Soyanbutterfly

Holidays

2011-12-11T13:56:00.000+11:00

Finally back home for the summer holidays. It's been exactly a week since I'm back, and I can't deny that I really really DO NOT like the heat and humidity back home. So not use to it anymore. Always feeling sticky and sweaty, hot and uncomfortable. Can't even wear my jeans anymore. But other than the obvious heat, I definitely love love LOVE being able to indulge in all the yummy goodness home has to offer! Had my favourite Pan Mee once I arrived back. Also had Chicken Rice, Beef Noodles, Tai Chao, Fu Kin Chao, Curry Noodles, not to mention CRABS! And these are not even a quater of my food list! So many more to eat, so many more to cross out. I love being back but I also miss the weather back in Melb. I guess that's how it goes...

It's almost Christmas time, been seeing all the pretty Christmas decorations in the malls and of course Christmas Sales! Can't wait for christmas day and open all my presents! (If I get any)...

That's all for now. Been enjoying my summer holidays a lot, still a long way to go and I'm already wishing for it to be longer...

Hope you guys have a Merry Merry Christmas and a Happy Happy New Year!!!

SCREAM!!! It's Halloween Frangga!!!

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000+11:00

Last Friday, after staying up all night the night before, rushing for a group assignment (and when I mean all night, I really meant ALL night), I was still able to scream it up at night at MONSU/OSS's Halloween Party. Tickets were only $10! and it comes with 2 free drinks. Who would ever turn it down?!

Trick or Treat!

The boys did a really good job decorating the place.

Mr.Navigator as Gmail/Blackmail & Me as Red Riding Hood.

The rest of the bunch!

Drunken Zombie.

I totally love his effort. He looks freaking scary with flash on!

Now here's a funny combination.

Instead of 'You've got mail', its 'You've got Corporate Mail'.

It was a totally fun night although I was super duper tired! Great Job Guys! All your hardwork paid off.

Thanks for a great party!

A bite of small luxury @ LuxBite, South Yarra

2011-10-10T14:06:00.000+11:00

I use to dislike macarons because they were too sweet for my liking. But after having a bite of Adriano Zumbo's macarons during winter break, one bite was all it took to change my taste buds. Now whenever I'm free, and when I feel a little rich, I'll venture to different dessert places around Melbourne to try their macarons. I'm currently on a mission to try to find the best Macarons in Melbourne!

So coming back to the topic, last Saturday, Mr.Navigator and I travelled to South Yarra to tryout this little contemporary cafe called LuxBite. Found out through Urbanspoon that they're famous for their macarons. soooo... here we go

This cafe's owned by a Malaysian. Malaysia Boleh! haha

These are the varieties of macarons offerred there.

One flavour that makes it so Malaysian is the 'Kaya Toast' flavour. When I bit into it, it was like I'm literally having kaya toast in a kopitiam back home - kaya with a small block of butter in the middle. It was pretty awesome. I'm impressed!

Other than the Kaya Toast, the Mandarin n Saffron, Peanut Butter n Jelly and Creme Brulee flavours were pretty good too.

They also offered simple breakfast and lunch menus as well as some assorted cakes and desserts like in the picture below.

I tried their Caramel Cravings - Sweet caramel lovingly placed between chocolate and a coconut base, topped with a salted caramel macaron.

It wasn't fantastic. It was just ok. I didn't try any of their breakfast and lunch menu but what I saw served at other tables sure looks pretty yummy.

Although that had some pretty interesting flavours of macarons, after trying, I wouldn't say they're one of the best. For me, I didn't like the fact that their macaron shells were too moist and too thin. But that's just for me. They still made it on the Top 20 Best Macarons in Melbourne. So I guess you got to try it to judge it.

Caps off to the graduates!!

2011-09-26T15:58:00.001+10:00

Last Thursday, I attended Mr.Navigator, AmandaPandaChoe, MetalMartin, and PerfectSmileMichie's graduation at the Monash Campus in Clayton. Everyone was there at around 1pm. Got their gowns, lunch and it was picture time all day long!

Before the ceremony,

Mr.Navigator & MetalMartin

With Mr.Navigator

With his parents.

It was crazy windy that day. It was literally insane! Everyone came in nicely combed hair, went back like Medusa! Lol..

After bumming for hours, the ceremony finally started at around 4pm. Everyone nicely seated in the hall, then came the boring speeches as usual. The speakers should really work with their speech tones! The monotones were killing both boring and interesting speeches.

The Chancellor.

1st up among my friends - Colour blocking AmandaPandaChoe!

Then, Mr.Navigator

MetalMartin

And lastly, PerfectSmileMichie

Photo taking sessions continued after the ceremony ended.

MetalMartin & Mr.Navigator

With MetalMartin

MetalMartin, YongyBear & Mr.Navigator

With Mr.Navigator!

The 3 who started together, ended together.

FunnyFaceJulian popped by after the ceremony.

Now, what's a graduation without throwing off your grad-caps?

CAPS OFF TO THE GRADUATES!!

CONGRATULATIONS GUYS! SO PROUD :)

Adriano Zumbo, Sydney

2011-08-22T14:28:00.000+10:00

During my winter break, I spent a week in Sydney with Mr.Navigator visiting one of my close friend, HelloKittySandra and RockstarGabriel, who happen to be in Sydney too. Since the day we arrived, it rained NON-STOP for 3 WHOLE days! Talk about bad timing. But we didn't let the rain stop us from venturing around and having fun.

Mr.Navigator and I had a list of places we wanted to visit while we were there, some are the obvious - Sydney Opera House, Sydney Fish Market. But the place that I'm most excited about is non other than Adriano Zumbo's patisserie!!

If you have been following Masterchef Australia, you'd know how amazing Adriano's desserts are. From his famous 8 layer vanilla cake - V8 cake to his Macarons Tower. While we were looking for the patisserie, I couldn't help but skipped and jumped in excitement. When we found the place, my heart starts pumping, and I rushed into the stall like a little girl entering Barbie Land.

Here are some of his magnificent desserts that were available that day.

Don Pandan Man

Duck the Balls of a L'orange (Must Try!)

Enter the Dragon (Must try!) This has a tinge of spiciness.

Helen, Where's the Garden? (If you're a black sesame fan, try this.) I didn't really like this as I'm not a black sesame fan at all..

Passionfruit Tart

and of course you can't leave out these yummy Macarons!!

I, personally am not a fan of macarons. But after tasting his macarons... OMG!!!! Instant fan of macarons.

These were our splurges that day,

HelloKittySandra & RockstarGabriel's macarons.
I would say all the flavours are worth trying especially salted butter caramel (my favourite!)

Mr. Navigator's Cocoon.

The inside goodness

my super splurge! The lemon tart was just mouth watering! The lemon gelatin element just melts in your mouth!

The inside goodness of Enter the Dragon. The green part is actually some wasabi mixture.

One thing I noticed after trying all these yummy goodness is that all of Adriano Zumbo's cakes consists of all textures. From a sponge layer to a gelatin layer, to a mousse layer, to a biscuit layer. While eating, make full use of your taste buds because each layer represents different tastes on our palette from sweet, salty, sour to bitter.

One of my most interesting food ventures.

A Happy Ending

2011-07-17T23:08:00.003+10:00

Last week, I bid farewell to 2 awesome-crazy-amazing girlfriends.

They are none other than MamaGooseRegina & BebirdNiak

Since it was their last week in Aussie and their birthdays are just a few days apart, they decided to hold a joint Birthday/Farewell Party..

The girls wanted an awesome-possum birthday cake. So we ended up making that awesome-yummy-fat-ass Milo Cheesecake that you see above!

But before that, on Monday, the 3 of us did a small Milo Cheesecake test-batch.

Which in the picture below, i'm sure you can tell it was a total success! We celebrated BebirdNiak's birthday that night with a table full of food! Had Rendang and ABC Soup. Even after that huge dinner, we were still able to gobble the test batch up like fat asses. Yeah, we fat like that!

With that being successful, we then moved on to making a bigger batch of Milo Cheesecake. This time, MandaPanda joined us.

It definitely wasn't easy for us to bake in Frankston, no one has a electric hand mixer thus, all bakings in this post were baked with much love..

And when I mean love, I mean everything being hand-whisked, bit and mixed manually.

With Cheesecake's base being hand crushed into fine sandy bits.

Cheese filling being hand-whisked with much love.

And at least 150 cupcakes were made with our loving effort

That was all done on Thursday. On Friday, I went over with PimpYong to prettify the cupcakes with icing cream and fairy sprinkles.

At night, before heading to the party house, MamaGooseRegina, BebirdNiak, PimpYong, Mr.Navigator and I had sort of a pot-luck dinner together. Family Dinner!!!

We had MamaGooseRegina's Korean Bulgogi, PimpYong's SoyBean Paste Soup, BebirdNiak & my Vege and lastly Mr.Navigator's Curry Chicky. Mmmm... Food Coma before partying

At the party house, we arranged all the candies, snacks, and army of mini cupcakes all around for everyone to nibble on.

Not long after, the party started.

From left: me, BebirdNiak, MamaGooseRegina, PimpYong and ColourfulAmelia

The Bakers for the night: MamaGooseRegina, BebirdNiak, me and MandaPanda

Shayan & Mr.Navigator with the BirthdayGirls.

So the extraordinary part of this party is that there was a theme as well as a competition.

The theme was COLOURS. Where everyone was suppose to be creative with their outfits, be colourful but not clown-colourful. And the girls would be a winner (on in this case, 2 winners) who will win a Mystery Prize.

Girls announcing the winners.

The winners are: PimpYong and ColourfulAmelia

And this is the Mystery Prize. Creme Caramel made by me

When others found out what the prize was, everyone started to fight over it. It wasn't because it was yummy, it's because it was a food prize! lol!

Here's AleemTheChut making his own winning badge.

Proud winner showing off his winning shoes!

MamaGooseRegina & RockStarMartin performed a few songs before the cake-cutting session.

The Awesome-yummy-fat-ass Milo Cheesecake!!

