| down under in ozzieland |

last day.

2007-04-13T11:32:00.000+10:00

im back home, so uploading some pictures that were on my last day in melbourne, and some pics on suiyi's camera that i thought were nice. =) from now on, i will not be updating this blog but i guess it serves as a good memory of my time in melbourne. heh.

that day we were on the ferris wheel, we were sitting in the wheel car directly behind a group of four children who were really cute - they were screaming happily and waving frantically at their parents below. this shot we took when we waved at them and they waved back. the oldest boy went, "are we going to be famous?" (imagine aussie accent + cute boy) sweet! haha.

it was cold up on the ferris wheel though. >_<

on my last night out in melbourne, suiyi brought me to this mexican restaurant which had great food. seriously. the website is cute too - 3 amigos. an extensive list of cocktails, beers, and basically alcoholic stuff. but suiyi had a fruit punch today, and i opted for a mango el nino - a gold tequila cocktail with lime, mango and caramel. sweet, but good. ^^

best nachos in the world. best best best. makes me want to make them. i will, you know. i think i know how i can do it. if i find good corn chips, though. corn chips in singapore tend to be rather thick. the thin ones with hollow centres taste better. =)

my seafood paella. it wasnt really real paella, but anyhow it was good. the scallops were really fresh and so, heavenly.

okay.. hatsuyuki from now on!

velda.

foodies.

2007-04-10T01:34:00.000+10:00

sorry ah, first picture is food liao. tt was sunday's dinner. gourmet pizza washed down with lychee infused vodka. it cnt get better than tt eh.

mine was called [4 stagiono]. its pizza with tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, ham and artichokes. but i took out the artichokes and added mozzarella because cheese is my weakness. hah!

nice menu above the pizza kitchen and filipino-looking chefs. good atmosphere as well.

the next day a trip to brunswick street, the more alternative sector of town, according to suiyi. music people, arty people.. you get the idea. we stopped at a spanish chocolatier called san churro and had churros. -_-" but it was good! hot churros dipped in dark chocolate sauce and chocolate milkshake. decadent decadent.

we returned back to the city centre and went to the windsor hotel. always wanted to take a look at the hotel, because its the only grand hotel in melbourne, built in 1886, i think, and i wanted to see how different it was to raffles hotel. loved the front entrance alr.

the "ladies' powder room", as they call it. pretty! but not as nice as raffles. heh. unbending loyalty to my former employer. as andre would agree, RH has the best shittable toilets outside your own home. hahaha.

thought i looked stupid trying to get a picture of myself in the telephone booth. the booth was an old elevator transformed to well, a booth, so it was quite cool.

and since we were in the area, i decided to look for the best chinese restaurant in the world, and really the best - from all the rankings there are of restaurants - flower drum. you cnt get a table without booking months in advance.

its so discreet the door has no signs on it. could see the manager standing just inside the door though. wish i could eat there. wish i could eat there. ahh!

coming back soon!

velda.

three days before easter sunday.

2007-04-07T23:51:00.001+10:00

happy easter everyone. loads of shops in melbourne were closed on good friday, but still because of the number of shops here,quite a number were still open in the city. ahha. so this easter weekend was dedicated to a bit of sightseeing and shopping, obviously. i dont know why, but i bought stuff for people rather than for myself on thursday night out. hmm.

this is chadstone, a huge shopping mecca near hughesdale station, tts about err, maybe 45 minutes out of the city by train. its really big, and i dont think suiyi and i finished walking the place.

but after buying stuff for people.. (you willknow when i get home), we went to [the pancake parlour] for dinner. ate until super full. tts me trying to pretend im glaring at the menu thinking of my order. sorry very lame.

oishii! looks good eh? ^^ tt was my dessert, for goodness. tts why i ate until i was about to burst. >_<

the next day.. finally, the real reason why i came to melbourne. like i said, i was not very impressed by RMIT university, and the moment i stepped down the tram outside the univeristy of melbourne, i felt good. below are some pictures of the place, loved it. it had the feeling of an old, established institution, and was really beautiful.

suiyi has pictures of me on her camera pretending im a student walking down the pathways, reading book on the stairs etc. ^^"

this beautiful building was the archaeology centre or something. nicee..

