7 days in Melbourne

It was a 1hr flight from Hobart to Melbourne and had a really interesting chat with Gary on the plane, giving me the history, the culture, and even advice for the future! Aussies are damn friendly people indeed!

On touchdown, had my dear friend and ex-boss, Manoj and Kumu receiving me and accomodating me for the rest of my trip. They were really nice, my bed, towel and everything all prepared...even the slippers! Weather here was considerably warmer than Tasmania, so I was happy to just walk around in my long sleeve shirt and jeans most of the time.

Some views of Melbourne firstly...Sunset city shots...always lovely :)

These Melbourne experience was really about relaxing, chilling out at cafes, walking along sidewalks, playing some golf and watching a comedy at the Melbourne Comedy Festival and the latest Cirque du Soleil show - Varekai (My first ever!) I was told my Manoj that is is even better than the previous 2 he saw! For those in Singapore, hang in there..maybe 2009 it will be here coz its full house till 2008 in Europe! I read an article about Cirque du Soleil thereafter and was really impressed by them, a billion dollar company that continues to delivers what the audience worldwide wants: Happiness, Joy and Incredible Acts!

Manoj getting into the swing of things.....

A rather strange looking dog to me...

A very cool looking building along my long walk to St Kilda's beach...

Similar shot to my first, different colours though...

Street Artist at work....her canvass, the floor!

Check out this happening tunnel! And the beautiful melbourne skyline..

Todd, our driver/tour guide for the day having to change our tyre just 2 hrs into the 2D1N tour of The Great Ocean Road! Really scenic trip and having it spread out over 2 days rather than the typical 1 day rush trips made it all the better. Click onto Todd's Page for more details!

Ahhhhh....the 12 apostles (one of those great marketing names they give for certain areas along the coast :P)

Sunset shot with me...the weather was getting cold now, and penguins were soon spotted waddling up shore! Too far away though..so no worthwhile shots of them!

Had a YUMMY BBQ dinner and looking forward to the next morning. The morning views are pretty cool too!

The Madatory Group Shot!

Instead of numbers, this little cafe used soft toys to "identify" their customers, how cute!
Finally, some action from the surfer dudes on Bells
Beach - the world famous surf site!




And video views too...we had a light lunch at the winery, litterally dozens of them spread out over the suburbs of melbourne, really lovely!

Day 4-6 in Tasmania

2 more tours to go and the 2nd tour was to me, the most interesting of all. We first drove up to the peak of Mt Wellington and we enjoyed some very cloudy views of the surroundings. OK, abit narciccist here with all the individual shots -> notice the close eyes effect! Too early in the morning I say! Next was Animal time! We went to a Wildlife Sanctuary and saw the Tasmanian Devil, Wombat, Quolls (a rodent like native animal), Pademelons (a small breed of kangaroos) and Koala! Even the elusive wild platypus in the river. All so cute and fuzzy!




We then moved on to the Flora of Tasmania where we were face to face with the 'peeling trees' which gave them a very interesting look indeed up in Mt Field. This was beside Lake Dobson.
I also learned about a very unique way of seed distribution...by FIRE! Yes! Bushfires do happen in Tasmania every once a few decades, and when that happens, the seed pods burst out due to the heat and distributes the seeds all over...




Tallest Native Tree. They were quite humongous indeed!













The 3rd tour of the week kickstarted at Richmond Town (a touristy english town lookalike). Nothing really much, just a very old bridge, some ducks, a church and a river..haha..

Along the way, we passed by "Doo Town". Now Doo Town consists of a couple of houses 10+ or so, and every house is signposted "Doo-something" or "Something-Doo", so there was Doo-Me, We-Doo, Just Doo-It, you get picture. Check this one out!








"Doo F#*@ ALL!" if u can't see it!

The Devil's Kitchen & Arch was next where I saw the power of mother nature, the waves eroding the coastline...and just one of their many beautiful formations.
Finally, it was Port Arthur, an old prison in the south of Tasmania. Pretty historical stuff, but not something which was that appealing to me. Nice enough boat ride tho :)
Get me OUT of here!!!

Once I was done with my tours, it was just the final Saturday Morning market to lookfoward too, and boy was I surprised. It seemed like the entire population of Tasmania (just about 500,000) all appeared at the same time! Nice Dalmation dog sitting around :)