Melbourne with The Family & Bestie (Part 3)
The next day we headed to Dandenong Ranges to see the traditional steam engined train called Puffing Billy & also had delicious tea, scones & food up on the hilltop and went to Westfield, Doncaster to shop.
Puffing Billy is the oldest train in Australia that uses steam engines to function. It still moves, passengers get to enjoy delicious food on board the train while it takes you exploring around the Dandenong Ranges. The fees to actually go on board the train and go around Dandenong Ranges were a bit pricey & hours were long just for sightseeing so we decided to skip it and just take pictures around the area.
The station was vintage, loved the architecture of the station.
After Puffing Billy, we headed this restaurant/cafe called Olinda Tea House. It was located up in the hills & in the woods. It had such nice ambience and the food there was so good. They didn't have a lot of choices but the simple menu was enough to satisfy us.
As you can see, the ambience is perfect. Surrounded by nature but still not too far from home. The food portions were huge and it tasted amazing. We had tea that came with the scones that were quite uniquely flavored but still tasted good. They have a wide variety of tea selections so you don't have to worry about not being able to find the right tea. The scones, omg the scones were the best part. It was crispy on the outside and soft in the inside unlikes how the usual scones I have that just tastes really soft and floury. I had quite an amazing food experience eating there. Definitely a place to revisit when I come back to Melbourne.
After lunch, we headed to the National Rhododendron Park to take some pictures and have a nice scenic walk.
It was basically a beautiful scenic walk.
I really adore the design of the dress but it wasn't really suited for the weather so pairing it with an oversized knitted sweater to keep me warm did the trick.
Dress : H&M / Sweater : Bustier Rhymes (www.bustierrhymes.com) / Bag : My Vivid Dress Room (@myvividressroom on Instagram) / Shoes : H&M
After our scenic mini tour, we headed to Westfield, Doncaster to shop.
Westfield is quite a big mall with pretty good shopping. It has the high and middle end so it's all up to you to decide how much you plan to spend on that day. They have a Hollister there, not a really big one but it was good. They had a small sale and I managed to grab this really cute bandeau top.
A cute summery Hawaiian feel bandeau, can't wait to wear it!
We headed home after shopping and made dinner & baked cupcakes.
Bea & I made Smoked Salmon Aglio Olio. Not bad, not bad at all ;)
We baked chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing later on at night.
The next day, we headed to the city again. We went to Queen Victoria Market to get some souvenirs and to check the place out.
These little doughnuts tasted so so so good! Fresh from the oven and it had jam filling inside. Located in a little mini van inside the market, towards the fresh food section.
Went to the fresh food market and saw these big ass strawberries hahaha looked like asses and tooth to us...:p
I've always liked bustiers but I guess they are a little bit too revealing but hey, doesn't mean you can't still wear them and tone it down. I love the print of this bustier, it has studs which makes the floral print not so girly. I paired it with pastels to make the studs stand out less and to tone the outfit down a little.
Jacket : Vintage / Top : Fashion Vibes (@fashionvibes6 on Instagram) / Skirt : F21 / Bag : My Vivid Dress Room (@myvividressroom on Instagram)
Queen Victoria Market has souvenirs of all sorts, fresh foods and a food court. We bought souvenirs for our friends and family back home and had lunch at the food court. The food court didn't have a lot of variety of food but they still had good food.
After the market, we headed home and just layed around till dinner time.
The next day, we had dim sum with one of my grandma's friend. It was some Chinese restaurant dim sum place that was apparently one of the best in town.
The restaurant was called Gold Leaf, hahah typical Chinese restaurant names.
Dim sum's here are huge! The'y're bigger in portion & size than the ones we have in Malaysia. Look look! If you've had dim sum, you'd know these sesame balls are usually the size of a fishball but look! It's the size of my fist plus a little extra hahaha! The food there wasn't bad, quite good actually. They had loads of choices to choose from so it's pretty cool.
We headed to the K-Mart nearby the restaurant and checked it out. K-Mart is like Target but cheaper. I found a few items that were actually nice and the price were just holy shit cheap. I think it's safe to say I'm kinda in love with shopping in K-Mart...haih, if only they had it here hahha.
I got a beach maxi dress (17 AUD), a bikini top (9 AUD) & an aztec cropped top (5 AUD). Seriously, the price and the quality, I can't even...hahahah! I loved my shopping experience there.
After shopping at K-Mart, we headed to Chadstone. Chadstone is a fashion capital, basically overloading shops from the high end to the mid range. It's kind of like Pavillion or KLCC here in KL I guess. It's pretty cool but malls here are all 2 floors max so KL shopping is seriously still better. People there are probably too laid back to shop like us Asians. :p
Outside Chadstone.
Last day in Melbourne was pretty fun I guess. We made pizza for my cousins who came over again for our small farewell dinner.
I'd rate our pizza 11/10 like duh hahahah no, but seriously it was yummy...
Hey lookie! Damien's got game ;) hahahaha
Haven't got a single picture taken outside my neighborhood since day 1 so I decided to do it on the last day. I'll definitely miss this place. It was nice living in such laid back and beautiful environment.
I love my turquoise lace cropped top and even more my laser cut detailed skater skirt. I like how they mix well together as an outfit.
Jacket : Vintage / Top : F21 / Skirt : H&M / Shoes : H&M / Bag : My Vivid Dress Room (@myvividressroom on Instagram)
The next day was our day to leave Melb :( missed it even before I left. I had days of fun and adventure, so glad my parents brought me to Melb this holiday. Thank you Melbourne for having us hahah loved the place. I haven't been to Melb since I was 8 or so and when I was younger I'd go over almost every year. This is the first time in literally forever and I really enjoyed the trip.
Yeah...I decided to stop by the toilet before leaving and I found this vending machine pretty interesting because it sells lip gloss, eye liner and shit like that. It's pretty interesting to me...#don'tjudge #i'mcoolok #seriously
Shameless selfie on board before flying.
And that marks the end of my amazing trip to Melbourne, Australia.
-Zoey
THE END