And the rest of the night was spent chit-chatting, drinking, snacking and of coz...

CAMWHORING!!!

Those groovy specs sure was popular that night..

At the end of the party, everyone starts bidding the girls farewell..

Awwww

For me personally, I prefer house parties to clubbing. I really enjoy just hanging out with friends in a house, or mamak, or somewhere chilling as compared to a club. So this party was super awesome for me

The rest of the week was specially dedicated to these 2 lovelies. On Saturday, the 5 of us headed to Carlton Garden for some sun lovin' fun followed by Sophia's for dinner to re-celebrate MamaGooseRegina's 22nd. Then on Monday, we all headed to Frankston for some Sushi (MamaGooseRegina & I were craving for sushi for days!) and from there, we hung out at MamaGooseRegina's to help her pack while BebirdNiak headed home to pack on her own. For dinner, we had awesome pasta and RockStarMartin joined the fun.

The mission that night was to stay up all night till the 2 girls leave for their flight at 430am. I failed halfway, fell asleep on MamaGoose's comfy bed. LOL!

We moved from the boys' house to Maccas for supper to GAS Station to MamaGooseRegina's home. Absolutely a great ending to this chapter.

Now a little message to you girlies:

Although we've only known each other for 1 semester, but it feels like a couple of years. We first met during our Dolphin trip down Sorrento and we've been glued ever since.

I remember the fun times we had camwhoring with all the colourful beach houses on Morington Beach..

Sharing our excitement bout swimming with the dolphins!

All the baking sessions..

Partying together!

Like at Aleem's 21st

Boost Cruise

Random Dinner Nights!

Yummy Rendang with MamaGoose's ABC soup.

Our Indo Mee night while watching the Royal Wedding.

with awesome desserts!!

A cupcake each!

and the bomb?

Cheesecake! I think this family of elephants have something for cheesecakes.. hahaha

In such a short time, we actually did tons of things together. Lol! I wrote this in your books and I'm saying it here again.. I'm really thankful to have known the both of you!! The 3 of us back here are missing you crazy! We need you 2 to create more noise with us.. Take care of yourselves! We'd all be reunited once again really soon. And this time, we'd be all chilling in Malaysia!!! How cool's that?!

Me LOVE you girls looooooooooooooooong time!! (and the boys too of coz )

Stay Pretty!!

xoxo,

SoyanButterfly

Korchi, Korean Restaurant in Clayton

2011-07-16T18:58:00.000+10:00

About 2 weeks ago, PimpYong brought us to one of the yummiest Korean restaurants in Clayton called Korchi.

Arrived at the restaurant all hungry for Korean cuisines.

While PimpYong and I were deciding what to order, MamaGooseRegina & Bebird camwhored..

1st dish: Spicy Korean Rice Cake (Ddok Bok Gi)

2nd Dish: Sweet and Sour Prawns (Kan Sho Sae Woo)

The best dish of the day!

3rd Dish: Spicy Beef Soup.

4th Dish: Black Bean Paste Noodle (Ja Jang Myun)

A MUST try korean dish at any Korean Restaurant.

5th Dish: Spicy Seafood Noodle (Jjam Bong)

This is like korean style curry laksa. mmmmm :)

Table full of food!!!

Yong got all excited, so did I, and we ended up ordering too many dishes. Lol! Too many, that we died trying to finish them all.. FOOD COMA!

In the end, we managed to finish everything! Hell Yeah!!!!

Fun food day!!! Can't wait for the next one..

FREEDOM'S SWEEEEEEEEET

2011-06-30T16:00:00.001+10:00

If you've been following me on twitter, you'll know that I was facing my finals for the past month! First paper on the 10th, last paper on the 30th, today. Another draggy exam period... First to start, last to finish.. The hardest part of the exams? Staying home, mocking while all my other friends are out in the sun, having fun.. Sigh..

But today, I can FINALLY yell out "I'm Freeeeeeeee!!!!!" Burn the notes and books, and bring on the parties and booze!!!

My first celebration starts tonight @ 7pm. Can't wait to dine in at Kitchen Workshop with some friends. $20 buffet and 1/2kg of fresh prawns! Mmmmm, thinking about it is already making me hungry!

Till then...

Max Bar Restaurant, Melbourne

2011-05-31T23:52:00.000+10:00

Another food post. Earlier, I posted that I ventured into Hardware Lane for some awesome Caramel Creme Brulee. This time, I tried another restaurant along this restaurant-clustered lane known as Max Cafe, Bar & Restaurant.

very contemporary looking restaurant

Again, I shared an entree and main with my sister.

We had Turkish bread with Trio of Homemade Dips (Spicy Capsicum (I think), Hummus and a Zucchini dip). A very mouthwatering appetizer to get your tummy warmed up for the main course.

As our main, we had Grilled Swordfish on chips and side salad. Nicely marinated, perfectly grilled. All well packed with flavour!

Till my next adventure.....

Koko Black, Lygon

2011-05-31T14:26:00.001+10:00

While everyone here in land down under craze over Max Brenners and San Churros. There's another famous place for some hot chocolate to warm yourselves this winter (especially when it's predicted to be a uber cold winter this year) that is Koko Black, offering authentic European Chocolate works. After a scrumptious meal at Copperwood, Lygon, my sis and I crossed the streets and stopped for some yummy hot chocolate.

I had Hazelnut Belgium Hot Chocolate. Frankly, I expected it to maybe too sweet for my liking, but it wasn't! It was actually just nice and the hazelnut flavour made it even better!!

My sis had the normal Belgium Hot Chocolate. Another one to love.

Mmmmm... Nothing's better than a cup of good quality hot chocolate to warm me

Copperwood Restaurant, Melbourne

2011-05-29T06:35:00.000+10:00

So my sister's in town for awhile, which means.... FOOD VENTURE!!! Yay!

First stop: Lygon Street for some yum yum..

Whenever I were to dine in Lygon, it'll always be either 1 of those asian restaurant at the start of Lygon (from the city) or Universals. But this time, I decided to walk from the other side of Lygon and stumbled upon this cozy looking restaurant - Copperwood Restaurant (click and check out their cool website). Went to have a look at the menu and thought we'd give it a try. Copperwood offers quite a wide selection of classic italian cuisines. Tapas $9.20 - $12.90, Entrees $6 - $18.50, Salads $7.50 to $19.50, Mains (pizza, risotto, pasta and others $8.50 - $33.

We tried the Chicken Caesar Salad - $19.50

Chicken grilled to perfection and lettuce so fresh.

As the main, we shared Copperwood's awesome Garlic Prawns - $33

Consists of sauteed succulent prawns with garlic, white wine & cream sauce accompanied with steamed capsicums, zucchini and egg plants. Ooo mama meya! Its was absolutely delicious!!!

Definitely returning for more...

Vialetto Ristorante, Melbourne

2011-05-27T18:00:00.000+10:00

A week ago, I was wondering through the streets of Melbourne with maekhoo, in search of a place to eat. We stumbled upon this small street in the heart of Melbourne - Hardware Lane. This european architectural heritage is located further up Bourke and Elizebeth Street (Turn right, right after Maccas). There are quite a few european restaurants all clustered together and we chose this little Italian restaurant called Vialetto Ristorante. We enjoyed our meal (well, at least I did), that I brought my sister there when she came to visit.

The sucken interior of the restaurant, furnished with little lamps hanging from the ceiling, has its own attraction. Somehow it gave me this really cozy feeling which I'm unable to describe.

Now,the food. Vialetto's menu is filled with exotic flavours which include seafood, meat, goats cheese and even kangaroo! Appetizers ranging from $8.50 - $29.90. Mains from $18.50 - $28.90 and desserts for $12.90 each. They also have quite a range of vintage wines from what I saw.

I tried the Roasted Pork Belly $26.90

Slow roasted, served on mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables with red wine jus.

It was soooo good. Roasted to perfection, so succulent. The skin, I have to say, was the best part for me. So crunchy when you bite in to it, and it sort of melted in my mouth... mmmmm. The red wine jus however, if it was just slightly thinner, it would have been perfect!

Maekhoo tried the Veal Scallopini $28.50

Pan seared veal medallions with mushrooms, onions and garlic in a white wine cream sauce with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

This wasn't that bad either. I thought the veal was a little dry but thank god for the sauce. haha. Still quite yummy. Worth a try.

Now the highlight of the meal. This was the reason I brought my sister back there.

Caramel Creme Brulee - $12.90

Home made and served with vanilla ice cream.

I LOVE creme brulee and creme caramels. This was like a combination of both! The caramel flavour to it really blowed my mind. Definitely worth trying! Though I was pretty disappointed when I went back for it the second time (with my sister), it wasn't properly done. :( But, I still say, MUST TRY!!!

Wanton House, Swanston Street

2011-04-21T18:48:00.000+10:00

Can't remember the last time I did a proper food post.. So here's 1..

Been working on my Strategic Management assignment for the whole week last week. Right after I handed it in, I immediately hopped on the next bus down to the City. Met up with Maekhoo, Paul, Aaron and their friend for lunch at Wanton Noodle House on Swanston Street a few shops down from Maccas.

So here's what we've ordered...

Xiao Long Bao.

If I'm not mistaken it was $4 for 6, but totally NOT worth it!!!

This was the suckiest xiao long bao I've ever tasted! The skin was too thick and starchy, there weren't much soup in it thus, the baos were really dry.

But the noodles on the other hand were not so bad. I only got to taste what I ordered and not the rest because I was too hungry to bother when I noodle came.

I had Beef Combo Noodle Soup $9.20

This was pretty ok, the noodle was springy, meat was tasty, only thing was the soup being a little too salty.

Maekhoo & her girl friend shared Beef & Wanton Noodle Soup

According to Maekhoo, it wasn't too bad.

Paul ordered Sweet & Sour Pork with rice.

It looks pretty yummy huh? But he said it sucked...

Aaron's Fish & Toufu with rice

This one was not bad according to Aaron. "The toufu's yummy"

What can I say, the boy sure loves his toufus...

Now the service, service that day was terrible!

