so it finally arrived. the epic melbourne vacay :D
after so many many problems and issues, megford and i finally set off on our adventure! :)
had to rush a few assignments so that i could actually make it on the trip.. lol.. we seriously had so many setbacks i was just so over it already.. but finally, we made it on that budget plane. hahahhaa
view from the plane as we flew over gorgeous melbourne at 6.45am melb time.. reminded me abit of singapore, but we gots taller buildings in the suburb area hahaha

so anyway, we arrived nice and early, it was absolutely freeezing! but wonderful :d
waited round at the airport for abit as we weren't expected at the hotel til 9.30! so we hunted down a maccas to get some foood.. and also found a krispy kreme :d hehe
hopped on the skybus into the city centre soon enough, and made our way to the hotel! :D

our hotel was called Hotel Enterprize, and it was in an absolutely PERFECT location. we were initially going to stay at a backpackers, but i decided it might be worth looking for a budget hotel! i read many reviews of the hotel, and while there were about 1 in 30 good reviews, i decided that all the bad reviewers were whingey little shits, and placed my trust in the good reviews. turns out there was nothing to worry about!

the hotel was great. not 5 stars or anything, but the staff was lovely, they even upgraded us from a budget twin single room to one in the business section at no extra cost! and it was only $68 per night, which i must say is EXCELLENT. but come on people, let's not forget it's only a budget hotel.. haha.. but anyway, we had a nap because we were pretty much dead from the flight!
woke up at about 11am melb time and decided we'd go explore the hood hahhaa
we had a krispy kreme round the corner from our hotel! megford was very happy bout that loool

the hotel was pretty much across the road from the Southern Cross train station, and had tram lines running very close by. once again, excellent location :D we did soo much walking and shopping that first day.. found awesome graffiti laneways, something we don't have (but really need) in Perth! they were absolutely amazing.. also found the shopping/food laneways which had vintage shops and little eateries. stopped in at this place called Little Cupcakes on degraves street; delicious tiny cupcakes for only $2 :D

the architecture in melbourne is so insane. it's absolutely gorgeous.. and soo much art nouveau and gothic architecture, was absolutely killing me! soo beautiful :(

like seriously, photos do not capture their beauty and intricacy and awesomeness.

flinders street station :D
just beside federation square, which is where ACMI was.. which was our destination, and purpose of our trip to melbourne...
THE TIM BURTON EXHIBITION :D
this was the very first thing that made us plan the trip to melbourne.. hahha megford heard bout it, that it was travelling to melbourne from MoMa in New york, and we just HAD to go! :d

ahhhh awesomeness :D we picked up our tickets the day we arrived as the exhibition started the next day (really really good idea because the next morning, lines were INSANE)
and we had a squizz round the merchandise store, which was amazing. the ladies told us TB himself was going to be walking the red carpet that evening, so we came back to ACMI to see him!! and we were not disappointed :D only sad thing was, he was autographing stuff.. but we didn't have anything for him to sign :'( arghghghh
we snapped some photos of him signing other people's things.. hahahaha
**
the next morning, we attempted to wake up bright and early to try and make the signing, but it turns out the people of melbourne were much more well-informed! :( poops. the line was like this huge snake on federation square.. so after standing in line for awhile, we decided to just give up and go for breakfast :( haha
we made it back in good time, just before the exhibition opened :d and stood in line.

look the bat mobile! :D how awesome
:d
the exhibition was insanely amazing. INSANE. all his artwork ranging from his early works as a teenager to little Nightmare before Xmas modes to sketches and costumes from Alice in Wonderland and Edward Scissorhands all up on the walls and on mannequins, every thing he's done basically, was there. it was AMAZING
megford and i were just in awe. completely in awe.
and for only $19, best $19 we've EVER spent. lol EVER I TELL YOU EVER.
after the amazing journey through the dark passages, we came back out and there was this slidey door that they kept opening to let the people who were getting their books signed by TB himself were coming out, and you could totally see him!! so attempted to get more photos of him :d fairly successful bahaha
we then went back into the merch shop, and we bought these epically HUGE TB books. apparently, you can't get them anywhere else except directly from the publishers themselves, and for several hundred bucks! we scored i think, as we only paid 90 bucks for this huuge ass book. i knew i was saving my CNY money for something epic. :D

it is seriously amazing.
omg.
i just.
omg.
anyway, i also bought a pack of cards designed by TB, and some postcards that i will frame for my wall :D man i could've blown all my money in that merch shop.. haha :)
**
something else that was also epically amazing in melbs, were the graffitied laneways. we stumbled across about 3 or 4 although i'm sure there were many more!
they are insane. graffiti covers every single bit of the walls! enthralling :D
the colours are just so.. wonderful and the art is so great.

