Parents in Melbourne (Part one)

This was the first time I spent x'mas and NY outside of Thailand. It was different. But it was fun taking parents around Australia on their first trip into the country. Thanks to dad's photography skills, we have shit loads of some gorgeous photos.

The first place we went as soon as our parents landed was Queen Victoria market. Where would we be without food! It was rather cold and windy for a start of summer. That didn't stop dad from going crazy with his camera(s). We decided to have lunch at the food court. Food was so so but the French mini pancakes with ice cream definitely got my mom's attention.

Happy with food in our green bags and trolley, we headed back home as it started drizzling. By this time, dad was feeling a little jet-lagged, while mom was still as fit as ever. In fact, I must say mom was superfit throughout the whole trip, and never really seemed to get tired, especially considering how warm it got towards the end of their stay.

After waiting for the rain to clear, we came out to hang around the river bank, where I am pleased to say, we achieved a brand new sighting of another space invader. Photo was taken right away before it got away.


The second day we drove up to Mount Dandenong in a blue Camry we had rented. I had been noticing the new Camry around on the road and thought it was not bad looking. So it was cool I got to drive one to see what it's like. It wasn't all that... The ass was too high, which I felt limited visuals through the rear window.

The weather wasn't much better than the previous day. So we gave the Sunday market by the foot of the mountain a miss. Our first stop up on the mountain was
at the tea leaves shop. It was awesome. I don't really drink tea but
it was fun smelling all the samples of all the weird different scented teas they had. We must have spent over an hour in that little tiny shop 'cause there was just so much to look at.

Lunch was then at Miss Marple's tearoom. Despite the limited number of dishes on the menu, food was as superb as always. The chicken pie was awesome. Should get back up there again soon. We spent pretty much the whole day on the mountain going through collectibles and antique shops.


In the evening, we drove back into the city for dinner and went for a walk into Melbourne Central so dad could do some photography. And so he got his fish eye out an came up with some pretty cool photos. Melbourne Central like I had never seen before...




The next day, we headed to Sunny Ridge strawberry farm expecting to do some strawberry
picking. But due to the rain, the farm itself was closed so we bought some pre-packed strawberries from the shop instead.

With the farm closed, we headed further down Mornington Peninsula, into Sorrento, a nice little town with a beach road, dotted with numerous interesting shops. We spent the whole afternoon walking up and down the road, checking out all the shops... Then headed back.

It was cold and windy that evening but that didn't stop us from going for a walk along the bank of the Yarra, down to Crown for a bit of the fireball action by the casino that brought some much needed warmth, though way too short-lived.