HORRIBLE! TERRIBLE!

The waiters were impatient when taking order, and those that came to serve our food just dumped the bowls and plates on the table with a loud bang and walked out. Not even a slight smile on their faces.

When clearing plates, some didn't even asked if we're finished with it, some sorta rushed us to finish. And the bill came right after we put our chopsticks down! They didn't even want to give us time to rest our tummies! SUCKS!!

Rating: 3/10

Heart Talks

2011-04-13T09:54:00.001+10:00

I wanna love,
I wanna leave.
I want you to love me,
I want you to leave me.
I want to stand where I can see,
I'm watching you love me,
And I'm watching you leave me now.

I wish i could be,
Somebody else.
I wish i could see,
You and myself.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.
And say,
What you really feel.
You know i need,
Something that's real.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.

I wanna know if i could be,
Someone to turn to,
That could never hurt you.
But i know what you think of me,
You had a breakthrough,
And now i'm just bad news for you.

I wish i could be,
Somebody else.
I wish i could see,
You and myself.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.
And say,
What you really feel.
You know i need,
Something that's real.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.

I should've told you everything.
I never gave you anything.
I should've told you everything.
If i could give you anything,
Then i would tell you everything.

I wish i could be,
Somebody else.
I wish i could see,
You and myself.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.
And say,
What you really feel.
You know i need,
Something that's real.
I wish there was something inside me,
To keep you beside me.

I should've told you everything.
I should've told you everything.
I should've told you everything.

Basically sums up what my heart wants to say.. Enjoy :)

MONSU/OSS Naughty Nautical Booze Cruise

2011-04-04T11:23:00.001+10:00

So last Thursday, I crashed another Monash party. This time it was organized by MONSU and OSS, called the Naughty Nautical Booze Cruise. Basically everyone just had to dressed nautical (some dressed sexy hot, sexy naughty, normal and most of the boys came as pirates. There were a handful who literally came with just swimming trunks and inflatable tubes. Totally hilarious!) and go partying on an old Victorian Cruise with freaking cheap booze on board!

So while waiting to go onboard, we thought we start finger-trigging while we're still sober.

Top: Maekhoo, Aaron & Paul were some who crashed the party as well.

Bottom: with PirateLeon & Maekhoo.

With Rob as Napoleon. So cool!

Once on board, there were boxes of pizzas on the table, and everyone started digging in without hesitation!

It wasn't long after the party started and you can already hear glasses banging against each other in the bin! I had quite a lot to drink (2 and a half bottles. Ok, it may not be much for most people but considering I just started drinking again and I have freaking low alcohol tolerance ok! Give me some credit!)

Since it's a booze party, it's only right if I had a bottle in my hand as a party prop :)

Well, it wasn't just me,

Yong and Amanda both had props. And so did everyone else. HAHA!

With Amanda and Maekhoo

PimpYong just had to have his pimp pictures! Wahooooo~~~

Niak's with the sailor hat and Regina's the 1 in the front.

With all the cheap-ass boozes served, we can't blame everyone for going back for seconds, thirds, some had like at least 10 rounds of drinks! When I mean cheap, I mean, the most expensive bottle of alcohol was like $5.50! No shots available of coz, but still. Who can complain?!

And with that amount of alcohol in our system, who can control themselves and not go crazy?!

PimpYong & Guri

Some pirate had too much rum and fell asleep, while others make a fool out of him. That's PirateShayan on the far left.

From the pictures, it's obvious that everyone had a freaking awesome, kick-ass (as Amanda likes to call it) time! I know I had! :D

I drank over my limit and danced to max that my knee started hurting (but that was tomorrow's problem)!!!

We can't just end parties without group shots right?! So here's 1.

*I don't own a compact camera, and carrying a DSLR around a party like this is really inconvenient, so Maekhoo's my handy-dandy camera lady for now. Picture credits to her.

There's many more pictures taken by others. And I haven't got the chance to get a copies from them yet. But I'll upload more once I've got them so WATCH THIS SPACE!

One more tiny bit... What I'm love bout drinking that night was, the alcohol gave me a really nice natural blush. LOL! and I was sooo happy that my make-up didn't smudge at all! Usually very paranoid bout that.

Have a nice day everyone :)

Day Trip Part 2: Rosebud Foreshore, Bridgewaters Bay, Moonraker & Peninsula Hot Springs

2011-03-29T18:56:00.000+11:00

After having a looong camwhoring session at Mt.Martha in the previous post, it started to drizzle so we headed back to the car and our journey continues. Not long after, we arrived at Rosebud and decided to stop for a Fish n Chips lunch. After lunch, as we were heading towards Sorrento, again, we decided to stop at some random beach to kill time! This time, its Rosebud Foreshore (I assumed that's the name of the beach as it was written on 1 of the signs).

Another beautiful calm beach, it was really low tide so we decided to walk out to the little dried spots.

waters were freezing cold tho! We were training for our swim with the Dolphins and Seals later in Sorrento. lol!

Just right before heading to Sorrento, we stopped by Peninsula Hot Springs to check the place out. Wanted to go for a dip but decided to wait till after the swim (to warm our bodies and relax).

A very nice and serene place. Very popular, thus very crowded! We took a little tour of our own, checking out how it looks like inside. Photo taking is prohibited so, sorry, not pictures of the hot pools...

There's even a little picnic area.

Yong decides to do the 'she loves me, she loves me not'.

For prices and further information, click on 'Peninsula Hot Springs' above.

A little tip, it's cheaper after 7pm. It opens until 10pm so lots of time to dip and relax.

One last extra detour before Sorrento, Bridgewaters Bay (just follow the route to Koreen Lookout Point on the map).

awesome view, no?

It was really windy, Niak decided to do a Mary Poppins pose...

And now for the Highlight of the day, Moonrakers Dolphin and Seal Swim :D

The waters were seriously cold! And the wetsuits weren't much help either!

I've been swimming with dolphins before in NZ, and that was 1 disappointing trip! I didn't get to see no dolphins! But this time, I was much satisfied! :D

I got to see 11-13 dolphins!!! (well, they probably were the same dolphins, I don't know) I count by the total number of dolphins I saw tru my 3 swims.

And Seals too.. As you can see in the picture, it's a whole hut filled with sluggish, lazy-ass seals.

After the swim, we backtracked to the Hot Springs and warmed ourselves up. It was sooooooooo good!

A stop you have to make when you're around that area!!

Day Trip Part 1: Morington Beaches

2011-03-28T16:52:00.003+11:00

On Saturday, I spent my day driving along Morington Peninsula coastal roads from Frankston all the way to Sorrento. Amongst me were Mr.Navigator, Brother Yong, Regina and Niak. We started out at about 9am and off we go for an awesome day trip!!!

1st stop of the day, Mount Martha South Beach!

I finally get to see these pretty colourful huts! Been seeing them around on brochures and poster and artworks but never with my own 2 eyes. Now I can say, I've seen it, been there, done that. These colourful huts all along Morington beaches are very common in Morington Peninsula and is pretty popular here. So when we parked and went for a stroll along the beach, we couldn't stop ourselves from a camwhore session!

Mr. Navigator who was in charge of the GPS and giving me directions as usual.

With BrotherYong and Regina

Some semi-group pictures.

Decided to do a Bollywood style picture.

And how can we not have jump shots when we're at a Beach right?!

And of coz, lastly, at least a real group picture! Well in this case, pictureS..

*Photos credits to Mr.Navigator

This is just Part 1 of our day trip, will update soon when I get more pictures. Watch this space :)

Dreams Come True

2011-03-25T10:14:00.001+11:00

Last Friday, I went for the Disney: Dreams Come True exhibition in ACMI together with Maekhoo and Paul.

I was pretty excited as I'm a pretty big Disney Fairy Tales fan.

Got our tickets and in we go.

These are the only pictures we took from the outside, we weren't allowed to snap on the inside which was sad, because I had so many interesting pictures and artworks to show but oh well...

Walter Elias Disney born on the 15th of December 1901 passed 1966.

Inside, they showcased almost all of Walter Disney's famous productions as well as a little of his history. For those of you who grew up watching all the Disney Fairy Tales, do you remember which fairy tale was produced 1st?

Its none other than the fairest princess of them all. Yeap, it's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( Dec 21, 1937)

Then came Cinderella - 15 Feb 1950

Sleeping Beauty (1959)

The Little Mermaid (1989) - the year I was born :)

Beauty and the Beast (1991)

The Princess and the Frog (2009)

Tangled aka Rapunzel (2010)

Amongst these princess production, my favourite was and still is Beauty and the Beast! Don't you think she's also the prettiest princess among all??? The 1 I dislike the most is The Princess and the Frog, I just find the story sooo boring... On the other hand, it was sad to see that Aladdin wasn't included in this exhibition. Doesn't Princess Jasmine deserves to be there :(

Other than these princesses, there were little write ups about Bambi (13th Aug 1942) - My birthday! How cool's that?! , Alice in wonderland (28 Jul 1951) and Peter Pan (5 Feb 1953) - Another favourite Disney cartoon of mine!

I'm sure you guys must be wondering where's that famous mouse that Disney most famous for...

On the 18th of November 1982, Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in Steamboat Willie (the old black and white mickey cartoon with mickey steering a boat), the world's 1st fully synchronized sound cartoon at the colony theatre in New York. Mickey was designed and created by Walt and UB Iwerks.

There's 1 more cartoon that I wanna share. Remember the Ugly Duckling? Ugly Duckling started off as a black and white cartoon. In 1939, they came out with a technicolor version of Ugly Duckling. What I want to share about this cartoon because its a little different from other cartoons we normally watch, it uses gentle humor. Instead of hearing voices and words, conversations are conveyed by facial expression, and body language through squawking sounds of the ducks.

Overall, I enjoyed myself reading about these productions and the history of Walter Disney. Also had a lot of itchy moments where I feel like just secretly snap some of the pictures hung on the walls. Was a little disappointed that Aladdin and Lion King wasn't included in the exhibition.

Moomba Festival

2011-03-24T22:28:00.000+11:00

Ok, this is 1 very delayed post.

