Life of a Melbournian

Climate change?!

2010-12-30T12:26:00.001+11:00

Weather in Melbourne is pretty hard to predict. Even though it is forecasted to be 36 degrees Celsius in the day, but when a gush of strong wind comes... you still have to pull a jacket on, or hide in a building OR behind the building (like what I usually do).

People describe Melbourne's weather like a woman. You know, fast in changing decisions, and have sever mood swings in a day. Weather here could be sunny in the morning, heavy downpour, then sunny again. And the wind here comes with or without the rain. Normally in Malaysia, when there's a strong wind, we could expect it's going to rain in a bit, but here... strong wind all day long... yet there is not a single drip from the sky. Weird huh...

One thing I would take it as a fact here is that, when you spotted a fly in the morning, that day will be a sunny day for sure! When you don't see a fly during the day even though it is sunny, remember to take an umbrella out. Just to be safe... and dry. As I'm typing now... Here comes a fly at the edge of my lappie. Gahhh...

This is a good website to check the weather forecast: http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/melbourne.shtml
There's also ratings for Fire Danger, & UV rays.

Oh and by the way, sunscreen is a must here. I'm not too sure why, but the ozone layer at NZ n OZ is the thinnest, skin cancer here is really common. So guys, remember to get your sunscreen ready when you are at NZ or OZ, put a layer of zinc would help most!!! and REMEMBER to put it at your ears too!!!

Deck Painting Day

2010-12-30T11:47:00.000+11:00

Painted the outer sides of the deck few days back.
Decided to paint the rest of it today. Since it's sunny...

Su Xin's Arrival to Melbourne

2010-11-18T23:10:00.000+11:00

It was a super last minute planning, at first she says she doesn't want to come, then her dad says she's coming, then she says not too sure, then they are all discussing... then suddenly her ticket is booked! haha. Tell me about randomosity...

Woooohooooooo!!!

Borsch Vodka & Tears

2010-11-13T18:19:00.000+11:00

Had dinner at Borsch Vodka & Tears. It's at Chapel St & High St, can get there by hopping on to tram 78. Serves Polish cuisine, which is something that appeals to me, 'cause it's not something I can get back in Malaysia. We were supposed to meet there at 8pm. But eventually everyone was late. And I was the only one who turned up early.

To have dinner there, it's a must MUST to make a booking. At 8pm, the place was already filled with people. Except the small little table for 4, which is for us was still vacant. When I got in and got a place just like that, those diners who came in with me (who did not make a booking), shove me an evil look. I just looked at the small paper with my sister's name written on it. In my heart was thinking: Haha you lose!

The place is really dark. Loud music. And the deco is nice as well.

I ordered this. Ninja Love. Really good.

Gave me a good knock on my head, while waiting with empty stomach.

Evil Eye plate.

And finally they made it to the bar! Look at the top two pictures. You know what?! They took roughly half an hour discussing what to order. It's like their going to have exam half an hour later?! gahhh... And we were soo hungry!

And finally our food is served!

The dumplings and crepes were great! We ordered beetroot soup, it tastes pretty unique. So, we did not get much of it down into our belly. (Got what I meant? hehe)

Highly recommended people!!!

Woolworths is RIGHT downstairs!!!

2010-10-29T00:41:00.000+11:00

Today is the grand opening for not just only Woolworths, but Chickenfeed and Daiso as well.

For the first time, the shopping complex is flooded with humans.

Free hotdogs =]

(Just in case you can't see the words in the pic)

It's pretty crazy. Look at the queue at Daiso.

Even the shisha shop just opened.

And the one at the far right is selling at 68 aud.

Jon was pretty thrilled!

Cos everything now is just downstairs.

Plus woolworths opens til 12am. yeee haaa...

Then we walked to Subscape Aquarium to look for terrapins. So we can share our unwanted vege with the terrapins. But sadly, only fish.

Giganto bandaraya.

On our way back, we saw this --->

Is it authentic LV??? hmm just wondering.

Nice bridge. Perfect weather today.

So I did a little walking by myself.

Ang moh are really "creative" to find spots to pak toh horr.

Everything was awesome today.

Only one thing, my watch belt tore. =[

No watch til I'm back home again.

Just another day...

2010-10-26T15:18:00.000+11:00

Today Jon cooked his Ma Po Eggplant, and me... Curry fish.

Tah Dah.... looks good huh!

