Travelogue: Australia Melbourne (Day 4)

Posted on February 27, 2016 by Tempted to Love

Basically Day 4 was a pretty laid day day for us.. Nothing much was plan but just revisit Queen Victoria’s Market and some simple shopping around town just to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

Like other days, we woke up early on this day too! We were out at QVM for hunt for breakfast at about 7-7:30am..

Mommy order a bowl of fishball noodle from the food court and we say its prolly just so-so.. But the ham was delicious (and BIG)!

Who could possibly missed another round of oyster since we’re already here!!! Fresh and yummy!! I think I paid about AUD15 for a dozen like this!

Oyster was one of the many reason I came to Australia..! Fresh and affordable!

Can’t remember who bought this donut balls back but I definitely remember this bratwurst bun is heavenly good!!! If you ever go to the Deli section in QVM, go look for it!! It’s a corner stall.. Prolly AUD6 for one??

To end our breakfast, we had desserts too!! Macaroons & cookies! I’m amazed how organized the QVM is and totally blown off by the cleanliness in the market!

I would definitely recommend QVM to travelers who are planning to visit Melbourne, especially for the first time!! You will hate to miss this place!

After our breakfast, we went to shop around and realize one thing….. the shops we see on Sunday weren’t here anymore on Tuesday!! OMG! LOL.. So travelers, if you plan to go QVM, try to plan this for 2 days trip and don’t hesitate to buy if you like something! Because it might not be there anymore if you come back another day!

Seeee!! you don’t see the mussels truck anymore right?? 😦 Below was Sunday’s QVM view from our room.. Look at the crowd..

Oh and, if you’re not aware, QVM has Wed-night market too! Yes, we missed that. T_T

After the whole morning in QVM, we went back to our apartment to rest and head out to town for shopping! We haven’t really do shopping mall shopping yet!! This is the last chance to shop before we leave Melbourne!!

And here we are in Elizabeth St!!!

Since it’s just shopping, we didn’t take much street photo! But I am totally speechless with H&M in Australia! BIG, beautiful and spacious!! It’s just amazing!!

I guess there nothing much to share about shopping (we didn’t buy many things from those shops too)…

But do look forward to upcoming post because they are one of the reason why we’re in AUSTRALIA (yes, another reason!)!!!!! WOOHOOOOO~!!!

Good night dudes!!

To read more about my Australia trip, click below!!

Day 1 – Melbourne (Touch down)
Day 2 – Melbourne (Queen Victoria Market/South Wharf)
Day 3 – Melbourne (Great Ocean Road)
Day 4 – Melbourne (Catch up/Shopping)
Day 5 – Gold Coast (Surfer Paradise)
Day 6 – Gold Coast (Movie World)
Day 7 – Gold Coast (Sea World)

Travelogue: Australia Melbourne (Day 2)

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Tempted to Love

Read more about Australia Melbourne (Day 1) if you you haven’t!!

Yes due to “jet lag” we turned in pretty early the first night! It’s probably only 7pm in Singapore BUT WE WERE EXHAUSTED (yet excited at the same time)!!

For this trip, we did not arrange any jam packed schedule to follow. Instead, we planned to just visit one location each day. Any extra time will be consider as bonus! So Day 2, Sunday, we planned to spend our time at Queen Victoria Market – Just at our doorstep!!! We heard that it’s a really BIG market and they close at 4pm on Sunday (2pm on weekdays), better be safe than sorry, we decided to just settle our day at QVM!

Check out the morning QVM look!! Sky always looks more beautiful when you’re overseas!

It was pretty early when we went down to QVM to start our day, about 7am Australia timezone.. Most of the shops/stalls were still setting up!

The whole QVM is being catergorised into sections.. They have fruits & vegetables, dairy, deli, meat & fish & even a food court!

Side note: You HAVE TO try The Mussle Pot when you’re here!! It’s too heavenly and you’ll hate to missed it!

Since most shops are still setting up, we went to look for breakfast! With a clueless mind, we walk around and found ourselves in the Deli Hall! Wow… First impression? CLEAN & BIG!!

