six sundays

Assalamualaikum, good day mate!

continuing on with the Melbourne post :B

after the unfortunate event of dropping my camera-harapan-negara onto the ground, i fully trusted my phone to be 'the' photo-taker. it was frustrating at times, coz some people dont know how to operate it well, also it tends to drain out the battery faster than usual because of the usage of the camera. but all in all, i am so very satisfied with the outcome. though the colour might be a bit off, the photos still look good! all of these photos in this post are from the phone.

i like to read travel magazine.in the plane. hehe lemme rephrase. i like to travel, i like to read, but i dont usually grab travel magazines when i'm in a bookstore. rather flip on design magazine, or mangga. eh? kidding :P i only read travel mags when i'm on flight. any flight lah, both of our major airlines has their own mags right. my habit is that, i would scan all the articles on places, take out a paper and a pen, and jot down all the places and info on the places that i think i might wanna go someday. even, there are times when the 1 hour 45 minutes Kuching-KL journey feels like too short for me to take down all the info on all the places! hishh! panic lah! there is this one time i came across an article on lavender farm and a maze (both in the same place!!) in Melbourne. i got very excited i feast my eyes on the photos and copied all the info on the place. when i said info i mean the name and the website url. hahaha the other details, i stored them in my mind! as i was too drawn into the place, i read the article over and over and already imagining myself on the farm berlari-lari dikelilingi bunga-bunga lavender berwarna lavender. that time, i never know when i would step my foot in Melbourne. i dont even have a plan to go anytime soon. but the dream is there :) when a friend asked me to go to Adelaide with her, i jumped at the opportunity and suggested that we go to Melbourne as well so we wont be wasting our flight ticket and visa going into Australia just to go Adelaide alone. she agreed! and something flick at the back of my mind. something i must do in Melbourne. not the three sisters, not Great Ocean Road, not Mount Buller, its the lavender farm and the maze!!!! i have a thing for cool stuff like mazes i dont know why :P

so i dengan rasa malu dan rendah diri asked Aqis if she would drive us to the farm. she said 'boleh jak', provided we have all the info of the places. U'ul left it all to me to plan activities for this whole melbourne trip, where i wanna go, i can go, but i have to know how to or where to ask or whatsoever la, she will follow and teman me without banyak tanya. hehe good also i could decide whatever and she'll just be ok with everything, but sometimes i do feel stressed too coz she memang lepas tangan, if we sesat, we sesat lah, she follow jer kesesatan itu. kui kui

so on the day of the said trip, i woke up early (i slept late the night before out of excitement and anxiousness and i think we got back to the hotel late that night too.. hehe) to go to the Melbourne Visitor Centre located at Federation Square, about 10-15mins walk from my hotel. i went there alone, since i was the one who beria-ia wanna go to this lavender farm, so i had to initiate everything. i walked straight to the glass building with powerful and energetic stride. ewah.

that glass building is the Melbourne Visitor Centre. quite small right?? nah.. the real happening is actually one floor down. you actually have to go down the escalator for the visitor centre. isnt that cleverr? and then you'll be gasping in awe with the space :) the service was super efficient! ok picture this. one big space, and one big island counter in the middle, where all the staff were in (??). people would just stand at any side of the island counter, and someone would hurrily come to you and ask to assist you. no need to wait menongkat dagu for 5 minutes. after i told the officer where i meant to go, she opened a big map book and explained every exit to me. fuhh! eventhough i had no idea what she's saying coz i wasnt familiar at all with the road in Melbourne (haha) but i just nod and said my thank you for her great service. wow! i only spent like 15minutes in the centre (including wandering around to look at other information on display) to get what i want. happy point no.1 of the day!

and then, i realised i still have time to kill before Aqis come and pick us up! so i gagahkan diri look for this famous Hosier Lane. i saw it once on the first day when Aqis was driving around looking for our hotel. so i know Hosier Lane was somewhere near Federation Square. Hosier Lane is famous for its graffiti art, and when i say art, it is truly artistic these graffiti drawings. because i was walking alone, i oohs and aahs to myself only. the street was very quiet. maybe its still early in the morning, or maybe it was always that quiet. i snapped lotsa photos. i wanted to snap all of the arts, i geram, i want i want! as i was enjoying myself indulging into the culture, there was a veteran couple also looking around the street and the lady said to me 'dont walk alone in these streets' or was it 'dont go here by yourself' something like that. ehh? why? i wasn't suspicious at all walking alone in Melbourne, why did you instill that ideology into my mind, nenek?? she's just being cautious and helpful i guess. so i smiled and said thank you. eh why thank you? but then i continued taking photos like a pro. hahaha

stories aside for Hosier Lane.

and then Aqis picked us - U'ul, my cousin Pipi & i - up from the hotel, and she said 'lets go for breakfast first!' and she brought us to this one place called St. Ali Roasters. we actually had to wait for like 10minutes in the queue. this was the time i felt like in the orang futeh movies where you have to wait for your turn outside the cafe coz the place was too packed with people. ngahaha. rasa cool (and cold) seketika. i didnt take any photos of the exterior of the cafe, which was cool :( wait, i google for yah!

there you go!

google image

this is the laneway of St.Ali Roasters. the white painted unit is St. Ali. see, graffiti again rightt?

the menu was fun.

i love love love the interior! it was my inspiration for cafe design project the following term i got back in college. inspiring!!! i still dream of having this very own interior design for a cafe of my own, or maybe just design it for some place local ;) cool place to hangout, i promise! but i didnt take lots of photo, coz i malu people say i baruk kalak (nang pun) coz the place was packed with people. we shared this one big table with strangers, in a cool way! i said it was cool!

we continued on the journey to the lavender farm. with the information i got from the visitor centre, i just explained a little bit to Aqis and Pipi, and they know already. so Pipi the co-pilot held the map while Aqis drove. remember i told you i slept late and woke up early??? so i was sleepy during the one hour plus drive and i slept at the back seat :P for only half of the journey though!! :P i woke up when we almost reached the place, and i think we passed a vineyard just before we made a turn into the lavender farm area. thats when i woke up. the vineyard part. hehehe

we're here! the Ashcombe Maze & Lavender Gardens! :D :D :D :D :D :D

welcomed by mr.pothead. love the vibrant colours of the fwowersss!

hello lavender! :')

seeee my senyum kambing?? ikhlas dari hati yang berbunga. i was like a kid who was set free in a candy store. ngahaha and my poor cousin was the photographer. cannot walk too far away from me. if not who's gonna take my photo??? U'ul and Aqis took their own sweet time wandering i dont know where :P

Subhanallah, beautiful.. :')

there's also a rose maze!

found the center of the maze! :D

the maze!!!!!!!! :') :') :')

seronok kan?? rasa mok gurin goleng goleng sik atas benda hijau ini??

thats my cousin! its a he ok! dont be fooled with the gelaran manja. haha this is him checking on me every now and then to make sure he didnt lose me coz i stopped like every three steps to take photo (-_-''). suwit kan ini budak! haha

he wore shorts, and just a plain T-shirt. i thought he was gagah mengharungi 17C, rupanya tidak. so i lend him my muffler scarf. haha waiting for me, doing nothing.