Well peeps, it looks like I'm finally back from my recent family vacation trip to the land down-under (a.k.a. Australia - just in case someone lost their sense of geography for a moment there). First off, before I start my oh-this-is-so-gonna-be-long rant on beautiful Australia, just figured I'd wish the world a - yes, very long overdue - Merry Christmas! As well as a not too long overdue Happy New Year, slash, Happy 2009! And my New Year's revelation is...

...dot dot dot... XP

So, to make things reasonably easier - for me - I've decided to just chunk all my words, well, most of it anyway, into this one post here while the pictures, videos, anything visual, and a certain something special that touched my little heartless heart *ahem* shall be unceremoniously dumped into the next post and so forth. Why, you ask? Because there plain isn't enough room in one post for 150 pictures, that's why. Yeps!

So basically, this here post shall be something along the lines of my report and the ones that follow shall be...hmm...how should I put it...fillers? Yeah, sort of.

And so, without anymore delays, let's freaking get on with it folks!!

-----

Okay, so just for knowing purposes, I left Malaysian land on the 18th, a day after my birthday, which was spectacular this year in comparison with some others - thanks a lot to everyone who was involved and remembered to wish me!! Seriously, thanks!!!

Moving on, I reached back on the 30th in the late evening and spent the rest of that day sleeping till noon the following day, namely, New Year's Eve. Tried sleeping in a plane when you're in economy class? Ugh...major backache.

So anyways, the main reason for visiting Australia this time (more specifically Melbourne with minor detours to Canberra and Sydney) was to scout around Melbourne city to see how I would make my future living there, well, comfortable. You know, know where to shop, eat, transportation, check the Universities, lodgings, etc. And overall I dare say I've accomplished just that. All there is to it now is to put in my acceptance to the University of my choice (still waiting on RMIT, but Monash is fine to). Melbourne is definitely a quiet city in comparison with many others I've seen here and there. It's definitely no Tokyo; totally not Shanghai, and not exactly Los Angelus either, but it's a pretty cool place by my books.

So here's the lowdown (a very VERY summarized version this time, but then again, you know me).

The first thing I realized upon taking that first step onto Australian soil again after what, five years? Well, was that Summer (the present season for parts of the world below the equator during this time of year) didn't really feel like Summer. Hmm...actually, that's more of an understatement - IT FELT LIKE FREAKING WINTER!!!

SINCE WHEN DID A SUMMER DAY HAVE A TEMPERATURE OF 10 DEGREES CELSIUS?!

Do take that rhetorically people.

Whatever it is, that was such a freak day. Thank goodness I was smart enough to bring along a jacket. And so, my family and I pretty much ignored the crazy Greek (not that Greeks are crazy in general I guess) cab driver we had who kept going on about atomic bombs, yes, you heard me right, for some reason during the half an hour drive to the city. There wasn't much going on for the first day seeing as we spent most of it snoozing away in the comfort of our warm hotel room, but I promise the days ensuing were much more productive.

For a start, Australia being quite a bit slower to get things such as movies than Malaysia does, I semi-expected them to be behind in other things as well. Yet surprisingly, I hardly think so anymore. Or wait, maybe that isn't very surprising now is it. Navigation around the city center was as easy as pie, probably even without a map. Also, if your lost, there's that free city-circle tram to hop on whenever you want during the day. Then of course, Malaysian food as well as foods from other nationalities were an easy enough find, there were splendidly gigantic malls in the shopping areas and two freaking theaters for some vivid stage entertainment, but more on that later. They Aussies really seem to love Japanese culture almost as much as I do too, judging by all those Harajuku ('Lala' as some here would put it) clothe shops scattered around, not forgetting sushi parlours. Pet shops were an abundance too. And would you believe, they had sections in supermarkets where fresh meat for pets were displayed for buy! The animals were cute, but once again, more on that a little later on.

After getting to know a little more on Melbourne through some serious brochure reading, my mom and I picked out the few spots in town we wanted to visit and listed down the things we wanted to do and check out now that we were here. Checking RMIT and Monash University were definitely first on the list, though it came on separate days. There was much praise and talk all around town about a Broadway musical called 'Wicked' as well, and being an absolute sucker for musicals, you bet I couldn't resist the opportunity to catch it. Besides that, we also made a point to visit the local Victoria Market, where, as I discovered, EVERYTHING can be found, that is if you look hard enough. And lastly, and sadly quite the least, the Melbourne Aquarium, where asides the cuddly penguins near the beginning, was honestly nothing new to me. What creeped me out about it though was when I got to the Jellyfish section - some of those things just looked dead, seriously; they were all torn up into bits and no, they were not pulsing...gosh.

Sleeping during the weekend nights proved really awkward for me though. And here's why. The room we were given was sadly situated on the hotel's second floor. As such, it sure didn't do much to keep the sounds from the streets away from our ears. I tell you I don't know how many drunks passed by that street on those nights but it was a hell-of-a-lot of weirdness. Care to try?

