Yeah! Finally plowed through my Melbourne photos and uploaded them to my Flickr account. You can go there to look:
Melbourne Trip Dec 2008: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmarki/sets/72157612378870597/

Prologue: Okay, so I'm stuck writing about my trip to Melbourne. Despite my attempts to outsource blog writing to EU, I'm left carrying the baton to chronograph our trip. So, here goes Part 1.

I had wanted to go Melbourne for almost 4 years, since my best friend YT went studying there. After working for 1.5 years, I finally saved enough to go. To make things even more fun, I dragged EU along.

13 Dec 2008, Sat 3pm - Singapore

I had lunch with my family at Changi Airport. Told them we are going in at 3pm, to explore the mysterious visitor transit area. Yeap, we went in 4 hours early, and roamed through Terminal 1, 2 and 3. It's like a giant shopping mall!

Some photos:

There's a giant Christmas display at Terminal 3, with real Christmas trees and red flowers. Cool!

A rooftop garden. Think it's more of a smoking corner though.

[More photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmarki/tags/changiairport/]

14 Dec 2008, Sun, 7am - Sydney

We transited through Sydney at 7am the next day. My first impression of Australia -- they are loud like Cantonese (I'm Cantonese, I can say that. ). They are also paranoid, with sniffer dogs sniffing everyone, X-Ray machines scanning everything, and Custom officers asking tons of questions. Makes me wonder what exactly did the Singapore Customs checks do...

Something to note: transiting through Australia requires going through Immigration and Customs first, before transiting to a domestic flight. I had thought I will clear these at Melbourne.

Transiting from International to Domestic terminals was fast. I guess the trouble-saving part is mainly because we bought Qantas flights for both international and domestic. That gave us free airport shuttle services, and a quick check-in of our bags directly from the International terminal.

We got to the Domestic terminal with 2 hours to spare. Nothing much to do there except eating breakfast. No internet surfing either -- wireless cost AU$5/hr.

Round and round Victoria, a 15 days trip

14 Dec 2008, 12nn - Melbourne

We got to Melbourne at noon. A quick hop on the Skybus and we are in Spencer Street/Southern Cross Train Station.

Weather is very different here. The sun is hot, but the wind is cold. It looks like a typical bright noon day in Singapore, but the wind is so cold, I am hiding behind pillars.

We took a tram to YT's house, and immediately got lost. In fact, we knocked on the wrong door, on the wrong street. So auspicious, right?

YT's house is, well, small. Okay, better described as narrow. Much like a typical old townhouse. It looks like a typical bachelor pad too.

14 Dec 2008, 3pm - Melbourne City

Federation Square from Rialto Observation Tower

After settling down, we went hunting for rental car companies. The plan is to drive to Grampians and the Great Ocean Road for the next 5 days. Sounds fun, right?

The friendly folks at the Melbourne Visitor Centre (at Federation Square) directed us to Franklin Street on the north of CBD. Apparently Melbourne shuts down at 6pm, so we quickly rushed there. Ho and behold, a whole row of rental companies, from Avis to Bargain Wheels. Woohoo~

Alas! No luck though. Somehow, every company either had a server failure ("Sorry, the server is down till later tonight") or do not have the car we want. Oh well, online booking later tonight then.

An interesting cloud formation

A whirlwind tour of Melbourne University later, and the three of us headed home.

14 Dec 2008, 8pm - Melbourne City

Dinner at DOC Pizza

YT and I went to town again for dinner without EU. Apparently, EU had jet-lag or something -- he practically concussed.

We had a walk along Lygon Street (aka pub street). Restaurants and cafes everywhere, but they are all out of our budget. Food is expensive here, a typical meal costs at least AU$7 for breakfast, AU$15 for lunch and AU$20 for dinner.

Being poor students (yes, I'm a "student"), we went somewhere else for dinner. Somewhere meaning an out-of-the-way family Italian restaurant.

Old building beside DOC Pizza

The food is nice. I had pizza! It is not as overwhelmingly cheesy (pun intended) like pizzas found in Singapore. Apparently, pizza is not meant to have so much cheese...

Dusk is approaching, so we quickly collected EU's pizza and headed home. My fingers were freezing by then.

