Mia's Weekend Getaway: Australia - Sovereign Hill (Part 1)

After abandoning my previous blog on the 3rd day of my 7-day Vietnam trip in 2009, I vowed never to do travel blog entries anymore. However, with encouragement from bloggers I've known from Discuss SG like oyhz, finaldust, chikumama, coffeeluvs and chenelin, I've decided to give it another shot! 

And yup, I went to visit a friend in Melbourne! 

Upon touching down, I dropped off my luggage at YS's apartment and off we went to Ballarat to get to Sovereign Hill!
Rushing for the train was quite an episode, we first missed the tram at YS's place and got to Southern Cross station barely 10 minutes from the schedule train departure time, ran towards the platform only to be told along the way that the train has been switched to a coach. Oh well, in the end we still made it and I totally KO-ed on the coach for that 1.5 hrs ride (and missed many awesome sceneries!) until we reached Ballarat to take another local bus to Sovereign Hill.

These were the buildings/views I was enjoying while at the bus stop.

We got there pretty late, 4 plus almost 5 and it seemed like the place has closed for the day. Thankfully, they hadn't. And we had the chance to ask for directions to our accommodation for the night and some recommendations for dinner places. By this time, all eateries located within Sovereign Hill has closed and we had not much choices other than to venture out again to Main Street whereby a few restaurants were located.

Along the way there was nothing but greenery and the baby blue sky, along with a couple of cars passing by. Totally fell in love with this peaceful town. 

 And we decided on Fish & Chips! Pretty affordable too, with just flakes and chips at less than $9 AUD. You can also request for either plain salt or chicken salt for the fries. And I went for chicken salt! I'm a huge fan of flavoured salt, especially curry salt and yuzu salt. :)

The place was very simple with an open concept kitchen and a counter table with wall decor as shown. There's also a strip of "namecard holder" across the wall with all sorts of namecards (hair salons, locksmiths etc) stuck on them. I got rather tempted to stick my own up there. But then I realised, I've left my namecards back in SG. :(

And here's my first dinner in Australia, fish & chips with a can of ginger beer! See the before and after pic of my fish & chips? =.=" I hardly touched the chips at all. 

The flake was nothing like what I had in SG, 'flaky' and tough. Instead, I almost thought I was eating chicken cutlet! It was packed with really dense, 'solid' fish meat and was fried till the point whereby the meat remains soft and very moist. The fact that it was generously coated with chicken salt from the fries didn't help much with my 'hallucination' that I was eating chicken cutlet.

And after my ridiculously big dinner, YS and I packed up our leftover fries and retraced our steps back to Sovereign Hill and beyond in search of our accommodation for the night, Comfort Inn, and enjoying the relaxing scenery of the place. 

 After 20 to 30 minutes walk, we finally arrived at Comfort Inn! I was pretty shock as it seems extremely small, like a normal bungalow house. 

 

They were awarded Gold Award in 2012 for Choice Hotels Australia, as shown. 

 And the reception area is kept clean, impeccably neat and tidy. I found this newspaper area kind of cute and cozy too.

 Upon checking in, we were shown the way to our room and it was then I realised the Inn is actually pretty big with extended wings where the actual rooms were located. We got the twin bunkroom with (supposedly shared but turned out to be) ensuite bathroom located at this 'Military Barracks'.

And this was how our 'brickhouse' bunkroom looked like. It has got this extremely cozy feel to it, with two single beds placed at right angle to each other and a bathroom (didn't take any pictures of it) almost as big as the bedroom itself. The room was equipped with a small clothes rack, an electric kettle, a cup, and a full bowl of instant coffee with sugar. Even though there's no provision of TV (communal laundry room and TV lounge located in the wing) or free wifi in the room, we absolutely loved this place! I wouldn't mind spending a few more days here just to chill out, either. 

And after resting for a while, we 'coated up' and headed out for the show we've gotten tickets to. Blood on the Southern Cross: A Sound-and Light Spectacular. 

