Melbourne'11 Part V

Last part to my Melbourne photojournal - Melbourne is such a gorgeous city, especially the outskirts ♥ These were taken on the way to Philip island, which was a long drive from the bus we boarded from Federation square in the heart of the city. We also spotted wallabies hopping about along the way in the plains!

Philip island is the coastal home to many little penguins (the world's smallest penguins) where each night at sunset, they return ashore after a day of fishing. It was really amazing to have witnessed this magical procession at Summerland beach, even though photography was banned. But I couldn't resist not sneaking a few of shots of the rainbow gradient sky, which isn't very apparent in the picture because I hesitated and the sun was setting. Photography is banned because the light caused by flashes blinds the penguins for life, although some tourists still go ahead and take their selfish flash shots which is very unfortunate.

Made our way down to one of the park ranges early morning to have breakfast, and where I had the best marmite crackers ever....and where mumsie fed canaries with some bird food provided at the side. They're really intuitive!

Hello conductor at the Puffing billy station, the railway train ride was pretty overrated and it was extremely cold during winter, especially with the wind gushing when cruising through the woods.

Pitstop at a wine vineyard, and had an expensive Italian meal because there was no other restaurant in plain sight (and we were hungry), the pasta was good at least!

Pelicans are such mesmerizing yet awkward looking creatures, which makes them really beautiful. They don't smell very nice though, and I was almost certain they were gonna bite me after my snaps so I scurried away.

On the last day, we decided to head up the Eureka tower aka Skydeck88, a 297.3 metre skyscraper in the Southbank precinct of Melbourne. It's the 10th tallest residential building in the world, and the highest public vantage point in a building in the Southern hemipshere. The view wasn't fantastic, but it did give us a glimpse of the landmarks we have been visiting in the past week.....the outside portion of the viewing platform was freezing though.

Overall, it was a good trip, albeit the cold although visiting in Spring or Summer would be tons better. The city's very easy to orientate yourself in, and the culture is very cosmopolitan so we had a mixture of cuisines during our trip (spotted a lot of small Japanese joints frequently hehe), it's the countryside that needs more brain work getting around - but the bus day trips at Federation square are a godsend so you might want to check them out :) Goodbye Melbourne, till we meet again!

Pictures taken by my trusty Canon IXUS 1000HS

Melbourne film pictures

Melbourne Part I

Melbourne Part II

Melbourne Part III

Melbourne Part IV

Back to basics,

The last day of October saw me on a yacht sailing far away before the looming project deadlines and presentations, all thanks to Sarah the hot birthday girl ♥ I'm really glad to have met her and the whole bunch of awesome people from Arts rag, who really helped to start off college life with a bang (cue our mind blowing performance) and even though I'm not as talented as them in the performing arts scene and in faculty activities, they make Art corridors seem so much less dreary! Happy blessed 21st birthday girl, I know you've been through one heck of a year, and you're such an inspiration to stay strong and tall ♥

All picture credits to various sources, especially to her camera and Roy's.

Sailing off from Keppel Marina bay, sushi and fried chicken on board!

Mel's mum baked this tiramisu which had many shots of whisky...she's really talented!

Beach babes!

Red wine and we caught the fireworks @ Sentosa, so amazing ♥

And presenting to you....the hot air stewardess birthday girl!! (Her halloween outfit for Zouk TGIW that night)

21st birthdays are really amazing, and such a great time to get together with everyone ♥ Hope you love the polaroid camera dear! Love you ♥

Homemade picnic,

R left 3 months ago for London, and we decided to hit Singapore botanic gardens for a lovely picnic to busk in the local greenery and hopefully scenic backgrounds. Spent some time prepping for it (brownie points for homemade takeaway soba in Japanese tea cups), so I was quite bummed out when the skies were looking ominous as we headed out. Made a quick grab for wine at Holland Village, and when we reached it started raining. Ain't no rain gonna dampen our spirits though, the pavilions by the Swan lake were perfect and the weather was cool. Plus we had a gorgeous view of the lake when the rain simmered and swans came swimming by ♥ 

Got all giggly leaving a bread trail for the birds who meekly stole them and quickly hiding back in the bushes (Okay fine only me, but they were extremely adorable). The swans, fishes and turtles all came by to visit too - even in the light drizzle. So first half of the evening was great, but in the second half we got so full of chips, the remaining bread crumbs had rats encircling our indoor picnic mat and I went to the restroom only to lose my way in the dark getting all creeped out and ended up probably running around a quarter of the trails in the gardens - what a night indeed! But we'll definitely be back ♥ 

All figured out,

4 days to freedom from my papers

6 days to Hanoi, Vietnam

21 days to R's arrival back home

30 days to Christmas

38 days to London, United Kingdom

♥

Taiwan pebble beach,

Spent my last few leftover film rolls from my Taiwan trip on these gorgeous shots of the famous pebble beach, or more affectionately known to the locals as 花蓮七星潭. These were taken along the coast of Taiwan, Hualien (花蓮), a pit stop made enroute back to the city. It spots a stunning view of the Pacific ocean by the quiet seaside town, I remember pecking on fresh fruit samples (and dried fruit alike) at the nearby fruit fair. There's nothing much in the vicinity, just a few makeshift stalls selling corn cobs and drinks and a enterprising restaurant which decked out beach chairs like it's summer. Spotted a few youngsters cheekily throwing pebbles back into the ocean and a scruffy dog happily nested on an old tyre. Such is the tranquility our usual city life can never offer. 

Will definitely be back after my papers, when summer beckons! ♥ 

P.S. I'm wrapped up in 3 layers above, no idea how I'm going to survive winter in London this coming January

My Thursdays,

Good evening to my future self reading this, twelve hours of a day went by in the blink of an eye - for the lack of a better expression I apologize. The workload this semester is killing me by the day, oh the woes of Continual Assessment modules, they remind me of IB. That aside, I have eaten a waffle for lunch, endured bullets at my lab final presentation, given a presentation on child sexual abuse, gotten contacts from the lovely Dutch girls from my trauma Psychology class to hopefully pop by Netherlands in Spring next year, and trudged on a long journey back home during peak hour traffic. And not to mention having received images of the countryside donkeys from my beau on his road trip vacation. Et moi, J'ai mal à la tête. I have a throbbing headache, which refuses to go away. I think I have been conditioned to receive cognitive lab induced pains that it automates itself every Thursday! 21 days down to my freedom, no time for disillusions because reality aka the looming examinations, is sinking in fast....pretty much like me in quicksand. At times I really just want to give in to procrastination and my 1001 (but serious) dreams waiting, stop and think through all these paper chasing. But just like how I always mix up pouvoir and vouloir in French class,  want and can aren't really in the ideals of situation right now. Au revoir, à bientôt!