What better way to end the last day of the year with a bang other than to spend the day seeing all things bright and shiny. And to make it even more obvious, where else in Melbourne would you be able to find a beach lined with brightly coloured huts none other than the Brighton Beach!

It was quite a bummer at the same time that the owners of the cafe have decided to take a rest on the last day, because I was looking forward on going to Mart 130 for a nice brunch! Plus, it wasn’t really helping when our next random pick of cafe was closed as well. I guess it’s true what they’ve say, ‘Third time’s the charm’ when we stumbled upon Inkr7 Bar and Grill.

We were famished by the time we found ourselves seated, the aroma coming from the open kitchen was simply testing our patience. What captivates me about Melbourne’s cafe is the variety each cafe has to offer, and they don’t conform themselves to the general english breakfast menu you can find in a lot of cafes here in Perth.

Once we’ve arrived at Brighton, I guess we were the only fully clothed beings hanging around but who cares when you’ve got coloured huts!! That was a hot, no, hot is an understatement. It was burning close to 40 degrees and every step we took on the sand was equivalent to walking on glass shards. You just can’t keep your feet on the ground for more than a nano second. There you go, three asians doing the hoppity chicken dance and fully clothed, twas was a good impression!

There’s just something special about the beach that I like about, probably the relaxed atmosphere, or if it’s the crystal blue ocean. That was a fun day blowing bubbles and jumping into the water just to cool my feet down once in awhile, but above all, being playful without a care in the world of being judged.

I was wearing:
Topshop Embroidered Crop
Cotton & Co Pleated Shell Skirt

Photographer : Joanne Elaine

Well, all I can say is, you know that tiny obssesion that Belle from Beauty and the Beast has with books and libraries, the majestic architecture and the whiff of smell you get from the old pages? We had that exact same feeling on the forth day of our trip when we stepped into Melbourne’s National Library. It was a day of getting to know Melbourne city itself a little more by visiting most of the famous spots that we heard of greatly. Not forgetting, it was also a day to shop.

We headed to the State Library the very first thing in the morning, to avoid the ‘crowd’ because we thought that it might be a litte too loud with our cameras’ shutter noises. It was a tad bit daunting when we have to pass by some security personnel before getting into the main hall, because as much as we tried fitting in by looking normal, you can’t get pass two girls holding two big cameras and one of them walking around with a cat hat on her head.

We spent almost an hour for our shots in library, frolicking around, as well as putting our nose into every corner of the library but most important of all, trying our very best to remain inconspicuous at all times. I figured that the security guards knew what we were doing all this while, because I remembered seeing a sneaky smirk out of the corner of my eye when we were walking out of the library heh heh. But like what I’ve always said, what are the chances of us bumping into them again, so it’s definitely okay to go all out and do what you want to do!

We told Boon Hee that we would really love to catch the tram instead of going everywhere with just a car, so we could get a glimpse into how the locals commute to their destination. I’ve always enjoyed walking and getting lost in the city regardless of how big or which city I am in, because you will always, ALWAYS ponder onto something new by exploring the unseen streets. It teaches you a lot more about the culture, and also random fun things just by discovering a new street art or any other sorts of things!

Walking towards the street filled with graffiti art was just one of the many examples that I was pointing out to. Right there and then, there were two men creating another graffiti art on top of the old one. That was when I realised, how it all blended in together and how many pieces of art are there on this street alone. There were quite a few more groups of tourists around, so it was rather hard taking pictures without at least having one person in your background. We didn’t spend much time around as it was getting rather hot as the sun peaks at noon. Plus, it didn’t help much that I was wearing a faux leather shorts, go figure HAHAHAHAHA!

Headed off to Federation Square to catch another tram to a cafe I’ve been pestering Boon Hee about!! I guess this is the equivalent to Shibuya intersection in Tokyo? Hahahha there’s just soooo many people, and if you throw in some horse carriages, cars and trams into the scene, it’s so busy that it gives me the adrenaline pump like I needed to run. I know this doesn’t make sense but I just love this busy life that Melbourne is giving me, the need to move constantly! And for those who watches Masterchef Australia, haha this is where they serve at one of the episodes for the Masterchef Professionals!

