Melbourne Trip (part 1)

Hello hello helloooo! Welcome back to my blog. This time I will show you my Melbourne journey. As you read on my previous blog, Sydney Trip, I said that we had flight from Sydney and we arrived at Melbourne about 5 pm. Arriving at the airport, we were picked up by Mark, friend of Ryan, whose have the place we stayed for 5 nights. We booked this homestay from Rnb. It was located at Barley road, we can reach the tram only walking by 5 mins at Brunswick road. We put our luggage at home stay then hurried to Melbourne Chinatown. It was still open until 9 or 10 pm. There was a lot of China restaurants that offered a delicious food.

 

The next morning we went to St. Paul Catedral and Flinder station. From our home stay, it's quite far, we need to use tram until swanston rood using tram number 96 then continue using free tram to go to Flinder station. In free tram zone, no need to touch on/ off.

 

Spotted the tram no 35 which is always rotating from Flinder street until Dockland ( you can see on the provided map or click here) or you can download tram tracker as your guidance in Melbourne. It provides you real-time prediction on your trams stop.

St.Paul

Flinder Station

There is a Melbourne Visitor Center, where you can book a tour to Blue Mountain, Yarra Valley, Puffing Billy or others. We also can ask freely to the volunteers. We met a Indonesian volunteer, which made us more comfortable in term of language. He introduced us a lot of places that foreigner may not know, such as this Cumulus Inc. A pretty restaurant which offers a good meals. It was crowded by Australians. This was we wanted when we travel by our self, going to the hot place of the country, not going to the place where the tour want. I forget all the menu we chose, but it cost more or less $18 each. At Cumulus inc, the foods are meant to share. I really like the Cod fish, it tasted superb and the skin was so smooth.

 

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We continued to stroll around Flinder street. There is NGV and ACMI, a place for arts. More over, we went to Hosier Ln, it was very close, just cross the road, and you'll find it. I saw it on Running Man, Korean variety show. Thus I really wanted to go there, just to take a photo >.<. It is a alley where is full of colourful drawing. It gives a hip hop feel when you 're on that lane. However, it was raining when I got there, pretty sad.

Hosier Ln

As you know, it was so quite at Australian. We decided to go back to China town. At there, we found a China restaurant who sold a noodle with lobster, and it was only $17. Because we had so many food information from Melbourne Visitor Center's volunteer, we had a long night queuing from one restaurant to another. We also tried Japanese food such as ramen, I forget the restaurant name, but a lot of people went there. We queued for 20 mins to get table there. We also bought some bread for tomorrow breakfast and cake for my daddy's birthday. It is the first time my daddy's birthday celebrated at foreign country. It was quite cheap in Chinatown compare to others area. The cake cost $25.

 

 

Pure candid :) I don't have any specific reason why I love candid picture so much XD XD

Daddy's birthday

As we had booked our one day tour to Mount Buller from Melbourne Visitor Center, we woke up at 5.30 am in order to get the bus at 6 am (30 mins is enough for me and family, depends on the person, right?). It is very important to become in time in Australia. It is not like in Indonesia, where you can late 5 mins. Even 30seconds you are late, you'll miss the bus. We gathered at NGV studio, Flinder street. It took around 3 hours to Mount Buller downhill city and about 40 mins to the Mount Buller. At the downhill city, there was a lot rent shop for ski equipment. Our tour package already included all. We can choose to do skating, snowboarding or sightseeing only. I chose the snowboarding, because I never experience that. I did ever do skating at Korea (see more on here). I got the cloth, pant and the snowboarding. I rent helmet ($10) and bought sunglasses ($15). The tour packages cost $200 included the lift on the Mount Buller.

Do you see the escalator? No need for us to go up by our self anymore, just stand on the escalator.

