Melbourne photoshoot

We always wanted to have some really nice casual photos of ourselves. We all know too well that nice photo comes with a huge price tag.

Jon Low was in town, early November, together with his brother, Yit Chuan, they did us a massive massive favor to be our photographer for the day.Well, we were just happy to be their puppet. We admire his work very much and by looking at the photos below, you'll understand why. We were amazed by his vision through his lens and an eye for details. 

It was a sensational day to shoot, it was fun, relaxed, the sun was out and towards the end of the shoot, it rained a little. We were able to have some nice shots in the rain.

Thank you Jon for the beautiful photos. We love it!

Housewarming

Last Sunday 3.Oct.09, we had our first housewarming party. We decided to do steamboat without much hesitant. We both are not great cooks and we don't have a barbeque. Potluck? We thought that since it's our housewarming, we don't feel right asking our friends to bring food for this occasion.

It turned out to be a good choice, some of them came later than the rest, so we ate and chat while waiting for other rest to arrive, and not cooking too much each time. There were 19 of us that day? We created a lot of "noise" which is really good to warm up our house. haha! We were busy entertaining our friends that we forgot to take photos on our own! Bugger!

We didn't realise that the day we had our housewarming was the day Chinese all over the world celebrated mooncake festival. Double celebration!! Our friends bought mooncakes and lanterns over for everyone to enjoy... It was very good... comparable to those we usually get back in KL.

Wii time after heavy lunch

Mooncake time!

Mooncake imported from Hong Kong (I think)

Group photo

When the sun was down, we lit up the lanterns at our backyard and one of us came up with the idea of walking around the neighbourhood with our lanterns. We thought "why not??!!". This is old school and gold! We did just that but to a nearby park. We would not want to cause any concerns with the locals which are not accustomed with this sort of festival.

It was good fun... raised a few eyebrows from the locals passed by, heads turned, cars stopped wondering what we were up to, we made ourselves noticed! haha!

Oh yeah, I am begining to believe that the number "3" is our lucky number. A lot of occasion/event occurred have some connection with "3":

1. We got our first house in our 3rd year back in Australia
2. I was wearing a shirt bearing the number 3 on my right arm while bidding for our house
3. If we add our house settlement price, it comes back to number 3
4. Our house number is 3
5. Our first house warming was held on 3rd Oct 2009
6. It took us 3 weeks to decide the type of furniture we want to buy and how to place them in our house

Bear in mind, none of these were planned! Maybe I should start buying lottery with the number 3 only. Haha!

Dragonboat 2009/10 race schedule

As soon as the daylight saving kicked in, we have been training harder, twice weekly to prepare ourselves for the upcoming races starting from early November to April. Last Saturday, I have committed myself to a number of races, as listed below. It's going to be a full on season.

1. Nagambie                      Sunday 8th November 2009
2. Docklands                     Sunday 6th December 2009
3. Falls Creek                    Sat/Sun 23th/24th January 2010
4. Yarra                             Sunday 7th February 2010
5. Sale                               Fri/Sat 26th/27th February 2010
6. Wodonga/Albury           Sunday 7th March 2010
7. Docklands                     Sunday 21st March 2010
8. Adelaide                        Thurs - Sun 22nd-25th April 2010

Hail, rain or shine... bring it on!!!

Tulip farm, Sky High and Cuckoo Restaurant

It was a full on day yesterday. It started with dragon boating training for the upcoming races in the morning, then in the arvo, we head off to Tesselaar Tulip Festival to meet up with our friends. Late afternoon, all of us went up to Sky High for some spectacular view of Melbourne from Mt Dandenong and finished it off with very good buffet dinner at Cuckoo Restaurant at Olinda.

Tulip Festival
The last time both Lily and myself went to Tesselaar Tulip Festival was when we were back at university. Time time around, it was different, there were more tulips and Irish festival was going on as well to bring more crowd. The whole place was buzzing. The weather was perfect! Sun was out, clear blue skies, 20 degrees temperature, can't ask for a better day.

