Sunday, June 18, 2017

Melbourne Trip - Day 1

bismillah Pictures, Images and Photos

Assalamualaikum.

So we took off from KUL at 10.20pm and arrived at MEL around 7.30am. Tak berapa nak jetlag because MEL cepat +-2 jam dari waktu kita. Upon arrival, alhamdulillah tak kena check kastam. Nasib2 je tu. Ada yang travel sekali dengan kami, got stucked at kastam for almost 2 hrs, habis luggage kene bongkar, hp inbox msg pun kena check because they were suspicious why this lady was travelling alone.

Wajib declare apa shja makanan dan ubatan yang anda bawa. Print out the list and on the flight you will be given a declaration and tick the necessary boxes honestly. We got lucky serunding lepas, sebab tak check pun.. sebenarnya serunding tak boleh bawa. Formula milk pun kami tak bawa, because we plan to feed the kids with fresh milk. Kalau nak bawa kena seal dalam package dia. Basically we plan to cook sepanjang di sana, so we brought canned sardine, canned baked beans, maggi instant mee, instant seasoning for nasi goreng, serunding, and separate packings for rice (5 pot stiap ziplock plastic bag x 4 hari). Dengan periuk nasi sekali kami angkut. Hehe.

Keluar sahaja arrival terus beli simkad Optus 10 AUD untuk 5 days. We will be travelling out of the city on day 2 and 3 so we must keep #erynaelman entertained. Plus, it is for our communication with the car rental place and hotel when we are out of city, if needed. After that we rushed to T4 arrival, to wait for the skybus untuk ke southern cross station (ala2 puduraya or TBS kita). T4 is the nearest stop keluar exit arrival tu. We bought the skybus tickets early di online. Dapat discount 1 AUD each if beli online.

Southern Cross Station
Upon reaching, terus ke booth skybus and ask for the free hotel transfer shuttle. It will register for you and you have to stay alert if the bus conductor announce the hotel name. But don't worry they are very helpful and friendly if you are not sure you can always ask. We plan to eat the famous halal kebab here for breakfast but since everyone was still full sebab makan banyak  atas flight, we have decided to pass.

City Tempo
Okay so kami book a small studio apartment di City Tempo via expedia. Dalam 106AUD per night. Unserviced. Its okay janji ada tempat tidur dan masak dah cukup bagi kami Alhamdulillah. They are very responsive. I emailed them right after the booking saying that we will arrive for an early check in by 12pm. Furthermore, oleh kerana kami nak drive, so kena book parking siap2. Di Melbourne mmg susah nak cari parking, if ada pun it is very expensive and ada limit hour. So we booked the car park for 2 nights. Harga 21.50 AUD per night. Redha je lah because we need a secure car park that is near to the hotel supaya dekat nak angkut anak2 nanti. Another thing is they are very sensitive about how many pax staying in. If it is for 4 pax maximum, means it is 4 pax, any additional guests will be charged. We are staying as 3 adults and 2 kids, so untuk elak kena query banyak2, kami minta adik tunggu dulu di luar hotel, naik gilir2. One more thing to highlight is the glass wall bathroom, means boleh nampak kalau you mandi. Hehe. kalau travel dengan kawan2 mahupun ahli keluarga lain, agak weird di situ. Other than that, its perfect.
Lepas settle check in, kami mandi dan solat. Zaime masak nasi and sardine. We had lunch and around 2pm kami turun to explore the city.


City Circle Tram
The transportation system in Melbourne is superb. Free trams at most of the crucial stops, and for first time visitors, the free city circle tram is a must and free too. It will bring you around the city and explain on the attractions. City Tempo mmg dekat sgt dengan city circle tram stop. Our first stop was The Parliment of Victoria. if you arrive early, it will give you the free tour inside the parliment. There's also the Etihad Stadium near docklands. Then we stopped at Federation square which is near to the Melbourne Park and Flinders Street Stations. We tried the famous King of Fries for 5.50AUD. Not so bad. Ada banyak lagi stops you guys boleh pergi which we did not go e.g. melbourne sea life and the melbourne zoo. Basically From the Federation Square we walked to the city tempo hotel, google maps is important to navigate us to the hotel. Suhu at that time sgt sejuk! Kesian Elman, tak biasa dengan suhu sejuk macam tu sampai pucat2 bibir dia.