I wouldn’t say the food is cheap but portion is big so that covers the cost! Most importantly, most of the food we bought taste good!

Baguette/Croissant we bought at the deli were cold, not sure if it’s due to winter (food get cold easily) or they just serve it cold?? The adults weren’t very used to it but youngsters like US.. TOTALY COOL about it. As for the hot comfort food, is really good!!

We did not do a lot of cafe hopping but we never miss a chance to try their coffee whenever we have the chance! I can’t remember this cafe’s name though but it was our first coffee stop and even my mom (non-coffee drinker) likes it! Let me check with my cousin and keep you guys posted again!!

We spent quality time looking around for food!!! So glad we (actually more like our parents) were adventurous enough to try a bit of everything and by the time we were done with our breakfast, most shops are already open!

Seriously, look at the meat & fish market! it’s soooo clean!! It doesn’t even stink!

On this day, I seriously feel I’m getting old!! I actually enjoy going to the market!! It’s big, it’s clean, the people are all so friendly and I GET TO EAT MY OYSTER AT ONLY $15.00 PER DOZEN & ABALONE AT $7.99!! \( ^ _ ^ )/

Side note: when you see price that’s “.99” don’t expect them to give you a 1 cent change. It’s usually being round up. *ie: 7.99 is as good as 8.00.. So don’t go flare around saying they cheat your 1 cent… *palmface*

Seee my half dozen oysters!! It was too early for 1 dozen hence we only grabbed half to warm up our stomach first.. 🙂 I’m glad we did!!!

Previously I read some review saying there are no tabasco sauce/lemon given for oyster.. You need to buy lemon from them at (maybe) 10/20 cents per piece (lemon slice also wanna charge.. like … *speechless*)

Now here’s the latest update as of Jul 2015: Lemons are given to you FOC! As for tabasco sauce, I only see one particular stall has it on its shelf for you to help yourself (no charge too!)..

We even went to the fruits and vegetables market after that to grab some garnish (chili padi/spring onions) so that we can prepare our food later (we haven’t really decide to do lunch or dinner)!

So when we were back to our apartment, we decided JUST DO IT! COOK OUR LUNCH!! And as you can see.. It’s all SEAFOOD!!!

BTW, I actually prepared to spend A$85 on each lobster but it’s only A$19.99! Probably a different type thus cheaper! Hahaha!

And how much did we spend on food on the table?

Lobster – 19.99 each (2)

Oyster – 15.00 per dozen (1)

Abalone – 7.99 each (3)

Scallop – 15.00 per dozen (1)

Mixed seafood – 12.50 (500g)?? can’t really remember this..

White Wine Mussels – 10? or 12?? (From The Mussel Pot – only available on Sun, not sure about Saturday)

Noodles/salt/pepper – bought from convenient store (can’t remember how much)

Fruits/vegetable – less than $20 (watermelon/mango/strawberries/chilli/spring onion)

Total: Less than $150 for a good spread of seafood lunch!!

Thanks to our “in-house” chef! We get to eat these home-cook seafood lunch!

And of course thankfully Pegasus apartment provide pots and utensils for us to cook..!

And ta-daaaa ~ table of (partial) good food!!

Fruits were kept in the fridge for evening consumption! Chilled fruit platter!

And don’t say I no tell you.. QVM has different stall on weekends and weekday!

Shops we see on Sunday were not there anymore on Tuesday.. (yes we went back on Tuesday!)

So after we enjoyed our afternoon feast, we rested a while and decided to check out Chinatown on this day since we still have time! Shops in Chinatown closed at a much later time (mostly 10pm) so pretty safe to hang around still.

A pcs of advice,if you have plan to check out Chinatown, give up. It’s just a street and nothing too interesting. We didn’t even take much picture except when we stop for dessert before heading of to the next destination~

You can imagine, it’s already afternoon when we head to Chinatown and how we still have time to go another place? Indeed we didn’t spend too much time there!

