flashback to last spring... Melbourne

a great holiday at Melbourne last Spring;
self-planned, self-driven, with someone special ;)


i love this photographic effect...
guess what's the blur? a tram moving along a Melbourne City street.

Queen Victoria Market.

Exuding an appeal that i love: jumbo sausages, all colours of fresh fruits, free wine tasting in the morning (yes, i had wine in the morning :p), boomerang souvenirs, didgeridoos, and fresh hot coffee... yum yum.

Lygon Street (near Melbourne University), with lots of Italian food fare.

great Salmon pizza, beautiful cappuccino, charming street...

Inside Brunetti.

Someone I know is crazy about this place because it has desserts & pastries all over, from floor to ceiling... in proper shelves of course :P

One of the 4 gates of Chinatown.

St Kilda Beach... reached here by a tram ride.

flashback to last spring... Dandenong & Yarra Valley

Green that pleases the eyes...


At Dandenong... i present The Puffing Billy Train!


A daffodil garden, at Dandenong.


Miss Marples Tea Room, also at Dandenong.
Some silly girl i know sure loves this place for its interior and tea. She just can't stop raving about it :p


Domaine Chandon, Yarra Valley.
Quite impressed... toured the wine chamber.


i just had to have wine to complete the experience at Domaine Chandon.


now, a real life Tasmanian Devil... inside Healesville Sanctuary.
hmmm, quite different from Looney Tunes.


a bunch of kangaroos.


Koala... now that i have seen them, they are really slow and sedentary.

flashback to last spring... Mornington Peninsula, Phillip Island

And we continue with sotuhwards to Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island.


Colourful houses at Mills Beach, Mornington Peninsula.


if only i could own a nice house by the river.


A pair of Penguins at Phillip Island, which is famous for, well, penguins...

flashback to last spring... Great Ocean Road & Mt Gambier

Scenes along Great Ocean Road & Mt Gambier...



Bell's Beach, a famous surfing spot along Great Ocean Road.


Split Point Lighthouse.
Solitary, but tall and lasting. A definition of character.


The Twelve Apostles... some of them.
Apparently one of the apostles had eroded (used to be 13 Apostles).


Blue Lake at Mt Gambier... a volcanic crater lake.
This lake supplies water to the nearby town, and water in the bathtub really is blue!


Aaahh the Umpherston Sinkhole...
never imagine a sinkhole can be so beautified, but these folks did it. Kudos!



An "interesting" limestone structure inside Princess Margaret Ross Cave :p

a quarter year later...

guess what guys? i am still here.
came back from Taiwan about one and a half months back,
had a very short but insightful business trip there.


The famous "little lambs" of Taiwan (Little Lambs = Scooters).
Try standing at the traffic lights, and experience the rush of lambs coming to a stop.


It's either a fortified river, or beautified canal... at Hsinchu.


Danshui, the river mouth at Taipei.


Breakwaters at Danshui, with nice "rocks".
Not sure if it's scientific or aesthetic reason for the shape of the "rocks".


The Core Pacific City, Taipei.
Credit must be given to the engineers and architects; it wasn't easy to build this giant ball in earthquake-prone Taiwan.


Inside the Core Pacific City.
With a "floating" ball design supported by 4 pillars at the bottom, imagine the difficulty in making sure this ball doesn't collapse in an earthquake.


Taipei 101, one of the tallest building in the world.
Hailed as one of the modern engineering marvels, it can withstand typhoons & earthquake.