The Journey : Day 14 & 15 Australia : Perth

Remaining days in Perth as well as in Australia...caught up with another friend or shall i say ex-colleague; Kelvin which we have worked together before way back in 2001 in Penang Citibank. Those were fun times we had where we enjoyed each others company going rounds even during office hours....hahahaha....oooppsss....Was good to catch up as we reminicise the good old days we had....

Touring the city as well as chilling out in some pubs as well and restaurants to enjoy the delicacies in Perth was the main itenary before my flight back to Singapore and then back to Malaysia :(

Anyways with my last blog for my LONG TRIP holidays I would like to sincerely thank all the person below that help to make my trip a fulfilling one....They are: -

1) My Parents - paid for most of the stuffs in Melbourne :P

2) My Sister and Brother In Law - for their hospitality in Melbourne

3) Qian Hwei - for her wonderful hospitality and a great tour guide in Singapore

4) Szevin Teoh - for his lodging and hospitality in Sydney

5) Alan LKW - for his lodging, his hospitality and friendship (Perth)

6) My Aunt - for her great dinner in Perth

7) Phoon - was great to catch up with him and his family in Perth

8) Kelvin - cathching up after lost for 8 years (Perth)

9) Eleanor - being great companion in Perth

10) Aliza - was great to get to know a new friend (Perth)

THANK YOU ALL!!!!

The Journey : Day 13 Australia : Perth

Not much update from Perth as spent most time at my friends place and just chilling out. The only note was that we went to try out a Western Australias famous joint 4 seafood Cicerello's and it is really good...the seafood is fresh and cook to perfection. Must try and please be there early as you really need to queue up for food!

Managed to catch up with a Malaysian fren and his family which just recently migrated there for about 6 months and they seem to be enjoying their life there...should I consider migrating too? Hmmmm....

The Journey : Day 12 Australia : Sydney -> Perth

Virgin Blu

Perth City

Yacht

Hitz Karaoke

Hitz Karaoke

Woke up about 6AM as my flight is 9.15AM and took nearly 30 mins to prepare before hitting the bus stop. The bus was on time and when we reach the train station it was already near 8AM. Got a bologne for breakfast at the train station but before I had time to bite, I was told the train to the airport is not functional today and I have to grab a shuttle bus instead! WTH!!! I rushed with my big luggage bag to the bus station which is about 10 minutes walk and search high and low before finding the right bus. Luckily the bus is departing and I was just on time.

It took the bus about 30 minutes to reach the airport instead of 10 minutes from the train and boy am I running late.....therefore alighted from the bus and ran straight to the check in counter. Luckily Virgin has more than 10 counters and they open 2 counters for last minute check in customers. Once checked in, I quickly grab some bite of my bologne and YUCK! it's too salty for my taste...I discarded in and went and grab Krispy Creme doughnut instead and boy oh boy it was great...sorry I didnt take any photos as I was rushing...

Was on time as when I reached the boarding gate, its already boarding time and yippie! ON TIME! Didnt miss my flight and I am impressed with the layout of the plan of Virgin instead of Jetstar as it's a Boeing 737 instead of Airbus A320 for the latter. The leg room is much more roomier and more comfortable. Love it! Next time, Virgin Blue for me but I don't think they fly Malaysia :( Anyways it was a comfortable 5 hours flight from Sydney to Perth and when landed, my fren Alan came and pick me up. So nice of him....

Alan took me to lunch at a local dim sum restaurant and it was quite nice though not as good as the 1 in Sydney and then he took me around the Swan River location where I had some great shots of the city as well as nice mansions that costs about AUD8-9 million each! wow...wonder when I can own 1...hehehhe

We got back to his place later and rested before heading out for some karaoke session and club! Metro is really a very good club if your into R&B as well as Hip-Hop...also lots of Asian with hot chicks!!! ^_^

DAY 12 COMPLETED

The Journey : Day 11 Australia : Sydney City

Cockatoo

Autumn is HERE

SKY PHOENIX Restaurant

Was an all night out clubbing, thats why when we woke up it's already about 11am and instead of going to Sydneys famous Bondai beach we just went to the city for a short stroll and had dim sum instead. By that time we reach the restaurant it's about 3pm already and they seem to be shutting off the kitchen but luckily some of their delicacies still available.

The service was quite good but by 3.30pm all the staffs left us on our own as they went for their own lunch....what a sight to behold as they gather around eating hungrily...hahahha...seems like they have not eaten for days. Anyways after that just strolling around awhile longer before heading back to prepare another nite of club!

COMPLETED DAY 11

The Journey : Day 10 Australia : Sydney City

Day 10 in Australia and Sydney is kind off HOT compared to Melbourne...probably it's higher North? Anyways walking in Sydney is still a breeze compared to Malaysia :P as I don't sweat that much. We started off with Sydney Fish Market which is famous for their fresh seafood and it's really fresh! Shared a seafood platter for 2, half dozen fresh raw oyster as well as half grilled lobster! We had it by the marina...nice view with sea breeze though it's infested with hungry seagulls which will try to snatch your food if given a chance...

Then we made our way to Underwater World and it's really fascinating...so far the best that I've seen and I've been told it's the best in Australia and probably the southern hemisphere? Anyways you judge it by visiting. The reason I love it was because it's big with lots of different species of fishes and inclusive some crustaceans & crocs as well as snakes; not forgetting large tanks with huge sharks...spent almost 6 hours there :D

Queen Victoria Building

Sydney Fish Market

Lovely Fresh Raw Oyester

Nurse Shark at Underwaterworld

Sunset @ Darling Harbour



DAY 10 ENDS

The Journey : Day 9 Australia : Sydney City

Day 2 in Sydney was an eye opener as I will be visiting the famous Opera House...yeay! After taking breakfast at home (toast & fried egg sunny side up-my fren can cook wor!), we took the bus to the city and from there about 15 minutes walk towards Sydney Harbour. It's a sight to behold...from one side you see a beautifully crafted Opera House and the other Sydney Harbour Bridge with fresh sea breeze blowing at your face and also clear blue sky as backdrop....AMAZING!!