SOUTH WHARF~ where Crowne Casino is located!

My friend recommended this place to use because it has beautiful city skyline!

Pardon my shooting skill but I think the evening view is nicer – which you will get to see it later..!

You know, I can’t emphasize this more.. People in Melbourne are super duper friendly! Whenever people see us taking a wefie/groupie, 9 outta 10 will offer to help us take a decent photo!!! HOW SWEET!!!

In this pic, behind us (on the left) is where DFO is! Recommended factory outlet mall to go if you want shopping!! And Crowne Casino is in the direction where we are looking (don’t worry, you’ll get to see it later)..

It’s about 5pm when we were there, many people are walking out from the mall with BIG bags small bags many bags!! Although we were hesitating if we should still continue ahead (mall close at 6pm), our leg just could stop walking towards the mall..

I had to share this because I want to show you how COLD IT WAS plus it’s drizzling !!! Our cheeks were almost numb and we had to do A-I-U-E-O to exercise them!! How dumb but we love it!!

( I have no idea why mama pose this way???)

So back track a bit.. The direction we looking at in the earlier photo .. Ta-daaa~ Crowne Casino!

-shopping in progress- (Okie, we didn’t really buy many things in DFO because we were not in need of them.. we were plainly there to get some warmth and see what they have~)

Probably 5-10 mins pass 6pm, we left the mall AND LOOK AT THE SKY!!! Can you see the stars? LOL!! I think this was probably the best picture I took throughout the holiday!!

Although it’s not even 7pm in Melbourne but we were all kinda tired already.. Thinking that it’s only 5pm in Singapore and we wanna go home~ OLD FOLKS!! hahaha!

So to end out day, we went to this Korea fried chicken restaurant to have our dinner! It wasn’t the best Korean food I tried but it was pretty much a comfort food as the night was COLD~ (Probably the second coldest night)

Remember we had fruits in the fridge? We shall save it for next day since we need to rest early for the most anticipated itinerary!!

To read more about my Australia trip, click below!!

Day 1 – Melbourne (Touch down)
Day 2 – Melbourne (Queen Victoria Market/South Wharf)
Day 3 – Melbourne (Great Ocean Road)
Day 4 – Melbourne (Catch up/Shopping)
Day 5 – Gold Coast (Surfer Paradise)
Day 6 – Gold Coast (Movie World)
Day 7 – Gold Coast (Sea World)

Travelogue: Australia Melbourne (Day 1)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Tempted to Love

I haven’t been doing lotsa shopping recently because my pocket had burnt a big hole from my recent Australia vacation!! Hence today’s post will not be about product review but about my AWESOME VACATION!

*Turn back time*

Somewhere around April, I was chatting with my mom and we randomly suggested going on a vacation – to somewhere we haven been before.. Vietnam..? Shanghai..? Australia..? What.. wait? Australia sounds good…! Winter soon and the weather is going to be so awesome! Without hesitation, we checked out airfare, accommodation and places of interest!! To make the trip merrier, we even jio-ed (asked) my cousin & aunt along – that’s how we come out with “四个女人一个梦” (4 woman and a dream) for our FB album! Dream is to visit Caucasian country!

So.. Trip booked! Accommodation booked! 1-day Tour booked! OH! But I haven’t mention to you where I’m going isn’t it? hahaha! We are going to Melbourne/Gold Coast!! Woohooo! Winter and beach!

*Fast forward*

Finally the day is here to catch our flight! It was a pretty rush day for my cousin & me! We need to be at the airport by 7pm but we were stuck at work until 4.30pm! But anyway we made it to the airport..

We took a redeye flight from Singapore to Gold Coast.. I tell you, any flight more than 4 hours is really a pain in the a**! I couldn’t sleep well through out the journey and the only consolation was…. I got to see SUNRISE!!! Woohooo! It was beautiful I even woke my mom up!!!! And about another 2-3 hours… We saw BEACH!!! Wahhh getting excited (even when writing this post)!!! Look at the clear blue sea, or green?!!! Oh mannnn~~

So we have arrived our 1st destination – Gold Coast! Nope, we are not staying here for now! We are taking a domestic flight to Melbourne from Gold Coast! We are spending our first part of the vacation in Melbourne!!

