Just came back on leave and spent some time in Melbourne. As my friend is working there, I thought it could be a good time to hang out and do something different. I told him, 'It's my Birthday so you do the planning!' Boy, it could not have been planned better.
I told him that I wanted to spend time driving around in the outskirts of Melbourne away from the hustle and bustle of the city. I was not interested in sight-seeing like a tourist.
I booked the flight on the morning of 24th and the night before I came back from Taiwan in the evening. Many friends wanted to celebrate my birthday, but it was too tight to squeeze everyone in. Apologies, my friends.
It was kinda like a mad rush for me, as I immediately got changed at the airport and took a cab to Copthorne Hotel. My friends made arrangements to have dinner at this Japanese pancake place called 'Nanja, Manja'
The rain didn't make the traffic smoother and I was fortunate not to get caught in the heavy downpour. Dinner was a DIY event with a large flat metal hot plate in the centre of the table. I call it 'DIY teppanyaki'
I was shocked when the bill came; a whopping $400 dollars! More importantly, my friends split the bill among themselves and did not include me. I felt bad but they insisted.
Left the restaurant and soon after another called me out for a drink. I wanted to finish half the bottle that I had left at a pub the week before. Rush home for a quick shower and went straight to Boat Quay.
Being a Wednesday night, the atmosphere was not as good as a Friday or Saturday night. When my friend came by, I had finished half of what I had left the week before.
Then we hopped to another pub and continued after we finished the bottle. Drank till I couldn't take it anymore. It was 3 am and I had to be at the airport in 4 hours..
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Made it to the airport in time, thanks to 2 morning calls from my equally 'stoned' friend.
Tried to check in my luggage, only to be inform that I needed to apply a visa for travelling to Australia. Oh no!
Fortunately, I managed to settle it in less than 30 minutes at the airport customer service counter. Phew!
Took the 1st flight out to Melbourne, although there were many people, I managed to get a good seat.
Didn't eat the 1st meal, due to the fact that I still feel drunk... haha
It was interesting experience, because this is the first time that I did a role reversal after working for a year in the airlines.
Anyway I reached the Melbourne in the evening and proceeded to take the airport transfer to the city. When I reached the terminal, my friend and his gf was waiting for me there.
It has been nearly 4 to 5 months since I last saw him. He got a new apartment and we catch up a bit while walking back to his place. He told me that I was lucky as his roommate is back in Singapore and I could crash at her room, as he had previously spoke to her about it.
As it was getting late, we had dinner at the restaurant in the casino not too far away.
Although his gf suggested the 2 of us should visit the strip club, since it's my birthday, I politely turn down the offer, as I can see that the 2 of them are pretty tired.
I checked with my friend on the itinerary for the next few days. 'It's gonna be a lot of driving!' he said. Turns out it was not a hour's drive as I thought, instead it was gonna be 3 hours!
We were suppose to go to this place called The Great Ocean Road. Where it is near the coast and we were gonna stay in a rented house. It is basically close to nature. Well, I kept my fingers crossed...
Stay tuned for the next part....
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