look! tts a classroom or lecture theatre door! suddenly feel like taking archaeology...

returning back to the city after that rewarding trip to unimelb, a sort of funfair was set up to celebrate the comedy festival, and suiyi and i got on tt ferris wheel. it was great to see the yarra river from the top, but it was freaking cold and windy. i love ferris wheels though, so i enjoyed myself. =)

and today.. went to richmond to do more factory outlet shopping.. - the number of factory outlets in melbourne itself is astounding. in case u are wondering, this is tom, my chef lego badge thingie i bought at the camberwell market last week. super cute lah! but i dropped his hat somewhere today, damn.

when we got down at richmond station, we were caught in the crowd of people on their way to watch an australian rules football match. they were all decked out in their team colours and everything; like tt kind of atmosphere a lot.

last picture of the day: look at the latte art! we were in this italian/middle eastern/i dont know what cuisine cafe, and the barrista did this! i was really impressed - tt is really seriously scarily beautiful.

velda.

pastafiniri!

2007-04-04T22:49:00.000+10:00

just some pics from what ive been doing these past couple of days.. btw, andre's back from his PRC trip.. wahah. finarri!

south park on tv. its the manbearpig episode from the tenth season.. why oh why doesnt singapore show south park?

met suiyi for dinner, but before that, went up to her studio to have a little peek. this is how it looks like from the second floor down. the big R suiyi just bought; and its so big she couldnt bring it home.. so she just.. erm.. sort of left it there. haha.

opposite her workplace was a bar called revolver, which had a thai restaurant at the back. realised that ever since arriving in melbourne, we had dinners at many many asian restaurants ah. ^^" so we decided we had to have pasta soon.

the next day, i went out to the city to do a spot of visiting shops i wanted to go, before gg for the opening show of jim henson puppet up! was kind of afraid i wouldnt get the jokes, but it was hilarious. was laughing till tears came out of my eyes. which hurt, because my skin peeling from dry weather. haha.

and finally we went for angmoh food, at a place called the italian waiters' club. was really noisy, but i kind of like it. also had a lot of pasta varieties i have no idea about, and the menu was in italian. so it was like "tortellini alla crema" and "fettucine paglia e fieno".. tmd what is it?! haha. quite funny actually. but tts an abstract picture of the bruschetta we had. yummy!

enjoying my tortellini bologna. beef all the way~ haha.

went home via parliament station. the escalator is veryyy long.. and very slow. probably took us like 2 minutes to get down it. haha.

velda.

the weekend.

2007-04-02T16:15:00.000+10:00

australians have a sense of humour as well i guess. haha. at the prahran station while waiting for the train. we were at prahran town hall where there was a warehouse sale of CK jeans. wahh very tiring to search for nice jeans man. so i bought a jacket. corduroy, andre! selling price=$199; bought it for $69 aussie dollars. saved $130.

southern cross station, which has just been refurbished. the platforms 9 and 10. platform 9¾?! er, my sense of humour is like, up till there only, sorry ah. >_< haha. but quite cool right. the station very big mah, i was amazed.

shopping at direct factory outlet. why doesnt singapore have these kind of cool ideas? its a big shopping space where all the factory outlets from all the shops across australia gather. so i bought loads of stuff.
nine west satin flats for $49 - probably saved $50 a least
country road shorts for $6 (freaking!) - original price $85 (why the hell sell at $85 in the first place!) - saved $80
black tee for $10
jeans for $19.95, cnt rmb from where leh.. but cheap!
cnt rmb if i bought other stuff...

vietnamese pho at night for dinner. very good.. the soup was to die for. and the small portion was in such a big bowl. i dont know how anyone can finish the big portion. ^^"

the next day at melbourne central. melissa! i spotted krispy kreme donuts, but there was a queue and i wasnt in the mood for sweet stuff. so i took a picture. haha. dont really know if i can bring them back though. =)

breadtop! floss buns? i wasnt sure, because i wouldnt step in.

we went to queen victoria market to see if we could get some nougat for people back home, but because we were distracted by shopping in melbourne central, the shops all close le. hahaha! but got camel ride for $5. remember sitting the pony ride there the first time i was in melbourne, and my grandpa took a picture with the butcher at QVM.. heheh.

the pet shop was nice, because they had a lot of cute birds. these are zebra finches, and they like to sit next to each other on the perch. very sweet. and ten dollars only. how i wish i could buy the whole cage. haha.

and this guinea pig damn cute lah! they have this trademark pertinent expresssion, dont you think?

this was really funny. because we were in queen victoria market, and it was approaching easter, they put a bunny hat thingie on queen victoria's head, and printed the image on the posters everywhere. i dont know whether i should laugh or cry.