2 weekends ago, during Labours Day long weekend, Melbourne held their annual Moomba Festival further down Federation Square, bringing Melbournians together to celebrate and share the vibrancy and spirit of their much loved city.

Since I'm in Melbourne, I thought I'd join in the fun as well :)

Moomba was held for 4 days, with fireworks every night except the day I think.

On Friday, before heading down to Frankston, I followed Maekhoo, Paul, Aaron and Cheng Hung to experience our 1st Moomba fest to add into our Melbourne experiences.

It was a bright and sunny day as you can see in the picture below, so I thought I'll appreciate this chance of wearing a short skirt instead of my usual long jeans before winter arrives! Besides, it's too hot for jeans that day anyway.

The pictures below are some of what Moomba Festival has to offer.

Skyflyer

Ferris Wheel

Sea Circus, I'm not really sure what this is, but there was sure a lot of people in the queue!

Spongebob fans would go crazy over this booth!

They have mini rides and those mini games that you'd usually find in funfairs. They're all pay as you go and prizes are all soft toys. :D

Lets not forget supplies for kids but I saw more youngsters lining up than parents...

On the 1st day we were there, we went too early and the celebration hasn't started yet, so we thought we'd take a nice stroll down, scanning what games are there and listing down which booths to visit once it's open.

Other than games they also had some performance like in the picture above - some wake-boarding performance. I should really try this one day!

And of coz some art booths like this tattoo booth.

Then on Sunday at 12pm, they had the Birdman Rally. I've always only watched this on tv, finally I got to watch this live! :) It was pretty hilarious.

I didn't stay till night time, so I missed all the pretty fireworks. I also missed their parade on the last day because I'm too far away from the city and was too lazy to travel.

Have you ever...

2011-03-08T18:08:00.000+11:00

Sorry for neglecting this blog. There's nothing interesting happening lately that I can blog about, no happening events or gathering for me to attend. Live here in Melbourne feels like it just died down. Hopefully it'll slowly pick itself back again soon.

Just a random thought...

Have you ever felt like you don't know who you are anymore?
Have you ever felt like you've lost yourself somewhere along the way in life?
Have you ever felt like changing yourself? Being someone you hope you'd be...
Have you ever thought of stepping into someone else's shoe for a change? Maybe acting like them, thinking like them, some may even dress like them?

Have you ever felt like even when you're being yourself, there's still something missing in life?
Have you ever felt like you have too big of an imagination that it scares the hell out of you sometimes?
Have you ever felt like you had to compare yourself to someone in order to find who you should be, or who you truly are?

There can and may be many 'have you ever-s' in life, especially for us ladies as we ladies tend too think and imagine too much. Sorry, but we can't help it!!! But then again, without these 'have you ever-s', wouldn't life just be a total bore???

I like 'have you ever-s'... It add colours to my world but sometimes too much thinking and imagination just paints black in my world. But hey, no harm trying, right??? :D

Ok, my random thoughts end here.. Shall try to post something more interesting soon! Have a happy Tuesday everyone :D

Under The Sea - Mabul Island Day 4 & 5

2011-02-27T11:14:00.002+11:00

In the morning of the 4th day, I awoke pretty early. Before breakfast, I took my camera out to play again.

The villagers around our area.

It was still high tide, this kid decided to go swimming.

The 1st dive of the day was at Pang Lima back in Mabul Island.

My favourite nudi - Pikachu!

Didn't really take anymore pictures because our underwater camera died on us again. So after lunch, My sis and I walked all the way to Sipadan Water Village to get some juice for the camera. Along the way, I took some pictures of the village kids and these are my favourite.

This is what they do everyday I suppose.

After lunch, we went to Kapalai Island for a change. Went diving in Cleaning Station, Kapalai.

We saw that bubble shrimp we saw in Day 1, puffer fish, box fish, turtles, nudibranches.
Even saw a turtle's shell!

Highlights of this dive...

Yellow Leaf Fish!

Grey Frog Fish

Peekaboo Blue Goby

My sis loves seeing these small fishes all gathered together on a coral.

Before dinner, went for the very last dive of this trip, my 2nd sunset dive :D
And the main reason for this sunset dive is for....

MANDARIN FISH!!! A cute, tiny, colourful fish with a pouting mouth!
*Click on the picture to enlarge*

Too bad we didn't get to see them mate :(

On the last day, we left after lunch. Before leaving we had a massive camwhoring session.

These are the few favourite ones..

My sis, Ah Fatt and I

Julia and us.

The big guy is Big John, next to him is some random dive instructor, Ah Fatt hiding being us, another dive master, that's Ozman in front of us and Dugong in front of him.

The fun lot!!!

I had sooo much fun, it was sad to leave. Planning to go again next year during the same time. And this time, CousinAmanda's coming along!!!

Sipadan Island

2011-02-26T18:58:00.000+11:00

Third day of my diving vacation is the main reason why my sis and I chose to go - Pulau Sipadan. A marine reserve that only allows 120 people into the island a day. (I heard they're planing on decreasing the number of permits).

Pulau Sipadan is an island just for snorkelers and divers in for a day, meaning there's no resorts whatsoever for people to stay in. Besides the island doesn't really look that appealing at all, but when you go underwater...... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm~~~~~

White smooth sandy beach.

Our 1st dive sport - Mid Reef. (Wall dive)

Some of the marines we saw.

White Tip Shark.

Turtles!! Lots of them in fact. Not as big as the ones I saw in Mabul though.

Saw a bunch of different Nudi Branches! A.k.a sea slugs.

The highlight of this dive - A school of Bumpheads!!!

2nd dive was at Hanging Garden also a wall dive.

I thought this picture was pretty funny because that fish won't stop following this poor turtle everywhere.

Camwhoring session with Mr/Mrs Turtle

Well too bad you can't really see the colourful corals in the picture below. Sipadan has the most colourful corals I've ever seen!!!

Dive 3 was at one of the best dive spots in Sipadan Island - Barracuda Point!
What more can I say, the name speaks for itself.

Variety of fishes in Barracuda Point.

Barracudas!!!

It was pretty scary at 1st, seeing thousands of barracudas swimming together creating sort of a tornado shape! The coolest part, if you dare, you can swim from under and into the 'tornado'.

**Warning: Never wear anything shinny when being around barracudas!**

Before ending, saw a school of tetra looking fishes.

Before dinner, My sis went for an extra dive with Big John's dive masters.
A night dive under and around our accommodation. And these are the interesting creatures they saw.

Boxing Crab (very tiny)
As you can see on the right, instead of claws like any other crabs, it's claws are white, and it looks like boxing gloves.

Flounder (if you can spot it)

Harlequin Crab. Very pretty crab!

Under The Sea - Mabul Island Day 1 & 2

2011-02-22T02:03:00.002+11:00

Ok, super outdated post. So I went on a diving trip with my sister (CousinAmanda was suppose to join but...) Anyhooo, she can join us on our next trip back. This 1st official diving trip was amaaaaaazing! Had sooo much fun and realized that there were so many marine creatures under the sea, some that I've never seen before or even thought existed. Just magical!

I flew to Kota Kinabalu 3 days before this trip to Mabul. Camped with my sis and her friends, even took a refresher dive.

Flew to Mabul with dear sister via Air Asia.

Got picked up from Tawau airport and off we go to Semporna (about an hour plus drive), from Semporna took another 45 mins to 1 hour boat ride to Mabul Island.

Spent about RM 1500 for my 5 days 4 nights trip which includes accommodation at Big John, food (3 meals a day), diving gears such as wet suit, mask, fins, BCD and oxygen tanks included; excluding air ticket.

Big John's a basic budget accommodation located in a fishing village. No air-cond, no hot water, but a pretty fun and nice place to stay in.

The fishing village behind Big John's.

This is how the area looks like during high tide.

Went for a dive after lunch. The underwater camera casing had a little error, so we brought down with us without the camera. Saw sooo many interesting creatures and 3 gigantic turtles and couldn't snap pictures, sigh...

Soon, it was sunset, went for our 2nd dive. My very 1st sunset dive (and I'm actually not allowed to since I'm still an open waters diver).

Lion Fish

We saw Mandarin fishes, a huge hermit crab and a big cuttle fish. This time, the camera failed on us. =.='

After dinner, the workers were by the side of the accommodation, fishing for sotongs.

Day 2

I was up bright and early, as early as 6:30am! It was already bright and sunny and the villagers were blasting bloody beiber songs! Couldn't sleep anymore, so I took my camera out to play. Below are some of the pictures I snapped before breakfast.

They were so cute, rowing themselves in their self-made boat with slippers as their paddles.

Whilst loading our gears and oxygen tanks on to the boat, our dive master - Ozman, spotted a really interesting and highly poisonous fish just next to our jetty.

Finger-Dragonhead according to another dive master - Julia.
The colours on it's back is sooo beautiful. And there's a Letter A on it's mouth!

During our 1st dive of the day, these are the interesting creatures we saw.

Different types of Nudi Branches. The 1st yellow is known as Pikachu (I don't know how true that is,but that's what they call it. Anyone who knows the real name, please tell me)

Yellow moray eel

Bubble Shrimp. And according to my sister, if you come across a red spec on this bubble coral, that's a Orang Utan Crab. Didn't get to see one :(

Another type of Lion Fish

Camera died on us again so we didn't manage to snap much. At least we managed to snap the highlight of this 2nd dive. This really tiny Sea Horse.

Pygmy Sea Horse! (Click on the picture to enlarge)

After the 1st dive, went back for lunch and off we go again for our 2nd dive

This time, we dove at Mabul House Reef. A place famous for the school of Jack Fishes.

Sweet Lips - I love how this little fish swims. But it looks kinda ugly upclose.

This is another interesting fish - Pink Leaf Fish.
When I fish saw it, I thought it was just another coral. Lol!

Highlight of my 2nd dive, Jack Fish!!
The whole school of them came out from no where.

3rd dive was at Paradise I.

