the last night....and last morning...oh and the last afternoon also....

Our final night in Melbourne was a rather interesting one. We had to move out to the Metro YHA due to Joanne's friend moving in the next morning, so Drew and I packed our things and Joanne kindly dropped us off for the last time. The YHA was very decent accommodation. Surprisingly decent. The room was very well kept and although the TV was a small one, it had access to foxtel and a variety of other channels which allowed me to watch the British Open (golf) into the wee hours of the night. The room also had 2 heaters which served us very well and a nice ensuite bathroom made for a very comfortable final night in the city of Melbourne.



The next morning, our final day in the city, we walked to Melbourne Central (where we were due to meet my cousin Jolynn again) and decided to hang around the area until she arrived. Somewhere between us reaching Melbourne Central and Jo arriving to meet us at Central, Andrew and I found ourselves sponsoring a World Vision kid! A cute little Colombian girl named Gloria, I think that is her name, and somehow in the randomness of it all we felt strangely relieved and surprisingly happy that we committed to donating a few hundred dollars a year to this little girl. Anyway, Jo arrived and we went back to the ridiculous Japanese restaurant again. And yet again it failed to disappoint. I ordered Unagi Don and I believe it was the biggest piece of Unagi I have ever seen at a Japanese restaurant (middle left pic above)! It tasted great too and Drew enjoyed a proTeriyaki Beef as well whilst Jo had Gyu Don again. After a delicious luncheon we decided to follow Jo back to her uni, Melbourne Uni, and basically follow her around until we got bored. We discovered a pizza shop called 'Pronto Pizza' which provides pizza delivery around campus! A gimmick that would surely suck funds out of a gullible person such as myself. We saw the library, and the terrible looking School of Econs and Commerce before surprising Jo's boyfriend Nick and a few of his friends. Eventually we parted ways, and it was goodbye to cousin Jo for another few months.


Andrew and I then voted on either wasting time at an internet cafe or Max Brenner - and the choice was obvious. We trekked the whole way back to Max Brenner at Melbourne Central before devouring a Chocolate Fondue for 2 and a hot chocolate each. One thing I would like to add is that if you ever order the Italian Hot Chocolate - order DARK chocolate and not milk. Trust me. Or rather, trust Andrew. It was ridiculous. So was the fondue actually. Anyhow we walked back to the YHA where we had kept our bags in this massive cage thing for $4 per person, and called a cab to take us to the airport. Literally 2 minutes later the taxi had arrived, and we were one the way back home. We held our breaths as we had to check in the ridiculous amount of luggage Drew had ended up with (I had 2 bags while he had 4 pieces. Maybe 5 actually) and were relieved when everything went through without any dramas. A quick phone call to my dear Aunchisa (including a short conversation with her sister too) and it was boarding time and it was finally time to say goodbye to Melbourne. It had been a great holiday, one of the best I had ever embarked on, and the amount of fun we had was incredible. SO many experiences- shopping and eating :), meeting up with people, walking, getting lost, walking some more. It was the first holiday Drew and I had been on together without anyone else and the freedom we enjoyed as fellow Patachas was very freedom-like indeed. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and thoughts as we discovered the true Patacha way! Till next time, peace and God bless from both of us!

BY REQUEST OF Mr NG....SKI TRIP VIDEO!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC8BKzQxlrg

Hey guys I forgot to add this earlier - it is a short compilation of the best ski videos and pictures we took from our incredible ski adventure. As videos cannot yet be uploaded onto blogspot, I uploaded it to Youtube so follow the link and enjoy!!

vic markets re-visited..cousin jo and the ridiculous japanese food...universal restaurant pro..

From memory all this occured on the Saturday before we left. I think. Anyway Drew and I headed back to the markets in pursuit of some gifts for people, and also for those ridiculously pro Spanish Donuts. Drew ended up buying something nice for his mum, moisturiser I think, and I am not entirely sure if I bought anything at all. Except the donuts. We also ventured to the fish and meat market area which was a pretty cool experience. I don't understand why Drew said I looked like such an Asian tourist. Maybe it was due to the ridiculous number of photos I was snapping. Or maybe it was due to the fact that I am indeed Asian. Interesting..

Anyway my cousin Jolynn just arrived back from KL on the Friday (day before) and she caught a tram to meet us at the Vic Markets. We haven't caught up since the end of eyar holidays last year so it was pretty good. She said that there was a pro Japanese restaurant at Melbourne Central so we decided to head there for lunch. And boy was it pro. I had the best teriyaki beef I have ever tasted in my life. It was warm and moist and had some vegetables in it - very decently priced too! Drew bought katsu curry which was also good but not as ridiculous as mine, and I think Jo bought gyu don. Good food at reasonable prices. Fits perfectly into the patacha way of life.

We parted ways temporarily as Drew and I headed home for a quick shower and nap whilst Jo headed of to her boyfriends house which was pretty near our dinner destination anyways. Drew and I caught a tram to Melbourne Uni and from there we met Jo and walked quite a distance (backwards) to our restaurant of choice - the Universal something and something. The food wasa really good but the price was even better. Porterhouse Steak with chips and salad for $13, a 'grande' serving of home-made pasta for $11, and pizza for $10. I'm not entirely sure what it is with all the restaurants having the Ferrari memorabilia but at least Universal was cool. The amount of topping the chef put on the pizza was ridiculous! Check out the middle pic from the collage below to see the pizza before it went into the oven! After the scrumptious dinner we walked Jo back home and then we in turn walked home and enjoyed a great nights sleep. Oh and somewhere in the middle of our trip Drew got hooked on Prison Break. Sigh.