Hosier Lane
Dekat Melbourne city mmg banyak sgt street art graffity one of them is hosier lane, Kami lalu je and snaps few pics situ. Elman dah mula meragam. So we had to make a move.


Bourke Street Mall
We passed by Bourke Street. Okay di sini memang shopping heaven. Antara attractions utama was H&M and Cotton On. It's 4pm and was getting dark macam nak maghrib. Suhu makin tinggi so kami tak dapat nak jalan lama2 di situ. Honestly memang tak shopping apa pun sebab kami rasa di Malaysia lagi murah. Haha. Thats the reality lah. Unless if you are working there, baju AUD30 at H&M memang murah gila. But if you are a tourist, convert semula ke RM harganya takdelah murah mana. Melbourne malam2 mmg alive sikit city dia. Ada street performances along the road. Most mall tutup pukul 9pm. The rest tutup pukul 6pm. But some groceries shop buka sampai up to 12 midnight. Memang convinient. Time ni kami sangat rushing sbb Elman dah kesejukan.

Coles
Sampai apartment we let anak2 and adik ipar settle down. Zaime and I turun semula and walked to the Coles hypermarket. Sini macam Tesco or Giant la utk kita. Kami beli barang2 nak masak, some snacks, fruits and bulla ice-cream. Hehe. Bulla ice-cream wajib. product diorang and sangat sedap. Di sini mereka ada limited sgt cashier counters. Semua kena bayar sendiri dekat self-help counter. Scan dan kemudian swap CC. So credit card is important. Kami beli barang2 dalam AUD40. Again if you are working and staying there, memang murah gila la barang penuh bakul baru AUD40. Resit kena simpan sebab boleh dapat disc 4cents for each litre time isi minyak nanti.


Balik smula apartment, anak2 dah tidur. kepenatan sangat on first day. Plus suhu memang sgt sejuk. So lesson learnt the next day saya prepare baju tebal2 (pakaikan baju double on then baru sarung baju sejuk). Malam tu saya prepare apa2 yang patut untuk travel out of city the next day. Potong buah2, masak nasi, rebus ubi keledek etc. Packing brg2 yang sepatutnya. Tidur dalam jam 11.30pm.

Thats pretty much about our day 1. Penat berjalan. bagi mereka kat sana apa ada hal setakat jalan 2-3 blocks. Tapi bagi kita yang tak biasa, penat and lenguh kaki!!. Hehe.

Love,
Wanie



Monday, May 15, 2017

Melbourne Trip - Pre.

bismillah Pictures, Images and Photos

Assalamualaikum..wowwww. It has been quite a while since the last post. It is now 2017!!!
Boleh tergelak baca post lama2. Masa bujang2. I am now a mother of 2..and is now pursuing my study..(tak serik kan?)

Anyway I will blog about that later if I have time. I will also update my 'About Me' tab you see up there. Obviously, it needs major re-vamp!

So, I am thinking of sharing my experience during our stay in Melbourne. I guess it would help those who are googling about tips to MEL, because honestly I did A LOT of fact findings and tips from bloggers.

It is the month of May and Zaime thought that it would be great to celebrate Mothers day + our anniversary there. In MEL, month of May would be the end of autumn and the entering of winter. So winter gears are very important. Since we are not frequent travelers and Malaysia does not require winter clothes, we have decided to just borrow them from my colleague, bro in law and sis in law. hehe. Jimat di situ. Alhamdulillah.

