Melbourne : Rest & Relax

Before we went to Tasmania & Sydney, we actually rested one day at Melbourne first. With a toddler around, I thought its better we just stay in and rest since we didn't manage to catch enough z on the plane.

After a few hours nap, its already afternoon Melbourne time.

We stayed at Oink's uncle's house. And he has a hen. And tomato is fascinated in animals. Everyday if we are there, she will request to look at kok-kok-kei (chicken) 'x' And since I was there too to watch over her, I noticed something different about ang-mo-kei (foreign country's chicken). Our malaysian chickens run like no tomorrow when sight us, but this chicken, was very curious, and tried to get closer and look at us back instead. LOL

The weather was good, and I wanted to walk around the neighbourhood. It was quiet, with not much people.

And we chance upon a playground much to Tomato's delight. And it was empty. Where were all the people??!! O.O

The sky seem blue-er at Australia, and also vast-er.

Korean Vegetable Pancake

Saw this at food-4tots.com and immediately felt that I should try it.

However, ahahaha, I have altered the recipe a bit. I halved the salt, used cucumber instead of zucchini, and omitted pumpkin & capsicums. And I think I messed up the dipping. :p

But still, I think its a good try. I will definitely make it again.

Sydney Day 3 - Manly Beach, then to Melbourne

Our last day at Sydney. How I wished we stayed longer. It was also the hottest day we every had at Australia.

After breakfast, we took the free shuttle bus from George Street to Circular Quay again. Since its free, it was really packed. 'x' It took a while to go to Circular Quay as its making stops to pick up more people. 'x'! 

I really regretted boarding the free bus LOL. It was near 11am when we arrived 'x' And our plane to Melbourne is 3+pm 'x'!!!  we missed the 11am ferry to Manly and had to wait till 11.30am for the next one. I was so worried about how much time we have.  

It took around 30 mins to arrive Manly. All throughout the ride, I keep praying that we could arrive earlier. 'x' But look! The water is so nice, the sky is so blue!

It was HOT. Really hot day. Some random church I guess which I didn't get the name 'x' We only had limited time on Manly and there's no time to find out names. *ahem*

Obligatory tourist-y photo. SO SO HOT. But what nice beaches they have. Anyway, even with the little limited time we had, I still insist on having Ben & Jerry. LOL!! Its too hot, ok? I need to cool down.

With less than an hour spent there, we took the ferry back to Circular Quay, and this time we are smarter, we decide to take the train back to Central. I then came out with a master plan. Oink is to rush back to the  hotel to get our luggages while I will buy the train tickets to airport + buy lunch.

Anyway, we were in time. Thank God. Sydney Airport look so nice and huge, I regret we didn't have time to explore it, should have checked out earlier and just come explore the airport 'x' LOL. Didn't get to check out the airport when we landed a few days ago because it was already late night when we landed.

There was a guest in front of us who was too late for check in, he kept face-palm himself 'x'

And because we were last to check in, we got the last row seats 'x' which was window-less, and I pity the person who sat next to us, cos Tomato was as excited as usual when in the plane. I said person, cause till this day, I am not sure its a SHE or a HE. I thought its a HE because erm, the person was big, had short hair, wore like a man. Oink insist that its a SHE because of the higher pitched voice. Oh well, whatever 'x'

When we arrived at Tiger Airways's terminal at Tullamarine, we had the shock of our lives 'x' LOL. This, ladies and gentleman, is the terminal, do not doubt me. Oink said look like some kind of factory. LOL. He can't stop laughing, and I think he posted this photo in FB 'x'

Sydney Day 2 - Darling Harbour, Fish Market, ydney Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge

It was a lovely warm sunny day. We took train from Central Station to Town Hall Station and then walked all the way to Darling Harbour from there. I really regretted we forgot to attach the rain cover to Tomato's buggy as the sun was really bright. So I kept walking & pushing the buggy in a fast pace until I reach the shaded area :-p.

After getting all sweaty, we arrived! Tomato got all excited cos there's a pretty cool playground there. * shiny eyes*

Happily exploring around. We saw a few families with kids there. Have I told you I love Sydney?

The playground was really well maintained.

They have all these cool recreational equipments. Like this one. Your kid sits on it, and slides from one higher end to the other end where the spring mechanism at the receiving end will spring you back if with enough momentum. But my kid is still too light, and can't do it her own, but she  was willing and dare to try it when we ask whether she wanted to have a go. Oink helped her. At some point, Oink let go of his hands and run after her to make sure she doesn't fall, and guess what? She didn't even get scared knowing her daddy wasn't holding onto her. She just hold on tight and have fun.

 

Hot! Hot! Hot! I wonder why I didn't open up the umbrella?hmmm

 

 

Time for snack. Hehe. Need to replenish all those energy that was burnt when playing. Actually there's ferry going to Darling Harbour from Circular Quay where Sydney Opera house & Sydney Harbour Bridge is. But we decided to come to Darling Harbour first as we wanted to go here.

 

For lunch. :-p  The problem is, I know its somewhere near Darling Harbour, but had no idea how to go there. And because we thought its pretty near, we decided to walk and used Oink's  Waze app. HAHAHHA. We got lost a bit, and walked more than I expected under the hot sun 'x'

At least we get to eat good lunch. The place was packed! With China tourists 'x' Tomato attacked the chips. Since its a holiday for her too, we just let her eat all she wants. And after this trip, she is hooked to fries 'x'!! I guess she is a lot like me.I love fries but try not eating too much of it.

After lunch, we walked all the way back to town hall station again, back to Central Station, and walked back to the hotel, so Tomato can nap for a couple of hours.

After that, we took the train again to Circular Quay. This time, we don't need to walk far to reach our destinations. And it was cooler, and windy. And again, its packed with humans.

Obligatory photo to show that we're there 'x' We circled the Opera House and there's was some construction work going on the front as that area was blocked. Such a pity, how nice if we could take photos from the front.

We took our time, found a bench, just sit around and did people watching. And left around dinner time.

Another Loss

I don't know how to start this post. We lost someone on 28 June 2014. We just saw him for my nephew's first birthday party 2 days before. We talked to him, I wished we had talk more, I wish we had taken more photos :(. In fact he sat next to my father. When I broke the news to my dad, he couldn't believe us, neither could we. It was too sudden, too shocking, too cruel. He was about to retire even, just a bit more. He still had full head of black hair, not much wrinkles. He was full of vigour,he exercised regularly. But he had a heart attack while playing basketball. Post mortem result was all 3 main arteries was blocked. Prior to that, according to Aunty, he didn't show any symptom at all. When cousin-in-law called my FIL on that fateful day about his dad still being rescued, they rushed over, didn't even make it there when cousin-in-law called again to inform about the horrible news. Whilst Oink, Tomato and I was having dinner at my parent's house, and only got to know the news when we got back home. I couldn't believe it when Oink told me, I thought he was joking, but this is too much of a serious matter to be joked about. HOW? WHY? Oh dear God! We attended his funeral yesterday (2nd July) which was also his eldest son's birthday. :( Oh how life is so fragile, how it can be taken away so easily without any warning. Do spend more time with your family, bicker less, tolerate more. Cherish! Rest in peace, Uncle.