While moving nearer towards the harbour we noticed 2 Aboriginals working hard to attract people to their location to have pictures taken with them but most importantly selling their CD music at AUD10 per pc! I bought 1 as I felt that music is really cool using their "trumpet" which I've forgotten the name and mixture of techno music....Later on we moved to our lunch at Sailors Thai which serves delicious thai food overlooking the harbour...

The day was mostly used up by snapping photos around Sydney Harbour and before leaving home my friend introduced me to a cafe called Lindts which is also the famous chocolate manufacture from Swiss. I ordered a Ice Chocolate (Dark) and it was fantastic...the drink its filled with chocolate to the max and and with the mixture of ice, it feels heavenly....the sweetness, the chocolateness (if there were such a word)....WOW!!!!

Opera House

City view from Sydney Harbour

Sydney Harbour Bridge

An Aborigine

Ice Chocolate (Dark)

END OF SYDNEY DAY 2

The Journey : Day 8 Australia : Melbourne -> Sydney

Last day in Melbourne...going to miss this place but yet another adventures await me in Sydney. Anyways was hoping to move about the city more like going to St Patricks Cathedral and Queen Victoria Gardens but I was stopped by rain :( what a way to end my journey in Melbourne. Since it rained, I went to grab an early lunch and packed all my stuffs. Went to Southern Cross Station earlier by tram and grab a shuttle bus ticket to Avalon airport which is about 60km from the city. The shuttle bus costs me AUD20!

It took the bus about 45 minutes to reach the airport where I checked in my luggage quickly and wait for my flight by Jetstar. It was on time as usual and we're all prepared for take off at 3.15pm.

BYE BYE MELBOURNE!

a friendly tourist guide

Treasury Gardens @ Melbourne

Sydney view from above

Double level train in Sydney

a schnitzel

Reached Sydney airport about an hour plus and once I got off the plane, I went searching for the bus that's supposed to take me to my friends place. I looked high and low for about 30 minutes and I can't seem to find the bus at all and it seems not many people around there are familiar with the bus or so I thought. I was about to give up and take a cab when I saw the bus my friend described a yellow colour bus named Hillbus which is the only bus company that goes to my friends place at Carlingford.

I quickly raced towards the bus but it was not a legal bus stop but after several plead with the driver, he let me up and even showed me where next time i should grab the bus from....opppss seems like I already did something illegal on my first day in Sydney. I bought a weekly ticket as advised from my friend as it's expensive to get a trip ticket which costs AUD5 per trip! The weekly ticket costs AUD40 only.

It took the bus about an hour to reach my friends place as the jam in the city was quite bad although they have dedicated bus lane. I guess probably due to rush hour since it's time for the people to go back. Stopped at the right bus stop luckily thanks to a gal in the bus that guided me. The bus stop is weird as it's in the middle of a highway where it has stairs connecting down to the road below to residential area. My friend came over to help me grab my luggage and we walked back to his place which is only 5 minutes walk.

After some rest and catching up we head back to the city again and he brought me to a restaurant called Bavarian Cafe. Nice and cozy place and it's packed even for a Tuesday night! We oreded a Schnitzel each; a very large pork in deep fried with fries that can easily fit for 2 person! Since it's Tueday, the joint runs a promotion for it which costs only AUD15 and if 1 person can finish 1 of it, we're given a free shot of spirit! We both managed to finish our dish within 30 minutes or more and my it's really stuffed. Ordered a couple more German beers and we're off to another happening joint called 3 Wise Monkeys and it's packed as everyone was celebrating St Patricks day!

Sydney Day 1 CLEARED!

The Journey : Day 7 Australia : Melbourne City

Day 7 sees me going about the city of Melbourne visiting tourist attraction locations such as the Southern Cross Station (apologies pic not available as not too nice), Eureka Skydeck, Melbourne 360 as well as Korean dinner with my family.

Melbourne City View

St Paul Cathedral

Art Centre

Melbourne City View

Korean BBQ

Eureka Skydeck 88; the highest tower in Southern Australia has a lift that can take you up to the top floor in 36 seconds if I'm not mistaken. You'll be amazed at the speed. Also at the peak of the building as you can from the picture that it has some parts which is gold in color and you are not mistaken as it is really made of pure 18k gold! WOW! Talk about building plated with gold! To get up there you're required to pay a fee of AUD 16.50 and once you reach the top you have a magnificent view of Melbourne City 360 degrees.

They have a beautiful lounge and visitor seating area as well as fully glass panel to have great view over the city. The building also comes with another attraction whereby a small portion of it has a mechanism that can extend out of the building in a 3X3 m glass box which they named it The EDGE! It's a full glass box whereby bottom, side & up are all made of glasses and it's an exhilarating experience though it comes with an additional cost of AUD 12 and if you require your photo taken in there, it would cost another AUD 15 per photo.

As for Melbourne 360 it is also another high rise building with 360 degrees view of Melbourne and it costs only AUD 14 with additional promotion whereby you're allowed to come back on the same day to have a night view which sadly i did not go :( At night time me and my family gathered to have a nice and wonderful Korean BBQ meal at Chinatown which is simply delicious to the last drop :D

Day 7 Completed