Any special attraction during autumn season? NO. So maybe thats why the flight fare was quite reasonable: dalam RM1000 return tickets per head, sekali dengan seat, makan and additional luggage. (biasala Air Asia semua nak kena bayar asing!).

Travelling during summer is not advisable because the temp will raise as high as 46 degree! Panaih lit lit. Spring is the best because they will have Tesselaar Tulip Festival and travelling during that season will be practically perfect especially when you are carrying kids or elders. Flight fare during spring normally mahal sikit. Winter is okay because you will get to play snow at few places such as Mount Baw Baw.

So things you need to do pre-MEL vacation is:

1. Don't forget to check your passports.
2. Apply for VISA. Kami buat di eta.australia@yahoo.com. RM20 satu VISA.
3. Booking hotel or apartment siap2. Kami book di City Tempo via expedia.
4. Booking kereta if you decide to drive. Kami book Hyundai Santa Fae via APEX car rental.
5. Booking park ticket siap2. I will share this later.

So just a sum-up of our tentative. For those who wants a short trip, yang terbaik is 5 days, but 4 days pun dah okay, insyaAllah.
When I shared this tentative in tripadvisor, all these mat mat salleh kata it is impossible! No way jose you can achieve this with a 3 yr old and 1 yr old baby! Noo! Too ambitious!
But guess what, Alhamdulillah, we did it!. I add some few places that we discovered during our journey. InsyaAllah I will blog in details about each days.

Day 1
One round with City Circle Tram
The Parliment
Federation Square
Melbourne park
Flinders Street
Hosier Lane
Bourke Street Mall
Coles-beli barang2 keperluan

Day 2
San Remo Newheaven
Maru Koala Park
Phillip Island - The Nobbies
Phillip Island - The Penguin Parade

Day 3
Victoria Market
Great Ocean Road - The Apollo Bay
Great Ocean Road - The Princetown
Great Ocean Road - The 12 Apostles
Point Cook

Day 4
Brighton Beach
Borthwick Park Playground
Puffing Billy Train
Melbourne University
Royal Botanic Park

Love,
Wanie

Saturday, February 16, 2013

A Good 2013 ComeBack like Liverpool


I am back.after a year and a half of silence. 
I am currently cleaning up things, before I could really spend time to write again. Been very busy with studies (yes, I am currently in my 4th semester of M.Sc. Management in UUM), wedding preparation (InshaAllah, a proud-wife to be in a few months time) and working (there has been a lot of re-structurings going on within a year,but Alhamdulillah it has never been this exciting to join a new team with great and supportive bosses around me). And other small things in my long list.

So to start off my 2013 writings, today's post is rather random. And at the end of this post, you'll notice that my style of writing is a little bit different from the previous posts I have in this blog. 

Happy New Year
My new year started off last year November, 1 Muharram 1494H. Getting engaged with a guy that I've known for 7 years now. A very long story to tell. I think in few years time, I can picture myself as the female version of the narrator for the "How I Met Your Mother" series.haha. Okay that is me being funny. lame wanie, lame!
Sorry for those who did'nt get it. 
Anyway, I think it's not too late to wish Happy New Year to everyone who knows me. Like everyone else, I am also hoping for the best, apart from having my past resolutions being carried forward to this year.haha. 

Born-days
January 2013 has passed, not much stories to tell. Missed celebrating best friend's birthday this year.=( sorry eh, babe?rasa kta makin jauh pulak.=(  But I got to tell you, March is going to be an exciting month. A month of love. Mum's birthday, followed by fiance's then dad's. Memang a month of poket ku koyak.