Ghost Pipe Fish

Another type of ghost pipe fish

Stay tune for my trip into Sipadan Island and my last 2 days in Mabul Island. More underwater pictures to share!!! :D

Project 365

2011-01-30T04:01:00.000+11:00

I know I know. I'm a super failed blogger. Lots of stuff to post about actually but the thought of me not being able to upload photos via blogger anymore is such a pain! Which usually is the case of me not feeling like blogging. I'll slowly post something soon..

Anyway, the main reason of this post is... As requested by my cousin Amanda, she started her Project 365 on New Year's day and asked me to start 1 as well. After lots and lots of delays, I finally started my own. Project 365 is basically an album of 365 photos truout a period of 1 year. Taking a photo a day. People with really good photography skills usually showcase their different skills each day. Well too bad, I'm no pro. So I'll take this opportunity to make an album showcasing what I do everyday for a year. Sort of like a photo diary.

I'm usually someone who gives up easily some certain things, especially when I'm too lazy.. So we shall see how long will this Project 365 last. Hopefully I'll pull it through. Wish me luck :D

Here's my album - Project 365

Hairloom & Caramel

2011-01-07T19:30:00.006+11:00

I'm back with Food posts. This time, something cute and colourful from Singapore!!

The next morning after coming back from Australia, my dear cousin, Amanda brought me to this really interesting cafe called Hairloom & Caramel, a salon and cafe in Shaw Plaza, somewhere near Bugis area.

Hairloom being the Salon.

and Caramel the cafe.

Went along with my sister and cousin from my mom's side, plus my mom for morning desserts :)

My dear cousin, Amanda

The uniqueness of the cafe - everything's so colourful and unique. Each different from one another yet they blend so well together.

I came back during Christmas time so the salon and cafe were decorated with christmasy tringklets. Which explains the christmas tree in the picture of the salon.

This place doesn't just provide hairdressing services and F&B services, it also sells interesting little tringklets like in the pictures below. I love seeing stuff like these.

Was so tempted to buy the Director's Card Clock and the Film Clock! Yes, they are digital alarm clocks.

I used to own 1 of these mini pianos when I was a kid. I wonder what happened to it.

Alright, now to the main purpose of visiting this cafe...And it's none other than...

CUPCAKES!!! My favourite - Chocolate cupcake with Caramel Topping. The one on the far left with obvious caramel sauce on top.

People who knows me knows that I can never say no to desserts, especially cakes. And I mean NEVER unless I'm really tooooo full. But even if I were, I would still go for it. LOL.

Besides cupcakes, they also have other desserts like Bread and Butter pudding which was pretty good too.

Creame Brulee (another favourite dessert of mine)

and Brownie cupcake.

I didn't really enjoy the brownie cupcake as it was a bit too dry for my liking, but I love love LOVED the creame brulee.

They don't just serve desserts, they serve salads, soups and proper food to fill tummies in the morning, afternoon and night :)

I think this was Terriyaki Chicken Salad. Pretty delicious

Of course, drinks as well.

Hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Hairloom & Caramel also does catering for Birthdays and other functions. You can even book the whole cafe (it's not that big) for birthdays and such. Which I think it's a pretty swell place to celebrate in. I would if I lived in Singapore. A friend of mine did, and her pictures were awesome! So colourful and pretty.. I shall find my own little unique, colourful and interesting cafe in KL and have a small party there one day. Yes, ONE DAY. lol...

Will definitely go at least once more and enjoy the cupcakes before flying back to the land down under...

Australia Zoo: A Dream Come True

2011-01-03T03:11:00.000+11:00

The day before we headed back to Melbourne, we rented a car from Budget and drove to Beerwah to visit 1 of my Must-visit-place-before-I-die - The Australia Zoo a.k.a Home of the Crocodile hunter - Steve Irwin. He's 1 of my well respected idol. Such a waste to hear that he'd passed away. Been watching his series on Animal Planet called the Crocodile Hunter for a very long time till it ended suddenly :(

So this post is something very dear to me and this experience is really a memorable one for me.

Yay to Australia Zoo! Home of The Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin!!

I was sooo excited that I couldn't stop screaming in the car like a crazy little fan girl. Lol!!! But unfortunately, halfway tru our journey there, it started to pour. And it poured real mad that the zoo was badly flooded.

Flooded up to knee length I would say. Haha. What an adventure.

Even when it was raining cats and dogs, I was too excited to stay under the shelter and wait for the rain to stop before wondering around the zoo. Thank God I didn't wait too, or else I'll only be exploring the place when it's about to close.

Before the start of the 1st show, we walked around and admired these old pictures of both Steve Irwin and his parents and his wife as well as recent pictures of his family.

There's even a comic about him!

First show we watched was the Warrior show where it showcases Elephants, birds, snake and CROCODILES!!!

The Crocoseum. It was like a DREAM COME TRUE for me to be sitting in this crocoseum!!! If you follow the Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet, I think you'll feel the same way too. The Planner/Navigator surely do.

A conservation message by Steve Irwin. Sure wished he was still alive. It'll be another dream come true to meet him in person.

The Elephants.

Birds.

Python

The Grand Finale

Crocodile!!!

Next was the Otter show. So cute, aren't they?!

These Water Dragons were everywhere around the zoo, running freely. Apparently, if they happen to climb into the Otter's enclosure, they'll never come out again.. Lol!

and he couldn't keep his hands to himself. lol

Wombats!!! and it's baby...

Koala

In the East Asia part of the Zoo, we saw Elephants taking a dip in their pool. From this enclosure, it clearly shows how lucky these animals are to be living in Australia Zoo and not any other zoo (of course, they're better left in the wild). This zoo is SO well done, SO beautifully done for these animals to enjoy.

Just look at how the Elephant's enclosure look like.

This will soon be a Cheetah race track.

Red Panda

The Crocodile above is dedicated to NiniekSugiartiNiniek. Niniek, meet Daisy :D

Fang 2.

The crocodile above will be very familiar to Crocodile Hunter followers. It's the famous Acco. Largest crocodile in the zoo, weighing 1 ton!

And Agro (below), 2nd largest croc in the zoo, weighing 600kg!

When it was raining heavily and the zoo was flooded, they closed the pathways leading to these 2 crocs. That's how dangerous they are :)

Next, the snake enclosures, showcasing Australia's most dangerous snakes.

The bones of a python and a pig. Reminds me of Bintan when I witnessed a python having it's meal.

Would you just look at that.. A giant Orca!!! I want!!!!!!!!!!!

There's this petition going on about saving Steve's Place. You can logon and read more about it, also, please sign the petition :) - Save Steve's Place

While waiting for the last croc show of the day, we took the time to camwhore round the zoo.

His 1st time touching a Koala.

And finally I got to cuddle a Koala!!! :D

Big croc showdown. Would you dare?

The last croc show - The illusive croc, Casper.

They've recently built an animal hospital just behind the zoo. only requires a donation of $2 to enter.

baby bats...

Koala rehabilitation centre...

The doing an operation on a poor turtle.

Overall, the experience was unbelievable! Left me speechless. Everything was so beautifully done and well maintained. The BEST zoo I've ever visited!

Not to mention we had fun driving there and back :)

Budget

Car rental by Budget Rentals: bout $90 (split between the number of people in the car)

In this case, 2

Zoo admission: $46 (student & Senior citizen)

: $58 (Adults)

Gold Coast 4: Sea World

2011-01-02T21:01:00.000+11:00

4th day was spent in Sea World. To get to Sea World, you'll have to take another bus - No. 750 if i'm not mistaken. NOT TX2.

If you're someone like me who loves loves LOVES animals and the underwater world, you'll be as excited as I am :)

SEA WORLD!!!

Since the timing for the shows are not till later in the afternoon, we decided to ride the rides available 1st.

First stop: Jet Ski-ing

Yes, a jet ski roller coaster. pretty fun :)

There's another roller coaster ride opposite of this Jet Ski but it was LOUSY!!!

While walking to our 1st show, we walked pass some dolphin pools. Cute right???

First show of the day, the Seal Detective show.

I also had the chance to learn more about these seals and even touch, feel and play with them :)

I'll never get bored of all these :)

You can also feed the sting-rays for $7. You'll be given a cup of fish and squids.

I really wanted to try diving with the sharks there but it was mighty expensive :(

You can also go diving in the reefs with reef fishes.

There are plenty of things to experience with the marines here in Sea World. You can swim with the seals, dolphins. You can even be a trainer for a day. I would try all of the animal adventures available if I had the money :(

Next up : Dolphin performance

Isn't that cool?! Riding the dolphins like Superman!!! :D

3 lucky spectators got the chance to interact with the dolphins..

look how they jump up all at the same time!!! So well trained!

after that, there was a pirate show on. Each actors are professional in something, can't remember what.. lol

While waiting for the Penguin Feeding, we went to visit the Polar Bears... Well Bear to be exact.

and a playful 1 too.

Penguin Feeding. Cute little penguins :)

The feeding was pretty boring as they just hand fed them =.='

actually expected them to throw fishes in the water and let the penguins dive in to catch them but...

So, we headed to the dolphin show again... Tee hee :D

That's about it for shows. There's actually a water park where you can go to. We didn't feel like getting wet again, so we skipped it. lol! Other than that, there's all the Animal Adventures available. Oh, and did I mention there's whale watching cruises available too. Recommended to go during middle of year during their migration.

Budget

General Admission: $74.99

with VIP pass: $33.33

Gold Coast 3: Wet n Wild

2011-01-01T20:38:00.000+11:00

Gold Coast seriously screwed up my body clock. Spending 1 day in 1 park really takes a toll on me. Sleeping as early as 8.30 - 9pm and waking up 7 - 730am the next day. Never in my life have I ever slept that early before. LOL!

3rd day of my trip, with the gloomy looking skies, we decided to head to a wet park instead since we'll definitely get wet anyway. So, to Wet n Wild it is!!! Same thing, took the TX2 bus and we arrived bout 30 minutes before the opening. Queue, of course was already like a caterpillar and of course, we planned our rides.

First up....

Aqua Loop!!! A MUST TRY!!!

