A different continent- Australia : Day 8 &9 (Melbourne, Perth)

We head to the Victoria Market before catching our Jeststar flight to Perth. We parked at the nearby parking area.There are lots of things sold there, ranging from clothing to food/fruits. You can even find street musician performing there.

We returned our rented car at the Melbourne airport. Once we arrive at Perth, our family friend from Perth was there to pick us up. We stayed at South Perth hosted by Cassie.

The area is near many shops and it is convenient. Our family friend took us to a famous restaurant known as Ciao Italia. I really like the seafood there. The serving is big and is suitable for sharing. The waiters are friendly there too.

For a night tour, our friend took us to University of Western Australia. The campus is really big. The design of the campus really gave me to Harry Potter feel. Our friend told us that the campus is home to several peacocks that are not afraid of humans. We saw the peacocks sleeping/ hanging around in one of the buildings.

For our final day, we went for grocery shopping for souvenirs. We brought back some frozen Ravioli, cheese and some tim tam back to our country. Australia is truly a multi cultural county with many wonders to explore.  Good bye Australia, we had fun. Till we meet again. 

A different continent- Australia : Day 7 (Melbourne)

As we stay out late the day before, we were exhausted and woke up much later. Knowing our growling stomach, we took some snacks before heading to "The Hardware Societe Melbourne" for a nice brunch. As told by many, there is a long queue there. We took more than 30 mins to finally get a place.  The 4 of us ordered 4 different dish to share. My favorite drink was the hot chocolate, so rich. The food were nicely arranged. Although the portion looked small, but it really filled my tummy.

We walked to the State Library of Victoria since we never went in the day before. I am impressed with the library's interior, reminds me of "Hogwarts" from Harry Potter. The weather is nice and we sat outside the library, doing nothing. Believe me, it feels so good.

Our next stop was Phillip Island for the Penguin Parade. We drove there. The journey there took us around 2 hours including breaks in between the journey there. What really amazed me there is they have a schedule to inform your whether the batches of penguins have returned or not (pretty much like the arrival schedule we have in the airport). We were right there when the first wave of penguins. No photography is allowed in the penguin parade. We get to see the penguins up close when they are walking to their resting area. The way they walk are so cute.

After an hour or so, we decided to head back. After the 2 hour journey back. We were exhausted and hungry. We settled for an Italian restaurant nearby our apartment. The food was great but we over-ordered so we had to bring back the leftovers.

After a short rest, we took tram to Crown Casino to for a visit. We were in time for the fire show at 11pm. The Crown Casino offers free fire display every hour starting from 9.00pm until 12 midnight. The fire display is a must watch for that area.

A different continent- Australia : Day 6 (Melbourne)

Hello! Melbourne~
We bought some bread and ate that for breakfast. Knowing that we are visiting Melbourne, our family friend in Adelaide recommended the Melbourne Free Walking Tour. We did some search online and found the gathering point.

The first thing we did after our light breakfast was to wait at the statue of Sir Redmond Barry in front of the State Library of Victoria. We were greeted by a tall young man wearing a bright green T-shirt with a "I'm free" word on the shirt.

We passed though various places such as the Federation Square, the amazing street art, Eureka Tower, Yarra River, China Town , Bourke St Shopping Mall etc... We have a short break in between to grab some food.

Something new I learned: the difference between Graffiti Vs Street Art in Melbourne. According to the tour guide, Graffiti are drawings done without permit (illegally done) while street art are art work done with approved permits with building owner's consent.

The tour guide also mentioned Melbourne was almost named after the founder John Batman. However, the name Melbourne was chosen at last. He mentioned that it would cool to call themselves "Batmanians". The tour took us around 3 hours.

That was my first half of the day. 2 of us continued our trip by driving to Yarra Valley. We made it for wine testing at Domaine Chandon, the vineyard at Yarra Valley. With some time left, we decided to give Yarra Valley Dairy a shot.

We made it at eleventh hour for the final batch of cheese testing. We bought a cheese as a souvenir back to try at our rented apartment.

We had a late dinner/supper with a friend at stalactite. The kebab was good and the chocolate is so rich. Makes it really nice to sleep after that meal.  End of the day. Sleepy.