Its ALL about ARTchitecture & TRAmS in MELBourne CiTY: Day 5-7

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?

The winding journey on Great Ocean Road: Day 3 & 4

Day 3 started with morning drive towards Great Ocean Road. Instead of taking a nearer route from Frankston by ferry, from ferry terminal Sorrento to Queenscliff, we headed north and made a much longer journey to Torquay, via Geelong. Torquay is the first head start of Great Ocean Road trip. Its a haven for surfers and outlets selling surfing accessories are mushrooming around the area.

Despite the longer route, we didn't miss out any chunk of great look outs along the trip. Starting from Torquay towards Lorne, stretching into Apollo Bay, 12th Apostles, Port Campbell and lastly our final stop at Port Fairy before returning to Melbourne city. Lorne, is more developed and densed in the sense of population and shops. Convenience stores and eateries are easier to be found in this vicinity. We had our fish and chips take-away from Lorne before heading to 12th Apostles.

 In short, we spent 2 nights in Great Ocean Road. We stayed at Port Campbell on 1st night, and Port Fairy the following night.

'Respect the Ocean' was seen engraved on the boulder at Torquay beach.

Surfing was a common leisure among the locals.

 

Split Point Light house, located in between Torquay and Lorne.

Great Ocean Road is not all about coastlines, ocean, rock formations, and winding narrow paths. Along the way, there were so many sights that were fascinating and captivating. There were bushes, wineries, vineyards, sheeps and cows grazing on grass; green open meadows, and sometimes you might just bump into a hedgehog crossing by the road, if you were lucky enough, just like we did. We pulled over our vehicle, in order to give way to this little fellow, watching helplessly as it disappeared slowly into thick bush nearby. The bird's-eye-view of roaring seawave, hitting on the coastline, were totally mesmerizing.

In between Torquay and Lorne, we stopped at Split Point Lighthouse, followed by scenic look out of 12th Apostles. Along the way, there were so many unforgettable look outs. Spent quite sometime around 12th Apostles, as it was the highlight of Great Ocean Road adventure.

   Walking towards scenic look out deck of 12th Apostles.

    Had to tie my hair up into a bun, as the wind was too strong!

The sun set shoot of 12th Apostles.

Walking back to get our car, before calling it a day.

12th Apostles.....highlight of Great Ocean Road trip.

Before the sun set, we drove to our rented apartment, Port Campbell Parkview Motel. The place was clean and comfortable. Most of the beds in GOR apartments come with heaters or warmers, which  you can adjust easily on the temperature control to the desired heat. I must say its a necessity to have a bed heater as nights can be freezing cold in GOR.

Had simple breakfast to start the day...@ Port Campbell Parkview Motel.

Annie, the friendly receptionist, who I befriended with. So sweet of her to show us places of interest and information counter available around Port Campbell.

The next morning, we moved on to nearest Port Campbell tourist information centre, to learn more about must do and see places, aound the vicinity. We were given a list of guides, such as scenic look outs  in Port Campbell National Park; chocolate and cheese factories in Warrnambool. Albeit the many guides, we only managed to visit Port Campbell National Park, as it was a huge area to cover. The park is divided into 3 big sections, where each of it requires a few kilometres drive. There are mainly rock and geology formations along the way.

    Our rented wagon in green...

 
    London Bridge rock as seen behind us.

We immersed ourselves in beautiful sunset at Port Fairy before checking in at Eastern Beach Holiday unit, located at 121 Griffith St, Port Fairy, Vic 3284.

But before that, we dropped by a chain supermarket, IGA, to get our ingredients ready for a simple self-cooked dinner. After eating sandwiches; fish and chips, and many fastfood, we beg for a change! Bought some tenderloin, chicken drumsticks, and greens from IGA.

   Wolfie caught us in action, preparing dinner for the night.

 Sis and me got into action, and that night we had the most satisfying hot warming dinner, of beef rendang, chicken & dried shiitake mushroom soup, boiled broccoli, and hot steamy rice.

Lets toast to a heart-warming family dinner on the last day of Great Ocean Road trip! Wolfie (behind dad) represented my bro, who's the cam man....lol

The next morning, after checking out, we bid farewell to GOR. Stay tuned for our next 2 days shopping and walking around Melbourne city...

Thanks for reading, folks!