Adelaide and Melbourne - Day 1 & 2

Finally...my well deserved break after 4 months of internship. Arrived in Adelaide around 7:30am (adl time) on mon morn'..and met Rach at the airport! After so many months of talkin about the trip, it finally materialised. we took a bus to flinders uni, which is where rach, lydea and wei qin are studying at. Having slept only 1hr on the plane (i watched spiderman 3 and the rest of the time was mainly spent listening to the two British kids next to me having their talk..haha), i thought i would just be sleeping when rach was having her class. But the offer to join lydea, wei qin and their friend betty on a shopping spree to Harbortown (factory outlet) was too tempting to resist. and so i went. we had lunch at this fast food place called Red Rooster, and their 1/4 chicken with fries was on offer (AUD3.10), so that was what I had. It's basically good ol' oily stuff, but too salty for my palate. anyhow, it was a good start to my trip. wei qin was tellin me all the places that i should go to and that she'll bring me to. looks like i have a lot of good things to look forward to ;)

Harbortown is the equivalent of the factory outlets in USA, but most of the brands are Australian. There are some really cheap bargains there. Havaianas are relatively cheap there too. Bought a pair of slippers and polo tees for my bro, and a t-shirt for myself. less than 5 hours in adl and i alr bought things hahaha. this is what happens when you haven't shopped in 4 months. Most shops in Aussie close at 5pm (i rem this although it's been 8 years since i've been to OZ) and its really interesting to see my friends checkin the bus timings list to see when the next bus is coming and when we should go to the bus stop. since some buses come only every hour, it was crucial not to miss the bus. for dinner, rach n i cooked jap curry and basmati rice. talk about a good and cheap meal. in sg i just eat out for every meal cuz its so cheap. over here cooking can save u lotsa cash.

Day 2 - went for a 45min walk with lydea to Marion, which is a huge shopping mall in adelaide and both of us almost killed ourselves cuz we were in boots. anw it was just a really short trip cuz we reached at like 11am and had to catch the 12:12 bus back. so i only got chips and energy bars. but the food selection at marion's is pretty impressive - donut king, hudson, gloria jeans, cold rock, pretzels, wendy's (diff from usa), this yogurt place that gives out samples which will shame all gelato shops in s'pore (since our samples usually come in tiny spoonfuls), etc... will go back next wk to buy chocolates and stuff back for ppl at home..

it was quite a rush back for lunch (left over curry and rice) and off with rach to catch the J7 bus to the airport, where we boarded the Jetstar plane to Avalon, Melbourne. The plane ride was alright, except for the screaming kids and the pilot's attempt to bring us on some roller coaster adventure -_- it took about an hour, and we landed at the Jetstar owned 'airport', which looked more like a warehouse to me. no complaints though, i payed only AUD36 for the flight, including fuel and taxes. we then took the shuttle bus (AUD19) to melb city and a train to Huntingdale station, where Yuting picked us up.

Afterwhich we went for Italian food at Sofia. Amazing, amazing, amazing. HUGE portions at reasonable prices. we shared a 'pasta for two' which consisted of 3 pastas of our choice. I chose the cream-based risotto with chicken and mushroom, Yuting had the Sofia's spaghetti (scallops and prawns in napoli sauce) and rach chose the seafood tagliatelle. That meal contained 6 servings i tell u..and the seafood was so fresh..prawns were huge..and there were so many scallops. It cost AUD29.50..total value for money. The risotto was creamy and smooth to taste - somewhat like porridge, not very authentic Italian, but enjoyable. we had to pack almost all the risotto to go, cuz all of us were too full.

After dinner, it was off to Yuting's house. I love her house! such a nice little house at one end. the funny thing about the neighborhood is that there are no headlights so it gets really dark. anw i'll be here for 5 nights. will be gg to melb city tmr..and grocery shopping at coles =) we gotta buy food to cook for the week.. it's really diff traveling on my own and bunkin with friends. i haven't decided which is better cuz its only the start of my trip. but i do like traveling with my family, esp when we tour cuz then i learn alot about the history of the place. anw i'm lookin forward to many good things ahead!

these are the mooncakes that i brought for rach cuz she wanted to eat the bing pi kind. right now only bengawan solo is sellin such mooncakes cuz the festival has not arrived yet.

the first car ad i saw in Aussie..yayy Lexus ;) not my fav car though..bring on the LS 600 hL!