Basically, they'll lock you in a capsule and the count down starts. Cross your arms and ankles, keep your eyes open. 3.... 2.... 1....

The feel is just... WOAH~~~ you have to try it for yourself. If you happen to be there, DO NOT MISS THIS RIDE! It's the best ride in Wet n Wild.

I didn't manage to take proper pictures of all the rides as they were already closing when I took my camera out, but you can check out what rides are available here - Wet n Wild map

2nd best for me would go to The Tornado.

3rd, the Mach 5 Jet Stream which I didn't manage to take a picture of, not even from the map. *warning, your back will hurt like mad after the ride, but it's sooo fun!!!*

4th, the Surfrider. Basically, you're sitting on a giant surf board going up and down like the Pirate ship. Only difference is, your seat rotates.

5th, Kamikaze

6th Rapid Falls

7th, Black Hole

8th, Mammoth Falls

Lastly, Aqua Racer. Nothing special about this ride as there's 1 in Sunway Lagoon.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's much cheaper entering these parks if you purchase an unlimited entry VIP pass for $99.99 to Wet n Wild, Sea World and Movie World. This package expires 30th June 2011.

Budget Pricing

General Admission - $54.99

with VIP pass - $33.33

Gold Coast 2: Movie World

2010-12-30T19:17:00.006+11:00

As everyone would know, Gold Coast is known for their beaches as well as their theme parks. There's a shuttle bus called TX2 that would bring you to these theme parks. A little tip: Go early!

Something else to keep in mind when you're heading to Gold Coast, it's MIGHTY expensive to buy individual tickets into these theme parks. It's a better option to buy them as a package. Just go to MyFun and pick the option that suits you most. As for us, we took the unlimited VIP pass to 3 parks (Movie World, Sea World and Wet n Wild) for only $99.99, valid till 30th June 2011.

We spent 1 day for each park. Let me show you a sneak peek of Warner Brother's Movie World. FYI, the general admission for Movie World costs $74.99!!!

Welcome to Movie World by Warner Brothers

We arrived at the entrance 30 minutes before their opening time and it was already filled with tourists, schoolies and families. Just look at the queue!!! With such a big crowd, we can't help but to do a little strategic planing. lol!

Planner: Ok, once we go in, run straight to Superman. Then we can head to whatever rides after that.

Me: Okok.

Gate opens, *Runs straight to Superman*

Superman Escape!!!

Theme parks are everywhere these days, and they'll have almost the same rides in every theme parks. So in order to be different, every ride here has a short story behind it. As the Planner says: It's not about the ride now, it's about the experience. And I must say, it's really was an experience, something really different from other roller coasters. Instead of slowly moving upwards, Superman ride is the opposite. The speed starts from the very bottom all around till the end. With the force of 4gs, the impact you'll feel when going upwards is just... WOAH!!!! You really have to experience it for yourself. So if you happen to be there, do not, I repeat, DO NOT miss the superman ride.

After that, we went for the Batman stimulator. This was a so-so ride. At least we helped Batman save Gotham city :)

Wanted to try the Batwing Spaceshot but sadly, it was under maintenance when we were there :(

Oh, while being in Batman's library, I found a hidden mickey (the picture above) LOL!!

Next was the Scooby Doo ride. Located deep in a haunted castle. Another roller coaster ride, this time, in the dark! Pretty enjoyable...

We also went for a short movie at the Roxy Theatre - Journey To The Centre of The Earth in 4D. Pretty enjoyable as well.

Then it was lunch time! There are a couple of restaurants and cafe in the park but it's pretty costly, obviously. So we headed to a fast food restaurant for some cheaper lunch - Burger and Chips.

After lunch, it was some action time at the Hollywood Stunt Driver show. A burnt tyre smelling, adrenalin pumping action show. A MUST WATCH!! I went for this twice, once when it wasn't raining and once when it just finished raining. 2 very different experience. When the roads wet, it's less kan-cheong than when it's not. You won't feel the thrill as much as when it's not raining. Trust me.

It's story is based on some jewellery robbers robbing a jewellery stall. Robbers being chased by polices. You get the story. Below are some pictures of the action.

The last show of the day was the Star Parade where almost all the cartoon characters come parading down the street in the picture above. You know what that means??? CAMWHORING TIME!!! :)

Lucky boy got his picture taken with Batman.. I wanted to take pics with Sylvester and Catwoman :(

Below are pictures that I snapped during their parade.

Daffy Duck

One of my favourite Looney Tunes Character - Sylvester!!! <3

Tweety Bird

Scooby Doo clan

And the Hollywood Stunt Driver clan

Apart from them, there's still batman, joker, catwoman.

After the parade, we went to check out some of the shops available.

This shop below will definitely interest those Harry Potter fans out there...

Harry, Hermione and Ron dolls. Funny thing about these dolls, the pricing.

Harry = $20

Ron & Hermione = $10

Familiar sight???

I like how this Guest Services office's look. So mysterious...

Oh and Ben & Jerry's opening soon!!! :)

Budget
General Admission: $74.99

with VIP pass: $33.33

Next post: Wet n Wild. Watch this space :)

Gold Coast : When Summer Officially Starts

2010-12-30T16:59:00.000+11:00

Oh gosh, after being in Aussie for about a year, I'm so dependent on the fast internet they provide over there that I can't stand the slow tortoise internet that I have to go tru back here in KL. Well, at least I have internet to use, so no complains there. Just keep chanting this "patience patience".

Awhile ago, I visited Gold Coast with the Planner/Navigator. Our trip there was 1 big drama which I won't go into. Arrived in Coolangatta Airport at around 8 plus. Took a shuttle bus from the airport to our backpackers - Cheers International Backpackers.

Cheers backpackers is located about 10plus minutes walk away from Surfer's Paradise, along this quiet residential street. From the pictures below, you can tell that it's a bar/backpackers, and walls in the land down under are all paper thin, so it gets pretty noisy at night. Sometimes even up till 4 in the morning! Pretty irritating I must say.

Service vice at this place, I'll give a 3 out of 10. Only 1 girl was friendly to us, the other 3 were practically useless as they didn't even give any eye contact, they weren't polite, and they were pretty impatient. And I don't even want to mention about their kitchen. Yes, you can buy your own groceries and cook your own meal but once you see the kitchen, I don't think you'll have the appetite to cook there. And yes, we ate out all the time. But food from Coles and bento sets from this Japanese stall.

They provide double rooms and dorm rooms. You can check for rates tru their website here. Dorm rooms accommodates 4 people and double rooms, 2. In double rooms, you'll get your own fridge and and TV and of coz privacy. Toilets are obviously shared among everyone. Cleanliness, 5? still bearable. There're about 7 toilets, so no worries of queuing and waiting. Other than that, if you're one who just needs a place to stay and not one who cares much bout the appearance and cleanliness of a place, this can be 1 of your option.

Below are some pictures of the place.

1st thing you'll see once you step into Cheers - Pool Tables.

Check-in counter.

Eating area, meeting area, hang out spot.

The bar counter.

They even have some arcade gaming machines.

Decos on the ceiling. only noticed they hung jerseys on their ceiling on the day we checked out.

The double Room.

Budget for this post:

Air Tickets: $90 (return)

Shuttle Bus: $33 (return)

Backpackers (Double Room): $75 per night (between 2 person)

Since the beach is not far away, we spent the whole day tanning on the beach. The day we arrived, was the only day that was sunny the whole day. The rest of the week, it was rainy rainy rainy~~~

Our awesome beach towels

From the picture above, you can safely say that the waves were massive! Pretty awesome. They're pretty strict with their swimming borders tho, YOU HAVE TO SWIM IN BETWEEN THE 2 YELLOW FLAGS!!!

Another thing while planning to go to Gold Coast, NEVER EVER GO DURING THEIR SCHOOLIES SEASON! I think it's during the last week of november till beginning of December. Schoolies refers to the Year 12 school leavers. It's like this tradition they do every year where Year 12 leavers travels to Gold Coast to enjoy their summer holis and basically just drink and party till they drop dead...

It's such a big thingy that they even set up stalls for them to customize their schoolies t-shirts and tank tops.

*Warning: They are EVERYWHERE!!! *

So be careful when you're there during schoolies season, the crowd tends to get a little rowdy, as they party pretty crazily...

Next Post: The parks!!! So stay tune ;)

I'm leaving on a tiger plane

2010-11-30T06:00:00.003+11:00

T-minus 45 minutes, I'll be on a plane to Gold Coast!!! Hopefully the sucky weather there will change and be brighter and sunnier so that I can relax by the sandy beach of Surfer's Paradise, soaking up the Vitamin D and of course, admiring hot SURFER DUDES!!! well, lets just hope they're hot.. hahaha..

Will be on another short break but I'll definitely return with loads of PICTURES!!! Will definitely return darker too.. Hopefully not too dark!

Anyways, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS PLANE TO TAKE OFF!!!!!!! :D

Happy Summer Holidays People!!!

P.S: This will be an epic flight. Will fill you in when I've finished enjoying myself :)

Dinesh turns 21!

2010-11-27T22:49:00.002+11:00

The day right after exams end, I attended Dinesh's birthday dinner. Boy was it a REALLY satisfying dinner! I'll show you why in a minute...

Before the dinner, Maekhoo and I went for the Bettina Liano's warehouse sale in Brunswick. Had a little trouble finding the place, but I guess it was worthed the trouble. Well for Maekhoo's at least, she came out with 2 jeans for only $50 after discount! (originally about $250 a piece I think) I, on the other hand, came out empty handed. And OMG we it was sooo hot in the changing rooms that we were literally sweating like pigs I tell you!!! It was pretty bad!

Headed to the City right after and had shared a bowl of Curry Noodles with Yong Taofu in China Town. I must say, it was pretty good, and the portion was pretty big too. Yummy enough to satisfy my sudden cravings.

We had to burn 3-4 hours before it was dinner time. It was madness but we ended our tiring day with a VERY satisfying scrumptious meal. We trained to Camberwell for dinner at Sofia's. Now this place is no place for small eaters or romantic date nights. Why? Because the portions served in this restaurant is HUMONGOUS!!! It's meant for family dinners and big groups.