shopping in melbourne, also amazing. we chanced upon Melbourne Central, this epically HUGE shopping centre which pretty much had EVERYTHING in one place. 2 food courts, bowling, bars, movies, shops, EVERYTHING. i kid you not.
and there was a random building in it.. lol!

we decided to catch a movie, and the one that had the best timing was Shrek 4! :D
that was awesome. i'd say better than Shrek 3 :D it was hilarious!
love fat puss in boots he was hilarious :D

we also found this shop called TYPO. epic. amazingness.
had all this stationery in it, beautiful beautiful stationery that any stationery enthusiast/designer would fall in love with so fast.

bought these funny bulldog clips which will come in handy for uni next semester! hahaha
i also got a couple of notebooks for friends, awesome post it like tabs and $5 cardboard speakers, which were completely AWESOME

and my fave buy that we found at this random little asian store!
skellington jack slippers!!!! YAAAY :D

they are a little awkward to walk round in though because they are so very puffy hahahah
anyway, we pretty much just shopped and ate and slept the rest of the trip.. lool!
we were sposed to hit up clubs and bars but at the end of the days we were just so exhausted from the sheer amount of walking we did! whatever crap we ate just got walked off.. bahahaha no not really i think we ate waaay too much crap! :d but it was good crap. :d

our 2nd last day was spent exploring chinatown!
it was very mixed with english shops and bars so it was like.. so.. are we in ctown? baha but there was some bits that were distinctly ctown.. oh oh and we found Haigh's chocolate!!! NOMS :D
we also found this tiny alleyway bahaha had some fun taking photos in it!

after ctown, we stumbled across this AWESOME bar called the Emerald Peacock. the bartender was so cool (cute cute cute)! megford ordered a raspbellini, which was basically raspberry puree with Moet and Chandon champagne it was DELICIOUS. man i don't even like champagne! haha
and since i was like errrrrmmm wtf i dont know what to drink, the bartender was like .. do you trust me? just say yes. hahahhaa and he mixed up this drink that looked really soft and smooth and pink! lol it was called a French Martini, but it didn't go too well with the indian food we'd had before bahaha my stomach was like WTF WHY ARE YOU POURING ZE VODKA ON ZE INDIAN FOOD GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GRUMBLE
yes. my stomach was talking.
but anyway the interior was AWESOME. so opulent and vintage, and very chic and cool :D peacock wallpaper and awesome vintage lighting and furniture.. so beautiful!
and i love peacocks so i was like OMGGGGG DIEE :D
definitely be returning there for drinkies next time we are in melbourne! :D
**
our final day finally came, and we were quite sad as we had to check out by 11am.. but we left our luggage with the hotel as our flight wasn't til like 10.45 pm hahaha.. decided we'd go explore the Queen Victoria markets as we had soo much time to kill.. that place was EPIC. so huge, possibly 3 times the size of Paddy markets in sydney! completely awesome :D had to resist the urge to buy more things as our luggage was already about to explode! :o
we just bought a few trinkets lol. how sad. next time we'll be doing ALL our shopping there.. hahhaa oh the lessons we learned. oh and we're also buying more luggage weight allowance. both of us were 2kg over and had to pay $30 each. hahha
after that we decided to head back to melbourne central to catch a movie, and we watched Get Him to the Greek! :D totally. hilarious. man it was absolutely hilarious i was lol-ing all over the place, just dying of laughter! bahaha, it's super inappropriate but soooo funny! :) definitely recommended to those over 18.. hahhahaha
anyway we decided it was nearly time to head back to the hotel to get our luggage, but not before going to the Transport bar on fed square for our last meal :d
had some delicious steak and chips with garlic prawns.. soo good. but we shared as we weren't all that hungry!
also stopped by KK to bring it back to perth hehehe..
oh and how sad, people can identify whether we're from Perth or Adelaide because we have these bags of KK -_- the skybus driver was like.. soo.. perth or adelaide?

damn you perth for not having KK. hahaha
but anyway, the trip was so amazing. i just can't believe it's come and gone.. all that waiting and anticipation. now i have nothing to anticipate but another semester of uni. bleghh
on the bright side, last semester EVER :d but oh man there's gonna be some hard times ahead.. argh. i think i'm just gonna die under the workload! lol hopefully i can carry my mad organisational skills from this past semester into the next! i can only get better, i hope. bahaha
but anyway back to melbourne
it's just such an amazing place. i'm not completely sure if i'd drop my life in perth to move there as i have no idea what their suburbia is like.. i wouldn't mind living in the city though! god knows how expensive that would be though :o insanity.. but now that i've been there, it's definitely a consideration for me if i found the urge to move.. haha.. i mean Perth is where home is; i didn't miss "Perth" as much as i missed just having a house to come back to everyday..
but melbourne is amazing.. i never wanted to move to sydney, or any of the other capitals, but melbourne is definitely on my list of possible places now :)
i love you melbourne! can't wait to visit once again :)

10:22 am ♥