I'm so sorry if can't provide more photos, because I am too busy with my snowboarding. They gave us 1 hour lesson. So, it is okay if you can't play snowboarding. We can learn it at here. Basically, it is not hard, just be brave and maintain your balance. I suggest to have helmet because we may not know what may happen on the field. Like me, I fell down on the cold ice several times, and luckily I had helmet. It is okay to fall down, we can learn from our mistakes. No need to bring extra clothes because it was not cold at all. Because we keep moving at there. Overall, it was a good experience.
At 4 pm, we must arrived at the bus stop. Then, apparently we only had 4 hours to enjoy or play at the Mount Buller. There was a canteen which sold burger, fries, doughnut, coffee and tea. However, I suggest to have your own meals because if you buy food there, you need to queue and you have not enough time to enjoy the mount.
We arrived at our meeting point, NGV studio, around 8 pm. We decided to eat at 24 hours restaurant, that sold grilled chicken and lamb. We chose that restaurant because it was so crowded. It was not a wrong decision, because it was so delicious. I really like it, and I want to go back to eat that again. When we were queuing to get table, there was a gang of bad boys? I don't know how to call them what. They did not do any malicious behaviour, but they just teasing us. It was not a threaten, however I actually little bit scared of them.

The mix of grilled chicken and lamb plus fries cost $18, the salad cost $7

On the next day, we visited Queen Victoria Market where there was a lot of people sold fruits, souvenirs, like Paddy Market in Sydney. However, Sydney's Paddy Market still the best place which offers the best price. However, in Queen Victoria Market, you can found a place to buy foods and cheese. There was many stalls who sell cheese, bacon, french bread, cake, fried chicken and so on. We had our breakfast there. We bought anything that we thought savoury. I already forget what we bought and the price, because we just to hungry at that time. We just snatch everything, literally.

 

Oh, we use our 96 tram to Swanston then use 19 tram to reach at Queen Victoria Market. Then we continued to Chadstone Mall. It is the biggest mall in Melbourne. You can use the free shuffle bus from federation square (NGV studio). While waiting for the bus, we ate our lovely red velvet timtam. It is a necessary thing to do XD. I really love their's timtam, it is different from Indonesia's timtam. In here, timtam collaborate with Adriana Zumbo, which is the famous patissier in Australia. I also like timtam chewy caramel. It was so marvelous. Timtam cost varies, depends on the store's place. If you buy in the centre of city that the price could slightly pricey.  $4 is the cheapest timtam I ever bought at Sydney's Chinatown.

Chadstone mall

It took around 30 or 40 mins to reach the mall. Arrived at there, I was amazed by it's structure. Indeed Australia has its beautiful structure in everywhere. It has 2 floors and full of branded goods.
We went back to city, because we wanted to see firework show at Dockland. Unfortunately, it was raining when we got there. The show was going on about 10 mins.

At Melbourne there were so many place to rent a bicycle. The instruction is on picture below. There were also volunteers itinerate around city using the red uniform. They were so friendly, you can ask anything to them.

You also can have a visit to royal arcade. They sell clothes, bags any others. It has beautiful architecture like Queen Victoria Building in Sydney.

That's for my Melbourne trip part 1. I'll post part 2 soon. Stay tuned!

Your sincerely,

Phoby

Australia, Sydney Trip

Hello fella!

Long time no see! It's been a long time I've never update my blog, it is due to my over project of my campus and recently I've got part time job.

During this Eid Al-Fitr (Hari Raya Idul Fitri), my family and I went to Australia for holiday. It took 12 days by 5 nights at Sydney and 6 nights at Melbourne. From Medan, we transited from KL which took 2 hours then continued to Sydney which took about 8 hours. 

Arriving at Sydney, we were greeted by cold and windy weather. We decided to take taxi to our hotel which was about $50. Novotel Hotel which is located at Chinatown would be our lovely-homey for 3 nights. After putting all the baggage, we hurried to stroll around Chinatown to eat, because we just to hungry. We found a Chinese restaurant was spreading all along the Chinatown, and chose one of it.

The soup $9, noodle $11 and goat dumpling $12

After that, we decided to visit Paddy Market where you can find the best fruit and vegetables in terms of quality and price. Only in Paddy Market that you'll be offered a $16 cherries per kg, where in Indonesia it costs Rp 80.000,00 per gram.