RMIT university. too many asians about, it was scary. and the architecture and design of the building... not much to write home about. not an altogether charming feel i have about the uni though. heard our senior managed to get 1½ years advanced standing in tt place though.

more next time eh. =)

velda.

the week.

2007-03-30T23:06:00.000+10:00

whoops havent updated this in a while. well, have been slacking most of the week. so i didnt really have anything to say. but yesterday, i went back to chapel street to do shopping this time - havent really spent money - >_<

a shot of chapel street. you can see mimco opposite - they sell really nice bags, but i used to think they were cheaper stuff.. tt day i went back i got quite a shock. there was this really chio red bag that was AUD$450. bleah.

and i bought some cosmetics! yay. my foundation had finished, and i wanted to buy the same one from bobbi brown, but i went to kit cosmetics and had fun playing with the skincare products, the foundation and the eye shadow and stuff, and so i ended up buying the jemma kidd creme foundation, which is really nice. bought bronzing powder from MAC as well. happy. ^^

today, being friday night, suiyi and i went out into the city to do a spot of shopping. was quite late when we left the house - and very cold as well, so we were sort of bundled in scarves and coats. =) the hawksburn train station at 6 something. nice eh. on the train we saw many people in same coloured scarves and carrying flags on their way to watch australian rules football - seems like today was the first match of the season. i like leh, but suiyi like not interested in these kind of stuff. haha.

flinders street station with the clocks. there was a huge crowd in front of the station waiting for people, it seems, and there was music and everything as well.

horses on the street. couldnt get a really good shot of them, so i had to enhance it. there were just carriages and the horses were just travelling on the street together with the cars and the trams. kind of cool, actually. haha.

after shopping at target, where i bought a belt, a white shirt and cookie monster undies (hee!).. we went for korean food. very cool restaurant exterior, and very nice atmosphere inside. the waiters all quite seh also. heheh.

korean food always has these kind of small dishes by the side - but i dont really care for kimchi and other sour, pickeled kind of veggies.

miso soup and this really good glass noodle dish drenched in sesame oil. it's really good man. miso soup never tasted this good. funny, the best miso soup i had was in a korean restaurant. i need to feed myself more japanese food then.

and the bbq! i think i can be like a food photographer bah. i take nice food pics! haha. it was good, but i dont like big, really matured taugeh?

its 13 degrees now, coldd, but i like. everyone was in scarves and boots. factory outlet shopping tmr, hees.

velda.

doggie day out.

2007-03-26T00:34:00.000+10:00

sunday = doggie day. haha. or rather, just whippet day. i didnt know [whippet] was a breed of dog until my aunt told me her friend, glenn, owned one. and so today, we woke up early for a long drive down to healesville for sort of like a whippet sports day of sorts, where all whippet owners from around the state of victoria gather to race their dogs and basically make friends. whippets are like smaller versions of greyhounds, so they can run super fast.

this is glenn's dog, wesley. he's a very very quiet puppy, only 7 months old, and a very good boy when it comes to travelling on the road. on the way home, he was so tired out, that he came up to me halfway in the journey and put his head on my lap. how sweet can a dog get?! aww. i fell in love with wesley straight.

at the gathering, we saw six whippet puppies in a playpen. this one came up tome and whined his head off. sweet eh. their eyes are really beautiful.

suiyi and i sort of christened this dog xiao bai, like crayon shin-chan's dog, because he's really white. think he's only half a whippet, his ears are sticking up instead of folded down. but he was so excited to see the other dogs racing that he kept barking at the mechanised rabbit.

traditional aussie barbie~ imagine me saying tt in an australian accent! but there were burgers and sausages. and guys in aprons over the grill. haha!

