Grampians

Assalamualaikum and hi there.

Last February, my housemates and I went to Grampians. It is one of the National Parks in Victoria, Australia. As there are a lot of National Parks in this country and each of them is different from one and another, I could say that Grampians consists of rocky, boulder mountains. Yeah.

We went there by train first, then changed to coach from Ballarat Station to Stawell Station. From Stawell, again we changed to another coach to Halls Gap. And fret not, although we changed our transportation two times, we reached at our destination on time. They really followed their scheduled time as printed on the ticket.

Oh, we bought the V-Line ticket where it's applicable for the train, bus, van and also you can hop on and off the tram and PTV train for free the whole day printed on your ticket due to the Zone 1 + 2.

Since we bought the ticket online, they were sent to our mail box and we felt like getting the train ticket to Hogwarts. Haha. 

Along the journey, the view was completely different from the city - that's for sure. But just imagine you're boarding a train or a bus and travelling with spacious land on your left and right, and there were a lot of haystacks which I never ever saw one before in my hometown ! That's why people travel, to experience new things - which is completely different from their daily life and out of their comfort zones.

 A hotel nearby Ballarat Station

 

 

Know what? Actually we bought the ticket but with WRONG return date. It should be on Sunday but as you can see from the picture - it's Wednesday instead. To make it more interesting, we ONLY realized it few hours before we departed. Of course it was chaotic that morning just to find out what should we do with the wrong ticket. Can we claim our money? Where to buy the new tickets?

Despite all those questions flying around in our head, we still head to our destination. And sprinting in the morning was ain't fun. We arrived at the Southern Cross Train Station and since we had never been there before, we asked a worker there where was the train that we should get on.

"It's just over there. You've got 3 minutes left before it departs. Hurry. Run ! Run!"

KAU INGAT TAK SEMPUT LARI PECUT DENGAN BEG SEMUA TU?

 But it was worth it to pant heavily in the train then you continue your sweet dream like a princess.

Arriving at Stawell, we were worried about our tickets. Then we asked the coach driver, Roy what should we do about that. And he was generous enough to help us, drove the van to a nearby shop - as that was the only V-line dealer in that small town. He helped us to ask about the tickets and he let us to shop some food because according to him, food in Halls Gap were expensive. Then we continued our journey to Halls Gap.

 The coach to Halls Gap

Arriving there, again, he's being kind enough to be our tour guide, " I still have around 15 minutes so I can show you around and then drop you guys at the place you're staying". After a little tour, he dropped us in front of the YHA Eco Grampians Hostel. We placed our bags in the lounge because the receptionist only opens at 5 pm. It was like a cabin in a forest, cosy, small, I like it.

In order not to waste time waiting for the receptionist, we decided to walk to the information centre which was far far away because the current one was under renovation so we had to walk another 3km. It was scorching hot summer day and we arrived there just in time - before it closes at 5.

The officer there gave us a map and told us that the route to Mackenzie Fall was closed due to bush fire and only re-open in spring - after it is naturally recovered. And she suggested us to visit the lake north to the Halls Gap.

On the way back to hostel, of course we wouldn't want to walk under the sun again so we used the trail instead as suggested by Roy. Guess what - encountering wild kangaroos and emus was so much fun.

It was an easy one. Just walk leisurely, you don't have to climb anything. And we could see burnt trees - yes, it was a bushfire there about a week or two before we came.

Delleys Bridge trail. One of the easiest trails.

As the end of the trail near to the hostel, we went straight to check in and rest.

The next morning we decided to rent bicycle because it's easier to move around cycling rather than walking - and save time as well.

Early in the morning we walked to the Halls Gap town just to rent bicycle and guess what? The shop was closed. CLOSED. Just imagine what can you do by walking? So we asked locals if there any other bike rental shop. Yes, it's about 3km away. In desperation, you'll do anything. Yeah, we walked for another 3 kilometers to the opposite side of the path we took just before that !

 Halls Gap town and kookaburra

Alhamdulillah, it was opened ! Every drop or our sweat was worth it. And the rental rate was cheaper rather than the one in the town. It was $30 per day -- and the uncle at the shop was kind enough by saying, "I'll wait till 5 tomorrow". We rent the bike for 31 hours for only $30.

And that uncle also told us to cycle to the north -- "the lake is huge and beautiful ! You must see it." he said.

