After checking out from Eastern Beach Holiday Unit, at Port Philip, GOR, we drove in our wagon for approximate 4 hours to Brighton Beach, in Melbourne City.
We reached Brighton Beach at around 1 pm, parked our vehicle a little bit further from the beach. People were seen sailing in yatchs and gliding in the sky, with the aid of the strong wind. The view of the beach from far fascinated me, hence I stepped out of the car with DSLR in hands. As I walked to the edge of a slope to capture a far shot of Brighton Beach, I started to feel my swaying body against the strong wind, as if I were gonna swept off my feet that instant second. Quickly, I retrieved back to the car, cowardly. Bro drove to the beach, and we had a closer look of the colourful shelters, which are the icons of the beach.
Below is a snapshot which I had risked my life, in order to capture a view from far.
Among all, the one with Aussie flag painted on was the highlight. Tourist like me, couldn't help but to snap a picture next to it.
The mighty strong wind blew from the sea made me felt uneasy, as the tiny sand grains got into my eyes and pricked on my legs like needles, albeit the stockings that I put on. I tried in vain to put on my cap, as the weather was hot and sunny. But my cap just couldn't sit on my head as it was blown away again and again. So, I gave up and went capless! URGHH!! Weird thing was that the locals couldn't care less and enjoyed sunbathing like somekind of reptiles on the grainy dry sand dessert!
After battling with strong wind, sand, and hot weather, we drove to Little Bourke @ Chinatown for our 2 nights stay check-in. We stayed at Punthill, where the apartment has 2 fully furnished bedrooms, kitchen, and laundry.Living in town was a little bit more costly. But hey, its all about shopping, and convenience.
We spent 2 days in city, shopping, sightseeing, admiring the city like other tourists would normally do. After travel around Victoria for days, staying in Chinatown is the best choice as it gives easy access to many tourist attraction sites, and of course to satisfy your longing on local home food. There are Jap, Korean, Shanghainese, Malaysian, and many more. It definitely makes you feel like home.
You can easily recognize Chinatown by seeing this picture below.
Punthill, where we stayed.
After checked-in, we strolled around the city, which are conveniently accessible by foot.
The Federation Square
Flinders Station, as seen from Federation Square
Next we moved on to the nearby Centre Place, at a street, across the Flinder station. Centre Place is a place with ever changing street art, the graffiti, and it is always a cool place to check out in Melbourne.
Centre Place is a busy laneway and arcade in the
Melbourne CBD. It runs between Flinders Lane and Collins Street. The laneway is home to several vibrant bars, cafes, restaurants, boutiques, sushi bars and shops, as well as some of Melbourne's best examples of street art and graffiti, particularly stencil graffiti, known as "City Lights". This precinct has been used in tourist promotion campaigns for the city. It is also a popular hangout for Melbourne punks....(extracted from Wikipedia)
I was all laughing because I made my mum make the hand sign like a punker! Hahaaaa
OK....lets be serious...smile and pose to the camera...
Graffiti art were seen everywhere along the street
Even the dumpsite was beautifully and artistically decorated with art
Take your time to admire the structure and architecture of those buildings around Melbourne, mostly churches, chapels, and business buildings at CBD.
St. Michael's ON Collins church
Even the LV flagship store looks so Parisian...as if it was in Paris
The dome look alike building.....resembles a mosque, NO?
The Parliament
After city tour by walking, we returned to Chinatown for dinner. Like I'd mentioned earlier, you won't be wrong to stay here as food are plenty and with more varieties. There's must be a eatery which suits everyone. For example, OLD TOWN where they serve nasi lemak, mee siam, and other local delicacies.
Or simply step into a BBQ meat shop, selling all kinds of roasted meat, duck and chinese sausages. Surprisingly, the roasted pork tastes so so nice, which is on par with ours. The only downside, is a tad salty for our preference.
Or just pop by any Shanghainese handmade noodle shop, serving different kinds of handmade noodle, both in broth or dry.
Stir fry beef handmade noodle
Or chinese dumpling
The next morning, we headed to Queen Victoria Market. You can get the freshest meat, veggies, fruits, even souvenirs from here. It opens 5 days a week, with its operating hour as below:
Tue : 6 am - 2 pm
Thurs : 6 am - 2 pm
Fri : 6 am - 6 pm
Sat : 6 am - 3 pm
Sun : 9 am - 4 pm
Inside the market, its easy to navigate around, as its divided into blocks and sections, of meat, seafood, pastries and breads, titbits and sweets, organic foods, fruits, and so on. Just pay attention to the signages on top, to guide you.
I am a person who love food and usually will step into kitchen just to stir up a dish or two. Thus, the sight of fresh ingredients make me 'ORGASM"! Couldn't stop picking up those veggies, wild mushrooms, fruits and herbs, and sniffed on them. At the end shopped quite a bit with bags of goodies in tow. See how happy I were in the below picture...LOL
Just couldn't decide what NOT to buy! Hahaaa...Now you guys know, my hubby is the one who usually goes to the wet market, not me....coz I will end up buying whole loads of things and stuffed them into my giant fridge! The sight of food just makes me feel INSANE!
Wide arrays of sausages....
Stinky blue cheezzz....not my pick
Rabbit / hare meat, anyone?
Chocolates...LUV
Seafood section
Organics food section
Sweets and confectionery
I'm getting NUTS! I bought macadamias, which come not cheap...around AUS$55 per kg. I had abalone powder coated macadamia and honey roasted macadamia. These 2 are my pick coz they taste incredibly GOOD. Wasabi flavoured macadamia also available, but the taste of the wasabi was overpowering. I got myself some fresh dried apricot, which are naturally sweetened. My son loves it so much, so do I.
Fresh oysters were dirt cheap and so so fresh that no one could resist. We had 2 dozens. Each dozen ranged between AUS$10 to AUS$12, depends on the oyster's size. GOSH, talking about oyster, makes me drooL....
With so many bags in hands, we hauled our goodies, bought from the market back to the hotel first, then lunch. After lunch, mum, sis, and me separated from my bro and dad. Girls as usual went for shopping frantic and chilling with coffee in the cafes, while guys were more practical and informative. They went to the Chinese museum in Chinatown...hahaaa...*____*#
You can even think of riding in a horse carriage like below, after a tired day of shopping spree!
Had expresso in Hungry Jacks...everywhere there's a Hungry Jacks popping by, they look exactly like our Burger King, even the menu are so similar.
The next day morning, on the 8th day, we packed and getting all ready for flight back.
The cloud looked so fluffy just like the cotton candy, didn't they?
