Rss Feed
  1. Tasmania trip!

    Sunday, September 29, 2013

    Yoooo!

    Sorry peeps I haven't been updating much at all lately... Seriously so swamped! Not only with uni work but also being a tour guide bringing mum they all around and just basically spending time with them or more like going shopping with them HEHE :P

    Usually my routine when there isn't any visitors is after dinner, I'll head up to my room and spend all my time for the night on my mac but now with visitors around, I will sit and chit chat with them till it is bed time or do whatever uni work if needed. Hence, no time whatsoever to sit infront of my mac to blog.

    I have been drafting this post since a week ago and still haven't had a proper time to get it up and going.. And since now I am on my sem break(which ends today... I wrote this a couple of days back HEHE I took my holidays literally! :P) and with mum back to Malaysia, I am freer for everything else! So here I am, back to update about my Tassie trip!! One at a time for now ok.. Tassie comes first then Lakes Entrance then the other bits and pieces :))

    Tassie trip was on the 7th till 9th of September! 150 pictures coming your way! :D

    Mum they all flew to tassie a day earlier than me and the boyfriend because we had classes on Friday. And so, we flew in just for the weekend! I have never been to tassie so I was quite excited! :D Honestly tho... a weekend trip only was really damn short..

    Day 1,

    We took the earliest flight out to tassie from melbourne at about 6am I think? And was in Hobart an hour and a half after that.

    Managed to catch the sunrise during the flight! :) I always loveeeeeee sitting flights that you could catch sunrises and sunsets! Always so pretty!

    But then as we approached Hobart, the weather looked like this... ): super gloomy and rainy... )):

    Once we've landed, the first thing we did was went to collect our car. YEAP! We rented a car for the weekend and will be driving!! So exciting for me ok... cause I've never driven in Australia before altho being here for the last 4 years plus.

    Initially we booked for a Nissan Micra but they upgraded us to a bigger car which was the Nissan Tiida or better known as a Latio in Malaysia. And then I drove from the airport to our hotel! :DDD It was easy and smooth :) Just that Hobart's housing roads are like super duper hilly which was quite scary actually...

    *Our Hotel/Apartment*
    There is two entrances to the apartment and this was one of them.

    The living and dining room. Which is me and the bf's sleeping place. The sofa is a sofa bed.

    Kitchen.

    The rooms are upstairs.

    Our rented cars. Nissan Xtrail and Tiida.

    First room.

    Second.

    And third.

    The toilet. Feels very retro to me.

    After settling down for awhile and after everyone got ready, we left out to Salamanca Market.

    The view from the carpark where we parked our cars. It hit me then that Tassie is so beautiful!! Because earlier I was driving so I didn't pay much attention to the sceneries.

    *While walking over to Salamanca Market*
    A huge rainbow appeared!

    The dock. Pretty ain't it?

    The colour was so vibrant!

    Boyfie ♥♥

    Mummy dearest! ♡♡♡

    After a 10 minutes walk, we finally reached Salamanca Market!

    It is the biggest market and is on every Saturday.

    *All the food I ate at the market! :DDD*
    Bratwurst! So gooooood!

    Tasmanian wasabi salmon sausage! Something totally new to me! But so nice! Ate this straight after the bratwurst. I couldn't resist the moment I saw the stall and also cause Kylie gave me tips on what to eat and what to do around Hobart cause she used to study here.

    Something so simple can taste so good man!!!

    Super duper duper good gelato!!!! Its the Macadamia Nut and it was so so so creamy and thick!! Seriously so good! I didn't expect it to be but just because I felt like ice creaming at that moment :)

    After walking at Salamanca Market for 3 hours, we left to Mount Wellington. Totally not in the right attire for the mountain because we thought we were going tomorrow instead but we suddenly decided to go up that day..

    The boyfie took over the wheel. He was the driver for the entire trip after this :) So that I can sit comfortably and snap away!

    Wheeee mandatory selfie shot! :D

    You see the white patches on the rocks, that's snow!! It can get super cold up here!! Tassie is already way way way colder than Melbourne and imagine being up on a mountain in tassie would be how cold... I think it was close to zero degrees when we were up there!