Uncle at the bicycle shop - picture was taken on the last day there

After that, we would like to go to Halls Gap Zoo but we didn't know where should we head. There's no signboard about it -- at all. So the uncle showed us the junction that we should take which was next to his shop.

It was nice and beautiful weather - cycling under shady trees and orchards along the road, it was breathtaking. Moreover, less cars passed by. After few kilometers cycling and yeah, we're at the Halls Gap Zoo. Hills and mountains forms barrier around it, it was just spectacular. No words I could utter.

On the way to the zoo. Weehuuuu.

Arriving at the zoo :)

The entrance fee for the zoo is $24 for adult and it was huge. It even had giraffe and other savannah animals plus desert animals. But, when we passed through the gate, a herd of deers started to surround us, sparkles in their eyes -- well their eyes are big and sparkling actually -- aiming for pellets that we were holding. Gosh. Tame deers are undeniably greedy. Not only they  seized the food packet from us, they even chased after us that we had to run away. No other option. HAHA.

 I was bullied :'<

Since it's summer, we had long day compared to night time. So went back to the hostel to rest for a while and continued cycling uphill at 3.30 p.m. It really needed a lot of energy and effort to cycle up very steep hill, or mountain should I say and we managed to get to our destination after one solid hour battling with gravity. HAHA.

Lake Bellfield - it's a dam and with such breathtaking view, no wonder people there recommended it to us. I think there's no word perfectly fit to describe the view - subhanallah. Just have a look at these pictures.

Lake Bellfield

 See the water mark?

 

And I'm completely submerged

Oh ya, since it was summer, the water level had decreased very significantly than the water level during winter.

After a while spending our time there, we decided to get back to hostel since it's getting dark. Just make a guess how long did we take to cycle down the mountain?

Just guess.

*

*

*

20 MINUTES !!

We decided to stop at the town to have an ice cream and suddenly we saw a signboard. Okay it was a map actually. Halls Gap map. We read through it and marked the attraction point that we're going to go tomorrow as what we had planned. However, we realized that there were more attractions that we couldn't visit since we only have one day left to tour the place. So, we decided to have a visit after having our ice creams.

We cycled to Botanical Garden since it was quite near and we were attracted to visit Venus Bath since the name was quite interesting. A good way to encourage tourists to have a look at the place, no?

The only way to get to Venus Bath was through Botanical Garden and no vehicles were allowed. The first gate lead to the garden and in the garden there was a second gate which lead to the Venus Bath and other trails. So our short journey started.

Venus Bath is a stream and of course full of potholes but those were only visible if and only if there's no water in the river. Say what, the river WAS dried up. For real. I know it's unusual in Malaysia but not here. While I was in high school, I learned about potholes theoretically in Geography class and wa-lah they're in front of my eyes now.

 Almost dry Venus Bath

Potholes !

And since it's getting dark we decided to get back to hostel. On the way back we saw a lot of kangaroos in a recreation park. A lot of kangaroos. It's like the field was theirs. For your information, kangaroos dislike hot temperature that's why they appeared when it was almost dark.

Wild kangaroos appearing !

The next day we woke up really early and checked out at 8.30 a.m. Right after that we left our bags in the lounge and cycled towards the town and park our bikes near the pool again. So we walked to the Botanical Garden and went through the second gate, heading to the Wonderland trail.

As the name suggested, the trail was indeed full of wonders and challenging at some parts. But as you managed to complete stage by stage, you will be awed with the view. Climbing rocky stones not to forget the steepness - crazy yet satisfying. Summer time, we could see dried stream and waterfall. Just imagine that.

 Early trail to Venus Bath and Wonderland Trail

Dried river

We would love to go to the highest lookout there but unfortunately we had so little time and had to head back to return the bikes. Our journey ended at Wonderland car park - yeah if you do have car and just want to go to the lookout, just drive and park there instead of having 2 hours journey of mountain climbing and jungle walking.

That bridge was actually across a river but the river was dried up

That's a deep pothole !

  

 

Almost at the top

This was the hilarious part. We didn't want to walk back to the town using the trail as we'll take about 2 hours to get there. So we decided to walk by the roadside until we reached the town. We hoped that any car passed by would be very generous to ask us where we were heading and would gladly to drive us to the town. IN YOUR DREAM ! Haha. No, nobody stopped and asked us, at all.

Luckily it was walking down the mountain so it ain't hard and didn't consuming that much energy. After got back to the town, we returned the bicycles and walk back to the hostel, resting in the lounge while waiting for the couch to get home.