We were really satisfied. haha. ok...shiok sendiri kat sini.

Then I made Konnyaku Jelly, which was one of the little things that I know how to cooked a month back.

Finally got jelly to eat.

Going out to Cook's Cottage with June now. Get back with you guys later! Chao

Cook's Cottage

2010-10-25T21:13:00.000+11:00

Went to Cook's Cottage with June. The cottage is actually brought all the way from UK and rebuilt in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooks'_Cottage

This cottage used to be home of parents of Captain James Cook's, that's why it's called Cook's Cottage. Make sense eh?! hehe
Anyway, it really brought us back to the olden days, with the creepy audio played in the background, the Cooks' talking and walking about (footsteps) and the old clothes laid out on the bed, and its really ancient furniture. And we realised that everything was pretty small in size. The entrance were significantly smaller, we were wondering whether in the olden days people are smaller in size. Possibly evolved through the years...

June laughed at me when I was signing the guest book. Want to know why?! Look at the picture below.

Saw the difference? She doesn't need to bend down while signing. =/

"Like that also got reason to laugh about ar, June?"

She was more excited than us. And kindly helped me to put on my coat.

Me as Capt. Cook and June as my wife, maybe, or perhaps mistress, but I still think she looks more like a servant, you know, those who milk the cows early in the morning. I think I looked more like Phua Chu Kang.

There's also plenty of other attractions to see in Fitzroy Gardens, not just the cottage. Checkout the history of it and the bird-eye-view of the garden here: http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Placestogo/ParksandGardens/AllParksandGardens/Pages/4429.aspx

In the garden, we can find:

The Fairies Tree

Sinclair's Cottage

Conservatory

Tudor Miniature Village

Temple of the Winds Rotunda

Old Band Stand Rotunda

Pretty flowers along the garden paths.

It is said that there is possums living in the garden. Haven't seen one though. They only come out late at night, nocturnal beings.

Us at one of the steps by the pond.

Signing off. Stay tune for more little adventure of mine! =D

Titanic - The Artefact Exhibition

2010-10-18T13:48:00.118+11:00

The Artefact Exhibition was supposed to end on 17 October 2010, yet due to high demand, the exhibition extended til 7th of November, which lucky enough for me, I'm able to experience it.

We were given a boarding pass each upon entry. Boarding pass to board Titanic, interesting huh?! At the other side of the boarding pass, printed the details of the passenger who actually boarded Titanic. So, there I was, Mrs. Edgar Joseph Meyer for the day.

I'm sure everyone had watched the Titanic movie, or at least heard of it. A romance story between Jack and Rose, where Rose, from the 1st class deck fell in love with Jack from the 3rd class deck. And then all of a sudden Titanic crashed onto an iceberg, sea water start filling up the bottom compartments and Titanic sank. Apparently, White Star Line (the company who owns the ship) declares the ship is Unsinkable...

Supposedly everyone can be saved from it, yet before Titanic started her journey, White Star Line decided to reduce the number of safety boats for its own aesthetic purposes. And most of the passengers died due to the coldness.

The whole atmosphere gets more gloomy from one gallery to the other. It started off from the Construction Gallery, Departure Gallery, First Class Hallway & Grand Staircase, Passenger Gallery, Third Class Gallery, Iceberg Gallery, Seabed Gallery then Memorial Gallery. At Iceberg Gallery, the whole place was really cold and dark, they mimic the actual situation. And it kind of make us feel depressed until when we reach the Memorial Gallery, there's a wall where the names of all the passengers were written on it and categorised by weather the person is dead or alive. And guess what?! I'm still alive! =] at that time!

From the exhibition, the difference between 1st, 2nd & 3rd class passengers were quite obvious. 3rd class passengers especially, the cups, silverwares, ceramic basin, even their bed linen was labelled White Star Line, as the company is afraid the 3rd class passengers will steal it. So it makes them worth less with the company's name printed on it.

Some interesting facts:

-Cost of a ticket (one way)

First Class (parlor suite) £870/$4,350 ($83,200 today)

First Class (berth) £30/$150 ($2975 today)

Second Class £12/$60 ($1200 today)

Third Class £3 to £8/$40 ($298 to $793 today)

-A ship, the SS Californian, was close to the stricken Titanic and might have rescued everyone. However its sole wireless operator, Cyril Evans, went to bed 10 minutes before Titanic struck the iceberg and did not receive the distress message.

