AUSTRALIA : Melbourne, Victoria

Checked in quite late at a caravan park in the suburb of Braybrook near Melbourne. Had to arrange special pick-up for card access and cabin keys. Was quite pleased with the cabin that we booked. Stayed here for 3 nights.

A very well designed cabin. Compact yet practical. It has two bedrooms and can accommodate 6 persons. It even came with a balcony.

View of the living room, kitchen and dining. Quite impressive. Nice colour scheme. Very contemporary.

The main bedroom.

Aah! Hearty aussie breakky. Some beef and lamb bangers (sausages). bread, havarti cheese and pure orange juice.

Opted to take the train to Melbourne (kinda worried about the infamous 'hook turn' in the city). This is Flinders Street Railway Station, one of the major meeting points here. It's right next to the Yarra River.

Heritage and contemporary architecture co-exist.

Federation Square, where the SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) Building is located. Interesting architecture.

Loved the way they incorporate the running display boards as part of the facade.

Facade of St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral. The kids have never seen the inside of a church so decided to have a peek inside.

View inside, of the stained glass windows.

Another interior view.

The main altar.

The free City Circle Tourist Trams. Yup, we took one of these and travelled to a few of the tourist spots. Very convenient.

One of the buildings in the Docklands, a redevelopment of the industrial wasteland that used to be Victoria's first port - Victoria Harbour. It has now been transformed into a hip area, containing residential, commercial and tourist precincts even though still not fully completed. 

Colourful and fancy elements.

Well-connected with Melbourne's efficient tram services. The tram stop is located in the middle of the street.

Residential units.

Retail and f&b facilities at Waterfront City, complete with informal ampitheatre for performances.

Offices and residential units across Victoria Harbour.

Plenty to see and do.

Wonderfully designed restaurants at Newquay.

Interesting sculptures.

Public berths at the Docklands. Etihad Stadium is at the background. It is the home ground for 5 Australian Rules Football Teams, namely St. Kilda, North Melbourne, Carlton, Essendon and Western Bulldogs.

Nice balconies.

Another waterside reataurant.

There are bikes for rental. Very 'green'.

Very interesting. So many elements combined together.

Closer view. Look at the cantilevered balconies.

We then head to the Queen Victoria Market for some shopping. Colourful flowers on sale just before we enter the market proper.

These are proteas. South African national flowers, which are also grown in Australia.

Wide selection of cheeses available in the deli section.

Also sausages, olives and various dips.

We then headed back to Federation Square. It was getting dark and the temperature was getting chillier. There was a mini concert there and it was interesting to engage in some people-watching. It was some winter solstise celebration and there were some aboriginal dances.

Would like to stay longer but unfortunately we had a very early flight to catch the next morning. With heavy heart we have to bade Melbourne farewell and took the train back to our holiday park.

View of the platforms at Flinders Street Station.

The following day, even though we arrived quite early, we had to run to catch our return flight to Kuala Lumpur. It seemed that most flights depart around the same time and the queues for security checks and immigration were simply too long. This is somewhere in the interior of inland Australia.

Flying past a volcano in Indonesia.

Flight    : AirAsia X D7 2723 MEL-KUL
Aircraft : Airbus A330-300
Reg.     : 9M-XXA (the same plane that flew us to Australia on our Gold Coast trip in 2010).