Recollection: 1st Day In Melbourne
Early September this year, I spent my holidays in Melbourne. I brought along my younger brother as insurance - in case I got raped along their alleyways or something. :P
But let me first start off by explaining why I chose Melbourne out of so many cities I could have visited.
I was in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur with my aunt, when we suddenly talked about Melbourne and I surfed the web on my phone of places to visit. First thing I saw: Mount Buller - and I was sold. I know, I am so easy to please. Lol.
That's the short version. There's a longer one. But I digress.
It has been 3 weeks since I left Melbourne. It took a lot of planning this one. Cos I was on a tight budget and had very limited annual leave left. S$1750 is all I could afford for this trip (excluding meals and shopping). I toyed with the idea of going at it alone. Then I thought who the hell is gonna take a photo of me up at the Mountains! And also I could not bring myself to sleep in a hostel (I have not reach the level of Independent Traveler yet). So after some persuasion (more like begging), my dad offered to pay for my brother's expenses for the trip. My mum was not pleased. Hehehehe.
Initially I planned to save cost by doing it Free and Easy, and also because most of the tour agency couldn't accommodate to my demand without breaking my bank: I WANT TO GO TO MOUNT BULLER DAMN IT!
Looked around a bit more and I came across a package by Newshan. They had my choice of hotel: Victoria Hotel. Perfect! I did my calculation of doing it Free & Easy vs Package Tour. The difference came to about a couple of dollars. So I thought whadeheck, save myself the trouble and book thru a tour agency je lah.
That was in May 2012. All it took was less than a month - from just an idea in my hotel room in KL to almost becoming a reality! What the fuck. Totally unplanned.
My parents tried to persuade me not to go. My dad promised to bring us to New Zealand next year. But my heart was so set on Melbourne I just could not wait next year. At that moment, I felt like I got something to prove to everyone (but at my dad's expense. lol). Well actually, my aunt sort of dared me to do it. So there you go aunt!
31 August 2012 - While Malaysia is celebrating Independence Day, I was celebrating my own Independence Day at the airport. My parents, sister, aunts, uncles and my brother's friends came to see us off. My mum and sister cried (holy shit!). My aunt won't stop giving me pointers. My dad told us to be careful. Seriously.... 5 days is like 5 months to them. Imagine 5 years!!?!?!
The moment I cleared checkpoint, I was like... FREEDOM!!! Lolololol!
Anyway the flight to Melbourne was an anti-climax to my story. It was the worst flight ever!! Babies crying the entire night. And to add to my misery, the stupid boy behind me kept farting non-stop! Anyway, I picked up good pointers from the stupid boy's mum. Always be prepared for disasters: eye mask and EAR PLUGS! Best invention ever cos the mum woke up fresh the next morning. The most freshest of them all in the plane.
1 September 2012 - The first sight of Melbourne from the sky is acres and acres of grass. The moment we disembark from the plane, we immediately felt the 7 degree celcius weather. It was the last day of Winter. When we were at the baggage claims area, my brother got stopped by the security officer or something. He asked a lot of question. He thinks 5 days in Melbourne is short. My business la. I kind of complained to my dad on Whatsapp later in the day. Cos we watch Border Security on tv sometimes. And he commented how the officers are so kaypoh. In the middle of the show, he would go, "Tu pon nak tanya".
So after clearing immigration, we got to the Hotel which was in the CBD area. First thing we did was buy food! We couldn't find the Asian grocery shops, so we walked into 7-11. Wrong decision we made so far in Melbourne! We also tried to look for graffiti-ed alleyways that Melbourne is so famous for. Err... no such luck. We ended up walking aimlessly in Chinatown.
Melbourne is the perfect place for first time solo-travelers. The streets are so easy to navigate around, you won't get lost. Worse case scenario, you'll just walk around in circles. It is also one of the easiest places to find Halal food.
Our first day in Melbourne, we found a halal kebab store by accident. While we were waiting for our tour bus to arrive, we made a detour to Australia on Collins. It is a shopping mall that looked expensive. So we didn't thought of anything but to get out of the cold weather. Thanks to my brother's eagle-eyed vision, he spotted a huge Halal signage at a small and almost secluded stall. Oh yeah. Kebab, chips and coke on my first day. Cost me AUD$12.