That night, 15 of us dined here to celebrate Dinesh's 21st Birthday. Happy Birthday Dinesh!! Hope you had fun that night.

Now, the FOOD.

Frito Misto - a seafood platter with prawns, fish, calamari and scallops. ($20.90) Had 2 portions of this.

Had 2 large portions of pastas. (Top) Spirali Pesto - Spiral pasta with pesto sauce and pine nuts ($13.50) This, to me, was just so-so. The pesto taste was just too strong for my liking. (Bottom) Tagliatelle Sofia - Fettuccine pasta with prawns, mushrooms and scallop with a cream based sauce. ($13.90). This was really tasty. I really enjoyed this pasta. A must-try!!!

Also had a large portion of Garlic Bread ($5.80). Also another must-try. The bread is so yummy! Not your normal kind of garlic bread.

We also had 2 large pizzas that costs $9.90 each. They were as big as the garlic bread and were so-so to me. Dinesh had 3 friends who came really late and ordered a Fritto Misto and a Gnocchi.

Ended the meal with surprise Tiramisu cake by Iris. Even the cakes here are humongous!!!

Birthday boy with his enormous cake.

Also went home with an enormous belly!!

P.S: Photos were taken with my BB, thus the very bad quality photos. Sorry. I really need to get a compact camera!!!

I Smell Something Sweeeeeeet~~~

2010-11-22T22:59:00.001+11:00

Look who's back?!

The time of the semester has finally ended!!!!!!! Yes, that means, I'm done with exams and it's time to PAARTAYYY~~~

This butterfly is finally being set free..

I smell something. Something sweeeeeeet and pleasant.

I smell FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!

Summer holidays have finally started for me and I've already got most of my holidays all planned out.

Shopping with Maekhoo and Dinesh's Birthday dinner tomorrow,

Shopping with Lauren on Wednesday,

Thanksgiving dinner with Maekhoo on Friday,

Down to Frankston during the weekend,

and and and...

GOLDCOAST for a week babehhhhh!!!

Can't wait to head to Surfer's Paradise, relax by the beach, maybe snorkeling and learn how to surf ? Highlight of the trip will definitely be AUSTRALIA ZOO!

Australia Zoo belongs to the late Crocodile Hunter (My idol) - Steve Irwin. Cried when I found out he passed . Oh and I think I'll finally get to cuddle a koala in this zoo. Been to countless zoos and wildlife parks around Australia and NONE of them allowed me to cuddle 1. Bleh

Then about a week after that, I'll be heading to the land of the Merlion and then to Bali with the family, then finally back to KL. And after that, more beach time in Sabah with my sister!

And about another week after that will be Chinese New Year where I'll finally get to gamble once more and not to mention the crazy Mah Jong playing. It's been SO LONG!! I miss the feeling of those tiles...

Summer holidays will then soon come to an end, in no time, it'll be time for me to fly back to the land down under to start the new semester. Sigh..

But hack! who cares bout that now?! It's time for me to enjoy and go CRAZZZAAYY!!!

Yeah, you got that right!!!

Time of the Semester

2010-10-31T16:56:00.000+11:00

It's the time of the semester again. Felt like I just started the semester but it's actually about to end. Time for the hardcore studying and no-fun days. Weeks to be exact. No going out, no more drama series, no more slacking and no more procrastinating (HAHA! which is what i'm doing right now, writing this blogpost). But I promise I'll start after this. PROMISE!

Feel like a trapped butterfly in a cage just waiting to be set free.

Can't wait till the 22nd of November, to be finally FREE for the rest of the year! So jealous that most of my friends are finishing their exams like a week or two before mine! Wished mine started earlier so I can just be over and done with it! argh, hate that mine's stretched so late, makes me feel so unmotivated to study!

I've got so many holiday plans planned for the summer, and I CAN"T WAIT for it! Excited to the max! Free to fly like a butterfly, all the way to Gold Coast (if the plan works out), to Mr.Navigator's birthday, to Singapore, to Bali (BEACH!!!), to KL, to Sipadan (DIVING!!!), to Singapore/KL, to CNY in both S'pore and KL, to Singapore again and back to Melbourne.

Seriously can't wait to roam around with no worries (at least till the results day), no burden, no class. Being able to wake up anytime of the day I want, relaxing by the beach with the awesome families, shopping and 'yamcha' session with friends (BEEN SO LONG!), to mahjong and band hero sessions again during CNY.

AH CAN'T WAIT! CAN'T WAIT!! :D

Now, it's back to the books I go. Though I hate it, but I know that...

I apologize in advance for I'll be on hiatus for awhile.

Till then,

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!! Wished I had a reason to dress up too...

Tulip Festival 2010: Irish Weekend

2010-10-20T06:21:00.101+11:00

While KoolSandra was here during her semester break, we took the opportunity to experience the Tulip Festival they held in Lilydale. Had to take a total of 1 and a half hours train ride followed by another 30mins bus ride to the actual location. Back in Malaysia - complain about having to drive all the time; here in Melbourne - complain about having to travel by public transport all the time =.=' sigh... the bittersweet of life.

Anyway, they have different theme every week at the Festival and this week was Irish Weekend. It's gold and leprechauns!

Welcome the Dutch Ladies: Maekhoo, Me and KoolSandra

Sandra and I

Playing tourists with the Leprechauns, dutch lady and Dutchmen.

They had people playing some Irish tunes. At least I think they're Irish. Lol..

Now it's not a festival without some little random stalls right? These are some of the stalls opened that day.

FYI: the Nuts were pretty good! hehe

A quarter of the crowd that day. Believe me, when you see an empty table, RUN FOR IT!

For brunch, I tried this traditional Turkish Pastry with cheese and spinach called Gozleme.

It was pretty good! Just that I thought it'll be tastier if the pastry was a little more crunchy.

As tourist, when we visit a place, any place, picture MUST be taken! PictureS to be exact. And that's what we did after eating - Roam, soaking up the festive feeling and camwhore!!

KoolSandra, Maekhoo and I

Pretty tulips in different colours! Oh the colours! Don't they just make you smile?

The last picture is actually a picture of Daffodales.

PhotoLeon and I

This picture is one of my favourite picture taken that day.

Can you feel the love?

Not so sexy back... Haha! oh well, worthed a try

Of course, it wouldn't be Irish without blowpipes! They walked around the tulip farm playing their pipes.

Will definitely try to go again next year! Another must-go for next year - Royal Melbourne Show! Missed the 1 this year

Some photos credit to TetLeonPhotography.

Emoticons thanks to The Opposite of Chocolate (though I still don't really know how to work them well.)

Hello Sandra

2010-10-19T05:13:00.000+11:00

KoolSandra came down to Melbourne for 6 days last week, and as a welcoming present, Maekhoo and I baked her a Hello Kitty belated birthday cake. It was my first time customizing a cake and I must say, it was pressuring yet pretty fun at the same time.

First step to this cake, bake a light butter cake and let it cool. Then customize it to the shape you want. As for me, it was the face of a Hello Kitty.

Looks more like a face of a bear than a Hello Kitty, LOL!

Next, either beat double whipping cream or get those 'Ready Dollop-on Cream'. For her ribbon and nose, I mixed rose pink colouring into a small mixture of icing cream.

Coat a layer of cream all around the cake.

Making sure the sides are nicely coated as well..

Next, the eyes, we underestimated the size of our chocolate chip so we had to settle with 4 per eye, as though Hello Kitty's eyes were sparkling. Lol..

With the coloured icing, I had to make sure my hand was steady while I drew her ribbon.

Lastly, by using Nutella, I drew her whiskers...

And walah~~~ Hello Kitty cake..

Happy Belated Birthday KoolSandra!!! Your favourite disturbing cat

Ok, it looks a little retarded, but hey, IT's MY FIRST TIME!

If it wasn't for the ribbon, it wouldn't look anything like Hello Kitty... hahahaha

What shape should I try next?

Menya

2010-10-18T06:35:00.000+11:00

To all Melbournians, if you ever get sick and tired of Don Don, have Menya for a change. And for those who don't know, Don Don is a Japanese Fast Food outlet (a seriously fast food outlet) on Swanston street, right opposite QV. Your order will take 5 mins max to be served! And it's CHEAP! Just $6.90, you'll get a really full meal of Beef Teriyaki Don.

Menya on the other hand just cost a few dollars more and it's almost twice the size of Don Don. Even VacuumLeon couldn't finish his portion. LOL!

I like the fact that their menu isn't too wide till you're spoilt for choice, nor was it too narrow till you didn't have any choice.

I know it's normal to serve water with lemon in them or strawberry in them. But in Menya, the presentation of it just makes me go jakun over it. Lemon, Strawberry and Fresh Parsley made the water taste sorta refreshing with a tinge of lemony berry flavor. They also have water with Lemon, Fresh Parley and Cherry Tomato.

As for the food, all that I've tried were not bad to good except 1! Will rate each one on a scale of 10 being the yummiest and 1 being the suckiest.

Gyu Don ($9.50 i think) which is basically Thinly slice beef cooked in Sukiyaki sauce served on rice.

This would be a 7.

Teriyaki Beef Don ($9.50) - Beef cooked with vegetable in Teriyaki sauce served on rice. An Eight.

Niku Udon ($9.20) - Sliced beef served with menma & wakame over udon soup. This was an 8.5 to 9 for me.

Gyoza ($5.90) - Pan Fried Japanese Dumplings. I rate this 5. It was just so-so for me. Though the skin was crunchy nice but it still lacked taste.

Pork Ramen ($9.20) - Taste Japanese marinated roasted pork slices served with Ramen noodle soup. This was a 9 for me. The soup was just delicious!!!

Katsu Don ($8.50) - Deep fried crumbed pork fillet cooked with egg on special sauce served on rice. A 6.5.

Geki Kara Soba ($9.90) - Marinated meat in Hot Spicy sauce served with soba noodles.

