Melb Melb!

Just returned to Syd from Melb!!

Melbourne was sooo much fun! It was so enjoyable and definitely missed by me. Made me really miss the people. The trip was good, but I brought down an assignment hoping I'll finish it there - and um... didn't do any of it. At least I read the notes though... So at least I didn't feel all that guilty. It's actually due this coming Mon and I'm going Argghghhh at the moment. Working tomorrow from 2:30pm, but am expecting a few early mornings and maybe late nights.

Anywayz, my little trip to Melb was worth it. What I did dislike a lot was the weather... It was sunny and looked pretty nice most days I was there. But the sun, as some of you know, is quite deceiving - and it ended up to be cold, cold days. It was really dry too, and my face was drying up and peeling - even the moisturisers weren't doing the bestest of jobs.

My adventure in Melb:
The day I arrived in Melb - Arrived on Sat midnight and it was supposed to be sunny (as the forecast said), but it rained. Can't predict Melb's weather. Poor TY's car got really filthy and dusty. So after we went home and unloaded my stuff at his place, TY had to go back down to the carpark to wipe off all the excess dirt and water off his car to make it shiny again.

Day 1 - It was church day, and TY and I woke early and grabbed a quick breakfast at QV before going to church. Bumped into a few people... After church, a few of us gathered for lunch at this Jap Ramen place. It was pretty good. Then after, we just hung around for more. It was still early so we ended up watching Wall-E. The movie was sweet. And the animation was awesome. Didn't think the story line was gonna be that good, but it was. Especially if you're a green kind of person I think. After the movie, we gathered to have dinner and to watch the Singapore F1 outing at W's place. There were quite a few of us... Well, we got Chinese takeaway and then headed over to W's. It was still early for the Singapore F1, so we switched on Idol. Some of the others just played comp games. I have to say the Singapore F1 was amazing. Ch 10 had a really cool opening promo for it. I guess because it's the first ever broadcast in Singapore. At least they made it look like Singapore wasn't all China-town like. I saw a documentary before on Singapore and they never showed Singapore with its modernised city. Instead, the documentary showed Chinatown and Little India - the towns that don't look so great. And in fact, it's not where the new generation of cool kids hang out. And it might be shocking to some of us, but many people here in Aust actually don't know that English is our first language - perhaps because we have different syntax. They are usually quite surprised when I tell them that that's the case. It is quite sad that people don't really know that... Anyway, the F1 race was pretty exciting. I'm quite glad that Alonso won, because Hamilton - even though he's spunky, he seems to have this sense of pride and chauvinistic outlook about him that I don't really like.

Day 2 - TY had work, so I slept in. And when I woke, just started reading my assignment notes for a bit and surfed emails. Then met up with a few really close friends for lunch. There were 6 of us all together and we had great Malay-type food. Unfortunately I'm not a chilli person so couldn't eat a lot of the spice... But the dishes weren't very hot anywayz and very yummy. I think the rest just had sympathy on me, so they ordered all the not-so-spicy dishes... Hee! Thanks guys! M gave me a really nice surprise by not telling me that D, her fiance, took the day off and would join us for lunch! But they were the first ones to leave cause they had to run wedding errands. WH had to go to work so he couldn't stay long either... The rest of us just hung around chatting and talking about everything. It was good catch-up. I was actually planning to head back to finish off my assignment, and the rest were also wanting to finish off their assignments. But by the time we all planned to leave, it was already 4 something in the afternoon. And to think we were there from 12:30pm talking nonstop. As I headed back, TY finished work, so then we just met up there and then. We started making our way to M's place to have dinner with her, D and her housemates. They brought us to this Chinese seafood restaurant and it was actually pretty good. The restaurant had automatic doors. That was quite cool. Haha! I mean, usually I don't see that everyday. Then after that, we headed back to their place, chatted and chilled mainly... until it was pretty late.

Day 3 - TY took the day off! He organised this outing to go to Werribee Open Range and invited a few others. But in the end, it was only 4 of us. Everyone got a lift in TY's car. Then we went for breakfast at this really nice place near Vic Mart. When we went to Werribee, we decided to take the Safari bus, but when we took it, there wasn't a lot we saw. Like the zoo was actually having a few construction bits to put in new enclosures for primates, dingoes, etc... We got to see a few wildlife, such as the girraffes, rhinos and zebras, but was a little disappointed because I wanted to see the big cats really up close. At least we saw camels though, and one with a deformed lip. Hee! The walking trail was much better though. Pics going on Facebook soon! So stay tuned. After the trip, we sent S home and caught up with this other friend, L, and together, we all went to watch Eagle Eye. It was pretty good. Nice little action film, but very similar story line to iRobot. Then after the movie - I can't believe we did this - but we sneaked in to watch another movie - for free of course. We watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth. It actually wasn't too bad. People were saying it's quite bad - the acting and all. But it was actually pretty good - loved the visualeffects. I didn't mind it at all.

Day 4 - TY took the day off again. This time, it was only us - our little date. Hee! We didn't really do much... It was a quiet one - but good quiet. We wanted to look for a place that had baby animals, like a farm, wildlife santuary, etc... but couldn't find anything. The only place that would have been worth seeing was at the Melbourne Show, but it was already over... =( Next time I guess... Anyway, TY brought me to this Malaysian restaurant somewhere in Doncaster for lunch. It's called Straits Cafe. Really excellent, cheap food. I finished the whole plate and would have loved to try other stuff there. Probably when I'm next in Melb. After lunch, we headed to Westfield Doncaster to see its new refurbishment. Most of the shops were already opened in there except for a few. But what we saw - it was really, really good - they had almost everything there. Definitely better than the old Westfield. And at least it's not like Chadstone which is too big still. It's bigger, but at least it's not too tiring and confusing just by walking around the shops. We explored for a bit and then headed home and started watching Heroes. Man, it's soooo good that we watched three episodes straight (including the preview episode for this season). I can't wait for the next few episodes!! TY also burned me a few other movies and TV shows. Yes, I've got quite a lot to get through... And I'll need a bigger hard-drive soon, because the one I've got is running out of mem quickly. I guess once the hols are near... or when I have that free time... After the shows, TY brought me to the airport. In fact, I wasn't at all late. The flight was delayed and apparently it got delayed about four times. After my flight eventually departed and landed in Sydney, the captain apologised and he said that the previous flight had a technical fault which caused delays. At least 6 flights were delayed all over Australia from Sydney when I boarded. In fact, Virgin Blue was so much better to fly with compared to Qantas. I was surprised... but the Virgin Blue staff (at the help desk and also in the plane) were friendly (they are probably more light-hearted, but also professional) and the flight landing was really smooth. The Qantas staff weren't very friendly at the help desk and the flight wasn't very comforting... The pilot kept pressing on the accelerator and you could hear it. Somehow, the Qantas flight I was on had really noisy engines and motors... It didn't feel very comforting. The Virgin Blue plane on the other hand was excellent even though it was delayed by an hour. But am back now and that's all that matters. It was a safe blessed journey. =)

For the next few days, I'll probably need to do some real planning - my timetable's gone out of whack a bit. The first plan is working on my assignment tomorrow morning and then work. It'll be like that for a few days... unti the assignment is due on Mon. But then I'll still need to work on other assignments before M, D and TY head over to Syd for a few days.