The end.

love,

nadi

Australia Day in Sydney

Assalamualaikum, hi, hello. Man, it such a long time since I last hit my keyboard to write something in here. Poor blog. Been abandoned by me. I'm very sorry as my life is quite busy - sometimes it doesn't but I pretend it to be one, but truly, I am not having that much free time to waste.

Alright. I visited Sydney last January. At first I deliberately would like to update a little bit late about my trip there because I don't want to ruin the eagerness and all the surprises Sydney will give to my friends who are going there. However, since I keep on procrastinating, four months have passed. *hard slap on the face*

Actually, it was a sudden idea when my housemate and I realized that we're going to have 3 days of weekend due to Australia day. And we were doing our summer term at that moment. A weekend getaway might help us to relax a bit since it was a really packed term. Everything were done online - from tickets to accommodation.

So, on Friday after attending the lecture and tutorial, we rushed to the airport. Even our Zuhur prayer was at the airport. So we waited and waited until the departure gate's open and had to walk to the plane. Just like in LCCT. Oh ya, we're boarding the Tiger Airlines. Right at the moment stepping into the plane, I was mesmerized by the stewardesses. Don't get me wrong ! Haha. It just their uniform that caught my attention. White shirt and slacks. That's all. Nice and simple.

Touched down at Sydney Domestic Airport after two hours doing nothing in the plane - sleeping literally. Since we know nobody in Sydney, our journey was solely depending on public transports. From the airport, we took a train to the city. This where the joy started. Sydney has double decker trains ! Oh wow, we were so so so amazed, our jaws dropped to the floor. Of course we wanted to try something new and ta-da, we went upstairs. To our surprise, the back of the seats can be interchanged ! So cool, neh?

Hopped off at the central train station and walked to the hostel which was hundred metres away.

It was our first time went to a backpackers hostel and this YHA Central Station Hostel was really awesome. They had large kitchen, comfortable washroom, lounge which have pool table, massage chair, Daytona arcade, a lot of bookshelves, and also a cinema room.We chose a room for 4 people so our other roommates were an Australian lady from Canberra and a Japanese lady.

The lounge

That night, our roommates already went out. So, we decided to take a look downstairs - the kitchen and lounge. I was wearing my 'baju kelawar' since we didn't have any plan that night. Should be going to visit University of Sydney that evening but we were asleep because we're so tired rushing off from class to the airport and all. Suddenly, Puteri said she's bored and would like to go outside for a walk. We kept on walking, experiencing the night life in the city and without realizing we had been walking for half an hour and ta-daaa we reached UniSyd. Haha. We made a little tour by ourselves and it was kinda creepy when there were only two girls doing the investigation in an empty university. Not a single soul to be found. Well, it was summer holiday. After a while, we head back to the hostel but we somehow walked pass the hostel for 14 minutes before realizing that we had the wrong way. It was tiring. Seriously.

See?

The next day, we walked to Madame Tussauds museum since it's the place we need to retrieve our Merlin Pass. Although it wasn't as big as the one in London, it still have quite a lot of human wax statues there.

First, let me take a selfie - with Gandhi

Puteri was interviewed by Oprah. Whoa !

After that, we went to Sydney Wildlife and Sydney Sealife. Both of them were next to the Madame Tussauds museum. It was the first time ever I saw a dugong. What a beautiful creature. And huge. And she had this very gentle looking. I love her ! On the way back to our place, we made a stop at Paddy's Market. Well, it's like Queen Victoria market in Melbourne in a way but I think it had more clothes and accessories compared to Victoria Market.

 Tasmanian Devil !

 Spot a platypus

 Dugong-gong-gong-gong

 Look at her. Isn't she beautiful? *Steve Irwin tone*

Around 6, we took a bus to Bondi Beach. Well, the original plan was that we would like to watch the sunset. But bus fare in Sydney was quite expensive and they used the prepaid ticket. You need to buy the ticket first from 7-Eleven then you can hop on into the bus. It took us about 20 minutes to get there by bus. Upon arriving there, we were flabbergasted. Subhanallah. The water was turquoise. The first time ever I saw something like that. However, the wind was strong, so did the incoming waves. I wouldn't dare to swim there. But there was a surfer who caught my attention. He was good. Really good.

 Bondi Beach

See those seagulls?

We took a bus to the hostel but we hopped off near Hyde Park. We're heading to Sydney Eye Tower because the fee was included in the Merlin Pass. It's the tallest building in Sydney - a viewing tower just like KL Tower. We were also given a chance to experience a short 4D movie before heading to the lift to go to the deck. 4D was cool.