-The Titanic was designed to hold 32 lifeboats, though only 20 were on board; White Star management was concerned that too many boats would sully the aesthetic beauty of the ship.

-Although there were 4 funnels (smoke stacks), only 3 were functional. The 4th (rear most) funnel was added to make Titanic look more impressive.

-Construction and fitting out time: 3 years

-Rivets used in the hull: 3 million

Bak Kut Teh

2010-10-13T22:13:00.000+11:00

Cooked Bak Kut Teh for dinner today. Was a success! wheee~

Didn't take any pictures of it. Both of us are too hungry, ended up almost finishing the whole pot.

Gonna cook Tom Yam Seafood with Bihun this Friday. Specially for Jon's birthday request! He wanted Hing Hwa mee, I told him 'you slowly wait lah, that's like level 10!'.

Note: I'm still a beginner in cooking, so haven't officially got into level 1 yet =D

First Time Cooking

2010-10-07T11:21:00.000+11:00

This is my first time cooking all by myself. Normally my mom would help, or should I say she will do most of the cooking in the end because I'm too slow. haha. But right now, mommy not here to overlook, and I really, REALLY have no clue how to start...

I've decided to cook Herbal Chicken Soup. Went to the Vietnamese butcher to get some chicken meat. Happily brought the chicken back home, then asked myself what next? Clean the chicken... duhh...
When I put the chicken into the sink, something made me had goosebumps all over. Any idea what's that? Look clearly at the picture below.

Still have no idea?

There! Its feather/ hair is still there!!! Alamak, aku nak pengsan lah... Eeew. It really took me a while to settle down by emotions, and after 2 hours of skinning and screaming I finally k.o.ed the chicken.

Placed the phone there just in case anything happens...

You know, anything can happen on our very "first time".

Right! So this is how it looks like. My A1 Herbal Chicken Soup.

Looks quite good eh?!

Actually, my cousin and I had a hard time chewing on those meat. Unfortunately, the silly me bought the wrong chicken meat. I bought boiler chicken, which serve the same purpose as chicken stock. It is to be boiled only, and not to eat. =( 'cause the meat is really really... really tough.

Communication problem I guess, as I told the vietnamese butcher it's for soup. So he recommended this. haha. Only then I know there are different types of chicken meat to choose from. "Great Lesson" isn't it...

A day with June =]

2010-10-06T11:14:00.000+11:00

We were both along Little Lonsdale. Just that she's across the street. HAHA.. and it took us 10-15 mins I think, just to call and ask "Where are you?". And June asked whether I am at the correct street. =.=
We also did some checkings, to identify whether we both are at the correct place.
   Did you see the state library? yeah...
   Are you at the crossroad? yeahhh...
   San Churro? Did you see it? yeap...

All of a sudden June shouted "Ahhh I saw you!!!" Haven't seen her for about 6-7 months I think, miss her cute face.

We went to Max Brenner for tea.

They are famous for their Chocolate. And they have this specially designed mug called Hug Mug, where you can "hug" your warm drink with both hands, so it can warm your hands up as well during the cold weather.

I ordered Milk Chocolate with Crunchy Waffle Balls. It is like coco pops in milo, just that the Milk Chocolate is really good and the Crunchy Waffle Balls doesn't turn soggy.

After that we walked along Flinders Street.

Then June brought me to Hosier Lane which is just next to Movida. Opposite Federation Square. The whole lane is filled with graffiti. So let me bring you for a short tour along Hosier.

Turn left into Hosier Lane.

Apparently there is a walking tour on street arts. Check out this site: http://www.walktoart.com.au/index.html.

I think it's pretty expensive though. Just a tour on street arts, but they do give a fair bit of explanation on the graffiti, its origin so on and so forth.

Yi Lyn & Sze Yun... I think you guys will love this a lot, 'cause these are not the only place with graffiti in Melbourne. =]

Places to explore...

2010-10-05T13:01:00.000+11:00

Places to explore. So many places. Limited $$$. Anyone interested to sponsor some?

Along Yarra River We Marched ...

2010-10-04T13:16:00.000+11:00

Rushed to Church today, we were a little late due to Daylight Saving Time had just implemented at 2am. Had a "tough" time waking them up, so while waiting I steamed char siew pao instead. At least we had breakfast before the service.

