Considering that this blog post has over 60 photos in total, make sure you grab yourself a cuppa before you proceed.

Caution: very photo-heavy! I did spend almost a year there, after all.

Happened to look through old photos during my Aussie days and noticed that some pictures were still in my pending list which never got to be shared nor published! So here they are.

With my girls Bardha, Laura and Verity on our impromptu sushi night

Erin and Verity helping me bake a delicious chocolate cake!

Why the sudden nostalgic throwback, you ask? 

No particular reason, apart from the fact that my family is on a 2 week holiday in Australia now – albeit without me.

I was supposed to go with them, but they made a reasonable point that since I had already spent/experienced a year there, why spend that chunk of money to go back to the same place when I can use it for other purposes or travel to a country I’ve yet to explore?

Made perfect sense, right? Wrong. 

Australia wasn’t just another continent I explored to lay my footprints onto.

It wasn’t just another country existing to quench my wanderlust.

It wasn’t just another stamp on my passport. And it certainly isn’t just another spot on the world map where I’d say,”I’ve been there, how about you?”

The intricately spun spider web right outside my residence at uni

A closer shot.

Australia was home. My friends became family to me.

The multi-faceted culture of Melbourne city and the laidback lifestyle back in countryside Gippsland seeped into my veins like duck to water. In that year alone, my far-flung relatives whom I’ve not seen for half a decade became closer to me than ever.

The ever evolving four seasons in a day rendered me so ever-prepared for whatever the weather ambushed me with. They say when in Rome, do as the Romans do. And adapting to Australia was like second nature to me.

I still fancy an arvo with my mates, having a sausage on a barbie with some vegemite on it 😛

But despite my sentiments, I didn’t end up going due to work commitments. 

A silent winter night.

(FYI It isn’t creepy at the residence but this photo is really horror movie material though!)

Meet Antonio, our favorite uni security guard. We still keep in touch via Facebook.

He lost an epic amount of weight since – it was what, 30KG if I’m not mistaken. Good job!

The beautiful red gerberas that my then-boyfriend surprised me with.

I love them!

Having my family right there in Australia as we speak made me feel a little nostalgic, especially browsing through the photos of their having a jolly good time there.

Ergo, the nostalgia led to this flashback post.

I realized I didn’t quite complete the pages of my ‘The Australian Diaries‘ life log. I have two more chapters, but here’s one today before the final one.

The living room is where I usually sit – I hate being all cooped up in my room.

I’m still like that till this very day. I’m hardly ever in my room!

My tiny little room in the student residence!

Excuse the horrid mess. I was crafting an anniversary present for my then-boyfriend.

Seeing that surprised smile on his face was super worth it! 😀

Oh and when in Australia, the vehicle plates intrigued me. 

Here, we don’t get to choose our registration number on our cars, the Road Transport Department does. (That’s RTA for you Aussies!) Car registration plates follow a strict, standardized algorithm.

Even if we do get to choose, it’s a pretty limited choice from the rare selection of vanity plates like SUKOM, G1M, BAMBee as they are only launched during special events held in Malaysia and you’ll have to spend thousands of Ringgit on it.

The only cool ones I’ve seen here are WWW, WTF, PEN, DAD or the numbers 8055 which looks like BOSS, KI55 which looks like KISS, MAF14 which looks like MAFIA, PAR15 which looks like PARIS and pardon me for this but.. PEN15 which looks like..

I’ll leave that for you to decipher 😉

Pretty lame, I know. But that’s the way things work here.

But look at some of the cool personalized ones I spotted when in Australia!

IMK1NG? I know you are King.

YUUUUU. Me?

OBAMA 1? Hello Mr. President!

You’re tasty? I’m Juicy. Nice to meet you.

Looking at all my old Aussie photos made me realize that I finally have the answer to the one question that I keep getting asked all the freakin’ time:

‘Where did you learn how to cook so well?”

I cook well? Really? I don’t think so… my expertise is only in clean meals/healthy food now; only I cook those by instinct. I don’t think I know how to cook anything else by instinct, unfortunately. 

I mean, sure, I CAN cook sinful, unhealthy food but only if I follow a recipe book perhaps?

Coming from a person who knew nothing about cooking when I was growing up, I’m surprised I ended up a fairly good cook. Can you believe I never touched neither a frying pan, an oven (or basically any crockery) nor raw food until I was 20 or 21? 

But anyway, the answer to the question is – Australia did this to me.

Everything was so expensive in Australia (no thanks, conversion rates!) and I would end up paying 3X the amount there than I would back home.

For example, a packet of Nasi Lemak would cost RM45. 

So I did as any human being would when left with no choice. I adapted.

Thus begins my foray of experimenting in the kitchen.

Trust me, it was a lot of trial and error. I cook really random sh*t that comes to mind.

Even till now, I have never used a recipe book in my life!

So when you guys ask me for recipes for the clean meals I post on Instagram, I really only have one answer – there was no recipe to begin with! Unless I create one…hmmm.

Whole roasted chicken with baked veggies on the side.

Back to the story.

So yes, in 2011, for the very first time in my life, I cooked.

Yes, I cooked and I cooked. Sure, I might suck at it being a first-timer, but I still cooked. AND COOKED. A lot. Practice makes perfect. 

Here are some of the meals I made when in Australia! Be forewarned that some of it tasted less than desirable. 

Excuse the newbie chef. These were all cooked 3 years ago!

Pizza with a lot of nonsense as toppings.

What’s with this picture? I don’t know either.

I think it was just another one of my cooking candids.

Spaghetti bolognaise on study nights.

Erin and I making dinner!

Baked chicken on lazy nights.

Vegetable stew.

Sushi roll nights with Bardha.

Beef tacos!

Vegetable penne bake!

I don’t know what this is. Some kind of chicken wrapped in lettuce I randomly made.

But we sure enjoyed it. At least I know Verity liked it!

Shepard’s Pie. Don’t chide me for how it looks; I don’t even know how to make it!

Here’s the making of it. I just felt like eating Shepard’s Pie so I just attempted one LOL

Pasta bake! Yum yum.

Credits go to buddyTodd for teaching me to make my first pasta bake!

Well actually he told me he wanted to make it and I said, “OMG let me help!”

And the rest was history.

Behind the scenes.

We made the entire thing from scratch;

all the way from Woolworths to the kitchen and onto everyone’s plates!

So happy it turned out fantastic!

Another dish I’d like to give credit to. A popular Greek dish, the Melitzanes Papoutsakia.

I’m really good at making this now, all thanks to my then-boyfie!

And one time when he was in class, I surprised him by making it all on my own! 😀

Here’s another version that we made together on another night.

Verity and I cooking dinner one night!

To my best memory, I think it was beef stir-fry with white wine!

Lemon spring chicken with noodles.

(What kind of odd combination is this LOL)

Herbal chicken ramen soup I made when the exboyfie was sick.

Baked rice with tuna & vegetables!

Simple breakfast toast with scrambled eggs and beans.

And there will be times where I would miss Malaysian food so much that I’d end up miserably attempting to cook it.

Don’t expect Nasi Lemak or Laksa. Haha! That’s apparently very hard to make… and I’ve never tried! 

Maggi Goreng!! My first attempt. I loved it so much that I made another plate.

The Malaysian in me reveled in delight and went to heaven LOL.

 Nasi Goreng Ayam Kampung! Not bad right!?

I made it look triangular too.

Apart from cooking, I baked a lot. A whole lot. 

I baked so much that my friends and I ended up getting baked by baking a bake-inducing kind of brownie too. For the uninitiated, they are called space brownies, that’s right.

Hey if it’s legal in Amsterdam, it should be legal everywhere in the world too muahahahaha. 

Baking my favorite Oreo Cheesecake!

Fresh off the oven! Putting it into the fridge to let it cool overnight.

 It was so delicious and all of us finished it in less than a day!

Damn. Looking at these photos makes me wanna bake this exact one again.

I bake cookies too! Excuse the oddly shaped ones as I took them outta the oven too soon.

These were the first batch.

Chocolate-Vanilla cake!

Made a chocolate fudge cake with walnuts.

The making of it was super duper fun too!

It was so fun that our housemate random wanted to join in.

He’s from China by the way! (I forgot your name sorry but I think I have you on Facebook?)

 Due to past experience, I fear my hungry buddies whenever I leave something delicious to cool on the kitchen counter. Hence the warning note LOL

 All done! It looks so delicious and chocolatey I feel like making this one again too.

My buddies and I cooked a lot more but I reckon they’ve already found their way into individual blog posts in The Australian Diaries.

Oh and apart from cooking, here are some of the restaurants that I didn’t end up blogging about too.

 Sergio’s Cake Shop in Sydney!

CouzzieKristy used to work here part-time while she was still a student.

A popular Mediterranean restaurant in Melbourne – Stalactites – along Lonsdale Street.

The interior decor of stalactites filled with, obviously, stalactites!

 Lamb Giros Souvlaki and the Mixed Dip (tarama, melitzanosalata, tzatziki & hommus) with Pita.

I don’t remember what the dessert was.

 A beautiful restaurant in our guesthouse atop Mount Buller in winter!

Full blog post on our winter trip: here

 I absolutely loved my stay at Pension Grimus on the Victorian Alps.

And last but NEVER the least, if it’s anything I miss about Australia the most…

It’s the KFC Double Down.

And that, dearest readers, carries enough weight to abruptly end this post LOL.

Take it from me (and all the Australians!) the Double Down IS GODLIKE. 

Actually despite how yummy it was, that was just an excuse. I’m signing off only because I desperately need to hit the sack and that annoying chiming notification telling me my laptop is low on battery.

Goodnight! 😀

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 😛 😛

I have loads of love for pancakes. Do you?

Back home in Malaysia, I used to go to Paddington's House of Pancakes every so often that the waiters automatically acknowledge me with each visit. I was hoping to eat pancakes whilst in Aussie but there aren't any close by.

So when I first came to Sydney, I've asked on Twitter where would anyone recommend me awesome places for food?

The answer was unanimous – Pancakes on the Rocks.

And so I did as I was told 😀

Thanks guys, for the recommendation!

Had some Iced Coffee with Ice Cream on top while we waited for our orders.

Seriously, when I said OVER-POPULARLY FAMOUS Pancakes on the Rocks, I meant it literally.

It was over-populated LOL

We had to queue all the way up the staircase and the line behind us kept growing!

Thankfully we were allowed to order while waiting – saves heaps of time!

As we came in a group of 4, we decided to share some dishes and have some of our own.

The first dish we ordered was ….

the traditional, famous pancake stack!

Served with maple syrup and ice-cream 😀 😀

We reckoned it wouldn't be enough, since it was too yummy!

So we ordered another stack –

Ommmnomnomnomnom

I know some people may not get what the big deal is on pancakes, as it's only made of flour, milk, eggs and other stuff.

But no, I've attempted making pancakes a few times and although it was edible, it took me a while to actually get ALL the ingredients in the right ratio to achieve that fluffy, soft & melt-in-your-mouth pancakes!

Really, it's no easy feat.

Here's what we ordered next –

Chicken and Bacon Gourmet Pancake Pizza!

Couzzie Ken and I shared it, but it proved too much for the both of us so Uncle Shen and Auntie Julie ended up having some too.

I haven't seen this before, Pancake Pizza? Now, that's something new to me.

Also, sundried tomatoes, marinated mushrooms, tomato salsa on a guacamole & mozzarella cheese base

What's not to love? 😀

Auntie Julie ordered some Macademia Madness!!!

It had a nutty twist to the regular pancake stacks… delish

Check out that nutty pancake! 😀

(A quarter eaten, I stopped her midway LOL)

The vanilla ice-cream complemented this combo well. Thumbs up!

Okay, my turn. Here's what I ordered, one of their famous savory pancakes –

the Monte Cristo!

Chicken with smoked ham and cheese, served on a bed of lettuce and topped with chili sour cream & shallots

It was soooo delicious I wanted to have another helping but was already full to the brim!

Can't take it any more even if I wanted to 🙁

Here's a short VLOG I made whilst in Sydney, enjoy watching the entire 1 minute of it –

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6l0ruW95hc

Wheeeeeeee *spins around*

If you missed it, here's the blog-episode on my visit to Sydney Opera House & Harbour Bridge!

So with our stuffed bellies and satiated appetites, we headed back to the car after a short stroll around The Rocks.

Here's a very amused me by the typical Western-looking red postbox!

Why don't we ever have one of these in Malaysia?

Just like Australia, we were colonized by the British too, so… where's our iconic red postbox? 🙁 🙁

Taking a good rest after a good meal

I love the flowerbed behind me! 🙂 🙂

Next up!

Kingsley's Steakhouse, Darling Harbour & Sydney's popular Star City casino (where I won triple my cash!) $$$ Now, who wants to take me for a spin on their next trip to the casino? Muahaha.

G'dday! Haven't been updating in a couple of days now as I've been pretty up to my neck with final, major assignments (I'm down to my last one!) and moving from the West rez to the South rez!

So yeah, packing and such… I never realized I had SO MUCH stuff.

Anyway, here's the next sequel to my Sydney trip as blogged here and here

All aboard the MyTrain towards Circular Quay where all the breathtaking landmarks are!

the Shens were nice enough to show me around 😀 😀

While walking along the sidewalk, I caught sight of the Harbour Bridge! OMG I'm that much closer to it.