Soon after, we were off for our first tour! First up - Phillip Island. I didn't put a lot of expectation on this tour. Cos I didn't think the Penguins were that special. I have met Penguins at the Singapore Zoo. And they were cute enough.
Phillip Island is south of Melbourne. The trip was a long ass bus ride. But the tour guide made it kind of bearable. Anyway, I didn't care much cos I dozed off 20 mins into the bus ride. Only woke up to reach our first destination: some working farm in Phillip Island.
We spent like 20 minutes at the place and off we went to another location: Koala Conservation Centre. Erm.... Boring. We spotted a few koalas up in the trees. But they were too high up for me to bother taking a photo.
We only had 20 mins at that place and I did my rounds in 5 mins. Hahahahahahaha. It is only koalas man. I have seen them in Singapore Zoo too. Lol. But I also saw them in the wild! That was harder to spot cos we were in a moving bus.
Anyway, the last (and the highlight of the trip) was the Penguin Parade!
Unfortunately, that is all you will get to see of this cute tiny penguin. The place had a rule of strictly no photography and videography. They said the penguins are sensitive to flashlights. I think it is somewhat true. Cos some idiot took a photo of the penguin and the flash went off. It sent the penguin into a moment of disarray. But I also believe the place is trying to protect their interest. Cos they set up a photobooth for visitors to take their photos with the penguins. But the penguins is not even real. They just superimpose the penguins photo to your photo. And they charge quite a sum of money. And people actually buy into this!
Our tickets gave us access to the boardwalks. We waited for a good 30 minutes in the freezing cold (something tells us it was almost 0 degrees celcius) when at around 6.30pm the penguins started to arrive in droves. It was pitch black, but we could see tiny creatures from afar. 10 minutes into the phenomena, the first penguin was close enough to touch. It was micro tiny. It is so amazing to learn that these little fellas just swam the southern ocean looking for 'food'? And came back for their partners in this part of Phillip Island. 30 minutes later, the whole place is just full of penguins calling out for their families. I thought penguins are mute things. But no. They do make noise. Lol. And when there's hundred of them, it can get really loud!
7.30pm, we were sent back to our hotels. It was around 11pm when we arrived at CBD area. And the temperature was excruciatingly cold!!! I could feel pins poking my skin.
Anyway, thats the end of my first day in Melbourne. Will update my 2nd day next. It is 3.33am now btw. Omg!
But let me first start off by explaining why I chose Melbourne out of so many cities I could have visited.
I was in a hotel room in Kuala Lumpur with my aunt, when we suddenly talked about Melbourne and I surfed the web on my phone of places to visit. First thing I saw: Mount Buller - and I was sold. I know, I am so easy to please. Lol.
That's the short version. There's a longer one. But I digress.
It has been 3 weeks since I left Melbourne. It took a lot of planning this one. Cos I was on a tight budget and had very limited annual leave left. S$1750 is all I could afford for this trip (excluding meals and shopping). I toyed with the idea of going at it alone. Then I thought who the hell is gonna take a photo of me up at the Mountains! And also I could not bring myself to sleep in a hostel (I have not reach the level of Independent Traveler yet). So after some persuasion (more like begging), my dad offered to pay for my brother's expenses for the trip. My mum was not pleased. Hehehehe.
Initially I planned to save cost by doing it Free and Easy, and also because most of the tour agency couldn't accommodate to my demand without breaking my bank: I WANT TO GO TO MOUNT BULLER DAMN IT!
Looked around a bit more and I came across a package by Newshan. They had my choice of hotel: Victoria Hotel. Perfect! I did my calculation of doing it Free & Easy vs Package Tour. The difference came to about a couple of dollars. So I thought whadeheck, save myself the trouble and book thru a tour agency je lah.
That was in May 2012. All it took was less than a month - from just an idea in my hotel room in KL to almost becoming a reality! What the fuck. Totally unplanned.
My parents tried to persuade me not to go. My dad promised to bring us to New Zealand next year. But my heart was so set on Melbourne I just could not wait next year. At that moment, I felt like I got something to prove to everyone (but at my dad's expense. lol). Well actually, my aunt sort of dared me to do it. So there you go aunt!
