One Saturday Nature Tripping at Dandenong

Yesterday at 10am, my family and I decided to stroll around the east side of Melbourne particularly at the Dandenong Ranges. My wife heard from her officemate that the place has a good meat pie restaurant at the top of the mountain plus it has plenty of spectacular sites to offer as well. Even though we've never been to the east side of Melbourne and never gone trekking the Dandenong ranges, our Navman satnav gave us confidence to get through the area. It was roughly about 70 kms from where we live but it didn't really matter to us as we are so inclined to go different places and discover new sites and restaurants.

Honestly, it was a pretty scary travel on our way up the mountain. The road we took is a less traveled one. The road is unpaved and very steep. It only has room for one car at a time and it was hard to back out because if you do, then you'll obstruct the way of other cars heading to the same direction. At one stage, we decided to turn back but on our way down, we met up vehicles going up too. Instantly, we knew that the road we're taking is safe as there are others taking the same road. I begun to transfer the transmission to 4x4 mode which would give enough torque on our way up. After 20 minutes of steep climb, the road turned to be paved and leveled. At last we saw more vehicles, people and restaurants which gave us a relief. Immediately a spectacular site appeared in front of us and we immediately took photos of this magnificent view as you will see from your screen. It was a fantastic view and feeling that you've almost reached the sky. Looking down from where we are, we've seen more mountains and greens. Right at the middle, a lake is well in place. We were so hungry that we were tempted to eat on the nearest restaurant. However, we chose not to and still look for the well known "Pie in the Sky".

Know more about the Dandenong Ranges.

Food Star

One of our favorite resto in Melbourne is Food Star located in Sunshine. It's an All you-can-eat resto with plenty of food varieties. They've got sushi's, shrimps, octopus, steamed fish and gigantic mussels which is my all time favorite. I can eat 2 to 3 full plates of these mussels simmered in white vinegar as my appetizer and main dish as well.

For the meat varieties, my family loved the fried chicken. Though its an ordinary dish, the way it taste brings back the memories of the famous Chicken resto in our country "Max's Fried Chicken". It really taste the same. We just need to bring our very own tomato sauce to go with this chicken and that's it. Then they also got lamb shanks which you really don't want to miss if you're in Australia. They've also got ham which suits my taste because its quite sweet. Roast beef is not bad at all. Taste better with their gravy sauce.

Their soups are quite simple but you can choose from 3 different kinds. Most of the time they serve chicken and corn soup, cream of mushroom and pumpkin soup. You also get to choose some Italian dishes like pizzas and pastas.

You also got to choose from varieties of deserts from fresh fruits, pastries, cakes and sundaes. Coffee and tea is free. They've got a vendo machine in the corner for coffee and hot water for tea. In totality, Food Star Family restaurant is a safe choice when you like to treat family or friends because of the varieties of food. You won't go wrong because the price is not that expensive. It ranges from $13 to $20 depending if your having weekday or weekend dinner or lunch.

I like to go back there sometime soon as I already miss these gigantic mussels and the fried chicken..See you all there!

A Visit to Adelaide part 1

It was a refreshing and exciting to visit to Adelaide "the capital city of South Australia". For one, I had a good break from a straight 4 months work. Second, I was able to meet up with my cousins there and thirdly, I have seen the beauty and the difference of Adelaide and Melbourne City. Adelaide is 716 km away from Melbourne.

One of the differences that my wife and I had observed is that Adelaide City is very simple. Adelaide is quite easy to tour around in. It's relatively easy to drive in Adelaide. Apart from the fact that we're using satnav (GPS) when we stroll around, Adelaide City is not congested after all. The streets and road signs are very visible. The streets are very well structured that it wouldn't confuse a first time visitor.

Since the road is not too congested, going from$ one place to another within the metro is not troublesome. There's also ample and big shopping centres to go to. You can go to Westfield Marion, Westfield Tea Tree Plaza , Westlakes shopping Centre and Harbour Town where you can buy some signatured clothing at bargain prices.

Adelaide offers good sight seeing spots as well. There is Glenelg bayview which is comparable to Melbourne's docklands where you can find yachts and nice restaurants along with it. The weather is also good. Considering its warmer there than Melbourne in an average of 4 degrees which is good on winter but terrible during summer. There are also fast food centres that we can normally go to like Hungry Jacks, KFC, Subway and Mcdonalds. But, what Adelaide still don't have is Krispy Kreme Donuts. We had to buy 4 boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts inside the Tullamarine Airport the night before we left for our Adelaide trip.

