TOGETHER AT LAST @ MELBOURNE

@ our Penang home back in 1969

It 's been a long time since we last met together as a family. ..10 years ago.   

 After they finished school, my brother and sisters were usually either trying overseas or working away. Then along came marriage, children, jobs... 

This trip to Melbourne was a great chance to catch up with my mum and siblings. 

2014 Mum's kuih lapis birthday

We had a great time of sharing ideas, catching up, coffee, sisterly baking sprees, and walks in the park.

..and eating "chang" which are nice rice dumplings made by my mum. Mum was very happy to see us all at once as it was so rare. At any one point of time in past gatherings, someone was always missing, you see, since we were scattered all over different places.

Jordan had heaps of fun at their place.  

So, yes it was nice to tuck into mum's tasty nyonya and bak chang's and enjoy the company of those dear to me. I realised it wasn't just the taste I miss, it was the company.



My eldest sis very kindly hosted us at her place. She took us around and we had a wonderful time exploring Melbourne city, pigging out at buffets, going to the Victoria Markets, museum, and also boarded a city free bus tour for an overview of Melbourne landmarks.

CHORIZOS, SALAMIS, SAUSAGES

FEDERATION SQUARE

The 3 sisters @ Chinatown

We visited Chinatown as well, but I feel, just like in Brisbane, the food places just aren't as good and authentic as the ones being offered at suburbs that we had visited such as Papparich @ Glen Waverley or even at Boxhill area.

We also took a drive up to Lake Mountain- the closest place to see some "snow" as Jordan wanted to touch and play with some. He and cousin Yang had a blast tobboganing in the cold! At least 25 rounds up and down they went on the slope.

COUSINS HAVING A CHILLING BLAST!

It wasn't freezing cold, but it was enough to make us shiver.... and Jordan's bum to go numb... You can bet they were hungry after that!!

Unfortunately, it wasn't snowy, so the ice was pretty thin and they had to manufacture some with an ice blower machine uphill.

On the way home, we stopped by a quaint little town called Marysville which is at the foot of Lake Mountain and I popped into the local candy store for some lollies while waiting for the boys doing their playground break ...

SUH-WEEEEET!!

On one of the days, for a most arresting experience - we visited the Melbourne jail. They had an inhouse tour called the Watchhouse Experience.

The Watchhouse Experience was an insight into experiences of someone being locked up in the Melbourne gaol. The "sergeant' started shelling us the minute we walked in, addressing us as arrested offenders of the law. We were asked to line up agaisnt the wall, take a card which tells us the identity we were to assume, the offence we committed and our age. There were mouth and leg physical inspections to make sure we brought no hazardous weapons in and then,... we were locked up in cell in darkness. The bolts, the shouting, doors slamming, latches clicking shut were all psychological elements of the jailhouse experience.

It was also interesting looking at death masks of executed prisoners from death row.

In the 19th century, it was common for plaster 'death masks' to be made of the face and skull of executed criminals. At the time, these masks served several purposes. Firstly, death masks were used for phrenological analysis, whereby the shape of a person's head is studied to determine their character traits. Secondly, they were often put on display in public places to serve as a reminder of the power of the police force. Some of those death masks even had their original eyelashes stuck to the plaster when it was lifted off their faces in the past!! Creepy....

JORDAN THE JUDGE

JORDAN POSING IN NED KELLY'S FAMOUS BULLET-PROOF ARMOUR

Next was the Ned Kelly trial re-enacted in a courtroom hearing. My brother took on the role of the judge. Bet he enjoyed himself, hammering away... but forgot to hammer to dismiss the hearing after the verdict. Of course, Jordan simply had to try on the judge costume too after the whole event!

Ned Kelly was one of the most notorious criminals of history and was executed for killing a policeman, The re-enactment, however seemed to propose a notion that Ned was given an unfair trial, that he shot at the policeman out of self-defence rather than offensive attack, because the police had actually brought wood coffins along with them when they set out to nab him, probably with the intention of killing him. Oh well, arbitrary history, there you go!! No one will ever know unless you do a time travel back to the past.

We also stopped by Dendy Beach at Brighton to view the traditional colourful bathing boxes for changing, in the style of retro England. It's an iconic landmark in Melbourne, so gotta take some pictures rite??

Of course, food is one of the elements of a nice holiday.  So off we trudge to do an advance birthday celebration lunch buffet for mum at the China Bar. The place had a really good Asian spread.

MOUTHWATERING DESSERTS

They had a facebook promotion deal and because it was a BOGOF deal (Buy One get One Free), it was a real bargain.  They had a sumptuous spread of a mix of Asian fare, Chinese primarily with dimsum, roast pork, fried noodles, roti, laksa, char koay teow, curries, sushi and other treats. We found some nice durian tarts and durian popsicles there too, for home-sick Malaysians, I suppose...
                                                                                

MY BROTHER'S LOOK OF LOVE.. FOR DURIAN

Melbourne is so different from GC. For one, the place is swarming for Asians, never seen so many in one place in Australia. Multidiversity is definitely thriving here. Love the food, and choices available.

 is also much colder here. The lack of sun is such a stark difference from sunny GC.

