Monday, August 31, 2009

Standing at the edge!

Yesterday was Melbourne Day and it was one hell of a tiring day.
We were out for almost 14 hours yesterday from 9am in the morning.

Will blog more about the entire day in another post but I have to say that the most exciting thing about yesterday was the Eureka Skydeck 88.

We have been wanting to see Melbourne from a different view ever since last year but somehow we never managed to. We went there once but it was after 9.30pm (last entry time) and talked about it later on but never made a trip there.

Since there was the 2 for 1 Melbourne Day promotion, we decided that we should go. We wouldn't want to pay full price for the event and if we didn't go yesterday, we'd never go for it.
After such a long tiring day, we stopped to have dinner at Ghin Khao on Swanston Street and rushed to Southbank for our Eureka experience. We didn't want to be late and we wanted to have ample time up there.

Admission for the Skydeck 88 (obviously on the 88th floor) was $11 (concession price and 2for1 promo). This admission allows you to take the lift up to the 88th floor where the view is absolutely breathtaking. Walking on the streets of Melbourne on a daily basis, you never realise how beautiful the city is from the top.

Eureka Skydeck 88 is the Southern Hemisphere's highest viewing platform!
So you can only imagine the view.
From the top, landmarks like the Shrine of Remembrance, Flinders Street Station, The Arts Centre, Federation Square and everything else lights up so beautifully.
The city looks so calm and serene at night and it is more lit up that what I expected it to be.

At the top, there's a bar which sells snacks, hot and cold drinks and a small selection of beer and wine. So, a visit to the top would be an ideal place for the perfect date. With the one you love/want to impress accompanied by the best view of Melbourne.

The best part about the experience is the EDGE experience.


This is the world's only edge experience where you're in a glass cube which projects out from the building with you in it, at 300 metres above the ground.

Confused?
A few pictures will do the trick.

The Edge is that small tiny box there that juts out from the building.
It's this glass cube in which you can stand in and look at the city right under your feet.

The best part about it is the fact that you don't walk out into that glass cube. They first make us wear this blue shoe protection thing-ies so that any dirt from our shoes do not scratch the glass that we're about to stand on. We then go into another room where we've gotta leave all our belongings inside the shelves provided. No mobile phones, cameras etc are allowed in the glass cube. Then, we enter the cube (which feels just like a small room) with another 5 people or so. The skydeck crew says "Are you ready?" and we feel the space around us start to move. With sound effects from the speaker, that small cube thingy starts moving outwards, out from the building until the entire glass cube is projected 3 metres out the building and we're suspended 300 metres above ground level.

So, wherever you look, whether it's to the left, right, top or bottom, all you see is the magnificent view of Melbourne. Of course, if you're scared of heights, you wouldn't be loving the view so much. But for those who don't care about how high you are from the ground, walking around in the glass cube and looking down at the city under your feet feels spectacular.

After a few minutes, its picture taking time. Since we're not allowed to bring any of our personal belongings in, there's a camera inside the cube itself. Each group takes their turn, standing at the end of the glass cube while everyone else stands on the other end of the cube, making sure they don't get included in the photo. It would be almost impossible to take a photo using our own cameras at night because you'd need a super good SLR camera with a tripod to make sure that you get the view, your faces and it doesn't go blurry.

After the photo taking session, we get to walk around the cube for a few more minutes and then the glass cube starts moving back into the building where it's safe for those who have a terrible fear of heights. There was this older couple who went for the EDGE together with us. And she was so scared of heights, when the glass cube projected out of the building, she was grabbing hold of the railing and she only dared to step on the steel parts of the cube, staying clear from the glass panels!

That's how much the glass cube comes out from the building.

The experience is awesome, something that cannot be explained and it's worth every dollar paid. The EDGE experience is a separate admission compared to the Eureka Skydeck 88. Tickets to the EDGE can be purchased once you arrive at the 88th floor of the building.

Edge Admission Costs:
Additional to Skydeck Admission

Adult: $12.00
Child:
(4 to 16 years)
$8.00
Concession: $10.00
Family:
(2 Adults & 2 Children)
$29.00
Family:
(1 Adult & 2 Children)
$19.00
Extra Child $6.00

And there wasn't a 2for1 promo for this so we paid $20 to have Melbourne at our feet for about 5 minutes.
After that wonderful experience, it's time to pay more money for the pictures that were taken in the EDGE cube. That's the only way we can get photos for it.
Each picture costs $15 and for an additional print, it's $10 each.

The thing about this place is that there are two different spectacular views of the city, day and night. And the only way to get both the experiences is by arriving at the Skydeck at about 5pm ish. Then you'd be able to see the city both with natural light, witness the sunset 88 floors up and see how the magnificent city of Melbourne turns on its lights to welcome the night.

All in all, we paid $11 for the admission into Eureka Skydeck, $20 for the EDGE experience and $15 for the photo of us in the EDGE cube.
But the magnificent view and the experience, definitely priceless.