It has been going on for a month and it was still very well maintained! Even thought the whole place was filled with people at the tulip farm on one side, Irish festival on the other, it was very neat and clean. The people were friendly, attentive and helpful. My hats off to them! Entrance fee well paid!

Sky High Mt Dandenong

We had 2 hours to spare before our dinner booked at 7pm. We headed on to a cafe in the Dandenong mountain for good coffee with spectacular view of Melbourne. It was recommended by our friend. We followed along and when we reached up in the mountain, we could not believe how beautiful the scenery was. As it was a clear day with blue skies, the view was sensational!!!

Enjoying our favourite cuppa with such a superb view and good company, the best tea break we had by far!

We could not take a good photo as the sun was setting and right in front of us. You have to be here to see it for yourself.

If you look at the photo carefully, you'll be able to spot Melbourne city.

The shot we took at Sky High

Took this from Sky High's website - day shot

Took this shot again from Sky High's website - sunset shot

Cuckoo Restaurant

We left Sky High shortly after 7pm. When we reached Cuckoo Restaurant, it was about 7.25pm and the place was almost full. There was a wedding reception and from outside, it appears to be empty but once we went in, it was so alive!

Cuckoo is the smorgasbord restaurant started in 1958. Owned by Willi, a German chef serving swedish food. As you would expect, the restaurant is filled with cuckoo clocks which all are still working. The building is designed in the Bavarian Chalet style boasting staggered gabled roofs with decorative window shutters.

The food spread was really good... lots of fresh seafood, the roasts are really good - tender and moist, plenty of grill meats and sausages, traditional Bavarian dishes, cold meat platters, really delicious made to order pancakes and tasty European delicacies.

The owner was telling us that they managed to get the largest mechanical working cuckoo clock after years of searching for it. They were searching for it all over the world and it happened to be in South Australia. Sometimes you don't have to look far to get the best of things.

There was a show towards the end of the dinner as well... which was really entertaining and funny. This is the sort of dinner that we love to go, end it with some good laugh!

Outside Cuckoo Restaurant

Cuckoo Restaurant

Very talented live band

Inside the restaurant

Inside the restaurant

World largest mechanical cuckoo clock - that is still working

Melbourne's unpredictable weather

Now this is something you don't see everyday in Melbourne.

Overnight, Melbourne was blanketed with hail, somewhat looking like snow. It was so heavy that it actually woke me up. Morning frost is the forecast until next Wednesday. One more reason for me to snack away!

Photos courtesy from Herald Sun.

Wall 280

Our initial plan this morning was to try out one of the best cafe in Melbourne, Las Chicas. We were told there's going to be 20 minutes wait to be seated and another 20 for the food to arrive. 40 minutes of waiting time feels like hours when you are really hungry!

We were waiting outside the cafe for our seat when Lily spotted a small interesting cafe just opposite Las Chicas. It's a very Melbourne like cafe, tables outside in the open air, few under the verandah, graffiti on the wall and minimal decor. The most important point was that it didn't look as full and went over to check it out. A quick fix to our hunger!

Sat down, ordered our meals and we were surprised how good our breakfast were! Lily ordered ham, cheese and tomato pide and I had bregenwurst sausage pide. It was nicely toasted, with friendly service, you can never complain! Ryan + Ivy had minestrone soup and vegetarian pide. They loved it as well!

We didn't get to try Las Chicas but found another great place, Wall 280. We were too hungry to take photos but I am sure we will be back again to try out other pides.

Outside Wall 280

Alfresco dining

Inside Wall 280

Inside Wall 280

Melbourne shrouded in fog

When I woke up last Monday, I was shocked to find the whole botanical garden was covered in fog. The next thing that came to my mind was... "Quick! Call in sick and get more sleep!" :D I wish I had done that.

Anyway... if I remember correctly, every time when Melbourne approaches autumn/winter, we will be invited by a morning of thick fog. "Borrowed" a number of photos taken from Eureka by Herald Sun.

Winter... bring it on!