We continued our journey to Queen Victoria Building, where you can shop while enjoying the beautiful architecture of its building. It opens at 9 am and closes at 5 or 6pm (more info at here). It was designed by George McRae and completed in 1898.

Some photos I took when heading to Victoria Queen Building

Queen Victoria Building

You'll amazed by its architecture!

Inside the Queen Victoria Building

After that, we headed to Sea Life which is located at Darling Harbour. We had bought the Sea Life entrance ticket at $35 by online. However, I strongly do not recommend it because it only can be use after 5 pm, where the sun already gone down. The Sea Life aquarium uses the light from sun, thus if the sun goes down, the aquarium will become dark, and I barely see anything at there. I came there about 6pm.

Darling Harbour

Darling Harbour

Then, we strolled along the harbour and stop by the mall. We found Hurricane, which is a famous steak restaurant in Australia. We queued for an hour and a half to get a table there. The famous steak is sold for one of half. We chose the one steak and it was so big, it was enough for 2 or 3 person for Asian. However for them, Australian, one steak is for 1 person. It cost $30. We also ordered calamari which was fried squid that cost us $15. Australia does not serve chili sauce like us in Indonesia, so don't ever try to ask whether they have or not. They only serve a bbq sauce or tomato sauce or tobasco and usually it charged us.They gave us free bread as compliment.

Hurricane Steak

We also enjoyed the night by walking at the bridge and surrounding. I found out that Australian people don't hang around at night like in Indonesia, Hongkong, or Thailand. I found out it's a little bit funny. I asked my friends who lived there, they said that they just hang out around bar or home at night, no one roaming at street. And they also open their store at 10 or 11 am and closed it at 5 or 6 pm except convenience store. Australian just live their life enjoyably, feeling like no burden.

Night view of Darling Harbour

Some ice cream because it was too cold?

Second Day

We had planned that at second day we would go to Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain is area that full of bluish mountain which we actually see from many places, such as Green brook or Katoomba. We chose Katoomba because we had searched in Internet that it was the best choice to see the Blue Mountain. From Sydney, it took up to 2 hours. We chose train for our accommodation $50 for our trip to Katoomba. However, due to some weather condition we couldn't directly go to Katoomba, we need to stop at Leura station then continued to Katoomba with bus. It had covered all the train and bus cost. We decided to stay a little longer at Leura village. It is a small village where you can shop and eat.

Leura Village

Fish and chip cost $9 and fried rice cost $11

Leura Village

We continued to Katoomba city and bought Blue Mountain Explorer (BME) ticket to ramble the Katoomba. There was many company that sell Blue Mountain tour at Katoomba, however we thought that BME would be the most beneficial for 1 day explorer. We can hop on and hop off freely corresponding to the shuttle bus schedule. There was some station for you to hop on and off for BME. It cost $40 include the three attraction (cable car, rail and I forgot the name, sorry) at scenic world. It is a must to ride the rail train(?) because you can feel the most sloping train ever. We even can adjust our chair tilt, just try to adjust it until 52 degree, it's fun!. We can see Three Sister Rock in many point however, the best is at Echo Point. From there, you also can see the bluish mountain cover the sky. It was so pretty. Apparently, there is still a lot of place that you can see at Katoomba, it may take about 1 or 2 days to explore all. Blue Mountain at Katoomba also has waterfall, camping place, sauna place and other.

The yellow cable car, The red train and the red BME bus

Personally, I think it is not very extraordinary, because I've seen a lot of rock formation, waterfall, and mountain view in Indonesia and China. When I first time went to Blue Mountain, I felt like I was in China. However, if you a mountain lover, it is a worth visit to Blue Mountain.

We went back to Darling Harbour to see firework show, however we arrived there late, thus we miss it.

 

Third Day
We continued our journey to Taronga Zoo, which it the best recommended zoo by internet. We went there using Captain Cook Cruise, where we bought it from Circulay Quey. We can hop on and off freely like BME and it cost $55 for the ferry and Taronga Zoo entrance ticket. The ferry can go to many places, such as Darling Harbour, Manly Beach, and other. From Circular Quey to Taronga zoo, it took about 40 mins.

