The amazing adventures of Tweet And Ribbit: March 2009

Day 4: Dandenong Ranges

blabbered by Chin Chin

I am not sure if I stated the reason I was in Melbourne was to attend my cousin, Ryan's wedding which was to take place at the Dandenong Ranges. Today the plan was to hit the Dandenong Ranges before the wedding and do a short hike. We wanted to have a relatively late start to the morning so that everyone had ample time to rest. Si Wan's father wanted to conquer the 1000 steps at the Ferntree Gully National Park. My parents felt they weren't in the mood for such strenous activity so they chose to forego the hike. Bins and I decided then to join the Wong family.

The drive to Dandenong from where we were staying was only suppose to take 30minutes but the GPS really led us on a wild goose chase and we ended up taking 1hour to find the start of the trail. It was overhyped the 1000 steps and it really didn't take much athletic ability to walk up it. I was envious of a couple of guys/girls who were running up and down it. Wish I could have joined them instead!

After the hike, we rallied on to the fame Miss Marple's tea room to indulge in some famous English delicacies. I had the famous fingers which was basically an open faced sandwich that was toasted. I chose to have the champagne ham, cheddar and chutney one. I ordered their so-called signature tea which ended up being terribly disappointing and tasting like bad Chinese tea. Their scones were also a let down although their jam was to-die for! All in all everyone definitely indulged to the fullest.

From Miss Marple, it was a mad, mad rush to the wedding hotel at Poet's Lane. I rushed to check-in and then my sister and I scrambled to get ready in 45minutes. We managed to get ready and be at the hall by 3.55pm. Whew! Just 5 minutes short of the start. Unfortunately, the wedding ceremony got delayed by almost an hour because the priest got stuck in a traffic jam! He finally arrived and the ceremony was officiated with some pretty amusing anecdotes from the priest. It turns out he's quite a celebrity priest and has his own radio show and all. He also happens to drive a car with a huge sticker on the side with his face on it, saying "In Bob we trust".

The ceremony was (unlike Chinese weddings) very solemn and simple. Just the reading of vows, the exchange of rings and that was it. It was very touching really. I felt really touched. I do get like that at church weddings. After that a group photo session ensued and it was following by cocktails before dinner.

Dinner was 3 course with plenty of alcohol (what's new). First course was a stuffed crepe with a cream filling. Second course was a choice between chicken and beef. I choose beef but my sister got stuck with chicken as they served a 50-50 choice to each table. Turned out the chicken was so much better. Dessert was buffer style. I choose to have the pavlova (thanks to they hype from my running group mate) and an apple-raspberry crumble. The crumble was good.

Me with my Godsis and her husband, Mervyn

Ah, the infamous Tan siblings, sister Bins and bro Seng

The dinner was filled with plenty of dancing in between and more alcohol. When we got chased out of the dinner hall, the groomsmen started an after party in one of the hotel rooms but my siblings were too pooped to bother. My parents decided not to stay the night and followed Uncle Michael back. My sister, brother and I remained.

Alcohol intake: 3 glasses champagne + 2 glasses of white wine + 1 glass of red wine + 1 glass of port

Day 3: Mornington Peninsula

blabbered by Chin Chin

I made a "run date" to go out to run with Geraldine (part of Frank's Platinum running group) to run at 7am around her housing area. She had just moved to Melbourne a couple months back. It was a 'nice' hilly 12k route. After the run I showered at her house while she took her kids to school. Then she came back and we had breakfast together. Thanks Geraldine for making me breakfast!

Geraldine and me, post-run

The very nice Lexus my uncle loaned me for the trip!

Then I rushed back to meet with my family and extended family to head to Sorrento Pier at the Mornington Peninsula. Today we were going on a dolphin watching tour. A total of 16 of us joined the tour. Out of that number, only 5 of us decided we were going to go into the freezing water to swim with the dolphins. My sister and I did it because we thought it was going to be a good experience.

The ship basically sets out from the pier and try to visually hunt for the bottlenose dolphins. When spotted the ship try to intercept the school. A rope with buoys called a mermaid line is thrown into the ocean and the swimmers drop into the water holding on to the mermaid line the whole time. The mermaid is for safety as well as conservation. It ensures we stay safe and not get pulled away by very, very strong tidal waves. It also prevents us from trying to touch the dolphins as that isn't allowed.

It was such a cool experience as the dolphins seem to love us and swam really, really close. They were very playful too and did plenty of cool stunts around the boat. At one time, I managed to see a total of 4 adult dolphins, all within touching arms reach. It was kind of scary at times as I worry I would accidentally kick them while threading water. All in all it was a superb experience.

Night was a family BBQ at Uncle Brian's house where we had some excellent meats off the grill as welll as some really tasty 'siew yoke' my aunt made. Not forgetting tons of beer and wine.

Alcohol intake: 1 beer + 3 glass of red wine

Day 2: Melbourne City

blabbered by Chin Chin

My very ambitious sister, Bins decided we will do a walking tour of Melbourne city although I had worries on how my aging parents would deal with it. I woke up EARLY that day at 6.30am since she intended to depart at 8am. My parents took their own sweet time and we ended up departing only close to 9am.