    *The view. Spectacular view of the whole of Hobart town!*
    So pretty right??!!


    May Yen jie and Aunty D! <3

    We are at the top of the world! 

    We went hiding in the observation area cause it was too cold outside. When the wind blows really damn damn cold man!!

    Saw a very partial rainbow. Second rainbow of the day!

    It was so cold until fluff started falling from the sky!!! So cool to witness!! I haven't witness any snowfall in my life but I've seen snow hahah! One day I want to capture a snowflake!

    It was starting to get too cold and we've seen the whole place already so we went back down the mountain. Heading for early dinner :)

    The scenic yet quite scary drive down..

    Randomly stopped by near the casino for only like 5 minutes.

    Mures Lower Deck for dinner. We wanted to go to their Upper Deck but they weren't open yet. So yeap we settled for the lower deck.. cheaper than the upper deck ahah!

    Seafood Chowder. Shared this with the boyfie.

    Scallops!!! Tassie is seafood haven man!!

    The fisherman's basket! It has everything in it :D

    Seafood pizza which was mehhh.. not very nice.. The dough was too thick and they were super stingy on ingredients..

    There was still another fish and chips but I totally forgot to take picture of it. And I reckon the fish and chips was pretty good!! Basically all the other food was alright lah.. Nothing very very spectacular.. Me being me, I just expected a little more..

    Then off we went back to the hotel and called it a night. Because Hobart isn't exactly like Melbourne... things go quiet pretty early... say 5pm?

    My bii/chauffeur HEHEHE!

    Not sure if this picture shows what I want to tell but do notice that the roads in Hobart are very hilly!!

    The sunset and colour transformation captured from our hotel.

    Our buyings! My all time favourite, Chai but this time it is a Chocolate Chai! And all our Lavender purchases!! All of this from Salamanca Market and the lavender stall at salamanca market is like super well known so we kinda sapu-ed alot! Eventhough they weren't exactly cheap.. This is just what me, mum and the boyfie bought. Boyfie bought stuff for his mother and sister.. so sweet hor? HAHAH! More like I told him to get them because they are Tasmanian Specialties! :D

    I think after that mum cooked for me instant noodles for supper while we streamed two episodes of Triumph in the Skies II. And then we called it a night. Especially me and the boyfriend were completely exhausted out because we woke up at like 4am that day.

    Day 2,

    This two picture should likely show my point on how hilly and scary the normal roads are...

    First stop, the farmers market.

    Fresh produces.

    *Our breakfast!*
    Super yums fresh apple juice :)

    And look at that! Sinful goodness!! Breakfast roll :DDD

    Then we went to another market at the showgrounds but it was more like a secondhand stuff market which I didn't take any picture of. But still managed to purchase a new blouse for only $5 :D

    Third stop, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.


    *Do expect lots of pictures of flowers! :D*
    So unique! It is a completely green flower that looks like leaves at first glance..

    My favourite boy!

    So pretty! Look at how clear my cammie takes these pictures!!! Still so in loveeeee with it!!!

    Red tulips :)

    Don't know what they are but they sure were pretty!

    Mummy dearest and me in my rounded down feather jacket :D This was suppose to be the jacket I prepped for the mountain because it keeps the warmth so well.. Manatau I wore it out on a hotter day... ahha!

    Daffodils! Cun or not my skills..!! :P

    The purpley bluey colour is what that caught my attention! I want my wedding bouquet next time to be either blue/purpley blue/mint green! :DDDD My favourite colour is and always will be blue and so, I'll take any close variation of it!

    Another pretty flower :)

    My yengzhai boyfriend! I am still super attracted by how cool and yeng and paikia he looks! You know... the bad boy vibe but actually he is like super duper good boy one! HAHAHA!

    The orchid conservatory.

    Mum and Aunty D. Aunty D is like my mum in Melbourne.. my two mums!

    ♥♥♥

    My favourite orchid amongst all! Look so pretty with the slight tint of pink on its firm petal! :)

    I think these looks like spiders... Don't you think so?

    The subantarctic plants house which is the only one in the world.

    It is actually just a room filled with normal plants? HAHA! Just that these plants can withstand super cold temperature.. I don't know what I was expecting really..

