Walking around Melbourne City

6th June 2010

We reached our hotel at Travelodge Docklands at around 1.30pm local time...we were so excited coz the hotel was superb, looks comfortable and 'inviting' to sleep.....next to the bed, was a glass wall...we could see the view of Melbourne city next to Southern Cross train station....ermm...we rented 3 rooms 2 person each room...Zuzu and myself, Rahah and Kaifa, Zaze and Ahmad......wiwiwi...we took couple of hours to unpack our baggage, shower and a nap, resting from long hours journey....huhh..

5pm, we went down to lobby...surprisingly the day was getting darker as it was winter season....the sunset @ around 6pm...and OMG..it was so cold down there...hehe....when we reached down, another surprise....daa Tee Huey waited us at the hotel lobby....she is our senior in Satyam were not only x-colleagues but also like sisters....she is working here in Melbourne since 2 years ago...we juz got to know that her office was just beside our hotel!!....Tee treated us to the max! she planned to took us walk the 'whole' melbourne' city on that night !!

So from the lobby hotel, we walked across few offices buildings to the main city, crossing a few areas..like 'RIVER', after few mins walk we reached a coffee shop and warm ourselves with cup of hot beverage, cakes and tit bits....

After having coffee, our journey started....xploring Melbourne city at night...a few mins walk from the coffee shop was a river which separated Docklands from South Bank area..it is one of the attraction in this city...we snapped a few photos around that area, enjoying the lights and night views of Melbourne city. We continued walking and passed by a crown casino area to reach crown hotel lobby to see musical light. It is also one of the attraction at night where there was chandelier with colourful lamps which changes colors according to the background music!...pleaase snap 1 photo for me...

Next stop was a 'Halal China Food' restaurant, a Mongolian's style food served with hot chillies....to warm up ourselves...Plus, it was a famous halal restaurant in this city. We were lucky because it is kinda easy to find Halal food in Melbourne...The weather was so cold that we were easily get hungry..hehe...A few 'delicious' menu recommended by Tee were ...dumplings, Lamb 'sate' serve with hot chillies, noodles, chickens and other side menu....I can say it was such a great dinner.

Hoho...next, we started exploring shop lots, blocks by blocks .....ermm planned to have a fast look of the city..then the 'shopping' part gonna be on our last day here...we were lucky because it was a Saturday nite...we could see how the local people enjoyed their night life, smartly and charmingly dressed up with winter coats and walking fast in the city....

From south to north, east to west of Melbourne city was explored by 'walking' throughout the cold and breeze night, and by horse chariot :-)

Vacation @ Australia - Arrival

5 th June 201

It has been one of the golden dreams in my life and my 'wish list' to visit a lovely country, Australia since I was a child...With Allah's blessings, my dream came true when 6 of us (Zuzu, Ahmad,Rahah, Zuzu, KAifa and myself) spent our precious time for trip to Melbourne...Even this note is quite outdated (6 months backs hehehe), I purposely write it so that it'll be fresh in memory...hehehe...The story began like this.............

- We boarded around 12.15am and departed from KL around 1.20am. It was 7 hours and 50 minutes journey. The journey took about approximately 8 hours from KL - Melbourne. After about 4 hours journey, we entered Australia continent area, half of the journey to cross the entire Australia continents from north to south because Melbourne is situated at the south most part of Australia. The sky was so clear during sunrise, we could see some Australia's desert with oasis areas from top (from the aircraft) while crossing middle of the continent. The pilot of Air Asia X - 330 announced that at the right hand side we can see the landmark of Australia, Sydney.

- It was a gentle touch on the ground, the aircraft Air Asia-X 330 safely landed at Tullamarine, Melbourne airport around 11 am Australia time (2 hours earlier than Malaysia time). The pilot announced that current temperature is 11 degree Celsius at that time (noon)...Melbourne..here we are........

- Upon arrival at Tullamarine airport, we undergone Custom checks - a warm welcome from the airport attendance, custom assisted us for further checkup for our goods/ baggage...
.While queuing up for the checking(there's separate lane by country/ flight), we could see the checking process from other visitors from other country such as China. The examination of goods was quite strict , well it's for safety purpose...

- After few minutes queue, was our turn for checking. We undergone series of questions such as interview session with the custom officer....There was a cute young guys with a fancy hairstyle and friendly as well...a bit different approach from other visitors, we were interviewed based on our intention to enter Australia, documents checking, ect........He was a funny guy interviewed us with some jokes as well...Huhh, after about 5-10 minutes, he is satisfied and we are allowed to enter.....yeay!

We took airport dedicated bus and shuttle service to our Hotel at Travelodge, Docklands....The cost is 24AUD returns to Southern Cross bus station including mini bus shuttle service to out hotel. The service was excellent which made our life easier and enjoyable !!!. We bought the ticket at the ticket booth inside the airport building a friendly female lady entertained us with Big smilee......After that, we went out and waited at the airport buat @ the bus stop, outside of the airport building....

- Outside, the temperature was low and breeezyyy, ermmmm guyzz get ready with ur winter coats and sweater..oopss...sorry sweater did not sufficient enuff for us, hoh (^_^) ........sorry for those who hv intention for 'fashion show'...keep ur lovely bloose and shirt...and just wear thick winter coats, sweater, socks and gloves..... :D:D

Melbourne, I couldn't wait to treasure u.....

What happen next, will be posted in next post.....yippy...till then.....................