My Melbourne Escapade

My first post in more than two months. Yikes! I haven't been blogging because I completely lost my blogging mojo. It was serious this time. I didn't even THINK about wanting to blog. In fact, I was flirting with the idea of deleting it or taking everything down. I'm not completely sure what brought this on... but at one point, I just didn't want to write, or didn't feel like I could write anymore. Everything I wrote sounded so... wrong.


But I left my blog as it is in the end because I figure it'd be nice to look back and see what I was thinking and how I've grown 10 years down the line. Which was why I started blogging in the first place. However, I probably won't be blogging as much as I used to. Certainly not as much as my Xanga days. I find it a bit hard sometimes because I can't share as much things as I would like to due to privacy issues and all that. I have to self-censor and self-edit a lot as quite a number of my friends and family know of this blog. It's true when they say our generation are all our own editors, because a lot of thought goes into what we choose to present to the world.


I also started a Tumblr to gain a little inspiration and share my collection of pictures I've amassed from the internet over the years. It's mainly a place where I try to put all of the things I find inspiring, motivating and pretty together. Never fails to make me feel a bit better when I go though it. If you're interested, you can check it out or follow me at:

freshlybrewedideas.tumblr.com

Anyway, I thought I'd blog about my trip to Melbourne during the semester break before the memories from the trip start to fade around the edges and become fuzzy. So here are some bits and pieces of my Melbourne trip, in no particular order, coz I'm lazy to rearrange them. Forgot that I had to arrange them as I upload, otherwise it's a pain in the arse to drag them around and rearrange them. THAT's how long I haven't blogged man.

One of the best things about going to Melbourne (and one of the things I really looked forward to), was having yummylicious macaroons. I had macaroons everyday for the last 3 days I was in Melbourne. And we tapau-ed a box of Lindt macaroons back to Brisbane.

I actually don't know why macaroon are SO addictive. The chewy goodness, the right amount of sweetness? What about it makes everyone love it and want it so bad? To the extent that people started complaining to me about the amount of macaroon pictures I post on Facebook! Said I made them hungry and envious. Sorry guys! :(

Max Brenner Belgian waffles are the shiz! They were so good... just the right amount of fluffiness in the waffles and chocolatey goodness drizzled all over it. Plus vanilla ice-cream (I'm a big fan of vanilla)! I was in gastronomic heaven.

This was taken after we went for the Tim Burton exhibition at Federation Square. The weather was gorgeous that day. The exhibition was really interesting and I enjoyed it. However, we went on the last day of the exhibition so there were a ton of other people rushing to see it too. We had to wait for our turn to look at the drawings in more detail, which started to get annoying after a while because some people took ages! But it was a good exhibition overall and I'm glad we managed to catch it.

I managed to find a Juno hamburger phone at the Queen Victoria markets! I didn't get it in the end though coz I didn't know where I would use it and it seemed slightly pointless. The Queen Victoria markets were huge! But the stuff they sold was quite similar to the Carrara Markets on the Gold Coast (which we were recently at), so we didn't get too much stuff.

My sister was also thwarted at her attempts to find the vendor that sold amazing treasure chest boxes, which she saw the last time she was in Melbourne but didn't buy. But we had a good time just walking around and eating jam-filled doughnuts. Mmmmm. Oh and spending cousinly time with Greg! Thanks Greg for accompanying us and bringing us around!!

Flinder's Street Station.
I took this while we were having coffee at Federation Sqaure after a very awesome dinner at Lygon Steakhouse. It was also the night of that epic Collingwood match and there were Collingwood supporters everywhere, celebrating their win. It was quite crazy coz people in cars would go past shouting "Collingwood!" and waving scarves and flags and all the people on the street would yell along or start cheering and whooping.

Laurent on Little Collins Street! Where we get our macaroon fix. We get our macaroon from here or Lindt. They have really good pastries too. It was nice to just chill here during the afternoon and have tea while people watching.

Cousinly time!
Having family around me really makes a lot of difference. I instantly felt a tad more complete and at home.

My sister made me do this. I quite like how the lighting turned out actually. I really like all the street art and graffiti in Melbourne. I wish we had that in Brisbane too. It gives Melbourne so much more character.

