"JALAN JALAN" di MELBOURNE

This time, we put up with our son who has a rented apartment at the Maribyrnong, a suburb situated 8km north-west of Melbourne CBD.

The place is quite convenient as we could easily get to the city by tram.

The nearest tram stop is just 2-3 minutes walk. Travelling time to Melbourne CBD is about 30-40 minutes.

Tram like this one come by every 20 minutes, providing an efficient public transport system.

As this was the first time we travelled by a public tram, we had some difficulty in using the ticketing machine on board.

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It was complicated as there were buttons to press to do a transaction and it could only accept coins. Eventually, after a few tries, we managed to purchase our tickets - the fare was AUD7.00 per person for a return trip.

It took us about 35 minutes to get to the city after stopping at 40+ tram stops.

It was much easier to use the City Circle services as no tickets are required. The tram services are provided free for tourists around the city.

There are many street musician and this old man was playing the country style violin.

As we were staying in a city's hotel on our last visit, we just "Jalan jalan" to see some of the familiar places.

We hopped onto the free City Cycle tram and headed for the State Museum which we missed last year.

Inside the city cycle tram.

The entrance is AUD8.00 per person. As a senior citizen, I was exempted.

There are so many state's scientific and cultural collections in this museum. It was good to see the exhibitions of the past.

The magnificent fossil of dinosaurs on the ground floor of the museum.

Our next stop was our favourite pie shop "Pie Face" It was good to have a steak pie and a cup of skinny flat white coffee.

The lemon and pecan pies were delicious.

This shop offered a variety of different pies, like steak, chicken, thai pies - you name it they have it. In my opinion, this is one of the best pie shops in Australia.

We took a 30 minutes break in this shop and headed for home with some of the selection of pies packed for dinner.

BRISBANE - MELBOURNE

We flew Qantas Airways from Brisbane to Melbourne. Initially, we were placed on "standby" as the flight was fully booked. .

We were told to report to the Customer services City Flyer Service Desk in the departure hall.

Luck was with us as we were given the boarding passes to board this B767 just 10 minutes before departure time.

For the Brisbane-Melbourne services, Qantas normally operates B737-400 or 800 series. I was told that they upgraded our flight to B767 to cater for overbooking. If they were to operate the normal B737, we would not be able to get to Melbourne on that day.

This cabin layout for this B767 is 2-3-2 - a comfortable seating arrangement.

Meal service was provided on this two hours and 25 minutes flight.

Coffee or tea or juice with a pack of sandwiches - either roasted beef or egg.

I selected the roasted beef while my wife had the egg sandwich.

It was a comfortable flight as the weather was excellent all the way. We landed at Melbourne airport on time.

Believe it or not, there is a AUD4.00 charge for using the baggage trolley. I did not realise it until I tried to get one at the arrival hall.

It was a long wait. Our baggage never showed up! There was no record of offloading in Brisbane when I checked with the Qantas Baggage services staff. The lady attending to me just asked me to wait for the next flight from Brisbane which was to arrive in 30 minutes time. To our relief, the "lost" baggage appeared on the conveyor belt of the next flight.     

View of the Melbourne city from where we are staying. It may look far but it is just a 30 minutes tram ride.  

"JALAN JALAN" di BRISBANE

On the 3rd day, we took a tour "Jalan jalan" around Brisbane. It was a beautiful day and we started from the Brisbane river walkway near our accommodation.

This part of the river walk was rebuilt after the devastation caused by the Brisbane River flood early this year.

We passed through the remains of the famous riverside restaurant, the "Oxelys on the river". It was destroyed by the flood and the owner has yet to restore it for business.

Brisbane City Council operates a fleet of ferries along the Brisbane river - the "City Cats" criss cross the river ever so often.

A "City Cat" docked at the Regatta(Toowong)Terminal to drop and pick-up passengers.

From the river, we moved to the Queen Street Mall, a premier shopping destination of Queensland where major department stores, shopping centres and designer boutiques are.

Conveniently  located in the mall is the Brisbane Visitor Information Centre. This centre offers a one stop shop for travel information including maps, brochures, and itineraries for all visitors to Queensland.

It's also a good place to enjoy open air cafes in the mall.

A street magician was showing off his skill in a cards trick.

One of the historical building in Brisbane -  an old mission church just next to the Queen Street Mall.

There is nothing like having a cup of flat white coffee and a delicious steak pie to end the tour. 



"THAI ON EARTH"

As we were on our way to a local restaurant for dinner on the second day in Brisbane, we came across this huge signboard inviting us to eat all you can for UD16.95. 

It was unbelievable that this hotel could offer such an attractive price for " All you can eat"!  I almost went for it. However, my wife and daughter objected as they preferred Asean food. 

 As originally planned, we arrived at this small "Thai on Earth" restaurant as suggested by my daughter.      

While waiting for our food, the waitress brought us these tasty prawn crackers.

Our first dish was the traditional fried fish cakes. They were delicious.  

Hot and spicy Prawns "Tom Yam Kong" soup.

The restaurant speciality - the red curry with duck meat.

To go with the curry, we had this special pineapple fried rice.  It was a delicious dinner, definitely, a better choice than the "All you can eat ribs and pizza".