Day 1: Dinner at Apollo Bay

It was almost evening by the time we reached Apollo Bay and it was time to search for a place to spend the night~

Cousin very nicely did majority of the scouting with out limited internet access. Though it was drizzling slightly and we had to walk under the rain for a while in search of a hostel, we eventually found one at a good price after being turned down by a few others.

After leaving our luggages in the room, we went back out for dinner....

We ended up at Iluka.

Here's a snap shot of their menu.

The fisherman's basket.....which is pretty common there! Probably every shop that you walk into will have something similar to this.

I'm not sure if this was the first time I had flake but I was really shock to find out that flake is actually shark meat! Not a fan of the meat.....as it was.....flaky.

We also ordered a medium pizza to be shared. Luckily, they serve thin crusts pizza as I don't like pizza with a thick base.

Oh, and I was so shocked that they do not provide chilli sauce and that you actually have to pay for it! Plus.....it tastes totally different from the kind that I'm used to!

After dinner, we did some grocery shopping for some snacks, shampoo and body wash as the hostel didn't provide any. 

I also got myself this~ 

It kinda reminded me of Magnum but this flavour is sooooo GOOD~!!! Wish they'd sell it here too~

SS14 Bah Kut Teh

Woke up on a Sunday morning with a craving for Bah Kut Teh, so I had it for breakfast with my parents before class. YUM~

The fried cruller is a must as I enjoy soaking it in the soup and then topping it with some garlic pieces~

I've got a stinky garlic breathe after this meal......I hope no one in japanese class mind.

I enjoy enoki mushrooms but somehow they don't go very well with the rest of the bak kut teh mix, so I ordered it in a separate pot. The enoki somehow changes the taste of the soup slightly.....

Snapped these pics to show ST san to show him that he can add some mushrooms the next time he cooks bah kut teh! But I doubt he'll be able to find the fried crullers in Japan though......maybe he can make his own~ hahaha.....

Day 1: Gentle Annie berry gardens & cafe, Pennyroyal

Highly recommend this farm found by Pancy and cousin for berries picking!

The owner was really nice as she showed us how to pick the different types fruits. As there weren't many people there, we were able to enjoy picking the berries slowly. We basically had the entire place to ourselves as the last group of people were just leaving as we arrived.

First time seeing a raspberry plant.

Rows and rows of raspberry~ that you can eat as much as you like!

Yin was very happy with her harvest!

Sooooo happy to be able to eat raspberries right off the plant! They were super sweet! Best I've ever had!

Pancy and the super sweet nashi pears

So many!!!!

Another species of pear...... can't name all of them.

There were also apple trees in the farm!

Wefie time~ by the time we were done with the berries and had moved on to the bigger fruits, we couldn't eat anything.

Picking strawberries!

A super huge sunflower~

O.o sakai ppl like me have never seen one this big before!

Getting fascinated by every other huge produce that we saw......

We bought the rest of the the berries and fruits that we've picked.

Other than fruit picking, there's also a cafe there where you can have some food or buy some of their produce.

Website: http://www.gentleannie.com.au/

Address: 520 Pennyroyal Valley Rd, Pennyroyal VIC 3235, Australia

+61 3 5236 3391

Sakura Sakura, SS12

Came  here with the girls as it was highly recommended by H. A first for me and it was a good experience. 

Free appetiser~

Ordered some sushi and tamago to share among the 3 of us. They were really good~

Beef dinner set. Didn't try this but I heard that it was yummy!

2 of us ordered this sakura set that came with tempura, california maki, a temaki, soba, salad, fruits, miso soup and some pickles. This was good too and really worth the price~

Would love to come back again to try other items on their menu!

I've seriously been having so much japanese food lately. Guess I must be trying to compensate myself for the 2 months away where I didn't get to have much chance to get any. Lol~ also because I have a lot of makan kaki for japanese food~

Day 1: Great Ocean Drive

I've heard so much about the Great Ocean Drive prior to my trip and hence was pretty excited for it!

I knew that the trip was going to be a long one......on windy roads that provided a great view of the ocean.

I was lucky that the weekend that I arrived was a long weekend in Melbourne......which meant that both Pancy and cousin could accompany me on this trip. Well, cousin did have to take one day off from work as we left on a Friday~ *gomen*

Along the way, there were various point for people to park their cars and walk down to the beach. The weather was really nice that day, except for a little drizzle. But it was super windy and hence, really cold for me!!! 