Leaving..then not..then Eureka tower..then Crown..then home...pro

Drama drama. Andrew's friend Jonathon was supposed to put us up for the next few nights at his place (bless his heart) so one morning we packed up our stuff and Joanne dropped us off at his place somewhere next to Melbourne Uni. What happened was Joanne had a future flat mate coming to inspect her apartment and basically our smelly patacha ways could have affected her opinions. So we arrived at the dude's apartment but he wasn't answering his phone. And he never did. So basically Drew and I had to wait for a good 2 hrs in a crappy juice bar/lobby area of the apartments until Joanne kindly came and picked us up again. Let's just say I wasn't the happiest patacha in the world at that point in time. Oh and the dude finally woke up - at 6pm! Nasty boy.



Anyhoo, I contacted an old friend and decided to meet up with him and head to the brand spanking new Eureka Skydeck - which is the tallest building in Australia and one of the tallest in the world. It also has the fastest elevators in the Southern Hemisphere which is a cool gimmick. Macca (Nathan) showed us where to go and we took a few pictures at the top of the building, the 88th floor, and wasted a bit of time trying to spot famous locations and other important landmarks. After all this 'sightseeing' we were hungry, and decided that there wasn't a better option than Harry's Bar and Grill to enjoy a nice evening meal of some kind. I think I ordered pasta and Drew ordered something similar while Macca ordered a pizza. Oh and I ordered a garden salad too. Healthy boy I am.

dinner at stalactites & hard rock...

After our market and museum adventure we decided that we needed to pile back on the pounds we had already lost from the hours of walking we did. We couldn't think of a better place to attempt this feat other than Stalactites. We heard rumours of it's crazy Greek food so to test the theory we ordered Greek salad followed by a bowl of chips, a meat platter for two and some pita bread with dips. A serving of Bakhlava and creme caramel rounded up the meal (and our stomachs) and we left the place as two satisfied patachas. Hard Rock Cafe wasn't too far away from the restaurant so we decided to venture there and have a look. It was ok, not very crowded and no live music kind of put us off. So we ended up being cheapos and basically admired the memorabilia and took some photos before heading back home to keep Joanne company.

Oh and another thing I forgot to add - Drew bought this stupid hat from the Roger David factory outlet at DFO Essendon. Personally I think he looks retarded but he seems to like it.

The Vic Markets and Museum...

I was told that the Queen Victoria Markets were another one of those 'must-see' places in Melbourne, so one morning I dragged Drew there in the hope of finding a good bargain. We found quite a few bargains in fact, or rather ideas for future visits back to the market. The Spanish Donut stand that Drew is standing in front of was a great find. It is rated amongst the top 4 donuts in Melbourne, ranking alongside Krispy Kreme and even some French specialty donuts. I thought it was really good, the only minor problem was the slightly excessive amounts of oil. Oh and the picture of the skid mark is just to make the collage complete. No real purpose for that being there really.




Following our visit to the markets we trekked back the entire way home (well almost home) to the Melbourne Museum and IMAX theatre. We didn't actually go to the IMAX because of the price but museum entry was free so we took advantage of this in true patacha fashion and 'purchased' the free museum entry without IMAX ticket.



The museum itself was pretty average. More of a discovery centre really. Some interesting stuff in there still. The CSIRAC was pro and so was the giant squid. Naked models of old people were pretty funny as well. Basically we wandered around for a good 2 hours or so looking at the interesting animals etc. and then we went home because we were bored.

Jeremy's house, Cafe Corretto and Koko Black...

I have absolutely no idea what day this occurred so I am going to title the posts by the events ok! We made our way to Jeremy's house one day/night and met his crazy dog. Hyperactive animal. Camera shy too. Anyway, Andrew showed off his crazy Andy McKee pro drifting haha but everyone was impressed. He even tried to play some piano while he was on a good run but unfortunately his luck ran out. We hung out with Jeremy's younger brother Tim who is in the know about Jazz and crazy Jazz musician pros. From memory he plays cello and Jeremy is at least grade 8 in violin.



Dinner was at Lygon St. Everyone had been telling us to go try out the fantastic Italiano food at Lygon so we went with Joanne and Jeremy to Cafe Corretto. The food was pretty decent, ambience wasn't the greatest but there was a model Ferrari hanging from the roof along with a whole bunch of other Ferrari memorabilia which increased the cool level of the place slightly. I think I ordered a carbonara as I always do, and Drew ordered some other pasta with the 4 of us sharing a pizza in the middle. We then headed to Koko Black for dessert/hot chocolate. Rumour has it that Koko Black has hot chocolate that can rival and potentially out-rival the glory of Max Brenner, and it was rather good but Drew and I are still not convinced that it leaves Max Brenner in it's wake. The Belgian Delights were nice. The mousse was super thick and the ice cream followed suit with the other small things being fairly average taste-wise. What impressed me was the presentation of the food items. Each and every cup of hot chocolate was meticulously prepared (by the roundish Asian dude) and had a nice pretty pattern on the top. The sale items were pretty well presented too, and it all made for yet another good night of food and fun in Melbourne.