Melbourne! Day 2, Part 1: Melborne Museum

The temperature on Day 1 was comfortable and nice. It was warm when the sun was out and felt like we were in Singapore. Otherwise, a light jacket is tolerable. 

This morning, the sun was out when my alarm rang at 6.30am. I tried to be quiet; Daddy Lim always say that I am an elephant even when I insist that I am very quiet. Yes, I am up to use the gym in the apartment, which happened to be in the next building. Thus, here I am, out in the open at 6ish in the morning. Yes, it was very bright and the street was not as deserted as I thought it would be and it was very cold.

We checked out the laundry room, swimming pool and gym the evening before. I am not very sure if anyone would be swimming in this weather though. 

The door that leads to the gym and car park looks very suspicious. 

I was the only one in the gym.

I chose the elliptical and it felt very different from the one back home. I shall not complain but be thankful for the availability of the gym. This is the machine that made me sweat my ass. It does look evil, like some villain in a super hero movie. Hoho.

It was another quick jog back to the hotel bcos it was cooollddd. The weather forecast did mention that it would be colder today but weather forecast can be trusted? 

I came back, still to a room of sleeping people, and had to slowly wake one by one. That was a tall order. We needed to be ready by 9am as the other Lim family was coming over for bfast, bringing and sharing some of the bread, ham, cheese and jam that we bought the new before. 

It was 9.45am before we finally set off to the Melbourne Museum. Nana must be very happy that I didn't drag her off the bed at 6pm on a Sunday morning. Hoho. It was a 12 mins walk to the Melbourne Museum. We came across a very Halloween looking traffic light. Hello, Halloween over le.

The spider must have worked very hard. 

Also nice bicycle lanes. We only have these at TMCR.

There is a big nice park and a grand looking building beside the museum. No idea what that building is.

There was plenty of big open space. The kids would be running crazy on the grass if they had been much younger. #thosewerethedays

They still entertained my request for jump shots though. 

Not that old afterall. :)

The tickets to the Melbourne Mesuem were pre-purchased from Klook and I like that kids enter for free. I like even more that kids = under 16. Hoho. 

More funny shots.

Nana kindly offered to help her parents take pictures. I thought it was so nice of her, until we saw the end results, after exiting the museum. 

是谁？

Compared to the pictures that we took for her. 

美美的.

I always say that she doesn't take good pictures and she will roll eye and call me a boomer. Obviously in denial. Lol. 

We didn't stay that long, about 2 hours before the legs protested. I duno why, but museum walking is damn tiring. The kids started complaining about being hungry too. More crazy-ing outside the museum. 

The kids found dandelion. 

So puffy, like the one back home. 

Lunch at the museum was expensive and we decided to walk back to the hotel for better variety. We ended up at this expensive foodcourt (probably normal Melbourne foodcourt price), but with a good variety of cuisine. Nana had green curry, which she very much enjoyed. 

Daddy Lim has pizza, while Zaky and I had udon and sushi. Literally, all over the world. 

Every time we visit Australia, we are reminded about how expensive everything here is. It is OK, we are on a holiday. Hoho. 

Nana then saw this shop beside the foodcourt and bought a pair of jeans at about AUD30. I tot it was a tad short but she insisted that it was fine. I am going to bite her if she complains that it is too short in the future. 

Mummy Lim

Melbourne! Day 1, Part 2: Art Street, Yarra River

We rested bcos we needed. We literally knocked out and suddenly, the alarm clock rang. It was mission impossible, trying to get the kids out of the bed. 

Nana was happily eating her prized kiwis from the Queens Market while I continued to try to yank Zaky off the bed. 

Our apartment for the 2 nights. 

It comes with a little kitchenette and microwave. 

The plan was to do the street art self guided tour and then to find dinner at the Southbank. We barely started and already have a very tired boy. 

We didn't follow the route fully.

We saw many buskers along the way. Nana is very pro buskers and kept asking me to tip. Zzzz. No money le. They are actually very good. 

The map brought us to Chinatown, which was supposed to be Day 2 itinerary. Oh well. 

There was a strong demand for dinner, Southbank or not. We passed by this Japanese cafe food place that was approved by everyone. OK then.

Zaky was a lot more energized with dinner and then I returned the ice cream that I "owed" him (from the flight). The owner either doesn't QC or liked Nana a lot better. Look at the size of her scope!

Nobody was interested in the art street walk after dinner. I still wanted to visit the SouthBank, which was the other side of the Yarra River but was willing to settle for Yarra River instead. 