I'm totally not prepared for the Melbourne weather as I basically just removed everything from my carry on to Genting and transferred them in to a bigger luggage to be brought to Melbourne. I didn't have much time to pack before I fly....

This here is a funny picture because I was posing for the longest time while waiting for Pancy to snap a pic of me and suddenly the waves just hit me from behind! As if I wasn't cold enough, I felt even colder after that! Omg....soaking wet jeans + sand!!! What a great start~

This is Pancy, the best driver ever because she drove like 60% of the time through out this trip!

Cousin Yin, who drove the remaining 40%.

I'm so blessed. All I do is just sit in the car, eat fruits and be a brat!

Seriously loving the ocean view. I enjoy the feel of sea breeze blowing at my face while I close my eyes and listen to the sound of the waves.

Everywhere you look and no matter how bad your photography skills is.....you can still get a great shot! No kidding~ my skills are pretty bad.

Look at all the different shades of blue in this picture! 

Lol, coincidentally, I was in various shades of blue too~

Here's a tourist shot~

I was trying to fully embrace the cold weather by just wearing a T-shirt~ hahaha.....

Let's go!

After hours of ocean view, we took a different track and ended up with a forest view~

hehee....for a couple of hours we didn't have any internet connection while we were on this trail. Luckily, we had a safe trip~

And here's me, the 1% driver. I think I drove for like only 30mins? before Pancy decided that she could not stand my driving any more and took over the wheels. I didn't get a second chance after that~

:(

Standing Theory SS2

One day I was just really craving for waffles so sea witch and I went waffle hunting.

We ended up at Standing Theory at SS2, arriving just in time before their kitchen closes at 4.30pm!!!

Thank goodness! because I needed my waffle fix!!!

This is what we had! The BBT waffle~

The waffle tasted amazing with the syrup and corn ice cream! Plus the bacon was just super good! I'm not a fan of banana so no comment on that. But it's definitely a place worth visiting just for this BBT waffle!

Day 1 - Umaido, Box Hill

First breakfast......not counting the 2am pancakes.......in Melbourne and it's Japanese???

The next morning after I arrive, Pancy and I drove to Box Hill to have breakfast at Umaido and to meet up with my cousin before we begin our Great Ocean Road journey.

This seems to be a newly opened restaurant and it looks promising.

They serve the famous sanuki udon and there's a wide range of fried items available for one to pick to go along with their udon.

Both Pancy and I had the pork katsu curry don which was HUGE!!! I don't think I even finished half of what was served. We should have just shared one~

The rice and curry was good. The pork katsu could've been better. This one here was really thin and I prefer thicker ones.

Some fried items that we ordered....... a vegetable croquette, okomiyaki (yuck! totally didn't enjoy it at all), mushroom tempura which was pretty good.......

.....egg plant tempura which was really good and prawn tempura which was pretty bad as the batter was too thick......

Cousins's udon, topped with an egg. The broth was lovely and so were the udon. 

Lol, I may love japanese food, but I definitely did not plan to have japanese food on the first day in Melbourne. It just somehow happened......

02/06/15

I'm not sure if it's a good thing when an employer thinks that you are over qualified for the job position they offered. But it was definitely good to know that it wasn't because of something that you had said or did during the interview. I'm not sure why, but somehow the praises that I received had boosted my confidence and this boost came very timely during this down period of mine. For a moment I was lost and couldn't find my way! While I couldn't firmly say that I've found the light, I'm beginning to see some speckles of it. I really can't wait to reach the light at the end of the tunnel!!!

Mother's Day

Throw back on Mother's day dinner last month.

Bringing mum to Jyu Raku for the first time.

Mum ordered a super huge dinner set...besides the usual salad, fruits, chawan mushi and pickled radish, it came with unagi and sashimi!

Of course, mum couldn't finish it even though she enjoyed the food~ Dad ate the other half!

This salmon oyako don is mine! Yummeh~ with some squid slices and tamago! :D

This tempura set is what Dad orders every single time! hahaha....that's because he's afraid that other things might have some raw fish slices in them or nori! At least, he enjoys this meal~

After this, we went to hunt down Sangkaya at SS15 for some desserts~!!! A first for us and omg....it was soooo good! I especially enjoy the coconut ice cream with the roasted coconut flakes and peanuts! Must get myself more~