Till the next one,
Happy Birthday Malaysia!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Melbourne Day

It's Melbourne Day tomorrow and there's loads happening in the city of Melbourne.
According to the Melb Day booklet next to me now, the 30th of August in 1835 is the day where "a handful of intrepid pioneers landed on the north bank of the Yarra and looked on the vast expanse of land that dawrfed them".

Melbourne Day here basically celebrates the founding of the city that houses millions of aussies, migrants and international students. The day also acknowledges the city's importance as meeting place for traditional owners: the Kulin nation including the Wurundjeri, Boonerwrung, Taungurong, Djajawarrung and Wathaurung people (i never ever knew that those words even existed!).

As the Lord Major of Melbourne Robert Doyle writes, "it's a day to honour Melbourne's unique character: just as early settlers pulled together to build a dream, our community continues to strive for inclusiveness with a spirit of enterprise."

In simpler words, it's honouring all the interesting sights in Melb and also giving us free/discounted entry to loads of city attractions.

Awesomenesss.....

Meaning, we can visit places which I've always wanted to for free or by getting a 2 for 1 entry!
How great is that?

That also means that the city will be PACKED with people from all over.
PACKED.
The free city circle tram would be jammed up like sardines in a tin can.
The streets would be filled with aussies/visitors/international students/residents with a melboure day booklet in hand trying to figure out how many attractions they can fit in a day.
Crossing out the sights which are least important and making sure that they make it for the ones on the top of their list.

You can only imagine what I've done! hahaha..
I have almost everything planned for tomorrow! How can I not rite?

I've listed down the places that I want to visit tomorrow.

They include the Melbourne Aquarium ( I love aquariums, fishies and I have yet to see a penguin),



Melbourne's Tall Ship (where there's free entry and a free tour available),


Cooks' Cottage (one of Melbourne's oldest landmark with free guided tours, games and fun activities),

Chinese Museum (I'm chinese so I've gotta check out a chinese museum at least rite? See what they have to say about us or if everything I know about being chinese is all made up!),



the Hellenic Museum (which explores the legacy of the Greek immigrant experience),



the Melbourne City Cruises (still considering this actually)


the Melbourne Golden Mine Guided Walk



the Eureka Skydek 88 (where i can be at the highest viewing platform in the southern hemisphere).



Melbourne 360: Melbourne Observation Deck at Rialto


I've written down in my handy notebook the address of these places, opening hours, prices and also how we need to get there (whether by trams or by foot).

The only thing left is deciding which attraction to go first, where to have lunch in between and how many I can fit into the day because everything closes at 5pm and last entry for most places is at 4.30pm.

According to the weather forecast, it's going to be a cloudy day tomorrow. There might be a chance of thunderstorms and small hail early in the morning. They also said something about scattered showers. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it won't rain tomorrow or it'll suck having to walk around melbourne city with an umbrella trying to get to the next destination as quickly as possible. i realised that I should go to the aquarium in the morning since it's indoors so I don't have to be in the rain!

I've gotta charge my camera and get a good nights rest tonight to make sure I'm all charged up for tomorrow's tourist mode!
Going to watch Pelham 123 later at 9.10pm...

Till the next one,
Happy 174th birthday Melbourne!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hello August

It's been quite a while since I last blabbered here.
Loads have been going on and I've been rather busy.

The start of August was good.
I watched GI Joe and My Sister's Keeper in a matter of three days.
I had jean over for dinner where we had delicious dishes and dessert courtesy of jean.

Other than the boring uni stuff, assignments and tv series, Sabrina and her bf came to Melbourne for holiday!!
She was here for about 10 days which gave us all an excuse to meet up.
Somehow, i've come to realise that we georgians only meet up when a visitor's in town. Other than that, we're always caught up with our own busy lives, whether it's uni, assignments or work.

Annie-hauu,
we decided to have dinner together at a Korean place on Victoria Street.
and man was it heaps of fun and laughter.
We caught up with one another, reminiscence about the old times and laughed about the stupid things we did when were kids, years back.

We were only 13 when we met each other in high school, had our teenage drama, graduated at 17 and went our separate ways.
Now at 22 (or 21 turning 22), we're graduating from university with a degree and stepping into a whole new world once again. Oh how we've grown.

But when put together, SGGS girls always manage to have a good time.
Not to mention, make loads of noise.
I was silly enough not to bring my camera on that day but here are some photos courtesy of kelene from her facebook.





It was cheryl's birthday two days later (15 August) so we got her a cake to remind her that she's not getting any younger!

when there's cake... well, there's us doing what we do best!

more group photos....


our share of cake for the night

randomness...

and finally, a decent group picture....

that's all for now. will post up more photos if I manage to get them from either sabrina or jean.
sabz: hope you had loads of fun here in melb!

till the next one,
georgians ruleeeeee!!! muahahhahahaaa