Day 4: Dandenong Ranges

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