Australia Day 2

Day 2 at Melbourne started a little behind schedule considering me and Kenneth could not get our asses off the bed in spite of Abby waking us up a few times but finally at what I believe was 10:30am, we managed to get up and wash up and etc.

As planned by Lau's, day two would start off with some "University Hunting" or more like roaming around the universities that the state of Victoria has to offer to us Malaysians. And of course how could we not visit the ever so prestigious University of Melbourne?I mean it is the University most people aim for when they plan to go and further their studies in Australia.

And I have to say, prior to my visit, I was definitely skeptical towards the University of Melbourne as I perceived it as just any other ordinary university, I mean what makes it so special compare to the others?the world ranking?the fact that the whole Subang wants to go there?

My oh my was Wong Chee Mun wrong in this case..The university of Melbourne had what I say the olden days "castle like architecture" which I personally have always found rather intriguing *might explain my obsession towards UK* but the official term for it is actually sandstones. Who knew in Australia there were not only an association for leading universities but universities that were made from sandstones as well..haha

What a coincidence where the sun was shining right above this building, it makes photography so much more worth while but then again, anywhere in this majestic looking university is a photography heaven.

Yes, amazingly it is not only just on television shows, the westerners do not lie all the time as people actually do study on grass in the middle of the blazing hot sun, its just that we went during the off peak season where students were in the midst of returning home.

See the castle behind there?According to Kenneth, that is the Trinity College building which is a college that offers foundation studies for direct entry to the University of Melbourne. So for those who said why go Trinity?SAM also not much difference what?I say look again!=)

And next up on the "University List" was RMIT university which by tram was a surprising 5 minutes. So for those next year pursuing their studies to the University of Melbourne and is still looking for a place to stay, *ahem ahem*, get the picture?=p

The first thing I asked Kenneth was which was RMIT?As you can see in the picture above, RMIT is not your typical or shall I say traditional campus, it is a modern university that has blocks, buildings and a couple small campuses all around Melbourne city. At first I have to say I was rather disappointed at the fact I would not be getting my "dream campus" but after further exploration and further research, I remembered the real reason why I chose RMIT, because of the quality in education it will be providing me.

RMIT's version of a garden where students can sleep or study in between classes

The next stop was no not Monash nor Victoria University, I'm sorry people, Monash was simply too far from the city * makes you think twice about going Monash* and Victoria University wasn't really part of the list anyway but we stopped by the State Library of Victoria. It took us an estimate time of 5 minutes to reach the library by just walking from RMIT which was actually quite surprising.

Doesn't the outer look of the library already makes you want to enter it?

This is the main hall where most of them come for peace and silence (includes working adults and students alike)
And this place is what I like to refer to as the "Presidential Library" cause of the WOW factor it brings at first glance. For those who watched the movie "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" movie, does this ring any bells?

Now this giant Seiko clock I believe is in Melbourne Central


Being the tourist that I am, I of course had to take a picture together with Flinders Station which I have been told is their very own "KL Sentral"

A slight view of Victoria University. It is rather a small campus but I have to say it's location is priceless, in the middle of the city, 5 minutes walk to Flinders Station?Quite a convenient area I have to admit.

Federation Square (According to a tour guide, Federation Square was created as a main force of attraction within the local youth)


It looks like some church I know but it is actually a Broadway theater


Part II of Day 2: The road trip to Phillip Island a.k.a Penguin Island

Something I notice during the bus ride *For those academic nuts will think of Monash but for those people who know me will say Blackburn*

Because Kenneth and Abby chose an all day package from APT, we were not only entitled to go to Philip Island, we were brought to several other fascinating tourist spots on the way and our first stop was:

Wombats=)

Ugly mutated ducklings, where are the kangaroos?
Yay!.. A cute photogenic camwhore kangaroo
Jo letting this cute little thing eat off her hand without realising that it would be leaving a big trace of saliva
Abby for some reason makes it a tradition to touch the Kangaroo's ass every time she see's one

Kenneth, what else can I say?LOL
Me, well it was not that I was afraid of it but the thought of the saliva on my and just threw me away

Peacock

After a 30 minute stay at the farm, we were then brought to a nice beach bout 20 minutes away
Can you just look at the beautiful CLEAN beach ?
Jo might have regretted wearing flip flops in this occasion as it was superbly difficult to jump or even walk for the matter of fact

Lifeguards or security?You be the judge

Now there is an absolutely funny story to this picture. Because we needed to rest the camera on an object to take a clear shot of us, I being the smart one tried and build a sand castle but to my dismay the camera was too heavy and the lens was filled with sand. Now here is where the story begins, I again trying to be the smart one, wanted to blow off the sand from my camera lens to ensure it was not scratched but instead what did I do?In front of Ken and Abby I spitted on my lens! How neat right?hahahaha

After a short but very much relaxing trip to the beach, we were then brought to a Koala farm. Note: Koala's are the most unintelligent animals there is as they eat, sleep and mate. Furthermore, if you touch them you will be reducing their life span by 30% as they are easily stressed (All facts from our bus driver/tour guide).

WOW! Cute but can't touch them?Cute but they rarely move?Cute but they are lazy?practically describe my whole life in one sentence if you minus the cute..haha

Don't you think this is a Chinese koala?It has sepet eyes:P

Now thank god after few tourist stops, we were brought to a recreational area with many food shops to choose from and as promised to Melissa, we went to eat the great old Australian Fish & Chips and it was GOOD=)

Ahh another beach and by this time you'd think we'd be bored of beaches but when the beaches are this clean and the weather is so cooling, the question should be how could you ever get bored of beaches?

This picture was taken by Ken and he was like wow is this my sister?!haha

And now we finally reach our main attraction, Philip Island! Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures due to some scientific research that shows Penguins are afraid of flashes.

Thankfully enough there was a couple of penguins just outside which I managed to snap a picture of. Aren't they adorable?They are the smallest penguins in the world. It would have been great if I had the picture of them marching up in one big group, it was like the war part in Narnia. To quote Melvin, Potong sial!

Anyway day 2 ended fairly late as we only reach back Parkville at 12am but somehow we still stayed up and watched According to Jim, Facebooked and Cho Tai Ti for a bit.

(The Living Legend was then beginning to enjoy Melbourne in spite of early fears that night time would be boring)