Sovereign Hill Balarat / New York Bakery

I have always wanted to visit this cowboy town. Didn't manage to enter Sovereign hill the last time because they sun is going to set soon and it wouldn't worth every penny for the almost AUD50 entrance fee.

I was disappointed that I had to rush while exploring sovereign hill while on day tour but nevertheless I had a lot of fun in this cowboy town.

New York Bakery

(in Sovereign Hill, Ballarat)

Although it is the only place that serves food in Soverign Hill but they serve really good food especially the two dishes below. Very very yummy.

Moist, fluffy pancakes goes well with sweet butterscotch syrup.

Not overly sweet that spoils your appetite but makes you wana have more to satisfy your pancake cravings!

Don't expect the food there to be cheap though...

banana pancakes with ice cream and butterscotch syrup <3

beef pie

time to bowl mates

for a fee you get to decorate your own candles with the dyes.

say cheese while making umbrella lollies!

Take part in the gold mine tour 18 meters underground to check out how it is like for miners to mine underground as well as watch a short clip on the story of two chinese immigrants on the fate in mine. Spooky and fun experience down and underground :)

Real gold in the mine. Dig it out and you will be rich!

Sunny Ridge - Mornington

Sunny Ridge

244 Shands Rd, Main Ridge, Melbourne ,VIC 3928, Australia. Every time I visit Mornington I will pay Sunny Ridge a visit. Do note that there is a specific season for strawberry plucking so check it out to prevent disappointment. I wouldn't recommend strawberry plucking after a heavy rain unless you prepare waterproof rain boots. Although you can buy plastic wraps to protect your shoes for 20 cents, they'll get stuck in the soft mud based on my past experience and my entire shoes got badly soaked. You wouldn't want to experience that trust me. On the second time I went with my waterproof leather boots so it saved me all those trouble from scrubbing my favourite pair of grey Lacoste canvas shoes which turned beige the last time I visited :(

Award winning ice cream from the top (clockwise) passion fruit, mixed berries and lastly strawberry - AUD 4.50 per cup.

I would recommend ordering Strawberry temptation which you get to try their award winning strawberry ice cream and sorbet plus fresh strawberries with whipped cream and raspberry syrup for AUD 14. Everything in a dessert teehee. Remember to share it though !

Vanilla bean panna cotta! AUD10

absolutely loved it!

Smooth pudding texture, very milky just the way I like it to be. Really good with the sweet/sour strawberries!

Strawberry temptation is good too when I went with my partner during his visit, sorry for the lack of photos but you may want to check out their cafe's menu.

Strawberry U-pick

AUD 12 / adult 

AUD8 / child

available only between november to april. 

Jams! I love jams with my toast. I bought 4 bottles and my family loves it. Tiny ones for AUD2.50 and large one for AUD6. Well blended, heard it is pretty smooth and yummy!

 On top of the plastic shoe wraps we wrapped plastic bags for double protection. The plastic bag tore anyways :'(

Melbourne - Grampians/ Halls Gap Valley Lodges/ Sovereign Hill Balarat

Mid-Semester Break to Grampians <3

Finally our long awaited mid semester break is here - first week of spring, perfect weather for hiking . Grampians off we go!

Stopover at Mackies before we continue another hour and half drive to Halls Gap.

Halls Gap Valley Lodges

Finally arrived safely at Halls Gap Valley to pack our sandwiches before the hike :)

Our bungalow for the night and cute little rented car whitey.

Paid about AUD167 per night for four of us and pleasantly surprised at what we get although we did some last minute booking the night before. Highly recommend the place!

  Huge living room with DVD player.

Fully equipped kitchen with all required pots and utensils. 

Our hike begin from Sundial car park about half an hour drive from our lodge.

Pinnacle difficulty level : Medium/Difficult , not for the weak!

Hiking stick is recommended.

Caution (based on personal experience) : 

1. Do not climb when it is raining. The rocks are extremely slippery. An accidental slip and you might fall off the cliff. Certain areas from the Sundial car park will require you to climb on all fours like spiderman - rock climbing.
2. You won't be able to see anything at the top because it will be very foggy.
3. Look out for arrows drawn on the stones by chalk / painted on the stones. Do not ignore the signs or you may fall off the cliff. There are sudden drops at certain areas of the footpath hidden by the trees and vegetation.
4. Start the hike early since the sunsets at around 5.30pm early September.
5. Visit the information centre for clearer map of grampians.
6. Print hardcopy of the map to Grampians as there will not be any reception closer to Halls Gap.

A quick pose for the camera before we continue climbing on all fours on the Journey to the West fruit flower mountain lookalike behind.

Difficulty level: 999999999 ><

We originally thought we were lost but since we drove all the way, might as well bite the bullet.

 " You only live once ", literally chanting YOLO and motivating ourselves all the way hahahas.

Honestly majority of us are not very fit, haven't been exercising for years, pretty amazed by our sheer determination to complete the 150-200 m incline hike and wishing for a walking stick - teckko.

 Footpath :Level one

Take a break and some snaps of the scenery along the way

 At the pinnacle resting 

Starry Night 

Praise the Lord for the amazing weather and company that we had. The weather forecast a week ago showed that there will be a heavy downpour. Fortunately, the Lord blessed us with amazing weather that we can enjoy the beautiful scenery as we hike - not too sunny nor cold. There's a lot of flies though hahahas. We originally planned for an easy walk - Baroka Lookout and Mckenzies Falls and somehow changed our plans to visit the ever so popular pinnacle. The scenery was breath-taking.

A visit to the cowboy town - Ballarat

 Sovereign Hill

Brunch at The Unicorn Ballarat

127 Sturt St 

Ballarat, VIC 3350

How can you miss this yummilicious peach smoothie! <3

Skinny Latte

The brunch here is really good. We spent on an average of AUD 25 per pax . Worth a try!

Melbourne Gaol / Brunetti

Melbourne Gaol

377 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000

The Melbourne Gaol is really a fun place to visit as a tourist of course. It is no longer in use for quite some time though. I think it cost around AUD 29.90 for full fare but I paid AUD 5 benefit from staying at student lodge hahahas. Money absolutely well spent. I always find jail touring kinda interesting. 

The entire tour was pretty interactive.

1. Play on the story of Ned Kelly - one of Melbourne's famous hero

2. Simulate first hand experience of being a prisoner. They shut about 8-10 in an extremely dark cell. The darkness was somehow pretty creepy and unbearable although there are many others in there as well. I can't see my fingers at all when I stretch my hands out.

3. Individual tour around the cells (certain cells are really dark and have this eerie feeling ><)

 Mug shot

cell which 8-10 person got closed in during simulation. This picture was taken after the simulation. 

 Play on Ned Kelly was conducted on the ground floor here.

After touring the jail my neighbor and I decided to treat ourselves with a nice afternoon tea at Brunetti.

Iced coffee with 2 scoops of ice cream - my favourite and passion fruit tart. The place is forever packed with people regardless of the time I visit somehow. Other than the coffee, I find the pastries and desserts overrated. I prefer those at Antoinette (Mandarin Gallery) and The Line  bakery (Shangri-la hotel) in Singapore better. I wasn't surprised when I was told by my friends that it used to be very good before I came and the standard kinda drop :(

I didn't really like the place because there isn't a proper queue system and you could have waited forever without being served. Not to mention the place is really packed, pretty hard to find a seat if you are coming in a huge group.

I couldn't finish any of the desserts I got which is a sign that they are not up to standard. I am a person who can finish half a kg cake in a sitting, provided if they are good so you can try and see for yourself you you wana visit the place again. Not to mention they are pretty pricey too D;

negative disconfirmation...