i managed to get a picture of this whippet here names stella who has a really pretty coat of fur. like branded dog like tt. ^^

a stop at this really cool cafe called [innocent bystander] (they have a wine cellar next door that you can see the barrels of wine) and had flourless chocolate cake with iced chocolate. good cake man. woot!

came home with a blasted headache because i cnt take long car rides, but it was worth it, the trip. anws, managed to get this shot of twilight from suiyi's balcony. beautiful colours. =)

miss u guys, though. hope u all stay happy and healthy eh. more stuff will come up soon. oh yah, by the way, it was daylight savings yesterday so now im officially 2 hours ahead of singapore instead of three. hehe!

velda.

festivals galore.

2007-03-25T04:55:00.000+10:00

had a seriously long day today, so i have a lot of pictures! haha. suiyi and i left the house at 11.30am to meet her friend, phyllis, who is this really nice hong kong girl, and we made our way to city centre. it was freezing at around 11 degrees with the wind blowing in gusts. melbourne weather is sick. it was 37 degrees yesterday!? and so we first went to federation square for brunch.

this is how fed square looks like. contemporary designs stocked full with restaurants and exhibition halls and galleries.

where we were planning to go today: the 12th FINA festival, and the osaka melbourne festival at the docklands.

pancakes pancakes for me! was really sweet, but good... decadent, really. and suiyi had egg omelette, which i stole a bit, and phyllis had eggs florentine (which i stole a bit too). heheh.

then we took tram 48 to the docklands, when we got down, we saw the seven building, as in the tv station. nice design eh. =)) imagine yourself working there. woo!

the osaka melbourne festival was to celebrate the melbourne-osaka yacht race, where 2 sailors in a yacht each race each other to sail from melbourne to osaka in japan. how sick is tt? tts far! haha. the view at the docklands was spectacular, but very colddd.

we wrote tanabata, i dont know tt means the day or the wishes, but by writing your wishes down and tying it on a bamboo tree, it will come true. so i wrote "being happy" in japanese, and suiyi and phyllis copied. hah!

there's phyllis tying her wish on the tree. =) the higher the better, we thought, so suiyi pulled down the highest branch. -_-"

some people also carried the mikoshi, which was a shrine thing. look at left side of photo: shuai japanese guy alert. woot! the one in black hor, dont see wrong. there were dance demonstrations as well, and osakan food. not tt great a festival though, if you arent a japanese freak as i am.

so we went over back to fed square, where mannny manny performances were showing - for free. there were roving performances, and the first act we saw was these three frenchmen on fake horsebacks. very damned cute. especially this guy with the ponytail below. his expression was priceless man.

cute right? i was laughing my ass off. and he raised his eyebrow at me. haha. they were so into character.

then there was a performance about synchronised swimming in the air. they climbed up tall poles and bent back and forth on the poles. quite scary, but very funny.

these three african guys, called the zim boys, were really good. acrobatic feats, balancing, and great humour. fun. and really fit. we saw many many half naked men doing acrobatics and somersaults today, it was scary. half-drooling liao. haha!

this act was funny. these guys were playing normal instrments, but they were gliding in circles on wheels hidden underneath the long black thingies. it was hilarious, but very amusing.

and more naked men at night inside the BMW edge of fed square. really a lot, really. 11.30pm saw the mini theatre-like area turn into a club with DJ mr. scruff (who's what? supposed to be really famous?) but we were too tired. took the tram home. isnt it great trams run till like 12 midnight even?

long day. need sleep. now. nights!

velda.

friday 23rd march.

2007-03-24T01:38:00.000+11:00

"you dont have to see somebody to know that you love him." - koby abberton

watched [bra boys] with suiyi today at the jam factory, was surprisingly good. it was sort of like a feature docuementary cum movie on the bra boys, a surf tribe from maroubra beach in sydney. it mainly focuses on the lives of the surfers there, and on the abberton brothers. sunny abberton is the write/producer/director of the film, and the story of their life in maroubra is spelled out beautifully in the whole film.

koby made tt quote when he was talking bout his brother, jai, who got hauled up in court for murdering a guy who was a rapist and a murderer. seems like he's a champion surfer, very famous guy. he takes up a lot of screen time in the film, and i did enjoy it. =)

was on msn yesterday and poppy came over to sit next to me and the laptop. super sweet! and she looks like she's staring at the chat window! haha, andy, told you she interested in cao ge lah.

ominous sky. finally after two days of terribly hot weather (i think it hit 37 degrees today) it rained for a short while this evening, and that brought the temperature down to 19 degrees. how crazy can melbourne weather get eh. but tt's good. long itinerary tomorrow. and very exciting. but ill leave tt for tmr's update. ^^

velda.

first day.