Also, everything seems to be happening at a faster pace and at one sweep of a glance, I could see cyclists, pedestrians, cars, trams and buses and horse-drawn carts going at the same time... Amidst our walk downtown, we also saw a street protest of Egyptians urging US intervention to stop dictator rulership in Egypt.  Down the corner at Flinder street in an alley, there were walls allocated for creative expression of graffiti all over. It wasn't just vandalism-style graffiti, it was rather good street art on an open gallery tastefully done...

Really enjoyable trip. Best bonus was of course the family get-together! Don't know when it might be possible again, but definitely, precious for now....

UP IN STANTHORPE

Jordie wanted to see some snow this winter,. errr..unfortunately this is a rare thing in Queensland. However, Stanthorpe, the coldest town in Queensland has occasionally recorded snow in winter even though on a flakey (pardon the pun) level. This year, it had already snowed in Tenterfield, just right across the border in NSW, about 2 hours drive further from Stanthorpe. 

So over the long weekend holiday for the Queen's birthday, we trudged to this charming little town 800 metres above sea level. It is about 3 hours' drive from Gold Coast. We took the Hinterland roads just to enjoy the country sights as well. Lots of horses, lambs, cows grazing peacefully along the way. Because it was colder here, deciduous trees and autumn scenery was more common here. Beautiful sights, with also fallen leaves by the roadside... Been a long time since I last saw the fall effect...  

Stanthorpe used to be a mining town for tin and is part of the stretch in South East Queensland known as the Granite Belt, blessed with very fertile soil suitable for growing grapes, stonefruits and apples. Alas, early winter just wasn't the right time to be picking apples, but we had a go at it anyway at the apple farm at Sutton's Juice Factory at Applethorpe just before reaching Stanthorpe.

...and had fun picking our own fresh apples from the tree.

"MINE.. ALL MINE!!"

The fruit trees were trimmed to a very short height so it was very easy to pick them. Hmm, I was visualizing myself climbing up ladders to pick'em but this doesn't quite cut it.. Not much apples left at this time of the year, and the woman did warn us they won't look aesthetic or eye-pleasing especially since they weren't polished waxed and fully organic.. (which basically means, worms love it..)

THE UNFORBIDDEN FRUIT

So.. here comes Jordie with his bright red bag, ready to zoom in for his ripe red pickings...him & Daddy wandered from row to row looking for the best fruits.
Daddy took the 1st bite off his apple and offered me some. I commented that it felt like Adam was the 1st one this time taking the apple and offering it to Eve, a reversal of the Eden scenario.

Jordie quickly saw it was ok to eat them and off he chomps on his own apple too.

It actually is crunchy, sweet and fragrant, but a wee bit sour...I think one is supposed to leave the apple for a few days to let it sweeten up a little...

IT'S CRRRUNCHY!!

Apple fruit juice @ Sutton's

Sutton's farm canned their own fruit juice, no sugar added, no flavouring, 100% organic.

However, we decided not to get any because it was rather expensive.

Next time, maybe... but nice to be in cold weather and running around picking your apples.

We also visited the Crystal Lavender Farm although again, wrong time of the year! So, no huge hosts of lavenders...shucks!

But our sole purpose was to show Jordie the alpacas on this farm. Cute creatures, but not very friendly.. we weren't very sure if they would spit at people like their cousins, the Llamas... so we did keep our safe distance....

GIVING OUT THE LOVE..EEYORE!

 ..Neat huh, never knew the donkeys were named as such- the Jerusalem Donkeys. There is a quaint story often  told that a donkey acquired its cross because it carried Jesus into Jerusalem. It’s also told that the leg stripes were received from walking through the palm branches that were laid in its path in honor of the burden it was carrying.

THE DONKEY'S CROSS

Well, I did wind up getting meself a nice bottle of Lavender oil. It is a 100% pure extract of the lavender flower and smells divine... therapy for stress...

We also did a dairy farm that sold cheese and a winery called the Castle GlenWinery. They stocked lots of different muscats and wines and even creme liquers, such as lemon cream, white choc, mocha and the yummy lot. Many wineries here because of the suitability of soil for growing grapes...but I think Perth probably has better choices...

Overall, this was a nice, relaxing trip up to Stanthorpe in winter..Maybe by summer, we'll do the apricots and peaches next..

Jordie's wish to see snow didn't materialise though, but then, we did forewarn him not to get his hopes too high this time..    better luck next time.

AIRASIA FLIES TO LONDON FROM COOLY, .. EUROPE HERE WE COME!

NOV 26--- GOLD Coasters will be able to fly from Coolangatta (FONDLY known as COOLY) to London from March next year. AirAsia X, which flies four times a week from the Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, last night announced flights from Malaysia to London. Tickets from the Gold Coast to the UK will cost a total of about A$552 one way with stopover via KL and was on sale since yesterday.

Brisbane to London on full-fare services/ flights can typically cost up to $3500 return. So, that's about 3 times the cost... I am thinking more of the accessibility of other locations in Europe... but first, let's check out how euro is doing in exchange rate....