31 August 2012 - While Malaysia is celebrating Independence Day, I was celebrating my own Independence Day at the airport. My parents, sister, aunts, uncles and my brother's friends came to see us off. My mum and sister cried (holy shit!). My aunt won't stop giving me pointers. My dad told us to be careful. Seriously.... 5 days is like 5 months to them. Imagine 5 years!!?!?!
The moment I cleared checkpoint, I was like... FREEDOM!!! Lolololol!
Anyway the flight to Melbourne was an anti-climax to my story. It was the worst flight ever!! Babies crying the entire night. And to add to my misery, the stupid boy behind me kept farting non-stop! Anyway, I picked up good pointers from the stupid boy's mum. Always be prepared for disasters: eye mask and EAR PLUGS! Best invention ever cos the mum woke up fresh the next morning. The most freshest of them all in the plane.
1 September 2012 - The first sight of Melbourne from the sky is acres and acres of grass. The moment we disembark from the plane, we immediately felt the 7 degree celcius weather. It was the last day of Winter. When we were at the baggage claims area, my brother got stopped by the security officer or something. He asked a lot of question. He thinks 5 days in Melbourne is short. My business la. I kind of complained to my dad on Whatsapp later in the day. Cos we watch Border Security on tv sometimes. And he commented how the officers are so kaypoh. In the middle of the show, he would go, "Tu pon nak tanya".
So after clearing immigration, we got to the Hotel which was in the CBD area. First thing we did was buy food! We couldn't find the Asian grocery shops, so we walked into 7-11. Wrong decision we made so far in Melbourne! We also tried to look for graffiti-ed alleyways that Melbourne is so famous for. Err... no such luck. We ended up walking aimlessly in Chinatown.
Melbourne is the perfect place for first time solo-travelers. The streets are so easy to navigate around, you won't get lost. Worse case scenario, you'll just walk around in circles. It is also one of the easiest places to find Halal food.
Our first day in Melbourne, we found a halal kebab store by accident. While we were waiting for our tour bus to arrive, we made a detour to Australia on Collins. It is a shopping mall that looked expensive. So we didn't thought of anything but to get out of the cold weather. Thanks to my brother's eagle-eyed vision, he spotted a huge Halal signage at a small and almost secluded stall. Oh yeah. Kebab, chips and coke on my first day. Cost me AUD$12.
Soon after, we were off for our first tour! First up - Phillip Island. I didn't put a lot of expectation on this tour. Cos I didn't think the Penguins were that special. I have met Penguins at the Singapore Zoo. And they were cute enough.
Phillip Island is south of Melbourne. The trip was a long ass bus ride. But the tour guide made it kind of bearable. Anyway, I didn't care much cos I dozed off 20 mins into the bus ride. Only woke up to reach our first destination: some working farm in Phillip Island.
Weirdest looking bull from Scotland. This is something Singapore Zoo don't have.
Sheep shearing... yawnzzzzz.....
I told my brother to pose. He gave me this shit.
Nice looking scarecrow.
We spent like 20 minutes at the place and off we went to another location: Koala Conservation Centre. Erm.... Boring. We spotted a few koalas up in the trees. But they were too high up for me to bother taking a photo.
We only had 20 mins at that place and I did my rounds in 5 mins. Hahahahahahaha. It is only koalas man. I have seen them in Singapore Zoo too. Lol. But I also saw them in the wild! That was harder to spot cos we were in a moving bus.
Anyway, the last (and the highlight of the trip) was the Penguin Parade!
Our tickets gave us access to the boardwalks. We waited for a good 30 minutes in the freezing cold (something tells us it was almost 0 degrees celcius) when at around 6.30pm the penguins started to arrive in droves. It was pitch black, but we could see tiny creatures from afar. 10 minutes into the phenomena, the first penguin was close enough to touch. It was micro tiny. It is so amazing to learn that these little fellas just swam the southern ocean looking for 'food'? And came back for their partners in this part of Phillip Island. 30 minutes later, the whole place is just full of penguins calling out for their families. I thought penguins are mute things. But no. They do make noise. Lol. And when there's hundred of them, it can get really loud!
7.30pm, we were sent back to our hotels. It was around 11pm when we arrived at CBD area. And the temperature was excruciatingly cold!!! I could feel pins poking my skin.
Anyway, thats the end of my first day in Melbourne. Will update my 2nd day next. It is 3.33am now btw. Omg!
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