Time surely flies. Before I knew it - there I was in Melbourne again. I took the 6 am Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne, and I arrived at around 7:45am.
Before I left Melbourne at the end of July last year, I told my friends I won't be seeing them for a long time to come, possibly a few years at least. Well it's just past seven months and here I am again arriving in Tullamarine airport.
Sydney the last few days had been pretty warm (around 24 degrees average) and I was really looking forward to some chilly Melbourne weather. I was quite relieved to feel the chilly 15 degree Melbourne winds when I walked out of the airport I had to admit. Now I finally get to put on my autumn jackets.
Ben and Horng Shii were very nice to come pick me up at 7:45 in the morning. I was going to stay with them over the Easter weekend, and again I really have to thank all 3 of them - Ben, Adeline and Horng Shii for their hospitality.
Anyways, I was really there to chill out, so during the day we really didn't do much apart from having a late lunch (yup I slept for a while) at Clayton, and then dropping by Andrew and Suyi's newly bought place which I haven't seen.
At night we went to Toodori, a Korean restaurant opposite the Victoria market for some authentic Korean BBQ. I had last visited this restaurant almost 4 years ago if I remember correctly. Ah... memories.
After that - we wanted to head over to Koko Black over at Lygon Street for dessert, but alas Easter Friday here means most places are closed so we went to Max Brenner, but it was also closed.
So we settled for Mcdonalds's McCafe for some cheesecake and coffee. Yup count on Macca's to be open even on public holidays. Mental note to self here - never ever ever ever order the Vienna coffee again. It's absolutely terrible.
We decided to have a breakfast the next day at about 9 am over at St Kilda beach.
Nothing like a big breakfast to start the day! Fried eggs, bacon, hash browns, mushrooms... woohoo!
Anyways, after breakfast we proceeded to the South Melbourne Coles supermarket to pick up some supplies before heading over to the city for... unbelievably... ROCK CLIMBING.
Yup, here I was in Australia and I was going indoor rock climbing again!
Hardrock is situated right opposite the Melbourne Baths (opposite RMIT) in the Verve apartments complex.
I was a little disappointed they didn't have bouldering here but hey there were plenty of climbing walls available, with almost all of them around 3 storeys high. Hardrock also had a very interesting belaying rope system, with a safety hook on the floors connected to each rope so belaying was really simplified here compared to the place I normally go to in the Klang Valley, M'sia.
Anyways, I was pretty glad that the gang really enjoyed the rock climbing experience. They're pretty eager to try it again heheh, so I guess in a way I have just influenced them. :)
After that, we headed back to Andrew and Suyi's place for a jointly organised BBQ with Kim and Brian's friends.
Oh, and of course we stopped by Dan Murphy's to pick up a couple of drinks. I managed to whip up some fried bee hoon as something extra - and we had the usual delicious chicken wings and sausages together with satay and steak!
Kim brought some props to spruce up the BBQ a bit, and all of us had a go at putting the wigs, masquerade masks and fake errr hair bits on.
Here's Kim and Tania.
Brian.
Suyi... heheh.
Adeline.
Me!
Fooling around with Horng Shii.
Ben trying to be cute here.
Winfred - hardly recognise him here.
This wig really looked so natural on Selwyn.
And of course the BBQ master - Andrew. Many thanks to him and Selwyn for taking turns at the grill.
Adeline made some delicious cheesecake for dessert later, and we practically ate non stop and went home feeling absolutely stuffed.
On Easter Sunday, we had yum char at Eastern Palace before heading off to the city. I met up with Jeremy and Lay at Cookie Bar in the city, and then with Davie and Amelia after for some delicious crepes.
Unfortunately I would have really wanted to catchup with more friends but with the limited amount of time, I couldn't really squeeze much more in. Ah well... I apologise to those that I couldn't meet up with. Until next time hey?
Anyways at night, we had something that I missed somewhat. Lobster noodle! We went over to BBQ house at Richmond and ordered it together with a couple of dishes and rice.
I flew back to Sydney the next morning - and practically crashed in bed for a while from the busy weekend.
It was really good to be back in Melbourne. I didn't really know how much I missed it until I arrived back there. I guess that's just life eh. Just have to move on.
Thanks to everyone who so graciously made this Easter weekend a memorable one.
Here's the link to my Flickr album for this weekend.
the lobster noodle looks DAMN DELICIOUSSSSSS.
EEYER...u all had so much fun without me..*Sob*
I miss Melbourne...:~(
Dude, is there any more room in your stomach after stuffing all that down? :)
michelle: The lobster noodle WAS delicious! Heheh. :D
reapies: Aiseh, we couldn't finish it all. Had some duck and vege left, which we took home. Heheh.
LOBSTER NOODLE! first time eat! NICE!
YUP YUP!
BAM POW POW!