. It's 3 months ago and I have forgotten all the street's names. But it was a good walk. It reminds me so much of London. Seeing the old buildings standing strong on the streets impresses me much. We didn't even stop at any of the shop. Impressive ha! Sight-seeing means sight-seeing, strictly no shopping!

Upon to this long walk we had on the streets, we ended up at the park situated right in the middle of the city. And again, I can't seem to remember the name of the park. Despite the heavy rain, the park still looks nice to me.

Obviously, I was the cranky one.

One of the oldest church in Sydney. It's called St. Mary (I Think!)

Our last pit-stop for the day was to The Rock. It has its own history. It's the oldest town in Sydney and everything there looks exactly like how it was decades ago. It probably have done several changes but according to the tour book, everything looks exactly the same. 

Aren't they beautiful. I was quite disappointed as I wasn't got the chance to walk around the area. Iman was so tired that she fell asleep half way through The Rock and I was so tired of walking I guess.

It was a long day for us walking under the rainy weather but hey, it was a good experience. At least, Iman can tell all her friends that she has been to Sydney though I doubt she remembers the trip.

And of course, we were all tired because of the walking, we passed out the moment we arrived our apartment. That night was the final night of our stay at Medina Apartment as he have to leave early to catch 10.00am flight to Kuala Lumpur. It was again a looonnngggggg flight for the fact that it was on bright sunny day hence the hours seem so long.

Iman had funny, that's for sure. She was even the flight attendance for that day - walking around up and down. I'm sure she had fun!

So, this is it. The end of my Sydney trip. Fuuuhhhhh! Akhirnya.

Sydney day 3 & 4

Day 3

Continuing our holiday trip at Sydney, we spent our 3rd day at Paddy's Market and Paddy's Market only. Hari yang penuh dengan kejadian. As usual, we started our day late as the lil princess decided to sleep extra hours that morning hence our day started at about 11-ish AM. We rushed to the ferry station only to know that we took the wrong ferry to the city. We stopped at one of the station and took a bus instead. Interestingly, the old folks of this city commuted with the public transportation quite well. Age is not a factor to stay at home and do nothing. They rather go out and enjoy their days walking down the city. Sydney is indeed a place for pensioners, heh!

Anyway, we stopped at the Central Station - transit train from Circular Quay and walk all the way to Paddy's Market. No wonder I lost few kgs during this trip, jalan memanjang.

The main entrance of Central Station

The Central Station

Walking to Paddy's Market

Paddy's Market - the cheap gifts store

Didn't expect the "cheap" gifts to be very cheap, we decided to go again to Paddy's Market the next day. My mother was the excited one for their wet market. She bought all sorts of fruits and veggies - apple, oranges, banana, sayuran-sayuran. They are all fresh and cheap!

Selepas penat membeli-belah, we balik rumah dengan hati yang riang.

Day 4

Before we headed again to Paddy's Market, we went to Sydney's Under Water World at Darling Harbour to see all the interesting underwater world adventures. Amaze-balls!

The floated ship restaurant at Darling Harbour

The large crab - memang besar gila!

The underwater world tunnel

Gambar shok sendiri.

Dugong.

Besar kan?

Another underwater world tunnel

Ibu and Iman

There were thousands of pretty pictures we took at this place. Tak tahu kenapa we appreciate more of this kalau kat negara orang instead of the one we have in our own country (Aquaria). Maybe I should bring Iman to Aquaria and compare. But anyway, we had fun!

Then we jalan-jalan at the nearby area before heading to Paddy's Market. Tak habis-habis promote Paddy's Market.

The view at Darling Harbour

We singgah at China Town for awhile. My mother wanted to look for a pack of rice sekali tak jumpa. We spotted a Halal Malaysia Chinese Restaurant at China Town but we didn't try it sebab mak masak kat rumah lagi sedap.

Malay Village at China Town

The main entrance to China Town

Memang penat gila. Balik memang pengsan. Imagine, I have to carry Iman all day long inside the carrier. Patah tulang I tell you.

Oklah, shall continue soon. Enough of a long picture post for today.

Stories on Sydney day 1 & Sydney day 2