4D spectacles

On Sunday, we checked out from the hostel. After that, we went to Circular Quay and there were a lot of people. Yeah, it's Australia Day ! At that moment, the wheel chair race was about to start and guess what, the participants were all golden citizen.

We bought tickets to go to Manly Beach and I was over the moon because it was my first ferry ride. Arriving at the beach after half an hour journey, we went straight to Manly Sealife Sanctuary. Well, again it was included in the Merlin Pass. We have to maximize what we had pay, right? Interestingly, they have shark diving there but you have to fill in some forms first and book your turn. No time for that. Yeah, there were a lot of shark in this sealife rather than the one in the city. They also have 3 turtles and one of them was handicapped. He lost his left leg.

 Sea horse

 Lion fish. Nice to look but poisonous.

 Doryyyyyy !!

The special turtle. Beautiful isn't it?

We would love to head back and watch the shop for Australia Day. However, the officer said that the next ferry would only arrive in 45 minutes because they were stuck at Circulay Quay. Too many boat and ferries and ships that day. So yeah, we even had our lunch first and came back to the jetty just in time when the ferry arrived. There were no vacant seats so we decided to stand outside. Pergh. That time I understood why some people get seasick. When we almost arrived at Circular Quay, there were a lot of ships - one of them is a Viking Ship for the show. And people in another private boats or ferries kept on waving their hands towards us, so we did the same. It was a very nice experience. It's like everybody was having fun and really enjoy the day. Guess what? It was the peak of Australia Day celebration actually. We were lucky enough to witness that.

And... there's the Opera House !! Just like in the photo I always see. It's nice to see it from the ferry.

 

After that, we took a bus to Australia Museum. Since it was Australia Day, the entrance fee for that particular day was halved than usual. It was huge. Bigger than Melbourne Museum that I ran out of time to tour all galleries there. One thing I like about museums in Australia is that they are informative and education-based. Not only kids would love to visit them but the adults as well. I hope that one day museums in Malaysia will be as good as them or even better.

 Skeletons of different types of fish

 Tasmanian Tiger - declared extinct on 1936. The last one died in captivity.

Guess who did I imitate?

When we stepped out from the museum, we saw this. Lucky enough?

Antique cars parade. The cars were all good.

We went to the train station as my phone almost ran out of battery. I needed to charge it badly - for two reasons, to take picture and GPS. Unfortunately, all plugs were preoccupied with other people charging their phones as well. No options left. I walked to the information counter and asked whether he could help me to charge my phone.

"Do you have the charger with you? I can help to charge the phone. But you must come back before 6.15 as I finish my job at that time."

I was speechless. I can only thank him. He was working and he didn't even know me but he offered to help me.


Around 6, I got my phone back. It wasn't fully charged but it was enough at least to use the GPS. Darling Harbour was our next destination. I knew it's going to be full of people but that's among the famous attraction there - I must get there ! We took a tram there and on Australia Day you only need to pay $10 to use the tram to get anywhere for the whole day. If and only if we knew earlier...

There were a lot of people there so my friend and I decided to talk a walk and visit the Chinese Friendship Garden but it was closed to public that day. It's alright. We head back to Darling Harbour to find a spot to watch the fireworks show. In my whole life, that was the first time ever I saw a fireworks show in front my face. Not from distant. But I hate crowded place so yeah, that might be the first and last time to watch a fireworks display really near. The sound - almost made my heart stops beating.

No pictures during the fireworks. I was busy recording it.

After the show, everybody was walking back to the train stations or hotels or whenever they were heading to. Yeap, walking. I felt that I was kinda in a zombie town. Everybody's walking. No cars, no bicycles, nothing.

We walked to Museum Station and took a train to Domestic Airport. This where rare case happened. Our flights was around 6 the next morning so we thought that we might just sleep there. However, the officer came and asked us to leave because they're closing the airport. They will only be operated again at 4.30 the next morning. I never heard about an airport having operation hour. There were 3 other ladies with us and they complained to us about the airport being ridiculous.

Where did we sleep that night? Took a train to the international airport. There was a space provided for early travellers like us. Even the international airport was closed. The next day we catched the 5.00 am train as that was the earliest one to the domestic airport.

And I never felt sooooooooooo good to be back in Melbourne again. HAHA.

love,

nadi