After church, we went to Hu Tong 胡同, no idea what it means, but the food there was splendid! Specially recommended and booked by Jamie. ooot ooot!

We ordered 6 dishes altogether. But I only snapped pictures of 4 of them. (b'cause I was too hungry, and the food was really good, and I totally forgotten about it =.=). The other two were eggplant with scallop and Ma Poh Tofu. Oh the eggplant here is super giganto, like 3 times of the eggplants we can get in Malaysia, shall snap a picture of it soon.

Look at that happy face there! Total Satisfaction.

Jon mentioned about some Malaysian Festival at Queensbridge Square, Southbank. We were all pretty reluctant to go, go all the way to Southbank? for some Festival from Malaysia?! Yet the way Jon explained about how he ditched his friends to join us out and all, turned on the guilty "switch" in us, so we went in the end.

The cool thing is along Yarra River, there was a wedding cars exhibition. So we had a great time checking out the cars. Unfortunately, I did not check how much was it to rent it for a day.

And here we are at the Malaysian Festival~~~

Only a small crowd... and they were mainly Asians. How pathetic...

Look at this guy here. When I saw this, I totally think this whole thing is a joke. From the way he held the calligraphy brush to what he wore (Baju Melayu?!)

Then when the 3 of us saw this, we were like "hmm... it's different... "

Didn't realise they were actually posing.

Anyways, this was the only decent stall selling satay. The rest were selling fried potatoes, and some other food that is not directly related to Malaysia. There were no teh tarik, teh ais etc.

We were pretty disappointed, to keep it short. It was a good Sunday work out though ;D

Hwaro Korean BBQ

2010-10-03T11:56:00.000+11:00

Went out with Joshua at night. He suggested Hwaro 火炉 Korean BBQ at Little Bourke Street. Apparently it is listed at the "Best Restaurants of Australia" directory.

The drink at the right hand side of the picture is called Bong Bong, it's actually grape juice. Really taste good!

It opens till late night. We actually ate there around 9pm, due to the previous reservations are full. Food and beverages there are really good! =] Highly recommended.

A stroll at Melbourne City

2010-10-02T01:52:00.000+10:00

Had a hard time waking my cousin up haha
So I decided to assemble her shelf that was laying on the floor...

owh well the picture at the left was taken before 12pm, and the other was taken a little after 12am. =] Plainly because she woke up and we'd better take advantage of the good weather. And we assembled the shelf completely when we got back home from Caleb's.

Anyway she brought me around the city, mainly the shopping places. Stopped at the state library. It's really huge, lots of books and computers, some exhibitions in there too, and there's even a chess room, how awesome!

Then we headed off to Melbourne Central.

It has train station underneath. And this super tall structure... I think it's abandon. There are lots of shops around it though. Basically the shopping haven.

Then walked to Federation Square, just to grab a picture of it. =D

They were having this Tim Burton exhibition, all about his works, from Edward Scissorshands to Alice in Wonderland. Check out this site for more info: http://www.acmi.net.au/timburton.aspx

And this is how Flinders Street Station looks like at night:

After this we went to Caleb's place for Thai cuisine, specially cooked by him for us!

Two big pots and finished it. hehehe... really like the green curry! and the super long name berry smoothie...

This is all for Day 1 of my stay.

I'm here! Safe & No Sound

2010-10-01T02:27:00.000+10:00

I've planned this trip since January. That's why when people asked me whether I feel excited coming to Melbourne, I'd reply no dully.

These few days, the only thing that's giving me massive headache is my luggage. Whether it's overweight, what's more important to bring over there...

I didn't feel the rush of adrenaline til I saw the screen in the plane

OMG... I'm close to Melb!!! (This is what happens when you pre-plan things like since Ice Age ==)

Anyway I saw snowflakes at my window =]

Looks like there are multiple cracks at the window huh?! But it's not... ha ha ha...

Anyway, shall sign off for now =]
From my cousin's house,

Going off...

2010-09-28T17:11:00.000+10:00

Australia it is!

Will be at Melbourne for my semester break!

How long? As long as my break lasts! =]

Will be roaming around OZ, meeting up with my friends over there, doing house chores, laze around, experience what is life like there, whether there's any job prospects haha.

I'll post up pics and vids, hopefully everyday, so you guys can have a better picture of the whereabouts that I'll be hopping by at OZ.

Auf wiedersehen!