‘Blood on the Southern Cross’ is an explosive multi-million dollar sound-and-light show like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

The story of the Eureka Rebellion, a dramatic battle between gold miners and Government forces at Ballarat on 3 December, 1854, is retold nightly by ‘Blood on the Southern Cross’, Sovereign Hill’s acclaimed sound-and-light spectacular.

Set under the night skies at Sovereign Hill, ‘Blood on the Southern Cross’ involves no actors – just voices, dazzling sound-and-light effects and a stunning open-air set. Visitors travel across the site on a comfortable transporter and view much of the action from the re-created Free Trade Hotel on the Eureka Diggings.

Experience the miners’ disgust at unfair gold taxes and witness the dramatic burning of the Eureka Hotel. Then, listen to Governor Hotham’s reasoning for a dawn attack on a band of men who were the first to swear an oath of loyalty on Australian soil to a flag that was not British – the flag of the Southern Cross.

Credits to sovereignhill.com.au

As photography was prohibited, there is absolutely no pictures of the show. I'll say it's really interesting and pretty engaging with all the lights, special effects, movement of props, the story-telling and background noise. It would have been brilliantly spectacular if they are able to make it into a play (introduction of actors), though. Nonetheless, it was truly enjoyable and brought my first night in Australia to a meaningful end.

For more information on Sovereign Hill, click HERE.

Till then,

Mia

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Mia's Birthday: Of Museo, Capella and Fruit Paradise

Yup yup, I've celebrated my birthday some time ago this month. :) I shall not disclose my (old) age, but I have to admit that I've started to dread birthdays. Signs of an old woman, yikes! Nevertheless, all the text messages and initiations to meet up, be it even for a quick brunch (yes, this is for you to see, Sa!), still warms my heart and it makes this birthday thingy a lot more enjoyable. <3

I have to say the best part of my birthday is that J will take great effort to bring me to a new place, which I've never heard of, to try out the food. And all these years, she was never wrong with her recommendations. 

And this year, she brought me to a buffet lunch/high-tea at Museo: Art on the Isle, located at Quayside Isle, Sentosa. They're just next to W Hotel and opposite W Residences, near Sentosa Cove. 

Arteastiq’s signature concept of combining the tea lounge cum social painting studio is given a brand new packaging in MUSEO at Sentosa Quayside. Together with the painting studio, MUSEO will be celebrating the spirit of art and creativity with its dining-in-a-cup concept, as well as its range of more than 30 specialty cocktails.

MUSEO has embraced the bold move of combining a luxury afternoon high tea salon which undergoes a smooth transition into an artistic bar and exquisite dining restaurant as the sun sets. Through this, customers get the best of both worlds – not only would they be able to enjoy the classic range of brunch and signature teas popularized by Arteastiq, but also relish in trying out the newly concocted cocktail range and exquisite dinner items at a refreshingly new location, Sentosa Cove, where they can dress down and relax with their friends and colleagues.

The magnificent sea view, coupled with the chill-out holiday-making atmosphere and friendly staff, all plays important roles in crafting MUSEO as the perfect haven for city dwellers to retreat from the hustle and bustle of urban life.

 -Credits to MUSEO-

And yes, I do agree that it's a pretty pricey choice at $48++ for a high tea buffet, even with FREE FLOW Coffee and Tea for a Coffee/Tea junkie like myself. But, look at the scenery you get to enjoy with your meal!

J has specially requested for a corner window seat so I was literally facing the window and looking out at the dock as I sat at the table.

And on top of that, apart from people (ang moh) watch, I could also dog-watch for the entire day! :)

 I didn't manage to snap much pictures of the restaurant interior, but that's the dessert bar and couch seats by the window that overlook the dock. 

 Upon seated, I was welcomed by this really pretty "plate-holder". It's the pretty feature plate, upon which we place our food plates. 