The plan was to have breakfast somewhere along Bridge Road where the old building were preserved and converted into businesses. We decided upon a bakery/cafe called Chimmy's after seeing all the accolades it has received from various magazines/newspapers. It was a tad bit pricey but very, very good bread. Those who know me should know I always complain there is not enough good bread in Malaysia. I have found it in Melbourne! My sister and I shared the big fry up (organic sausage, bacon, field mushrooms, eggs and toast), pain perdue drizzled with honey and served with fresh strawberries. My dad and mum shared the roasted beef baguette. Both tasted fantastic!

We then proceeded via tram down to Federation Square to the ACMI I(Australian Center for Moving Images). The plan was to catch an exhibition called "Setting the Scene" there but my sister thought it cost too much ($15) and would take too much time. We decided to walk along the Yarra River bank and to hit the Royal Botanics Garden instead since my mum LOVES flowers. The walk to the Botanic Gardens was SUPER far! (I know, I know, me runner, but I hate to walk!). We didn't spend much time there as we had plenty to do.

We then took the free tourist shuttle back to Fed Square and proceed to walk to Elizabeth Street. We stopped by this hippy alley called Degraves Street for lunch at Degraves Cafe which was apparently one of the first espresso bar in Melbourne. It such a funky street to be in. The espresso was great but the food so-so.

From Degraves we walked to Collins Street which has all the designer boutiques and a lot of churches. We stopped at two of the churches to look inside. We also managed to slip in a Belgian Spoil at a famous chocolatier called Koko Black. I thought the chocolate ice cream was the best! The St Patrick Church was by far the largest and most impressive.

Our next stop was to be Smith Street where it was my turn to go crazy and shop for factory outlet sport stuff. Unfortunately, the tram stop we choose was at the opposite end of where the shops were. By the time we got to the shops, they were closed for the day. Shops in Melbourne close EARLY! Like 5pm. Gosh!

Dinner was with the whole extended family at an Italian place called The Mess Hall on Burke Street. I had the tagliatelle with rabbit ragu which went great with the glass of Persecco that I had. The pasta was homemade and the dish was very light.

The rest of my family opted to go walk around at the Crown. I chose to go home with my uncle to rest for the night as I had a "run date" the next morning at 7am.

Alcohol intake: 1 beer + 1 glass of Persecco + 1/2 glass of red wine

Day 1: Melbourne

blabbered by Chin Chin

I had a simple breakfast of fresh peach, muesli and yoghurt before I set off to meet my father and sister, Bins who were staying with my Uncle Michael. My mum woke up late and when we went to Uncle Michael's place, there was a lot of dilly dallying waiting for my sister and mum to get ready. By the time we left it was almost lunch time.

It was suppose to be a free and easy day. The plan was to hit the DFO (Direct Factory Outlet) so my sister can do some massive shopping. Uncle Brian dropped us off at the Boxhill train station to take the train into the city. When we arrived we decide to walk down to the Docklands for lunch. It was quite a walk but we made it and had a pretty good lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant called Mecca Bah.

After that we took the tram back up and stopped by Krispy Kreme for a few donuts and coffee. We had the classic original glazed (the ones in US still tasted better) and a chocolate iced custard filled. We then seriously hit the DFO where my sister tried to find some boots and a jacket. I tried to entertain some wishful thinking by trying on triathlete suits at the 2XU outlet.

The cherry on the cake has to be dinner with Lynn's best friend, Jasmine at the Crown. We met at the Brasserie by Philippe Mouchel. I had the "Spanner crab salad, avocado cream, confit tomato, eggplant" for appetiser and "Duck breast with braised daikon, onion chutney, confit leg spring rolls, spiced jus" for entree. Together with that we shared a bottle of wine the Cape Mentelle Cabernet-Merlot. We ended with the "Dark chocolate fondant, raspberry compote and sorbet ". Perfect. I was so stuff and so guilty for indulging so much!

A BIG THANK YOU TO JASMINE FOR TREATING ME! As I said at dinner and will say again, you shouldn't have!

Overall a great start to my time in Melbourne. So much more to look forward to!

Alcohol intake: 1 glass white wine + 1/2 bottle red wine

(Pics to follow)

-Chin Chin-

Tweet's first night in Melbourne

blabbered by Chin Chin

My experience flying AirAsiaX was a 3-hour flight delay thus only arriving in Melbourne at 3.30am in the morning. My poor Uncle Brian and Aunty Irene had to come pick us up. I spent a night in their camper van as they ran out of bedrooms for us and it was too late to bring us over to Uncle Mike's place.

The food on AirAsiaX was so small and cost RM16 for nasi lemak?!? And they pretty much ran out of anything on the second time around. I ended up paying RM6 for cup noodles?!? The upside of things was that the flight was 50% empty so I manage to laid myself out over 3 chairs and slept a decent 3 hours.

No pictures of Melbourne yet but I had fun with the Snuffles.