The first two days in Melbourne

At Coffee Bean of LCCT with my friends who came to send me off. =)

Some of us minus Suet and Jon.

Talking.

Me leaving. (Great shot, Kai!)

Walking towards the International Departure where my parents were hanging out – I thought this is a great shot too. :)

My family and friends – whom I’m missing very much.

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Have you ever seen the beauty of the deep ocean blue of the sky penetrated by a touch of an equally dark orange? It’s a marvel to behold – and in the darkness of the plane and the nearly lightless sky of the outside I couldn’t make out if it was the sea or the clouds beneath us. I thought I could see the orange slowly permeate through a lake, like the drop of an artist’s brush on a canvass, but when the lights of the interior of the aircraft was turned on and the sun rose from its slumber on the east, did I see that it was a sea of clouds stretching towards the horizon.

#1 Not an accurate depiction of what I described earlier as the sun has begun to rise.

I didn’t manage to get a good night’s sleep – in fact I was frightfully insomniac and I prolly slept about 10 minutes each interval I managed to sleep the best I could, given the terribly straight seats which don’t seem to be able to be reclined.

#2 The interior of AirAsia X’s aircraft.

#3 Ethan, whom I’ve talked to over the Internet from a forum I posted in before, who was my companion for the flight.

I was actually afraid of customs ‘cause I’ve been reading stories that they’d be really strict and difficult – but I passed with nary an incident.

#4 At the Tullamarine Airport – we got to know a girl, Melissa, who’s pursuing a Masters in Commerce after studying a degrees in biotechnology.

Allied Services, which RMIT utilised, fetched the three of us – me, Ethan, Melissa – to our destination. When it was just me in the van, we had some small talk and the dude, James, offered to show me around for free when I’m settled and stuff.

#5 Arrived at Ghavin’s place – a pretty neat two-room apartment, and he has like 2 other friends staying temporarily with him too. When I arrived it was drizzling, and it let up pretty quickly.

#6 A part of Southbank.

#7 Crossing Yarra River.

#8 Walking around in CBD.

#9 One of the trams’ roads.

So immediately when I arrived, I had opened a bank account with Westpac, signed up for a 1-year contract of Optus (my phone line) for $49/month and added a $10 for a 200MB 3G connection for accessing the Internet on the go, ate Vietnamese for lunch at about 3pm (Ghavin belan-ed me, otherwise it’d have cost around $9-10), bought some soya milk from Coles (the supermarket), and for dinner, ate home-cooked chicken, brinjals, and kangaroo meat (!) which tasted springy and funny.

I woke up at about 1pm the next day when I slept on the couch – body ached all over and it was incredibly freezing.

#10 At about 3pm went to inspect an apartment called Veu Grande – the only downside is it’s unfurnished, otherwise it’s a nice, large, spacey place. The pic depicts the indoor swimming pool which was heated, and it even has a small gym.

I met up with Ethan for dinner over McD’s and we chatted amicably, before we decided to walk around the city – when my doctor, Dr. Ooi, told me in a passing, parting remark that “Melbourne is a beautiful place”, I know now what she meant.

#11 The twilight at CBD/Southbank.

#12 Yarra River.

#13 And intersection of the city with a passing tram.

#14 A building with a very beautiful architecture – too bad it’s not actually a good shot.

#15 The moon was full and shining brilliantly.

#16 Melbourne has very unique architecture – this is part of the building of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.

I don’t enjoy winter at all with its freezing temps, I’m horribly homesick – something I had not expected to hit me full-blown like this – and I pray I can pull through the toughest first few days.