 J and I didn't waste time on ordering our coffees for the day. I got for myself a Salted Caramel Latte (yes, I'm still on a salted caramel craze) and J got a Chocolate Coffee. Both the coffees were great! However, my latte somehow pales in comparison to J's coffee. I think the caramel was slightly overdone and the sweetness overpowered the coffee taste. Whereas for hers, the chocolate complimented the coffee extremely well to give an awesome chocolate richness with strong coffee fragrance. Simply divine for a chocoholic coffee addict like me. 

And then J decided to grab a bit of the Iced Pear Tea in this cute teacup to try out. They're surprisingly good as compared to the lychee tea that she also took, coming from someone like me who really isn't a big fan of pears and would have preferred lychee anytime. I thought the lychee tea was too bland and tasted rather diluted. The pear tea, on the other hand, was definitely sweeter with a pear fragrance.

I shall not do any detailed review of the food, since this is a buffet (and they're pretty 'buffet-standards', if you get what I'm implying). However, I shall pinpoint on their vongole and cream of asparagus as the best and worst dish. I shall not touch on their roasted potatoes because I'm horribly biased towards potatoes (evident from the ratio of potatoes to the rest on my plate).

The vongole was divine! It's a pity there wasn't any pasta in it, if not it'll make a brilliant pasta zuppa. The clams were relatively big and fleshy (don't compare them to overseas clams, keep it Singapore standards please) and cooked to perfection, neither the sliminess of being undercooked nor rubbery of being overcooked, but extremely chewy in a generous amount of savoury stew soup with the fresh sweetness of the clams. 

It's like, ZOMG YOU GOTTA PILE YOUR PLATE WITH THIS! (pardon my bimbotic ah-lian moment)

But of course, the frustration sets in when you keep hauling up empty clam shells from the serving bowl and the vongole-hungry stranger up in queue behind you was literally breathing down your neck. Okay, I exaggerated. But I did get cheated quite a bit by all the empty shells. The trick, I realised, was to 'dig deep'. Most of the clams would have separated from their shells and went down to the bottom of the serving bowl. So if you're a vongole lover, get working with the ladle and dig deeper! 

Next up, the cream of asparagus, which earned the top position on the worst list. I guess both J's and my expectation of it was high due to some raves about it online, as according to J. But the soup was just bland. Way too bland to be good, and it even brought out the raw-green taste of the asparagus inside. Quite a cringe-worthy taste. I vaguely remembered having my first taste of Cream of Asparagus at V8 Cafe located at Bugis Junction almost 10 years ago. V8 has done it better in my humble opinion. Sorry there, Museo.

 And after gorging ourselves with all the food, we ordered some tea to chill and laze the rest of our afternoon away. I got for myself Chamomile Mint Tea and J opted for the French Rose Tea. 

This is the first time I've tried a Chamomile tea with mint added and it's actually a pretty good combination. Next would have expected the addition of a couple mint leaves will make the entire cup of tea so much more refreshing and rejuvenating. :)

 And finally, at 5pm we bid Museo goodbye and decided to make our way to a place that holds some special memories for J. It was also the place she initially wanted to bring me to for high-tea but got to change her plans because dim sum was served that day instead. 

Yes, we went for a casual stroll at Capella! It's really a piece of heaven on its own down here. The entire hotel premise was so calm and tranquil, and look who came to welcome us as we walked towards the restaurant/pool.

A pair of peacocks! Yes, they are a pair of free-roam peacocks. 

 

They were roaming around at the cafe area before coming up the stairs to 'welcome' us. :)

 And beyond the restaurant outdoor seating area, was the pool. It's a pretty small pool, but the view was awesome. My samsung note 2 camera didn't do the scenery justice, I got to admit.

After which, we did a bit of exploring and left the hotel premise via the stretch of Garden Villa. And made our way back to Vivo City. 

