Visiting Melbourne for the FIRST time!
Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 1:35:00 PM with 0 talkings
Melbourne is the furthest I have travelled so far in my life. And visiting Melbourne this trip has a BIG agenda behind. We will be doing research for houses, schools and everything else we can think of if we want to live here.
My first step outside the Melbourne Airport was an excited one. I was immediately welcomed by the nice cooling weather. The temperature I've checked that morning when I arrived was supposed to be around 10 degree celsius. While back in Singapore, I was trying to imagine how cold that would be. I mean, the coldest place I have been was Genting. Haha.. I'm so pathetic. I have never seen snow in my life too! So well, I was afraid that I will not be able to take the cold temperature.
Well, we have about 16 days in Melbourne this trip. We are blessed to have a nice place to stay in this 16 days - Ugin's elder sister's(Eileen) place
This trip was not like the usual holiday trip where you rush to places you want to visit rightaway. Rather, we were strolling by some shops at our own sweet time. The first meal we had there was MacDonald's. It wasn't expensive. They have those $2 burgers and you can add $1 for fries or drinks. And the chicken fillet is so juicy. I find Singapore's McChicken alittle dry tho. We then went to the groceries to get some daily stuff that we may need. TIM TAM is so cheap there! We immediately bought several of that with no hesitation.
We visited a few places. Philip Island to watch the little penguins with our friend, Craig. Steam train, science centre, Victoria Market etc. We also visited Eileen's friend at their house. The house is lovely and huge! Yes, HUGE! They have their own garden where they plant all sorts of flowers, fruits and veg. Have you even seen how a cauliflower plant looks like? I had. Love strawberries? The host showing us around the house pluck off strawberry from his garden and said 'Wash it and try it. It's sweet'. And true enough, it was! We chatted, and they knew our plan of wanting to migrate over. The very first reaction was 'Yes, you should COME'. People there were relaxed. Lifestyle there is what we wanted.
We rented a car to travel around. Car rental is very affordable and cars there are relatively cheap too. I mean if you want me to compare with Singapore cars. I understand the fact that Singapore has little area and thus, they have to control the price of cars in Singapore. (But didn't they know more immigrants would also mean more cars?) Anyway, you can get a second hand car from $8000 to $15000. A relatively good one. That amount is the total amount of the car by the way, not upfront or deposit. Few days in Melbourne and I am already falling in love with the place.
And yes, how can I forget this one. We went to Planet Shakers! GOSH!!! I still remember the first thing I told God was 'Thank you God for bringing me here. and please, I want to be back here again soon!' Amen.
We definitely wanted Melbourne to be our home. And yes, it's time to do all the administrative work when we return to Singapore!