On ferry and the view that I could see

Arrived at Taronga Zoo harbour we directly ride the cable car heading to the zoo. We could see rough view of zoo from the cable car. At Taronga Zoo, you can experience a direct interaction with animals. They let some animals to walk freely at zoo (not in cages). For example, you can touch the kangaroo or birds and others. But, at that time I was too scared to come closer to them. Too bad. Nevertheless, we cannot touch koalas freely, we need to buy a feeding koala packages not even holding. It cost $15. Or you can buy feeding giraffe which was cost $15.

Taronga Zoo

Kangaroooooo

Can you spot the penguin?

The upper photos are Tree Kangaroo and the lower is common Kangaroo

Oh! hi! It walked freely at zoo

Are you looking for me?

Reptiles

Why they are so adorable

Lemur: We like to party, party!

From Taronga Zoo, we jumped to Manly Beach using the ferry again. I'm not really recommend this ferry for transportation, because from Taronga Zoo to Manly Beach, we need to swivel
to Circulay Quey then Darling Harbour then Circulay Quey again then Manly Beach. It took about 2 hours or more, I'm not really sure, because I was too tired and bored to wait thus I slept on the way.

Manly Beach

I don't have a lot of Manly Beach photos, however, I think it'll be a hot place when summer. We just had about 1 hour to amble the city, and it was not enough. I felt really comfortable there, I don't know why, but the city felt like in the american movies and it was quite and fun ( I don't know how to express my feeling, but I want to go back there)

After that, we were heading to Opera House to see the night view there. And it was amazing! Near by the Opera house, there is a subway, where you could find a restaurant. A lot of Australian hang out there.

We moved our hotel to Shang Ri La Hotel where at that time we got some discount price. It was only US$200/ room. It was quite cheap for 5 star hotel in Australia. As you know, everything there is slightly expensive. Shang Ri La Hotel located at The Rock where we can reach Harbour Bridge and Opera House up to 30 mins by walking. Shang Ri La hotel placed at uphill road which is not really comfortable when we were heading back to Hotel (that's way they offered a discount price).

The Fourth Day
We went back to Chinatown area to hang around Market City. It just beside Paddy Market. One of our reason to come back is because the cherriess. Yey!

It's a red light

Tiny pie, cost $5@10

We continued to walk at Harbour Bridge. It is about 1 or 2 km. It was kinda tiring but fun. Apparently, they have a tour package for climbing the bridge, it cost $90. We can climb it up to 1 hour, depends on who climbs it. Or have a sightseeing tour for $12 on the top of the bridge.

Harbour Bridge

We were heading to Luna Park where it is like pasar malam in Indonesia. You can enter the park freely however if you want to play or ride the attraction you need to pay it. You can spot both Opera House and The Harbour Bridge at here. It was so amazing at night.

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It was taken at Luna Park

Luna Park

The Fifth Day

Our last day at Sydney. It was too bad. We just amble around Hard Rock. No one open the shop at 9 except the cafe.  

The view that we could capture from Shang Ri La hotel

Our Breakfast, It cost $6 or $7 for each. the coffee cost $6 each

Hard Rock

It just too bright

We stopped at Hard Rock for breakfast at Guylian. It was so fun to sit at roadside to enjoy the breakfast. The waffle cost $12. The hot chocolate and coffee cost $11- $13. The beef and shrimp hotdog cost $15 each.

Morning breakfast at Guylian

We had booked a flight to Melbourne at 1 pm. Thus we cannot stroll any longer. It was really fun to have 5 night at Sydney. The temperature was about 6 to 13 degree. Thus make sure you have a special preparation if you go to Sydney at winter.
Oh! and one more thing. The Sydney transportation quite good, you can travel using Opal card. It can be used for bus, ferry, train and light rail. Just top up the card and you can use it everywhere. More info at here. On that link you also can plan your trip. It will show you every single detail that you need.
That's it for Sydney Trip. See you at my Melbourne trip! I'll post soon!

  

Yours sincerely,

Phoby