Well whatever, drunk people aside, the coach and train systems in Australia were intriguing though regretfully confusing if I do say so myself. Perhaps only because it was the holiday season, several trains weren't running as track maintenance was being carried out. As a result, coaches were assigned as backups. Which says a lot in my opinion. In Malaysia I've really never heard of such a system where when one breaks down they arrange a backup transport for you, or maybe I'm just outdated. Either way, it's a brilliant system - making sure people get to where they're supposed to get despite the odds.

Moving on with the trip, the journey from Melbourne all the way to Sydney was no picnic, it was to be around three hours or so longer than the plane journey to Melbourne from Malaysia itself; on train that is. My family and I of course made the smart choice of breaking-journey midway in Canberra where we spent a night in pure luxury - amazingly nice hotel, and it was actually a four-star!! Well, beats one of the Malaysian five-stars anyday. Once in Sydney however, well, nice place, but Melbourne is definitely more to my personal liking.

One thing about Sydney is, you gotta know where to go I guess. The hotel my family and I ended up in looked more like a prison cell than an actual hotel room. Cheap, yes, for Sydney standards, being Malaysian, not so much. Me? I was honestly just wishing to spend as much time as possible out of that prison-ish room.

Having only spent no more than three days there, I can't say as much for Sydney as I can for Melbourne. What I will say is that it's incredibly Chinese-populated, and believe it or not, I'm not so sure that's a good thing since there was a really big Chinatown influence going on in some areas and the place looked really filthy in comparison with the Melbourne area. But of course, it still is a very nice place to see. Once again, providing you know where to go...I guess.

The Sydney Harbour for one is a definite must visit - the Opera House for a start. There were tons of gulls and other birds hanging around the place. Remember Finding Nemo? Yeah, "mine!". Oh, and that lovely seafood!!! The water is also as blue as ever and beautifully untainted. The local zoo and wildlife centers are a must see, specifically as Koalas are one of the cutest of creatures alive; Wombats too! And of course, you can always see the crocs; you know, channel some Steve Irwin into you or something.

Now the weather in Sydney was much more Summer-ie than back over in Melbourne, what with that big orange ball of flame oozing it's heat-filled rays down on my head. Silly me forgot to pack a hat and was stubborn enough to refuse buying one. But of course, I suppose I just didn't see the point since I wouldn't be needing it back in Malaysia as I barely go out in the sun. Whatever it is, the raging sun got me a fever and an evil flu. A day's rest proved enough to bounce me back on my feet in no time but I had to take things much lighter than I had previously to keep from falling down too sick again, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, a nice little discovery while in Sydney was this fancy restaurant that caught our eyes, mainly because it was named 'Mamak' - cool no? My family and I found the idea of Chinese guys making 'roti canai' and 'nasi lemak' rather comical at first but once we tried the food...well, let's just say Malaysia...might not be the food capital for all that long anymore. I'm just saying. The food was extraordinarily good; spicy enough for the Malaysian tongue, hygienic, affordable by Australian standards and unbelievably delish - even better than some (no wait, maybe all) the mamak restaurants food I've tasted back home, and I AM NOT KIDDING!!!! We think it's probably just that the ingredients are fresher, but hey, whatever it is, the food's GOOD. Majorly good.

Now I hope people haven't forgotten I was literally there during the Christmas holidays. So what, you say? News-breaking sales baby, that's what!!! Haha, so I actually bought a few things for ridiculously cheap prices - a nice big Guess! brand tote for about two hundred Malaysian? Heck, yeah, you catch my drift. The sale was all over the place and totally in the name of the Christmas spirit; people are seriously crazy about it there.

Well, in the end there were one or two spare days back in Melbourne once Sydney was over and done with. Ended just lazing around the hotel, parks and stuff. I found my possible future halal meat source, loads of cheap places to shop, checked out how much a little kitten was in case I have plans to adopt, found some sweet restaurants asides McDonalds to dine at on occasion and more or less worked out the strategic places for student lodgings. There's still so much I know I want to say that hasn't been mentioned but...I also know this post is long enough and some (most) people probably tire from reading everything...

Hey, I think I'm going to have one heck of a great life in Melbourne regardless of which University I end up in. It's a great place and my parents agree. It's no Japan for me but it's definitely one of those places in the world I can see myself making a good living. Eventually, I might just have to make a life-changing decision - to stay on or leave once my course is over. It's only a consideration for now, and as I believe and shall continue to believe, only God truly knows what the future holds. So when that time comes I'll make my decision. Till then, I'm going to have the time of my life~

P.S. Paris Hilton was in Melbourne too while I was there. Yeah, so I'm not a fan of hers but hey, it was just for laughs, knowing she was there too~ XD