Second day in an awesome place

12th April

The start of day 2 was another exciting one as there was a movie shoot going on outside our hotel. They even sealed the surrounding roads for it! (I never saw such big fuss happening back at home!) There were a lot of huge vehicles and equipment and extras were dressed in smart business wear. I didn’t spot the leading man, Nicholas Cage who was supposed to be in this movie. Guess it’ll be an interesting to be in part of a Hollywood production, even if it was to be just an extra!




After we had our delicious breakfast at Alexis Market, we checked out of the hotel and prepared our journey to Mornington Peninsula where we would be picking fresh strawberries at Sunny Ridge! The journey was about one & half hour so luckily, I had my iPod to entertain me (it was so interesting that both our guide and driver were called Tony and they were both cute round humorous men=) When we finally reached there, I was rather eager to use the toilet. It was so sunny yet the wind was so cold that I was shivering( it was my own fault coz I was wearing shorts mah) The field was filled with rows and rows of glistening strawberries which were waiting for us to pluck! After listening to the person-in-charge and getting our plastic container, I eagerly ran to the nearest row and plucked my first strawberry! It was just so amazing that I could just pluck the strawberries and pop them into my mouth right there (coz they were not sprayed with pesticides). I was not bullshitting but the strawberries just tasted sweeter, juicier and nicer when one plucked them and immediately ate them on the spot.


I gotta said that Juliet was rather kiasu coz she could not close her box (she loved strawberries so couldn’t really blame her right?gee…) What followed next was even more exciting coz we were gonna have the award-winning strawberry sundae. It truly deserved the award coz the strawberry tasted really sweet and nice (unlike those sold in supermarkets which tasted rather fake, I must say) and the strawberry serving was really generous. We could shop for a while before leaving the place and I got a strawberry jam and honey for my family while some strawberry magnets for friends. And then reluctantly, I left another exciting place that I discovered in Melbourne.



Next, we headed to Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove to have wine-tasting and a picnic (yummy food again!). John, the owner of the place welcomed us and we were being shown around the place and given a brief introduction. There were some interesting sculptures around the whole place and it seemed that their origins were from many countries around the world like Hong Kong, Canada, Ireland and many more and their purpose there was to be part of sculpture exhibitions. We took photos of some of them before proceeding to our wine-tasting session. Justin showed us several wines, some which were award winning and after tasting all the wines, I gotta said that I liked the last one (2008 Verj) better coz it was non-alcoholic and it tasted really sweet.


And here came the part that I looked forward to….the picnic! We even had John sent us to our picnic spot (there were 4 of them) in a very vintage Morris red car. We passed by the vineyards and several sculptures before reaching there. In the midst of the journey, we even tasted the resins straight from the vineyards. It seemed that birds would eat the resins so nets were needed to cover the vineyards to protect them. When I reached the picnic spot, I was once again so surprised by how sweet the whole setting fit so well into the nature. And yes, the amount and type of food were amazing. Plus we had fabulous wines as complements. We had some fun time eating and chatting right there in nature with cold wind blowing by every now and then. I would remember this scene forever (people held their weddings and performed plays here too…wasn’t is amazing?



We had to leave the place ( I was really, really reluctant)in order to proceed to our next destination and after bidding farewell to John, we hopped on the bus and headed to Gordon Studio Glassblowers which was just about 10minutes drive (luckily it was only a short journey coz it was either Rod or Andre who farted and the bus stank!!!) The products looked really beautiful, and the prices too. Of course, as it seemed that a lot of hard work was needed to just make one. And I was really amazed by how they could stand the heat. It was really interesting to observe the process of shaping the mould. I was truly tempted to buy one, just one little thing that could let me share this very interesting art with my friends back home but the price just held me back (well, there would always be photos too right?)


We checked into our next accommodation, Peppers Moonah Links Resort which was for the really rich and sophisticated ones who played golf (wow, so for one night, we fell into that category though I did not know how to play golf) It seemed that one had to take a coach or transport from their own suite to the reception area. I was staying in suite 69 and the interior was really nice and spacious with a balcony overlooking the golf course. And the bathroom looked fabulous (could hardly wait to use the bathtub!) The whole décor really blend in well with the course (green and brown matched right?) We were given one hour before heading to our dinner location (luckily by then, almost ¾ of my lunch had supposedly digested)



It was called The Rocks and the place totally rocked man! Too bad it was too dark coz it would be wonderful to dine with the beautiful sea view as a complement. Never mind, I loved to sit inside and absorb the lively atmosphere with the rest of the diners! =) They had interesting boards which would have information on the specialties of the day (really cool seafood available…the crab was available in Singapore-style!) I ordered the whole n.z flounder with lemon sauce an garlic butter (it sounded so delicious rite?) The entrees were yummy with mussels, oysters, scallop and many more that already took up more than half of my stomach. So my eyes were pretty goona fell out when I saw how big my fish was (I couldn't finish my fish back home, how could I if this thing was about 5 times bigger?) But I gotta admit that it tasted fabulous with sauce. And how could I, Ms Sweet Tooth missed out on dessert. It was caramelised mango cheek, mango mint soup, passion fruit mousse. Yummy, yummy!

I could hardly believe that today was only the 2nd day and I'm was really in love with this place (gotta learn how to love the weather, coz I'm someone who rather sweat than freeze to death yah!). The resort I was staying in was so fabulous that I really dun want to leave the next day. But I thought that it was cool to experience the different accomodations in Melbourne and they rocked man! Well, gotta enjoyed the few hours of the rich and sophisticated lifestyle before checking out tomorrow. =)