    The only thing that caught my attention are the wall murals HAHA! and there were also sound effects in that house of the subantarctic animals.

    HEHEHEHE what do they look like??? So pokey and pointy!!

    Because it smells exactly like curry..

    The cafe at the garden. Off for lunch!

    Our view from where we were seating! So purdy righttttt!!!

    *Fooooood!*
    My soy chai with honey :)

    Really good fries!!

    Garden salad.

    My smoked salmon sandwich :)

    Next stop, Mona! Museum of Old and New Art :) but the funny thing was, we didn't go to the art museum.. we only went there for the view and to check out the winery hahaha!

    So pretty right!!!! Literally everywhere you go in Tassie, you'll definitely see a beautiful view! And that's Mount Wellington on the top right.

    Mum and Aunty Jaime :)

    This looks so cool! A truck skeleton fully made from iron!

    The thing from Addams Family :)))

    *These two picture I love so much!*
    Wheeeehehehehe :P

    Then we signed ourselves up for a wine tour :)

    It is still an early stage of the winery because the harvesting season just ended not long ago.

    Then it was the wine tasting time! I think I am a white wine kinda person :D Where as the boyfie likes red instead..

    Yeap. We were sober altho we tasted like almost 10 wines?

    Next stop, drove back out to Salamanca and decided to have dinner there because from my research, the No.1 restaurant based on Urbanspoon, is situated at Salamanca.

    Taken outside the restaurant while waiting for them to start their dinner session. One for me to keep and the other for him.

    *Dinner but I don't remember the names of the dishes already..*
    Sourdough bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip for starters.

    This is like a sashimi carparccio.. It was ok.. But the goat cheese or yogurt thingy was horrible!

    Mussels Pasta. The pasta was alright but the mussels is like super duper salty!!

    This was one of the not bad dishes. Kingfish risotto with calamari and pine nuts and goat cheese.

    Pan seared salmon with barley and salad and chorizo? This was not bad too.

    Sausage pizza. It was between an ok and a not bad.

    OMG THIS WAS SO SO SO SO SALTY!!!!! HATE IT! I ordered it because I thought mussels would be really good in Tassie and in a top restaurant but it was so bad! They said that they did not add any salt whatsoever and that it is from the mussels itself but this is too salty!!! Even if it is au naturale, you could still seasoned it properly and make sure it tastes alright right?!?!?! It was seriously SOOOOO BADDDDDD!!!!! You could barely dip the bread in the sauce because you are like dipping bread into salt water.... @!@#!#@!$##@$#$!!!!

    And this is their Meatball pasta. This was pretty good. 

    But still couldn't cover the fact of all the saltiness we had!! Never had such bad experience in a long time. And the meal wasn't cheap ok... It was an average of $28 per dish ok... So disappointing... ):

    Thank god for seeing this after I came out of the restaurant. Lights always always lights up my mood!! :D

    Then we headed back to the hotel and just chilled.

    *Supper!*
    Scallop Pie!! Tasmanian Specialty!!! 

    Around 12am everyone was already in bed...

    Day 3, 

    Woke up at 6am cause me and boyfriend gotta catch our flight at 815am back to Melbourne as we both have to go back to uni that day. Where as mum they all are still gonna be in tassie for two more days.

    Packed our stuff and left to the airport.. but first gotta find the nearest petrol station to pump our car full first before returning it.

    This is the other entrance to the apartment, the one we usually use. Goodbye!

    Early hours on the Tasman bridge.

    While waiting to board our flight and head back home.

    Once we got to Melbourne, we took the SkyBus and then the train back to Clayton. It was my first experience on the SkyBus HAHAHA! I've never sat on it before.. as I have always been driven to the airport straight by aunty D.

    I stayed in Clayton for the next two days until mum they all got back to Melbourne.

    And that concludes my Hobart trip!

    I am hoping that I can get to posting about Lakes Entrance soon but from the rate I am going with all my updates...., I doubt it will be up that soon. I rarely have anymore free weeks from now up till exams already.. but but I have so much to update leh!!! ))): We shall see when I have the time lah okays?

    Hmmm... :/

    Oklah... That's it for now. Ciao y'all!

    Lots of love,
    Shereena.

    Smolt on Urbanspoon