There were also plenty of banks and ATM Machines for NAB, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Westpac etc... You can also find Bunnings Warehouse for your hardware needs, Mitre10, Radio Rentals and Cashconverters to name a few. Car dealers are relatively easy to see. Just a quick stroll to the city, you can find all the car showrooms from Holden, Toyota to BMW and Porsche. In short, Adelaide is a very livable place in Australia. For a migrant who wants simplicity, peacefulness, and cleaner environment, Adelaide I would say is not a bad choice after all. I myself, fell in love with the City of Adelaide.

Community Fair

My whole family recently attended a community fair close to where we live. It was a good and fun-filled day because there were a lot of activities which my kid really enjoyed. There was a little farm with heaps of ducks and bunnies. A goat, a lamb and a little pig played around with the ducks and bunnies. These animals are tame enough for the kids to touch and feed with leafy veggies. There was also a clown that blew a balloon shaped like a puppy. There were also room for those who are selling old but still nice stuffs at cheaper prices. Finger foods were also all over the place. But what me and my kid truly enjoyed was the Dodge bump car. At first, I thought that my little boy will get scared but to my amaze, he actually enjoyed the ride. It was a very enjoying experience because it has been a while since the last time I got on it. This time it was more fun with my kid beside me and witnessing his first ever ride on a bump car.

When we starved for food, we rushed into a chicken & chips food stall. We ordered a roast chicken, large chips ( frenchfries as some of us will call it ) and a rice salad which is surprisingly yummy. The rice salad looks just like a fried rice, only that the stuffs put on it(carrots, peas, onions) were fresh and the whole pack was served cold as it is a salad, in the first place. It was a simple meal that we had but completed the family day with a smile.

Seat back and relax

Its been a long and tiring work week for me and my wife so we decided to take a break and bring along our kid Enzo to his first movie ever. The movie we watched last Saturday afternoon was Kung Fu Panda. Its been a long time since my wife and I had last saw a movie. We opted to watch in Village Cinema at Sunshine Mall.

We were quite surprise that though he is just two years old, he was able to enjoy and finish the full length movie. He was very attentive and focus and laugh when he heard other kids' laughter. It was a joy being a parent to see him enjoying our company. That's basically what our goal in life is..To live a comfortable life without having to sacrifice much of our time for the family.

Kung Fu Panda, was a nice and feel-good movie. It was really enjoyable for kids especially with Po, the panda bear(voiced by Jack Black) showing his plumpness on some martial arts scene. It's not an unusual story to see but the message is still great when comprehended. It's all about believing in one's self and that fate still takes its course. It's not always talent and skill that will pave the way but COURAGE and GOOD HEART, as well.

This was a good break for us to unwind and get ourselves back on track.

Parks in Australia

One of the biggest advantage of being an Australian Migrant is having to enjoy the use of parks and playgrounds without costing you any cent at all. Kids and parents would surely enjoy them. Parks are really spacious and grassy which would give your kids a chance to run and play around it. They are everywhere in Australia, I am sure. You won't have difficulty in finding one as every suburb has one or even more than one. Children's playgrounds normally are on it. Slides of different sizes, swings and basketball courts are very much free for everybody's use. The area where the children's playground is, is properly landscaped and well designed to provide a nice view for each one's eyesight. The flooring is also made sure to be safe for kids. That's one of what we can be proud of Australia, Safety is always on top of priority. Parents could also do their own stuffs while kids are playing. They could jog around and do some physical exercises. The parks are also equipped with tables and chairs where families could share their meal or picnic at. Some of the bigger parks have man-made lakes to go with them. Rubbish bins are provided as well to maintain the cleanliness of the vicinity. That, I would say is the only thing being asked from us, to put away our own rubbish to help out in maintaining the beauty of the park. Visitors are even allowed to feed the geese and seagulls with bread crumbs and whatever food they brought over.

If you try to put all these things together and picture them out in just one scene, isn't it a great view to see? Well parents, with no fee to worry about, being assured of your kids safety and enjoyment and being provided with an enriching view to wander at, what more can we ask for? Just make sure that you are fully geared and properly dressed depending on what the weather is to be assured of a fun filled day at the park with the whole family!