And then we finally got to end my amazing day with a slice of chocolate berries tart from Fruit Paradise and a birthday song from J. :)

And I wanted to rush this blog post out by today (I would have taken longer if I could) because I'm flying to Melbourne (alone, on the flight) tomorrow!

So excited! :)

Till I'm back from Melbourne,

Mia

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Mia's Tracker: Nu Skin's AgeLoc TR90

Yes, I've decided to do a series of periodic tracking post on my progress (hopefully) on AgeLoc TR 90. For those who have no idea what's TR 90 about, you can read them up HERE. Basically, it's a newer, better version of their previous weight management programme called TRA. 

Frankly speaking, the pricey-ness of this programme aside, I was also horribly put off by the amount of pills I have to pop on a daily basis. There are 16 of them! T.T 

But I totally jaw-dropped when my cousin (who sold the set to me after buying 3 at one go) told me she's still popping 29 pills daily with her TRA. 29 versus 16? I've no problems with my mathematics. 

So here's the load she hauled over to my workplace earlier this week. 

First up, is 15 days work of TR 90 Jumpstart, which is literally to jumpstart the entire programme. I dissolve it in 2 ounces of water and drink it in the morning on an empty stomach, along with the 4 pills I'm supposed to take 20 minutes before my breakfast. Taste wise, it's pretty funky albeit faint and diluted. I'll strongly recommend dissolving it in just the bare minimum amount of plain water (which is 2 ounces) and drinking it one shot. Don't think of adding it into your morning milk, milo or coffee. Don't ever think of trying that.

Then, there's TR 90 Complex and TR 90 Control. Both to be taken as 2 capsules twice daily, 15 to 20 minutes before meals. 

And then there's LifePak, which is just some multi-vitamins to ensure that we still get all the vitamins we need even on a controlled diet, with 4 pills to be taken twice daily.

 Trimshake in Chocolate Flavour, 1 packet to be taken in place of carbohydrates and protein for dinner daily. The diet of TR 90 is very simple. It's basically to cut down (but not remove completely) on carbohydrates and protein (meat etc), and eat more of vegetable and fruits. On top of it, to replace the carbs and protein with the replacement shake for every dinner. Yup, that's it. To be honest, I'm already on a no carbs dinner for quite a while (but of course my lunch are always super high carbs to make up for the 'lost') so the dinner diet is really no biggie for me. Just that after having the shake, I'm actually too full for my veggies and fruits. 

However, breakfast and lunch wise is a chore to follow. So up till now (it's been 5 days?) I've yet to follow the 'correct' TR 90 diet plan for my breakfast and lunch. :p 

Oh well, I shall work harder on that. But it's really hard given my working condition.... I'm keeping my finger cross that I'll still get results. 

 And lastly, one of the more useful gifts that came along with the set (the other two are measuring tape and a diet plate) is this blender bottle with this patented blender ball. To prepare my trimshake, I'll just pour my cold milk up to the recommended 300ml mark, pour in my sachet, throw in the blender ball, twist up and shake away. It'll get the mixture mixed up pretty well. A good tool for me to prepare my shake while outside. 

Alright, so for my progress update. I have to say there's basically nothing yet, apart from the fact that I'm taking in a surplus of vitamin B from the multi-vitamin and it's giving me highlighter yellow pee. But that's nothing to be worried about. It'll be fine as long as I drink more water (which I'm not).

And as for whether this tracker shall be a weekly update or bi-weekly update, I'm still deciding on it. Bi-weekly, perhaps? :)

Note: Updates on my final thoughts on this product HERE. Very important for you to read this if you're currently considering to purchase this product!
If you wish to just go ahead with the purchase without finding out more, I suggest you get it directly online via amazon.com instead of contacting a distributor and risk getting prospected as their downlines.
Good Luck.

Moreover, I've also successfully dropped 3.4kg following a Weed-Seed-Feed detox diet that doesn't come with any hefty price tag. Read my post on that HERE.

Till then,

Mia

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