15 Dec 2008, 8am - Melbourne

Our rental car from Avis

EU and I got up early to collect our car from Avis. We had booked the car and GPS online last night. Hopefully an early start will bring us the 200km to Halls Gap/Grampians.

Wah... Oversized vehicles have specially fitted escorts

Victoria inter-state roads are interesting -- there are generally less lanes. Highways have 2 lanes on each side, while normal roads have only 1. Driving feels different too, I think. Our normal speed is 120km/h!

15 Dec 2008, 2pm - Ballarat

Our first stop is Ballarat, one of the first gold mining towns in Victoria. The main attraction is Sovereign Hill, a museum/historic theme park recreation of 1850s Ballarat. Supposedly, we can see the historic artefacts used in gold mining, and even participate in some gold panning activities. However, a hefty admissions charge did not strongly encourage us to enter.

What???

We did, however, visit the Gold Museum opposite it. It exhibits GOLD! GOLD COINS! GOLD MINING! GOLD JEWELLERY! GOLD! GOLD! GOLD!

That is Singapore women's traditional clothes?!?

There is also a Women's Museum inside. Commemorating the achievements of women through the ages, the museum has photos of famous women and costumes of women throughout the world.

With nothing much to do, we took our lunch and continued on our way.

I'm going Bangkok for Chinese New Year! Whoopee~ My whole family's going.

Yes, yes, I know I haven't finish writing up my Melbourne trip. I will carry on writing when I come back, THEN start to write about Bangkok.

Not sure about wireless access in Bangkok though, so most likely won't be blogging there.

Happy Chinese New Year!

15 Dec 2008, 6pm - Halls Gap, Grampians

Halls Gap YHA (Youth Hostel Australia) Hostel Entrance

We reached Halls Gap, the main town in the Grampians mountain range, around 6pm. Whew, that was a long drive. Actually, we got a bit lost. Whahahaha

Not lost as in "LOST!", but just took an alternative "scenic route" from Ballarat. And somehow ended up above Grampians (we were travelling north from Ballarat, remember?), traveling south. It took us 40 minutes to detour back, after driving 26 kilometers down Grampians. OMG!

Our room in YHA Halls Gap

Anyway, Hall Gap YHA is nice. Neat, tidy, clean and eco-friendly. There are even individual lockers for each person in the dorm. And each person has his/her own key to the dorm room too. Wow! Well worth the price!

So, we are at the Grampians. Time to go hiking!

15 Dec 2008, 6.30pm - Chatauqua Peak, Grampians

Our first hike in Grampians

The trail to Clematis Falls and Chatauqua Peak is right behind Halls Gap. With two hours of daylight remaining, we decided to try out this "moderate" trail.

As an aside, I think it is important for anyone going hiking in foreign places to hike on a short "moderate level" trail first. This allows you to have a sense of the grading system used for the trails, and also familarise yourself with the terrain, flora and fauna.

I consider the trail to Clematis Falls rather easy. It is wide, well-maintained, and certainly a breeze to finish. The trail up to Chatauqua Peak is more difficult though. The initial phase is easy, but the scrambling up the rocks close to the top is not for the faint-hearted.

Here are some pictures.

Big termite holes on the trail up the mountain

Clematis Falls. Not much water due to drought

Kangeroo on the trail to Chatauqua Peak

View from halfway up the mountain. Halls Gap in right bottom corner

View of opposite mountain

EU scrambling up rocks

15 Dec 2008, 8pm - Halls Gap, Grampians

We came down the mountain around 8pm. Yeap, it's still bright! Summer time, you know.

Right below the mountain, close to Halls Gap Primary School, we saw a magnificent kangeroo with her baby joey in her pouch. Wow! Somehow, we see more wildlife below the mountain than on the mountain. Maybe it's the timing.

Hungry, we went foraging for food. Gasp! All the shops are closed! Shocking! It seems that Australian shops really close at 6pm.

Finally, we found a single shop that is "Open Till Late". They close at 8.30pm and are cleaning up. Luckily they agreed to cook a pizza for us, so we won't go hungry through the night.

Seen outside Halls Gap Primary School

Side view of kangeroo

Cockatoo?

The most magnificent cloud formation I have ever seen