One of the things i've always always loved about australia
is its expansive-ness
Sometimes.. i just forget how amazingly BIG BIG it is..
until i take a road trip.

Had a huge day out!
Since its the hols.
and gd 'ol edwin wants to tour the vic b4 he goes home for good..
so.. while everyone else is in the middle of slaving away for exams..
we went OUT!

Oh. and i LOVE spontaneous trips too.. and this particular one was concocted the night just before.. which was extremely last min. heh.

Went, or rather drove down to mornington peninsula.. (i was navigator!! pretty good too!!!haha!)
where we went wine tasting.. at Red Hill Estate.. INCREDIBLE views.. the resturant overlooks the vineyard and port philip bay was like.. 200m in the distance.. it was perfect weather.. all blue skies and sea.. and acres of lush green grass and bare grape vines...

Had lunch there.. which was abit pricey.. but worth it for the atmosphere and yummy yummy food...
homebaked bread with extra vigin olive oil..
and a pork tenderloin roast on mash..
calmari on black bean salad..
it was such a "taitai" place.. all the pple eating there were middle aged (and prob loaded with cash.heh.)
but it was fun...
and while edwin bought his wines.. i happily downed all the free samples.. *grin*

went shopping at a couple of the local produce shops in the region
driving around all these country roads..
with huge trees on either side... or magnificent views of vineyards..
bought a couple of homemade preserves.. fig jam.. fruit chutney...

and then i INSISTED on visiting a chocolate shop!
which took ages to find (due to its tiny sign!)
it intrigued me cos the description said " using the finest belgian chocolate"
and i was snorting going " Belgian choc in the middle of the countryside? how good can the chocs be?"
Ok. i had to eat my words.

Its called mornington peninsula chocolates, if anyone is interested..
quaint little cottage shop..
which was very modern on the inside..
extremely friendly chocolatier/owner of the place..
and they were actually closed and not open for business..
and he kindly opened the place for us..
which made me extremely pai seh not to leave with anything..

INCREDIBLE CHOCOLATES!!!
as good as koko black or better.
in terms of quality.. top notch.
he offered us a couple of samples..
which was omg amazing.
i'm NOT a fan of caramel/marzipan centred chocolates cos they are overly sweet and taste pretty disgusting..
but these ones were so good i didn't mind actually buying them!

and it was edwin's turn to be a freeloader and eat all the samples because (as a guy) he doesn't see/understand the rationale or logic in paying for good chocs ("one pop and its gone!")
so anyway now.. i got a boxful of top notch, extremely pretty choc which i dunno whether to give away (heart pain).. or eat them myself.. was actually intending to bring them back to sg for my parents.. but realised the min jan touches down in changi airport.. they are gonna start melting.. and its a BIG waste of perfectly perfect chocolate.. when it turns into a puddle of melted stuff.

then.. we were supposed to go horse riding...
which was a pretty funny experience...
reminescent of someoneiknow-who-shall-not-be-named , we stepped out of the car... to the horse stables.. which obviously smelt pretty bad cos of horse poo...
my dear edwin refused to go horse riding because it was too smelly and he couldn't take the lovely stench permeating the air (quote: " eh.. can we go to the lavender farm for tea instead?")

Caaaaan...
i'm not the driver!
SO.. we drove to the lavender farm.. which we realised was closed cos its the middle of winter(!!)

and thus decided to go DFO shopping instead and say goodbye to the countryside.
So after a quick whiz through DFO (shopping in 45 mins cos it was closing...)
we went for dinner at sofias in camberwell

The food was GOOD.. portions humongous as usual.. one large pasta was big enough to feed 5 pple.. (for $10!)

and i attempted to matchmake edwin with one of my coursemates (who was a sofia for dinenr with her housemate too).
SUch a funny encounter!!
She was so awkward cos i told her abt him before hand
and he was more interested in the food than the girl because he was too hungry.
AIYOH.
BUt i think.. it was not bad!!!
heh heh
And we finished off dinner with a HUGE gelati shared between 3 pple.. which managed to get finished due to the incessant talking.. eating.. laughing.. gossiping and then... "oh! we finished it!"

Caught a movie at night with edwin and brenda at crowns..
Super cheap tuesdays!
so good!
The upside of Anger
was an ok show.. tho i nearly fell asleep cos i was so tired..
and edwin wanted to go for coffee after at nearly 1 am
when i give him the "u must be joking" stare
so poor guy/ chauffeur drove me home instead. ha.

mm.. the endless possibilites you carry out in less than 24 hrs when living in melbs.
its times like this that i wonder what the fun/ excitment is of living /working in singapore.. and going out in sweltering hot weather.

i love my hols..