Screw you Israel
It's sad also to know that our brothers and sisters in Gaza had again been attacked by the Israel army. Its also annoying to know that Obama kept on saying in medias that Israelis are entitled to defend themselves, hence the US' aid in funding the Iron Dome. But are they entitled to steal and terrorize even more of Palestine? The land have been stolen, Mr President, sir, and you knew it. Lets just pray and donate where necessary. That's the best that we can do. And I have, InshaAllah, decided to go a little bit extra by trying to start avoiding McD, one the most loyal supporter to the Israel army since forever, financially. Yes, some people may call it as just a seasonal boycott, shallow or whatever they want to call it. I am fine with it. I even have no issues walking a dear friend to buy McD's sundea, because to me boycotting is just my personal initiatives. Alhamdullillah, so far, I am surrounded by non-judgmental friends.=)

Insanity Test
In a journey back to kl last week. I quoted some interesting conversations I had with my brother.

Akak: Akak nak kurus. Nak kawen kene kurus. Nak Nak.
Adik: Hello? Senam pun malas. Ada hati nak kurus. Maybank bg facillities gym percuma. Pegi la. Nanti minggu depan adik bagi video insanity training. Nnti bila free adik dtg ajar teknik.

Yes. I cant wait to start doing this what you called, an insanity training/test. You can you-tube it to learn more about this activity.=)

Me and my brother rarely meet each other, as both of us are very busy with our own daily routines and stuffs. So, we normally decided to go back hometown together once in a while, because that's the only time where we can spend time together in the 2-hrs journey to just talk and catch up about things.

Akak: Nak blaja silat la. penting tau martial skrg ni.
Adik: Oh. ckp psl martial art, adik skrg masuk kelas Muay-Thai dgn Krav Maga utk subjek elective.Adik dah allocate sikit duit biasiswa nak join kelas ni.
Akak: Ha? Krama what?
Adik: Krav Maga. Israel punya martial art. Ala rilek. Nak kalahkan musuh, kena belajar kekuatan diorang.

So I have seen so many friends of mine born in November, having this distinct characteristics of  wanting and hunger for knowledge. These people are more practical and determine. I don't know, but I sometimes find all this astrology and months things having so much coincidences with almost everyone around me. Haha. Tapi jangan sampai jatuh syirik, Nau'zubillah.


So I guess that's all for now. Assalamualaikum and have a good weekend to everyone.=)


p.s: Adik if you even bother to read my blog, don't forget the insanity test that you've promised me.=D


Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Look, whom she best endow'd she gave the more..

bismillah Pictures, Images and Photos

Wow. Seriously. It has been 4 months since the last post of this blog.
Reading Shakespeare's Sonnet XI had actually triggered me to update this blog. Do not ask me why.=)
Well, so many things happen in the past 4 months. Lets recap:

June
I received surprise roses and a cake from my bestfriend. It was so sweet, it really made my day.=)



July

My high school friends Salimah & Nafis got married! Oh my God. They are such a good combination and are meant to be together.=))


My brother had an accident. His motorcycle bumped into this car. Alhamdulillah, he's recovering.


August
Bought a new sofa for my parents from my first bonus. Alhamdulillah. At least that was the best I could do for them. Putih also loves it.meow.

 Our raya celebration was as sweet and exciting as ever. 4 of us.=)


September

Gold price stikes!! haiyai yaii..=D


Among my closest friends in UKM, Syidah had made her first move. She's engaged. we're so happy for her. Wondered when is my turn? hmmm.=p



Well also other stuffs that I couldn't attached the pics here:

My cheap groupon trips with my office girls to A'Famosa Melaka.
Hayani's wedding
My first attempt making cheese tarts for Father's day.=p


Thats all I guess.=)

As fast as thou shalt wane, so fast thou growest
In one of thine, from that which thou departest;
And that fresh blood which youngly thou bestowest
Thou mayst call thine when thou from youth convertest.
Herein lives wisdom, beauty and increase:
Without this, folly, age and cold decay:
If all were minded so, the times should cease
And threescore year would make the world away.
Let those whom Nature hath not made for store,
Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish:
Look, whom she best endow'd she gave the more;
Which bounteous gift thou shouldst in bounty cherish:
  She carved thee for her seal, and meant thereby
  Thou shouldst print more, not let that copy die.
 
william shakespeare: Sonnet XI 
 

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