.: Best Buddies

Ok, ni activities hari keempat. The initial plan was to Puffing Billy, but since weather forecast cakap raining all day, terpaksalah kami beralih kepada plan B. Rugi sebenarnya tak pergi Puffing Billy sebab semua orang confirm suka naik steam train ni, tapi nak buat macam mana, cuaca tak mengizinkan. Rasanya kalau proceed pun huru hara je nanti, sebab travel with CBD area time hujan pun kelam kabut jadinya.

Pagi ni kita pergi St Kilda Beach dulu. Macam biasa jalan tu kita waze je. Tapi lawak hari ni mungkin driver pening tak habis lagi hahaha dia gi bawak masuk jalan tram. Nasib lah tak kena tahan polis. Padanlah tengok kereta kiri kanan dok gelak kat kita orang. Hahaha. Mungkin sebab ini bukan Jakarta, tu derang tak honk kereta kami hahah sebab takut rude agaknya. Until at one point tu baru kita orang perasan, "eh apesal kita berhenti BELAKANG tram ni??" hahaha.

So yeah, back to Waze, kita sampai dengan selamatnya di St Kilda Beach. Direction very accurate, tidaklah redah belakang rumah orang mahu pun lorong seram (only in Malaysia I guess). Cuma nak pesan, dekat beach ni, parking berbayar ye. Silalah pastikan signboard arahan betul-betul. Kita orang tak perasan, ingat macam Malaysia free public parking sebab dekat pantaikan, so balik tu ada surat saman dekat wiper kereta hahaha.

Macam-macam hal pagi ni, tapi takpe, still we enjoy the moment like nothing happen. Duit bayar saman tu kami tinggalkan dekat car operator tu, dia tolong gi bayar nanti. :P Motif pergi sini sebab nak posing depan beach house warna warni ni ha. Trademark St Kilda. First time datang dulu pergi dekat Brighton Beach, lagi lawa, tapi jauh la sikit. Budak-budak memang dah beria nak mandi, sekali bagi rasa air, ha baru tauuu betapa freezingnya. Ingat ni air laut Malaysia kaaa.

Then we moved to DFO Essendon. Acara yang tak berapa masuk plan, tapi bila sampai masing-masing lupa diri hahhaha. Hence very limited photos here. Tengah shopping, mana ada photos sangat. Dia orang borong Corelle, I borong baju budak-budak dekat sini. Osh Kosh, Cotton On and kids shoes lah. Juling mata tengok sale sana sini. Corelle untuk diri sendiri tak beli sebab tak minat, nak spesis Maxwell Williams je kitchenware and diningware putih suci hehe. Tapi angkut jugak Corelle untuk my mom, my MIL and SIL sebab satu set 16pcs dalam AUD50 je average. Tapi jangan tanya kita bunga pattern apa, sebab I tak follow Corelle so I taktau lah. Janji dia tulis Corelle kita orang beli lah hehe.

Business hour sini pukul 5pm dah habis. Nak balik awal lagi, rugi lah kalau bersidai je kat rumah (walaupun rumah lawa gile). Google tengok night activity yang possible (with kids), sekali jumpa Melbourne Star Observation Wheel ni. So we decided to go for a spin on it. Ala-ala London Eye gitu, adik beradik dia, sekali la Singapore Eye sama.

Adult: $34

Child: $20

Family (2+2): $60

Kids being them, energy still at the top level. Ingat dah penat, rupanya naik atas tu lagi bertambah excited. View dia memang la nampak Melbourne but nothing really fascinating pun. View was rather "industrial" than stunning sebab location dia macam off je, sebelah Docklands and port area. Malam pulak tu. So I punya conclusion, if you really nak tengok Melbourne CBD from top, baik naik Eureka Skydeck la kot, lebih central and cheaper definitely.

Woolworth dekat rumah. Jalan kaki je sampai. So hari-hari mesti pergi sini hehe.

Kereta plat number IBU. Cool!

Snap masa tengah berhenti belakang tram haha.

Both shoes AUD10-15. Macam mana tak sewel? Haha.

Warning! Gazillion photos ahead :P

There is so much to see and do in Victoria; as for me, 3 kali pergi pun belum cover semua lagi. I still need another trip at least ahahaha sebab Puffing Billy and Mt Buller tak sampai-sampai lagi. Tapi tu nantilah, in future mana tau ada duit selambak datang. Hehe.

First time pergi Melbourne, lepas belajar. Masa tu sebab cousins belajar dekat sana, so dengan taraf orang tak bekerja, jalan-jalan pun area CBD je. Tu pun jenuh tawaf. Second time datang masa honeymoon. Went to Healesville Sanctuary, Yarra Valley, Mornington and of course more exploration of CBD. Third time pergi, went to Philip Island and Great Ocean Road.

So memang kena pergi lagi kan? Hehehe.

Ok sambung lah activity hari ketiga. Great Ocean Road.

One thing that no one ever told me, jauhhhhhh gilerrrrr hoihhhh GOR nih. Nak sampai dekat pintu gerbang GOR yang famous tu pun dah berkurun lama, from there to all the famous coastal spots pun jauh I tell you. No kidding. It was more of a tiring drive than what we expected. Keluar rumah 7 pagi sampai rumah 1 pagi keesokannya. Haha. Selamat maju jaya kepada semua yang bawa kids; motion sick, don't like to be strapped for too long, hungry and etc.

But of course it was all worth it. The views along GOR are stunning; one side of aqua blue ocean while the other rocky cliffs and certain parts of Twilight-like rainforest. Seram pun ada especially masa balik dah malam, tapi kalau yang keluar Edward Cullen takpe lah haha. Lots of places to stop along especially the charming seaside towns; Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay.

Growling stomach, cranky kids, toilet-break-pronto, so kita stop dekat mana tah, memang tak boleh tunggu for the next town lah. Maka jadilah picnic by the road giteww.

Finally, the highlight of this whole road trip was 12 Apostles. Wanted to have a quick stop at Lord Ard George but considering the time that we need to spend walking down the stairs to the beach (and later up) with kids lagi, kita cancel this part. Not to mention that this trip sedikit memberi sakit jiwa to the drivers sebab kami ladies yang beria nak datang sini and bila sampai they guys were like, "jauh gilerrrr drive, nak tengok batu je?". Hahahahaha. So make sure everyone knows what is the ultimate highlight of the trip hehe.

Being the most famous spot here (I rasa lah), the place was totally crowded so pandai-pandailah cari spot nak bergambar so you tak kena photobombed like this. T___T

On the way balik, kita dinner dekat Iluka Restaurant, Apollo Bay. Masa ni bateri iPhone dah almost nak kong, so takde gambar food sangat. Average price for one meal dalam AUD15-20. Quite a big portion I rasa, so make sure everyone choose different meal so boleh rasa serba sikit.

In conclusion, if you plan to visit GOR, I would recommend an overnight stay as the distances are long and road is winding in certain places. You need AT LEAST 12 hrs plus to do this drive, serious ok. I mentioned drive, and tak payah la take the bus trip, self drive boleh stop merata-rata.

Reference of the route we took: