Ahhh! I spent the entire day yesterday batch editing all the animal photos I shot at the zoo.

It made me realize how similar animals are to human beings.. in many ways!

For those of you following, this post is a sequel to this sneak-peak blogged here

Konzy and I wanted to check out most, if not all, of the animals residing in Melbourne Zoo. Guided by the map, we started from the left and went anti-clockwise, ensuring every area is covered.

Holy crap! Gave me a shock. Easy, kitty, easy.

The Snow Leopard was the first animal we saw high atop the makeshift cave of its den.

T'was a beautiful animal, with an equally beautiful coat.

But the poor thing looked rather bored

Heck, I will be bored too if I were to be sitting in a man-made den all day and all night.

Somebody, find me a live animal to hunt! 

My point exactly.

Goodnight kitty, we won't disturb you anymore.

On to other animals!

Stopped by this huge den

What animal could possibly inside?

Most certainly not a small animal, considering the sizable space allocated for this enclosure

Oh, hello there, you cuddly fellow! 😀

It's nice watching how this bear malevolently lumbers around; without a care in the world.

I wanted to take a photo with it!

Obviously, this was the closest I could get lest it rips my head off

Turned around to peek at the Snow Leopard again to see…

LOL okay. Go ahead. Don't mind me.

Walked past a smaller enclosure, with lots of dried leaves and gravel inside.

Ohai! Would you puff out your tail feathers for me?

Hmmm.. maybe not.

Artsy photo of Konzy taking a photo of the peacock

We waited for ages ans ages for it to puff up its tail feathers… to no avail!

Hmph, maybe if I was a female – a peahen – it probably will try to impress me LOL

Us and the stubborn peacock!

There was some other creature that was sharing the den with Mr. Proud Peacock here

Konzy didn't know what it was (neither did I) so he started exclaiming, "Quick! Take a picture of that crawling thing!! It's crawling away!" 

And I did. In the midst of crawling away from over-enthusiastic people like us

We soon found out that it was something lika groundhog

The next enclosure was made to look like a massive cave that we had to enter.

UGHH. A reptile/amphibian farm – as I had expected.

Green chameleon!

Turned brownish-green

Into entirely brown chameleon!

Bah. Why are you afraid of me? I know I shoot, but only with my camera 😛

Moving on….

Look at this baby crocodile!!

The top of its head and its eyes are floating while the rest of its body is submerged underwater

Saw a smiling tortoise. Something must've made its day 

Here's a different kind of tortoise.

My slithery, slippery friends! How are you?

 For those wondering, I was born in the year of the Snake according to the Chinese Zodiac.

Okay, no need to count my age. I've just turned 22.

Gawd knows what bird is this.

Whole flock of them scurrying away from me -__-

I may eat KFC but sorry lah, you don't qualify. So don't be scared!

I stood outside in the field for a while. Just HAD to get away from the creepy-crawlies in the cave, while Konzy happily continues taking pictures of Monitor Lizards, Beetles and Tarantulas FML.

LOL cool.

Scary face OMG. Looks like some mutant 

Went inside the butterfly farm

OMG what is this! T'was SO HOT AND HUMID 10 times worse than Malaysia!

Had to remove my overcoat immediately! I guess butterflies breed best in tropical climates

There were millions, perhaps trillions of butterflies fluttering all around us!

Nope, they weren't caged up at all. Oh wait, technically they are, but..

WE WERE IN THE CAGE WITH THEM! 

The most massive, elaborate "cage" ever! LOL

Didn't even feel like a cage. It was more of a large greenhouse.

We left soon after. Konzy was amused by all the butterflies and started videoing them.

I'm like OMG IT'S SO HOT CAN WE GO NAAAAOO? hahahaha 😛

Don't know what animal this is but saw it in The Lion King before

Probably some kind of gazelle or an antelope.

And and and…. I rode an elephant!! 😛 😛

A wooden elephant. So? Still an elephant nonetheless 😛

Awww… momma elephant teaching baby elephant how to drink water through its trunk!

Konzy and I with the elephants!

He made some sort of cynical joke about elephants and a person. I refuse to reiterate.

But had to admit, it was funny. As much as I tried not to laugh.

Baby elephant, open wide! 😀

Konzy took a sneaky picture of me taking a picture of the elephants

But I managed to sneak in a smile! HA!

Okay, you should know what's coming next

I absolutely love tigers.

Well, they're essentially kittycats 😀 

Just… very big and dangerous kittycats capable of having me for lunch, that's all

Konzy and I outside the cage

Of lions and lionesses! 😀

RAAAAAWWWRRR!!!! 

Climbed to the top of the cage to see a dingo/hyena-like animal

I wish I could ride a zebra to university and be the coolest kid on the block

Hello Giraffes!! Super-tall creatures!

Kisses! 

Also, I've learned that you can't take a giraffe seriously.

Wanna know why?

How to take you seriously liddat???? -____-"

Fell in love with a female Orang Utan that smiled at me

Orang Utans are wonderful creatures, very much like humans.

But, I fail to understand why that particular Orang Utan chooses to wear cloithes

Maybe he doesn't fit in with his peers.

Should try going naked too. Maybe then he'll fit in 😛

Mother & Baby Orang Utan portrait!

When she smile for the camera, I melted.

When I showed her the photo, she looked at it and smiled at me again.

I was smitten by her until…..

She spread her legs wide open for me -___-"

Oh you skank 🙁

On 2nd thoughts, maybe she spread her legs for this Orang Utan 😛

Kangaroo!! It reminds me that I'm in Australia

Okay lemme recall a funny incident.

Poor joey wanted to come out of mama roo's pouch but mama wouldn't let her.

Kid : "MOM! LEMME OUT!"

Mom : "No."

Kid : "i'M OUT! YEEOUCCH! MY BUTT HURTS"

Mom : "NOW GET BACK INSIDE!"

Kid : "FINE"

Mom : "OUUCHH! DON'T JUST BARGE IN LIKE THAT!"

HAPPY NOW?

Okay 1 more kangaroo photo

Lazy Koala Bear was hibernating throughout the day!

Probably still baked from Eucalyptus LOL

Don't know what adorable animal this is but Konzy took its photo

Looks like a weasel/meerkat/civet cat to me

The Seal was delightful to look at!

Cos it goes both underwater and on land! 

Also saw penguins who couldn't walk nor stand straight

Neither could I. In this photo

Saw the caretaker feeding Percy the Pelican!

Cockatoo!

Ta-daaa! Found a stray peacock.

Don't know what animal this is but it reminds me of a skunk LOL

The entrance/exit

By the time we realized, it was already close to 6pm!

Geez. Looks like 5 hours isn't enough to tour the entire zoo.

But imma take less than 5 minutes of your time to watch a VLOG I made!

Enjoy the video :) 🙂

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IqWPa19lxs

Watch till the end! 😉

Managed to stop by the souvenir shop for a bit

RAWWWRR RAWWWRR!!

Konzy surprised me with this adorable fluffy, furry tiger hat! 

Although I have no where to wear it in Malaysia, It's in my car now! Yay tiger gets to go everywhere I go!

T'was an amazing afternoon spending time with all the animals of the animal kingdom!

I love animals, do you? 

Guess what, fellas? Achievement : This is the finale of my Sydney trip.

YAY I actually managed to wrap up a blog series for a holiday trip, have never done that before!

It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that when there are so many other new things coming up, you just can't help but to blog them first instead of continuing/finishing your holiday-trip blogposts.

Shot somewhere near Darling Harbour

This statue of a kangaroo was so huge that I just had to take a picture with it.

I doubt there are actually kangaroos THAT BIG!

Fooling around with cousin Bernice & the massive kangaroo

Trying to show me who's boss? Huh?

So after the long walk and amazing sight-seeing at Darling Harbour (blogged all about it here!) , we adjourned to Chinatown as it was just across the road. Aunt Julie wanted to buy Chatime for cousin Jonathan at home. 

Oh and about Chatime!! 

[begin exaggerated rant]

I don't get the hype about Chatime drinks. Isn't it just about sugary, powdery, syrup drinks with black balls in them? Meh. Can't believe Chatime was all the buzz in Melbourne when it first opened; the queue was almost 50meters long!  Apparently everyone in KL is also gushing about it. Like, seriously? What's so nice about it? I took one sip –  my face contorted and I almost died of coronary.

[/end exaggerated rant]

Welcome to the imperial gates and arch of Chinatown wtf

No wonder they say Sydney is full of Asians.

Their Chinatown precinct is HUGE! And there was no locals in sight

Soon after, we headed back to Hurstville. It's a cosy suburb where Aunt Julie and her family lives 🙂

Dinnertime at one of the food outlets – she recommended I try the Cheese Baked Lobster!

Needless to say, it was brilliant! 😀

So succulent, goodness gracious what I'd do to have it again 

And the very next day, it was bye bye. Spent the entire night and morning packing my luggage as always. 

I always hate packing just because it's always imminent of goodbye 

Had Kebabs for lunch first OMNOMNOMNOM huge fan of kebabs here!

While Konzy and I were in downtown Melbourne, a Kebab Man yelled at me & waved, and I waved back.

What's the relevance, you ask? Nothing too significant. Just felt like telling you

And by the way ,Kebab men are always hot Don't you agree?

They stand beside the giant rotating skewer emitting intense heat. Not hot enough?

Okay, time to say goodbye *cues emotional music

Thanks for being an amazing host and for the kind hospitality. T'was good seeing you guys again, especially meeting up with my cousins of which I've not seen for over a decade! 😀 I'll be back in Australia in September anyway. See yall again!

I love Australia! In every sense of the word, yes I do.

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, OI OI OI!!

Countdown : 58 more days to my return

Who goes to Australia without eating their famous game animals at least once?

I certainly do not. I finally managed to eat them before I go, as Konzy brought me to eat those rare delicacies one evening. Yay!

Here we are at The Royal Mail hotel and pub!

It was along Spencer Street.

LOLOL I LOL-ed when I saw Batman Street 

So yup, we heard about this Roadkill Wednesday thingy for quite some time already but never got a chance to go. And since the exams were finally over, we decided to make a trip down to the city to go one fine Wednesday 🙂

The Royal Mail

When we entered, I thought we had come to the wrong place because the first thing we saw was a pub.

But the pub was just the first part of the entire outlet!

We took a few steps into the pub…

… and finally saw the restaurant!

Comfy couch! 😀

Needless to say, I chose a table where it had a pretty background 😀

Moments last longer when it is captured on camera, so I obviously wanted my pictures to turn out nice!

This was pretty enough 😀

I liked how the entire restaurant was pretty classy and dimly lit. Good for romantic dates! 

The decoration were mostly pop art paintings and Andy Warhol's version of Marilyn Monroe. So classic! 

There was a group of businessmen clad fully in suits at the table adjacent to ours

We sat close to the fire. Yes.. FIRE!
A wood-fired fireplace… TO STAY WARM!! You won't see this in Malaysia 😀

We placed our orders and it was a pretty easy decision because we *still* were rather full from this afternoon's Malaysian food (yes, omnomnom I recommended him all my local delicacies) and we just wanted to try/taste the wild, game meat.

So we ordered a  whole grazing platter and sausages to share!

T'was yummy!  I'm glad I finally got to taste them.

Here's what we ordered in detail –

 I

Royal Mail Grazing Plate of Australian Game Meats with Duck Breast, Rabbit Pie,

Braised Venison Stew, Roo Sausage and Roo Pepperoni

From left to right (clockwise), here's my verdict :

I wasn't too excited with the duck breast because we have heaps of them back home anyway. But upon tasting it, the soft, slimy texture made me want to puke and I just had to spit it out. I just couldn't stomach it. But on the contrary, Konzy loved it and how tender it is. I guess, to each their own 🙂 If you favour foie gras (goose liver), you might just like this dish.

The Venison Stew was my favourite amongst all. It had a salty aftertaste to it too. I wished I could have some more!

Olives? Don't ask. We both despise olives in general so we can't exactly be the best judge for this.

The Roo Pepperoni was kinda spicy, but in a good way. I'm not quite a pepperoni and salami person, but this was pretty damn good.

The Roo Sausage served with Rosella Sauce was delicious too. It is a native berry and t'was a sweet and meaty combination.

The Rabbit Pie was just delightful! Really yummy  Although it pains me to think that I'm eating my own domesticated pet – I used to rear a fluffy white bunny – I tried to just savour it without thinking of morbid stuff like animal cruelty etc etc.

Trio of Bush Sausages : Emu, Wallaby and Camel with Polenta,

Brussel Sprouts, Sauteed Mushrooms and Pancetta

Here's my verdict :

The Camel Sausage was the toughest amongst the three. It boasts barbequed-burnt flavour to it (yummy!) and the spices complimented the taste well. I liked the chewy texture to it as well.

The Emu Sausage was the softest and it had the sorta melt-in-your-mouth taste. We found this meat too tender for our liking. It even had a slight bitter aftertaste. Meh. Not something for our palate.

The Wallaby Sausage was our favourite of them all. It was a little spicy as well but the flavour was the best amongst the three. Something I would order again! 

Apart from the meat, the veggies, polenta and sauce that came with this dish was an absolute yum.

I ate ALL of it!

Photo of me with his creepy death-stare face in the background 🙁

He keeps photobombing me T___T

After dinner, we were really stuffed! In fact, we couldn't even finish the whole portion of our meal.

I made a trip to the ladies' after him, and I'm glad I did. You shall see why.

Shot these when I was in the cubicle (hey, I can multi-task)

It was sssssoo pretty, even the toilets had a classic and Victorian feel to it!

What I really liked was these nursery rhymes on the toilet walls – 

It brings back memories! Just read them and smile 🙂

I was pretty sure Konzy was waiting for me outside thinking why on earth am I taking so long.

Well, put me in a pretty restroom with a huge mirror and you won't see me coming out anytime soon.

Whee!

Hello! 😀 😀

I also took my time washing my hands with lukewarm water and washed them with this gentle hand wash

Tralalalaala~ 

And then I noticed there was another moisturizing handwash.

So I washed my hands again. See? I'm trying to be sanitary here 😛 😛

Apparently, the mens' restroom wasn't as awesome as the ladies'?

BWAHAAHAAHA. They don't need a pretty toilet, just give them a hole to pee in. End of story 😛

Kidding!

We left soon after – it was time to hit the casinos!

Ka-Ching! $$$$ After my recent win at Star City casino in Sydney, Konzy wanted to put my luck to the test.

Arriving Crown casino in South Melbourne

We left with a happy smile 😀 😀

Needless to say, we won a couple of hundreds 

Zippadee-doo-dah! 😀 😀 Tag-team FTW.

Heyyyooo guys!

I've just finished my exam today and I'm in a particularly good mood.

Only one more to go, ohyeaaaaa *smug grin*

Aight, here's another sequel – the 7th blogisode – for my Sydney trip!

Taken along some wharf area 🙂

So being a typical tourist, I was seen with enthusiasm plastered on my face and lugging around my camera.

Just as I pointed my shooter to this buggy-wuggy looking train, the driver grinned, waved…

and shouted "HEY!!" to me 😀

We kept walking and walking; it was nice to feel the cool breeze against my skin.

Best part was, it was evening by the time we got there.

Yay! For the sun was just beginning to set 😀 😀

The sunset was too pretty to miss!

So I took a moment to sit by the waters and yeah, started shooting away

Leaning back : just a random piccie of my Converse

As we kept walking, I realized we've finally reached the huge bridge of Darling Harbour!

It's really up high and we took an escalator up.

It was an excellent view along the entire bridge – admiring the city skyline

With couzzie Bernice atop the bridge!

It's a reaaallllyyyyyy long bridge across the sea.

But long walks can really be a pleasant experience, especially if you have a picturesque scenery like this!

Stopped to take so many pictures!

You can see puddles on the pathway, remember when I told you it was really cloudy leading up to a wet weather in the afternoon whilst I was at the Sydney Opera House?

Yeah. I'm glad the rain cleared up now, making way for the peeking rays of the sun!

OMG OMG did you notice the rainbow in the background? 😀 😀

I never spotted it until I saw this photo

Various office buildings along the crystal clear waters

I had an odd sense of deja vu whilst walking along this route.

It somehow reminded me of a certain spot I walked past in Clarke Quay, Singapore. It looks almost similar!

When we were finally done with the breathtaking view, we adjourned for dinner.

But before that, I came across this strange fountain-like thingy and the first thing that came to my mind was that I just HAD to run around the spirals.

BUT IMMEDIATELY STOPPED MYSELF FROM DOING SO BECAUSE I SAW A GROUP OF 5 YEAR OLDS

DOING EXACTLY WHAT I WAS JUST ABOUT TO EMBARRASS MYSELF WITH

Hmmmmmmm…. at least I'm glad to know that my inner child still reigns.

IT LIVES!

Passed by the Chinese Garden of Friendship!

This stone lion/dragon above must be the guardian of its gates

… which somehow reminds me of Mulan. The great stone dragon which Mushu broke

Speaking of stone animals, something very peculiar caught my eye.

What on earth is this?

It was a stone sheep/ewe/ram suspended in mid-air

My, my… you must be having fun defying gravity

And I certainly had fun becoming a shepherd for a fair bit

BAAA RAMM YUUU! To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true, sheep be true! BAAA RAMM YUUU!

(quoted from one of my fave award-winning film Babe, the sheep-pig, released in 1995)

Omigosh and finally we began to head home.

I had such an amazing time – a full day out from 9 o'clock in the morning until past 8pm!

Was about to pass out the moment I got home! Oh but before that, I'd like to remind you to….

Sign me up for any sheep-wrestling competition!

… because I know the sheep password 😛 😛

This is insane! Out from 9am – 11pm and at least 10 hours of non-stop walking has really taken its toll on me.

I'm maxed out tired to the bone now – resting while transferring photos and blogging this post.

Yeahyeah, I know I should probably hit the sack by now but being me, it is imperative that I blog an immediate snippet before the entire blogpost… because who knows, this might take another million years to be up LOL

I love my new prezzie! An adorable, furry, soft tigga hat to keep my head warm

So anyway! I was at the Melbourne Zoo in Royal Park for almost 5 hours; was impossible to cover every nook and cranny

I reckon it would be safe to say that almost the entire animal kingdom reside within the walls of that zoo

From the smallest of insects…..

…to the biggest of animals!

My whole afternoon was spent exploring the entire zoo hunting down the animals to take photos of.

I swear felt like Dora the Explorer LOL! But the fact that I'm lacking the binoculars and knapsack doesn't come in the way for I think I made up for it with a big-ass DSLR camera and a slingbag 😛 😛

And… the King of the Jungle! (yes, if you're wondering… I was THAT close to Simba here)

It was incredible, better than any zoo I've ever been! Melbourne Zoo is massive and the entire place was an extremely close-to-real-life makeshift rainforest dessert ocean underground grassland antartic tropics aviary all in one.

Unlike many *cough* places *cough* that my fellow Malaysians know….

There are certain zoos in particular who mistreat their animals, cooping them up in tiny cages with restricted space to exercise, not cleaning their already miserable cages and drugging them to ensure their benevolence during photo-opportunities.

Oh and yes, I know I owe everyone a photo of a kangaroo ever since I set foot in Australia

So… ta-daa! 😀 Here it is, shot in the zoo earlier today

Plenty more photos of the glorious (and even the unglorious, ugly, often overlooked) members of the animal kingdom to come! I did, as usual, took truckloads of photos.

And the most tedious part is filtering & batch processing them all. Bleh.

Headed to the Tutankhamun exhibition after that for another 3 hours!

On the right: a bag of Egyptian souvenirs I bought. On the left: a replica of Tutankhamun's skull

Verdict? It was magnificent and we were clearly in awe with everything they had to offer. Everyone was clearly enthused with the displays, footages, ancient relics, hieroglyphs, statues, fragile mummified skeletons,  and the like. More to come, I promise!

If you're an avid lover of Egyptian civilization like I am, you'll be star struck.

And now do you still wonder why I had the Eye of Horus tattooed on my left wrist? 😉