Just keep walking, and walking…

Habour Bridge in the near distance

When we finally arrived at Circular Quay, the clouds began to loom over the already gloomy sky. A heavy downpour was expected when it started to drizzle 🙁 But never fear! Auntie Julie brought umbrellas for us.

Yay! couzzie Kenneth holding the umbrella while I camwhore 😛

It was rather a long walk, but I was enjoying every minute of it.

I passed so many boats, cargo ships, cruise ships, yachts along the harbour.

Friendship 🙂

Standing up high on the bench!

Passing by more ferries!

The architecture and landmarks weren't the only ones that caught my eye.

There were flocks and flocks of gulls around the harbour too. Take a look at this one!

Minding its own business; posing for my shot

And before I knew it… we have arrived our destination! A surge of exhilaration filled me whole as I spotted one of the finalists of the 7 New Wonders of the World – the Sydney Opera House *bigwidesmile*

It's like hearing/seeing so much about it and finally being able to see it – for real – with your very own eyes.

My excitement knew no boundaries

Lo and behold, what a magnificent sight!

We had to walk past the Harbour Bridge first, before getting into the Sydney Opera House.

I hear people can climb atop/across the bridge… for a hefty fee? I was totally game for it but didn't wanna waste extra money $$$ and time

……. ok fine. I'm somewhat afraid of heights. Just a tad 😛 😛

So I watched from afar

Photos or it never happened!!! 😛

Here I am by the Sydney Harbour Bridge

ze Shen family and I

As we approached the Opera House, I couldn't wait but to camwhore with it before we actually got inside.

So… are you ready for my most mostest-test favourite-test-test-test photo in this blogpost?

yay! Me + Sydney Opera House

You can tell that I was ecstatic.

Like ouumaiigawwwdddd I'm actually here! Ya know what, I aim to see ALL the 7 wonders of the world – new and old.

Okay, that one photo wasn't enough. Couldn't decide which one looked nicer so…. here's another one 😛

You can see the Opera House much clearer in this piccie

And when I finally got closer, here's a full piccie of it.

It's just beautiful, with its shape that resemble either the sails of a ship or a cockle shell to me.

Ooooh. Ultimate jizz.

But hey, want me to be frank?

Apart from all the hoo-haa on the Sydney Opera House and its beauty, it only looks amazing from a distance. When you actually arrive directly in front of it, it looks like a boring, old, brown warehouse

Look, I'm not bagging it or anything, all I'm saying that it doesn't look as impressive as it does from afar.

But I still love it all the same; very glad that I got to witness it for myself for the very first time

Wheeeeeeeee

Sat on the steps leading up to the Opera House

There were agazillion steps, which makes me wonder if any elderly person can make it up there.

Then I remembered my granny who climbed the Great Wall of China – twice! Not bad.

Here I am against the glass windows of the Opera House

Here's something odd. I'm Chinese but I've never been to China.

I think it works that way for many other Chinese friends of mine too. Well, Imma make it a point to climb the Great Wall of China before I die!

Walked behind the Opera House and sat on another set of many, many steps again

An architectural beauty built by a Danish architect in 1973

Remember what  told you about the gulls?

They were everywhere!

And flocked right into my face LOL

Well, thankfully, I'm no bird prey

Much love and many thanks to the fabulous Shens who took time off their day

to spend this memorable moment with me!

Oh well, a short but priceless trip to the Sydney Opera House *beams*

Here's another piccie of it as I leave – one more for the road!

Adieu! *waves*

All the excitement suddenly fizzled out when I realized I hadn't had my lunch yet.

It was already almost 3pm and all I had for breakfast was a bowl of cereal and an avocado!

Walking towards The Rocks for Pancakes

I hear they are the best. Let's put it to test soon!

Passed by this beautiful flower garden

Look – it's the Harbour Bridge again in the background!

After lunch at Pancakes on the Rocks (review in the next sequel blogpost), we adjourned towards the carpark.

But but waaaiiit a sec –

It's the awesome-pawsome Sydney Opera House again!

This time, from across the clear, blue waters of Botany Bay

My jaw dropped at the wonder of its beauty; standing tall underneath the rays of the sun.

Thankfully, the cloudy skies had cleared up. I ran all the way to the edge of the barricade to photograph it

All in all, I had a brilliant, rockin time!

Although a tad too much gushing about the Opera House for one day, I'm certain you're only gonna hear it once!

Hope you enjoyed reading this just as much as I had writing it. Feel my adrenalin rush!