After a long walk, we finally arrived at the Yarra River. 

Ya, why is the water so brown? 

Southbank reminds me of Clarke Quay actually. 

With that, I was happy to go back to the hotel. At least we took a tram and didn't have to walk all the way back. 

We found Coles, brought bread, cheese and ham in prep of self-made bfast the next morning. 

While our room may not be luxurious, at least the water was nicely hot for a hot shower. Hohoho. Sleep was easy despite the afternoon nap, even for Daddy Lim was ended too tired to cough; he was plagued by this nasty dry cough for the past week. Nana got the single bed to herself while I was wedged in between Daddy Lim and Zaky in the queen size bed. 

Mummy Lim

Melbourne! Day 1, Part 1: Arrival and Queens Victoria Market

It was unfortunately a full flight. I was already tired shortly after the flight took off and Zaky soon joined me in the interrupted journey to lala land. 

Zaky had reminded me time and again to wake him up for dinner. I was dozing on and off and was awake when dinner was served. I skipped dinner and tried waking Zaky. He woke up and told me that he didn't want dinner. At least I was nice enough to save him his favorite bun. 

I is nice. 

Daddy Lim was waiting eagerly for dinner and woke Nana up for dinner. She was half asleep and tucking in. 

Zaky woke up at 3am SGT, which was about 6am. The sun was right just peeking out from behind the clouds. 

He then asked if dinner was served. Yes. Did I wake him up? Yes. Then why didn't he get to eat dinner? He totally had no recollection of him refusing dinner and was upset that he didn't get to eat dinner. *palm-face*

The bun saved half the day.

He was still upset when he found out from the rest how good dinner was and how Daddy Lim had 2 servings of ice cream. Lol. 

Finally, we saw land. 

Monkeying around as we wait to disembark. 

Arriving safe and sound!

We were all sleep deprived but spirits high. I reminded Daddy Lim to sleep on the plane. He said that he wasn't able to but I think he just wanted to binge watch movies and proudly told me that he caught 3. Zzzz.. the rest of us average 3 to 4 hours of interrupted sleep. 

Immigration was fairly easy and so was the luggage clearance. We declared as needed and there was no extensive check. We got the Myki card from the vending machine and haven't figured a way how to get the unused value refunded. Then it was the pre-purchased SkyBus to Melbourne City. Nobody even checked the tickets we got from Klook. Hmmmm. 

The SkyBus ride was about 20 mins and that was the easiest part. The plan after we alighted is to take the free tram 35 to somewhere near to our hotel. We 1st had to find the right tram station and Aunty S brought us to the stop safely with the help of Google map. 

At the stop, we panicked a little bcos the electrical board indicated that the next tram 35 will arrive on Sunday, 9.50am??!!?? We checked Google and saw that tram 35 runs daily at 30 mins interval. We waited and waited and waited and there was no tram 35. Plan B kicked in and this time, Daddy Lim took over. We also figured out that it is not only tram 35 is free but generally the trams are free if we travel within the free tram zone, which essentially is the city area.

The waiting got us, who are already sleep deprived, very tired. We had to change a tram and there was a long wait and very cranky people overall.

The stop that we alighted was right outside the free tram area but we didn't tap the Myki card bcos we didn't know how to. There was something about tapping the card when the tram is exiting the free tram zone and we are still intending to travel beyond. We only figure out that we were already outside the free tram zone after we alighted.  Apparently, not figured out yet. The hotel, Arrow on Swanston, is right next to the tram station. The whole "adventure" took us almost 2 hours. 

Checkin was only at 2pm. We left the luggages at the hotel and had to make some changes to our plan. The original plan was to visit the Fitzroy market, which closes at 2pm. Without much time left, and the high possibility if getting lost, we decided to go to the Queens Market instead bcos it is nearer and stays open until late afternoon. We also got hungry people to feed.

I was more interested in the food than crafts. The market feels somewhat like a combination of out wet market (much cleaner, dryer and bet.ter smelling) and atas pasar malam. 

We walk, we eat and we shop. 

Zaky bought prezzie, Nana bought kiwis and souvenirs for her friends. 

Whatever Daddy Lim and I bought simply went into the tummy. Lol. This donut cart is famous. 

The donut balls were still hot when we got them. Not very healthy but we are on vacation!

It was about 2pm. We didn't spend too much time at the market. The plan for the afternoon was an art street self walk tour an then dinner at the Southbank. We were in no condition to do any kind of walking tour and decided that the only right thing is to go checkin to the hotel and have a rest. 

Mummy Lim