One of my favourite graffiti along that street. A Tokidoki-esque looking girl and a cute jellyfish.

The gorgeous Vicky. And of course, going to Melbourne means getting to see friends from back home. I was glad I managed to meet most of them there.

Joanne and I at Max Brenner.
Did I mention there's a Max Brenner is Brisbane now? I practically squealed when I saw it and gave Amanda a fright. The lines were crazy long though so I decided to go back during the weekdays to get another dose of Belgian waffles.

Having superb gelato at Freddo's after a satisfying Italian dinner at Lygon. I was really full after the dinner, but managed to wallop two scoops of gelato anyway because it was so good!

State Library with Kit Mun.
We didn't manage to wander around inside the State Library coz they were closing when we arrived. So we only caught a quick glimpse before they ushered out again. I probably should visit the Brisbane State Library to see if the it's as nice as the Melbourne one...

Walking back to the tram after shopping a DFO. It was great to be shopping with one of my girls again. At the same time, it also felt slightly odd because I'm so used to shopping alone here in Brisbane. When I wait for my sister to get off work and go for a dance class or when I'm waiting for my friends to arrive for lunch/dinner, I usually hit the shops alone. And do speed shopping, so I kinda forgot how it felt like to shop with someone else again.

We had glorious weather again that day. I know you're probably sick of me going on about the weather but in Melbourne, good weather (meaning lotsa sunshine so it's not so damn cold) can really make or break a day. Melbourne's spring felt like Brisbane's winter man. No joke... especially at night. And it was really hard for me on the first day coz I just came from Brissie and was used to wearing just a light jacket but had to switch back to my winter coats again.

Waiting for the bus at Monash, Clayton campus. I didn't expect Clayton to be that far away from the city. Takes about an hour to get from Clayton to the city and we had to take both bus and train. It's times like these I'm glad I'm in Brisbane where uni and the city is just 10 minutes away.

Camwhore partner is back!! Although I don't really like taking pictures of myself anymore coz I've gained so much weight! Just looking at my chubby cheeks makes me want to hurl. And that's saying something coz I NEVER EVER had a problem with how I looked before this horrible weight gain that's made me the heaviest I've ever been in my life. Meh. And it's not just how I look, it's how I feel as well. My pants have all gotten so tight and when I sit down now, I can feel the rolls of fat on my tummy and back. It is SO disgusting. Need to lose all the weight I've gained, pronto!

I stayed with Kit Mun for the first two days in her dorm.
So I got my pseudo-dorm experience. :) It was really cool. The only thing I didn't like about it was the communal bathrooms. It was FREEZING everytime I went to take a bath. Plus everytime you want to take a bath, you've got to bring all your toiletries with you, which was a bit of a pain. Other than that, it was fun having so many people around all the time. Although I think studying would be hard coz there's just so much distraction!

One thing I really liked and miss about Melbourne is the food. They have MUCH better food than Brisbane! I had the most authentic Nasi Lemak in a Malaysian restaurant at Glen Waverly. It was so good! I really wish I had more time in Melbourne just to eat. It was THAT good. I didn't have a single bad meal in Melbourne.


I had a wonderful trip overall. Despite getting sick on the morning we had to leave for Brissie and throwing up. And having the worst flight back ever because I was so sick, nauseous and my sinus was so bad my ear pressure couldn't equalize. It was the most painful thing ever! I was literally woken up because of the pain. It was terrible and I vow never to fly when I am sick again. Urgh.


I can see why so many people like Melbourne though. It's such a beautiful city... with a lot of character. There's so many quirky cafes and interesting shops to explore. I feel like I didn't get to see enough even though I spent almost a week there and it was my second time in Melbourne. I would gladly go back again... third time's the charm hey?

On another note, I'm loving the weather in Brisbane now. All the flowers are in full bloom because it's spring and it's so gorgeous! Plus we get lotsa sunlight and longer days but it's not too hot or stifling coz it's still spring and there's wind. Definitely going to chill by the pool tomorrow.


Good Luck for finals everyone!