Melbourne Trip: The Great Ocean Road

Like all my travel posts, this post is image heavy.

Melbourne has been a city that I have wanted to visit for a while now. I have visited it once before when I was 15, however I don't remember much and I was also on a tour. I left early on Monday morning; I woke up at 3.45am so I would be able to make the 7am flight.









From Avalon Airport, we headed straight to the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road.

Lunch stop at Lorne.









By the time we arrived at the 12 Apostles, it was overcast and super windy.

Trying to catch the sunset. It was prettier a few minutes before this shot.

At the hotel in Geelong, we got a room upgrade which faced the bay.

Geelong reminded me a lot of Christchurch. It was so flat and the buildings were ridiculously low. There were also shopping areas that were similar to the US in the sense that the shops bordered the giant carpark.

Game of Thrones Exhibit

The Game of Thrones Exhibit was on at the MCA from July 1 - July 5 2014. As I have mentioned a few times before, I am not a die hard fan but I was interested in visiting. After reading people's waiting experiences on Instagram (follow me!) we decided to arrive relatively early. We started lining up at 7.50am and there were already around 200 people waiting in line in front of us. We waited around 3.5hrs in total (the exhibit opened at 10am) and got in just before 11.30am. 

The exhibit was alright. I thought it would be a little bit more extensive


Grey Wind.











You could sit on the throne (the throne that was at Martin Place a few months ago was a lot more intricate) and also ascend the wall using Oculus Rift. It was very cool experience, however I was a little freaked out. The simulation took you up the Walls' wooden elevator to the top of the wall before you were guided (by the staff member) to turn around and face the desolate snow landscape. Apparently a flaming arrow lands at your feet before you are forced to look down, whilst standing at the edge of the wall. During the simulation, there were sensory elements to make the experience more realistic including wind elements and having the wooden boards you were standing on vibrate. Disclaimer, I'm not the biggest fan of heights. In the beginning of the simulation, it was quite cool until you got quite high up and even though it was only looking through an obviously computer generated scene, I felt so freaked out especially with the additional sensory elements. I closed my eyes before the elevator even reached the top of the wall and only opened them when the staff member prompted me to turn around. I saw how high it was and the arrow coming towards me and then I just closed my eyes. Quite awkward since it is obviously not real, but it still freaked me out a little.

My favourite costume was Sansa's. The neck piece was so intricate.




For lunch, we headed to Chat Thai in Westfield. Boy, was that a mistake. I have only visited Chat Thai once before and found it overhyped and just average. After this experience, I will not be visiting again. I waited around 40 minutes to receive the wrong dish, experienced lack of attentiveness and care from the waitresses and incredibly slow service from the kitchen. Not happy Jan!







This is a scheduled post. I am currently in Melbourne, Australia.

Studio 10 + Turimetta Beach

On Tuesday I went with my friend to be part of the audience for Studio 10. I actually never watched the show before but it was alright. It was a little tiring sitting in the same spot for 3 hrs but we got a giveaway from People For Plants, which is co founded by Jamie Durie. We each got: cleanser, toner and day cream.





After the show and other difficulties in the city, we headed back to her place and detoured via her favourite beach, Turimetta Beach. It was gorgeous. Completely secluded and very much a locals beach. We didn't head down to the sand because we weren't particularly interested in climbing down and then up around 150 steps each way.













I have been obsessed with 'Switched at Birth' lately and am almost up to date with the show. We watched 4 episodes, had caesar salad and Orange Midori + lemonade.

The Grounds of Alexandria

I completed my final exam today and it was horrible. In the earlier years of my degree, all the later year students raved about the benefits of picking your own electives and studying what you actually wanted to study. I have now completed 8 electives and only 1 has been worthwhile. The rest have been varying levels of disappointing and the subject that I completed my exam for today was just a joke. A complete joke. Who changes an exam from 3hrs to 2hrs only 30 minutes before the exam started without telling any of his students. Who examines material that wasn't covered in class. Just ridiculous.

After the dreadful exam, A. met up and we headed to the Grounds of Alexandria.



















We didn't eat at the cafe as there were just so many people and it was so dark in there. There was also a surprisingly amount of people at The Grounds considering it was a Wednesday. Instead we ate at the Garden Bar. Well that was disappointing. I don't really expect to pay $13 for my burger + chips for it to simply taste as though the innards of a Maccas quarter pounder was placed between a generic white bread roll. Hmm.





We headed back to Manly for some Froyo (I always pick the worst flavours. I don't know how NY Cheesecake tasted even sweeter than vanilla) and watched the sunset.