Now, back to my Soda Rock diner which I insist on speaking to you about! I’ve seen it a couple of times prior to this and I really like this cafe’s concept of the 80s! Before our trip to Melbourne, I was telling Joanne on how we could dress like the 80s while dining here, and we thought of Grease immediately. Of milkshakes and hot dogs, with Elvis songs playing in the background, what is there not to love about this? It will be a pretty cool if everyone turns up with perfectly hair-sprayed hair, skater skirts, fluffy pastel sweaters, a lollipop in the mouth, cat-eye shades and gliding in with the a pair of roller skates. Now that’s just my imagination isn’t it?

Serving one of the thickest shake I’ve ever had and one of the humongous cheesiest hot dog bun, we’ve definitely underestimated their serving sizes as we were so bloated right after, it’s not even funny because I felt like a gigantic hot dog rolling down the street doing window shopping. Had a bit of fun shopping because I insist on getting at least SOMETHING in this trip, but it was a Boon Hee-Goes-to-Shop Day because we girls didn’t get anything much. It was a fun day altogether as it was my very first time getting a go at pool HAHAHAHAHAH! Quite addictive I must say, and I’m a fast learner yoo, coming from Joanne’s words.

Isn’t it just funny of how Joanne and I are so similar yet so different for our outfits of the day? I’m loving our outfits a lot on that day, but wait till you see the day after. It just keeps getting better and better heh

I was wearing:
Topshop Sheer Embroidered Shirt
Coco’s Fortune Pearl Faux Leather Shorts
Romwe Cat Ears Hat
Proenza Schouler PS11
Aldo Gold Dust Oxford Flats

There is a saying that goes by ‘everything changes when the night falls’. I can say that Melbourne city is living up to that phrase without a doubt in mind. I didn’t know how many times have I repeated this to both Joanne and Boon Hee, but oh yes, they have to bear with my constant squirms of how I feel so alive whenever I walk the streets of Melbourne.

Isn’t the view behind just breathtaking? It’s been a long time since I’ve surrounded myself with skyscrapers and I truly missed being the city girl at heart. We both got a change of outfits after Mount Dandenong to get all sparkly for a night of fun and adventure! Prior to that, we had dinner at Madang that was tucked hidden at a corner, and knowing that Joanne was with us, Korean food was definitely inevitable.

For the four of us, we ordered a table full of food! Though I’m one to eat Korean the least, I must say that their Bibimbap was rather tasty! I remember vaguely that I had something similar when I was in China almost a decade back but it tasted awful and what more, they have dog meat in it!!! So I guess that’s probably one of the contributing factors as to why I hardly opted for Bibimbap or even enter a Korean restaurant.

Disgusting memories aside, we walked along Yarra river that is lined with bars and street performers later that night. I remembered pointing out to almost every bar and said that I would love to try them some day! It’s really nice to see how everybody was dressed to the nines, including us, that is. I would lie if I were to tell you that the walk wasn’t magical, though wasn’t in the conventional way, but a combination of walking under fairy lights with a picturesque view in front, and also by having the right company by my side would inarguably sum up to that.

We couldn’t suppress our fits of laughter when we saw Elmo playing a saxophone on the street, because it was just too funny to see the adult version of Elmo to put it this way. I guess that, he got kicked out of Sesame street and was left to fend for himself on the street, oh the poor thing hahaha!

Walking past a few blocks, we finally arrived at Eureka Skydeck! Cheated our way through using our student cards to get the cheaper concession’s price hahahahahhahahahaha such cheapos we are! We took a 13 second ride lift up, which was surprisingly fast but it was frustrating at the same time how I had to kept yawning to get the pressure out of my eardrums! The place was packed to the brim when we got out, and most of them were just waiting by the side of the glass looking down for ages not wanting to move for others to take a decent picture, which wasn’t very nice of them!

To be honest, we all agreed that we only thing that we enjoyed for Eureka Skydeck was the freaking photobooth. I’ve always like the American photobooth where they have a long strip of 6 pictures at carnivals but this was one of the closest that I could get to one! You could tell that we definitely had a lot of fun being idiots, squeezing ourselves into that tiny small box. The only thing that we did that night was heading to Crown Casino and oogled at boys from the bar har har!

I was wearing:
Witchery White Broderie Anglaise Shirt
Uniqlo Black Skinny Pants
Topshop Velvet Bow Collar
Furla Leopard Print Candy Bag
Aldo Gold Dust Oxford Flats