This is a 3 for me. It's a big N-O! The sauce wasn't spicy at all, it was too sweet, and it wasn't delicious. The only plus for this dish is the noodles. It was nice and springy. Somehow reminded me of Wantan Noodles. LOL!

When the sun came out, we played

2010-10-17T07:11:00.000+11:00

Mother Nature's finally showing off her Spring side after a month of 'fake' spring! You see, Spring is suppose to start round September but here in Melbourne, spring in September was no diff from winter. So when the sun finally shined, I couldn't resist not coming out to play. Finally brought Maekhoo to the Shrine of Remembrance and the Royal Botanical Garden. Fail right?! Been here for almost a year and have not been to the Royal Botanical Garden. My 1st time there was on my Birthday and that was like after being here for half a year! Hahaha...

The entrance into the Shrine.

Flowers are finally blooming!!! I'm not a big fan of flowers but the COLOURS! How could I resist?!

1 thing I love about Melbourne, I can literally sit on the grass without a picnic mat and not worry about the grass being dirty! Unlike back in Malaysia where we MUST use a mat. =.=' Plus, the grass is much greener here in Melbourne. Well, you know what they say 'The grass is always greener on the other side' - Totally proven.LOL!

With the sun shinning so bright that day, and the grass being greener and cleaner than back home, how could 1 resist not camwhoring?

Maekhoo and I (check it out, same sunnies!)

Also roamed around and snapped some random pictures.

The above picture is 1 of my best shots that day.

What do you think?

Annette's 20th

2010-10-16T10:46:00.000+11:00

At the end of my mid semester break, Annette celebrated her belated 20th birthday at Mercadante Woodfired Pizzeria on Lygon Street. The 1st time I ate at Mercadante was when the boys visited Melbourne back in July.

Attendance (Clockwise): RichKid, Maekhoo (birthday girl), yours truly, UY and PenguinKeith.

We didn't know about this the 1st time, but apparently we were allowed to doodle on the white paper that was on the table. So we did, while waiting for our pizzas. PenguinKeith failed FOUR times trying to draw penguins.

Vulcano Pizza - MUST TRY! Totally awesome...

BBQ Pizza - for me, so-so..

Seafood Pizza - This was also a so-so but the clams were a bit fishy to me. If you're there and you want a seafood pizza, try looking for a prawn pizza (I can't remember the name). Never tried it before but it looks good and the prawns are really fresh.

As for dessert, also a MUST TRY is their famous Chocolate pizza! more like Nutella pizza. Totally awesome! It's like eating toasted white bread with Nutella only this time, the bread is PIZZA! Yum!

Oh, and because it was supposedly a table for 7, but Amanda and Brian couldn't make it. Our table had to be relocated. No idea why they can't just take away a table from what they've set and let us sit. We had to wait for quite awhile for them to set another table for the 5 of us. Fortunately, we were relocated to the best seat in the house! Right next to the pizza-making area. And after dessert, we were given a piece of pizza dough each and was asked to create our own masterpieces.

So, here's everyone working on their masterpieces.

From top(clockwise): Mine - Turtle, UY's - cupcake, RichKid - Dino Fish, Maekhoo - Turtle and PenguinKeith - Penguin.

They were then placed in the woodfired oven to bake.

Tadaaa~~~~ Our masterpieces. All retarded yet cute looking masterpieces.\

From top: Mine, Rich Kid, UY, Penguin Keith and Maekhoo.

Here's something lame.

This was my 1st time eating a turtle! Hehe

Tim's Place

2010-10-15T09:24:00.000+11:00

Finally a post of my accommodation in Grampians. I stayed in an eco-friendly backpackers hostel very near to the town center. Toilets are shared among everyone who's staying there (no worries, it's REALLY clean) and there's a well equipped kitchen for you to cook in.

There's dormitories, twin sharing and a self-contain apartment as well where you'll have your own toilet and kitchen (I think). One thing I've notice throughout my trip to Ballarat and Grampians is that when they say Twin sharing bedrooms, it's more like a family bedroom where there's a double/queen sized bed and a double decker. Only costs $35 a night!

The highlight of Tim's Place is their cocker spaniel - PUDDING!

Really obedient, clean and of course, ADORABLE!!

Halls Gap Zoo

2010-10-14T09:45:00.002+11:00

Our second day in Grampians doesn't just end up in Chatauqua Peak. We had the rest of the afternoon to burn so we decided to visit the town zoo (this was for my sake). It was about 2.5 to 3km away from Tim's Place and we only had 2 options of transport - Bus No.11 (legs) or Bicycle. It's an obvious decision. We were told it was only about 10 minutes cycle and 30 mins walk but HELL NO! It was 30mins cycle and who knows how long to walk!

But I thought it was quite relaxing to cycle, for Mr.Navigator on the other hand, he struggled a bit. Just a bit. HAHA!

The Halls Gap zoo is entirely sponsored. Noticed that Tim's Place sponsored a couple of enclosures. Compared to Melbourne Zoo, I totally enjoyed Halls Gap's much more somehow. Melbourne's Zoo was just depressing.

1st animal we visited was the Meerkats aka Timon from Lion King. The 1st little one in the picture was totally adorable! It was such a lazy little fat feller just slouching there. CUTE!

Peacocks were allowed to roam freely in the zoo.

OH,I finally got to see Tasmanian Devils with my own eyes! Only seen them on TV.

Never seen them in real life. All the wildlife parks I've been too only had empty enclosure labelled with Tasmanian Devils

Super huge Bisons and a Biformer (Bison transform to Human)

WOMBATS!!!!

Spotted Tail Quoll and the old wise billy goat.

OH! I got the chance to interact and take pictures with Dingoes. HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Dingoes are known as wild dogs and can be pretty dangerous. Click on the picture to enlarge.

SO COOL! SO FUN!!! hehehe

Now all I need is to cuddle a Koala!

Grampians: Chatauqua Peak

2010-10-13T10:55:00.004+11:00

Continuation to my adventure in Grampians. It was our 2nd day in Grampians and after a whole day of hiking and climbing up to the Pinnacles and Mckenzie Falls the day before, we were still up for another peak. This time it's up to Chatauqua Peak. But 1st...

BRUNCH!!! My 1st time trying Souvlaki (Beef). SO YUMMY!

We had to take a short walk to the start of the Chatauqua Peak track.

Took a pit stop at Clematis Falls, then it's all the way up the peak.

Chatauqua Peak is a little tougher than climbing up the Pinnacles. The pathway's trickier and steeper. Plus with the on-off showers and howling strong wind, it was a totally different experience from Pinnacles. But nonetheless, the view from on top were about the same. The sceneries were just A-MA-ZING!

Wild flowers blooming everywhere.

And there's the camwhoring sessions of course.

At the peak of Chatauqua. Because of the uber strong wind, I had to zip and button up my windbreaker to avoid being blown up the cliff. Yeah, my windbreaker isn't breaking the wind for me that well. LOL!

And again, the satisfaction =

Grampians: The Pinnacles & Mckenzie Falls

2010-10-12T20:18:00.003+11:00

Next stop after Ballarat is Grampians. Mr.Navigator and I traveled by train from Ballarat to Ararat and bus-ed from Ararat to Halls Gap. Took a shuttle bus to our accommodation - Tim's Place (will blog about that place in the next post or 2).

One thing all tourists should know about Halls Gap, IT'S A TOURIST RIP OFF PLACE!!! All grocery items there's like double the price in Melbourne city itself. But then again, when you're there and you need food, what are you gonna do about it right? Just something you guys should know, if you're planning to travel there, try bringing some food beforehand and only buy something that you really need.

After settling down in Tim's Place, we headed out to the Pinnacles right away. We had to pass through a camping site, cross a bridge and go through 2 gates. From there, it's following the signs. But sadly, due to the rain a few days ago, there was a landslide and they had to close off the pathway leading to the Grampians =.=' Had to backtrack to the Information Centre in the town area and ask for alternative routes. We were told that the only way up was to drive up to the Wonderland Carpark and trek from there, but unfortunately, WE DIDN'T RENT A CAR!!!! However, we were really lucky to bump into a couple travelling from Adelaide - Shell & James (they're musicians and were on their tour! How cool's that?!) Anyway, they offered us a ride up to the Carpark and trekked up to the Pinnacles together.

From left: Me, Mr.Navigator, Shell and James.

The view from Wonderland Carpark.

Halfway up to the pinnacles.

Stopped along the way to snap some of these fantastic views.

It's amazing how Mother Nature had all these 'steps' made for us to trek as well as some man made trek aids.

This reminded me of the Three Sister in Blue Mountains, Sydney. I called this The 3 Brothers. Lol lame

2 remarkable rocks like the ones I saw in Limestone Coast.

It was starting of Spring when we went there, wildflowers were starting to bloom like the one in the picture.

Oh, and our trek was accompanied by these 2 crawlies. There were sooo many of them along the way. The 'mou mou' (furry caterpillar) was pretty scary as they'll give you rashes if your touch them, so I was pretty scared that 1 might accidentally drop on me. Haha!

There was this lil cave-like area called the Cool Chamber. And believe it or not, it WAS cool when you step into it.

Of course, a trip will not be fun without some camwhoring session.

Refreshing at the Bride's Veil.

More camwhoring sessions.

After 2-3 hours of hardwork, we finally made it to the pinnacles! What a satisfaction I tell you. Just WOAH!!!And notice my shirt it says " I'm addicted. Take me high". Haha! How can I resist?

Again, we did some dangerous things just for awesome pictures of us to be taken. Seriously no joke! One slip and I'm dead. But I just had to, you know. LOL!

Pretty amazing shots huh! We were SO high up!! Hehe.

I'm hiked with my faithful pair of black converse. My oldest and longest pair of shoes! I used to change a pair every year till I found Converse. LOL!!

After climbing back down from the Pinnacles, Shell and James were kind enough to let us ride with them to Mckenzie Falls, known to be a massive waterfall.

Side profile of Mckenzie's Fall.

Some camwhoring session as well.. Hehe

Notice that there are more pictures of Mr.Navigator than me? He's such a BIG camwhorer when up in the mountains!