And now allow me to present to you….. Melbourne!!! Pardon the dirty window…

The weather looks cold isn’t it!!

After collecting our baggages, we headed to the taxi stand! At this point, I actually feel that Australia indeed is a very safe place! People are friendly, helpful and orderly!

The lady stationed at the taxi queue was really alert! Just a slight commotion (no arguement involve, just a state of confusion) from far end, she noticed and walked very quickly and cleared the doubt!!

So usually for 3-4 person with baggage, I suppose a maxi cab will be your only option for a more comfortable ride to your destination! They only have one kinda taxi (company) so don’t worry about hoping the wrong taxi or taxi not able to bring you to your destination (ie: Hong Kong’s Blue/Green/Red taxi). Taxi in Melbourne are all metered taxi hence no daylight robbery! SAFE!!

Again, I can’t emphasize this enough, Australia is a safe place seriously! People there are so helpful and friendly..! Okie, don’t drift to much… You can click on above image on the meter fare breakdown..

Destination arrived!!! The affordable, reliable and convenient apartment!

Pegasus Apartment Hotel – 206 A’Beckett St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

*BEWARE! Photo flood!!*

Note: We have booked a 2 bedroom apt! Rate is about S$325 per night~

*hallway*

*living/dining area*

*bedroom 1*

*bedroom 2*

Everyone so keen with the kitchen!! hahaha!!

Oh, that’s a fridge at the far corner!

Yo do not need to bring or even buy anything pots and pans! Pegasus have it all!

4-5 sets of plates, bowls, fork, tablespoon, soup spoon, teaspoon, knife (for meals and for slicing/cutting), drinking glass, wine glass, mugs, cups and even saucer,

A tong, can opener, peeler, laddle, tea pot, big pot, small pot, drainer, pan, toaster, microwave, kettle, coffeemaker and of course the stove!!

Such well-equipped kitchen!!!! Check out the glossy tiles too!

*toilet*

Water is adjustable to hot/cold temperature

*full length mirror*

What makes the hotel in its best location?? Being near to Queen Victoria Market of course & its near town too!! It’s like QVM on your left and Town on your right!

We can see the whole QVM from our room! BIG AND GORGEOUS! Definitely a place to return again!

After exploring our room it’s almost 4pm in Melbourne!! Not that we spend half a day exploring but because we arrived Melbourne late hence by the time we reach Pegasus, it’s about 3pm already… Not much time left for shopping so we just walked arounf the neighbourhood to familiarized ourselves before we meet up with my long distance friend for DINNER!!

Before we meet up, my friend had already told me we will be dining at this place that sells awesome Italian food! I must say Papa Gino’s indeed taste AWESOME!!! Although I am back in Singapore, I STILL MISS their pizza greatly!! Probably the best pizza I ever tried! FULL of ham and bacon on a thin crispy crust!!! Worth every single cents!!

The only thing is that they do not accept reservation – but I’m not sure if it’s only because it’s weekend or they just don’t. Whichever the case, I think you should still come try Papa Gino’s!

I can’t remember exactly what time we are done with our dinner (not too late perhaps) BUT I can remember it was a FREEZING NIGHT – the coldest night during our whole vacation!

…………BUT again, nothing can stop us for ICE CREAM dessert!!!!

Pidapipo is quite new along this street (sorry i can’t remember street name well but you can google it la~!), probably just 6 months old.. they serve gelato, yummy gelato! Many flavors too!

Looking at the way the we dress (esp my aunt), I’m pretty sure your can tell it’s really freezing! Seeeee… NO HANDS can be found – too for for even a victory handsign!!

V(^__^)V

A big thank you to my friend who brought us around & showed us the way the day we touch down! Although we did not had enough sleep but it was really an enjoyable night!