2007-03-23T02:21:00.000+11:00

now i finally got a cable to upload my pictures! have been in melbourne for a full 24 hours alr, and the weather has not been good! it was 33 degrees today, and i totally didnt realise anything. it feels exactly like singapore lah! haha. but i heard it will get better by saturday. =) okay, some photos of the trip:

my boarding pass! with mummy in the background. we were sitting in macdonald's and the singapore swim team came in. mum was freakin loud, and she went like, "eh, maybe these two shuai ges will sit next to you!" paisehh..

emo vance and me. haha. very emoo. just before i entered the other side of the airport. nicee eh changi.

the sky outside of the plane changed throughout the whole journey. was next to a really sweet couple. krisworld wasnt as exciting as i expected, so i stuck to my laptop throughout the trip and resorted to napping. >_< the picture above was a shot of adelaide from the plane.

took the skybus from the airport down to the city centre, and then cabbed down to motherwell street, where suiyi lived! see suiyi very act cute. but cute hor!

then we went out to the supermarket, and i thought the red tipped bananas were reallly cute. eco bananas? and a humongous carton of milk. two litres!

walked chapel street and prahran market today. chapel street is this whole street of shops and cafes, and the people on the street and really beautiful. haha. jam factory is like an institution on the street. think i know the street quite well alr, walked it quite a few times today.

popcorn aka poppy aka pop-pop the cat. her eyes are one green, one blue. and she's very sweet! she loves lying on top of my luggage, really.

and then suiyi and i went out to her client's launch party on commercial road, just off chapel street. free flow of drinks, more beautiful ppl, good tapas food.. and funny people like johnny! he's really funny and totally agreed to pose in this picture. if only i had the champagne... i just got a bottle of asahi. wahaha. website. suiyi drew the character many years ago for veronica, who is this reallly pretty boss of the place.

isnt tt nice? MEANY! on a green bike on our way home.

and i couldnt stop eating. had a souvlaki on chapel street. its a greek pita wrap with chicken that has been roasting on a spit for hours, so the chicken is super tender and super good. and i dropped a big piece on the street. (-"-;)

many many pictures just one the first day. =) hehe. hope the weather turns colder.

velda.

blogging from changi.

2007-03-21T12:12:00.000+11:00

always had this dream of blogging from the airport. haha! i fulfilled it, i guess. and im taking the same flight as the singapore swim team on their way to FINA championships. sng ju wei, tao li.. hahah. exciting! 1/2 hour before the flight leaves.

im off!

velda.

itinerary.

2007-03-19T01:20:00.000+11:00

21st March: 2020hrs - Arrival in Melbourne Tullamarine Airport

22nd March: Getting to know the neighbourhood - South Melbourne walk!
Drinks at suiyi's client's studio.

23rd March: Melbourne City Centre - Visitor Centre @ Fed Square
Swanston Street, Bourke Street, Little Bourke Street

24th March: International FLOUR Festival @ Fed Square

25th March: Wicked Sunday @ Fed Square & Festival Weekend @ Birrarung Marr to celebrate Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and 12th FINA World Championships

30th March: Swimming Heats @ Rod Laver Arena - 12th FINA World Championships

4th April: The Jim Henson Company's PUPPET UP! - Uncensored @ the Princess Theatre

*subject to further updates! ^^

velda.

flight.

2007-03-12T08:04:00.000+11:00

flight details:

Departing:
Singapore(SIN) on Wed, 21 Mar 2007, 0955 hrs

Arriving:
Melbourne(MEL) on Wed, 21 Mar 2007, 2020 hrs

Flight:
SQ217 (B777-300) Economy Class

Seat:
53A (Check-in at Terminal 2) @ 0725 hrs

cnt wait. really.