Travel: Thrifting at Camberwell

I think one of my favourite past time right now is thrifting, apart from cooking, baking and rearranging furniture around the house, that is whenever I can, lols.

To be honest, I've never thrifted in Melbourne before, and this time round when I was there, my friend, Fifi brought me to Camberwell Market. This flea market only opens on Sunday and I believe it starts at 10.30 or 11am all the way up to 1.00pm.

I cannot believe my eyes on what I found. It was like a treasure trove, waiting for somebody discover and take it back with them. While walking around, I found some really chic platters, hand blown ice cream glasses, some Wedgewood and Royal Doulton housewares, trendy accessories, jewelries, clothes and errr shoes too. I couldn't believe my eyes. If I was living permanently in Melbourne, I assure you a couple of the items would have followed me home. However, I didn't fail badly either. I found myself 2 really cool cake stands, a port bottle with 3 glasses for my mom, an Oroton Silk scarf, Portmans knitted cardi, a blouse and a skirt. What else? Hmmmph??

Like they say, "another men's garbage, is another men's gold"!

StephAnna

Travel: Crown Towers @ SouthBank

the mosaic art piece, love love love the colours

I am so fortunate this time round. Why  you may ask? Well that is because my aunt booked me into Crown Towers at level 24 for a night. Can you imagine my excitement? Something that I did not tell you peeps earlier. I have family members who live, breathe, eat, and erm.. breeds in Melbourne for donkey years. Oh and also, according to my aunt not every gambler has the privilege to check into level 20s' onwards. She said and I quote after her "You've got to be a high stake roller". My eyes literally popped out of my eye sockets. I shall not mention the figure here. Yup.. if you wish, bring out your calculators folks, and start punching in the numbers. Do I sense some envy here? LOLs [just give me 1-2 sec to self-gloating]

Okay I'm back. To be honest, let me divert your attention away for all the roulette tables, jackpot/ slot machines, black jack tables and VIP rooms. There are a couple words to sum up the room I stayed in for just 1 night. It definitely has ID design involved, obviously right?!?!?

COSY. COSY.. COSY....

on me: thrifted cardi, mango blouse, M&S jeans, double layered scarf by dp & thrifted

1. Walls: Wall papered with neutral/ earthy warm shade and has texture which adds some edge and texture to the room. Has a mirror along the foyer which creates the illusion of the walkway to be long and deep.
2. Bed: Great fluffy pillows, king size bed, and a number of throw pillows that adds the final finesse and touches to the room
3. Side tables: I am familiar with the glass lamp design and if it's the original one, it should be hand blown Italian glass lamp. That's chic.
3. Bar: A tiny chandelier over the bar top that adds some glamour to the room.
4. Bathroom: His and her sink, a standing shower and a huge bath tub.

In a nutshell, the room is simple with clean line design; exudes warmth and above all luxurious.

disclaimer: I do not work for Crown, nor I get any benefits for sharing my thoughts and opinion of the hotel room. I'm merely a simple and happy traveller.

StephAnna

Travel: Melbournian

 

 

 

I saw this apartment called The Melburnian while strolling around. That gave me an "A-HA" moment. I think I'm a Melbournian at heart, and I'm not afraid to announce to the whole wide world, LOLs. Or I maybe more than that..hmmph.. now that got me thinking.

Okay, perhaps the photos says, "yeah, she's just a plain tourist". However I warn you not, my fair maiden that deep down.. I pretty much know Melbourne at the back of my head. That's how much I walked around the city or suburbs to think that I might have just power walked to make up for all the calories I consumed.

StephAnna

Travel: Good Bye Yarra..Hello Mt.Dande!

Can you spot the city?

As we now say adios to Yarra Valley, on the way back we stopped by Mt. Dandenong. Since my parents were essentially the tourist, I role played as a tour guide and brought them up to what is Melbourne's highest point which is Mount Dandenong, or as some locals call it as Mt.Dande (pronounced as Dan-dy).

What can you see at Mt. Dande? Well if you have clear sky and not foggy, you can see that the Melbourne's city is right smack in the middle of all the suburbs. That is probably the place where you see more tall buildings and you will also notice that the land in Melbourne is pretty flat. Apart from that, like what most tourist do, we pose, stand around to snap photos of ourselves. The best way record every single moment in life. Don't  you agree?

[My first encounter with Ms. Marple's in 2009]

The scones, we never got to have..



The pies we had made my DAD a full and HAPPY man, lol.

For tea break, we thought of popping by Ms. Marple's tea house as I just wanted to let my parents try a different style of scone. Too bad, we missed a turn or took a different route back. This directed us at Olinda-Monbulk Road. Now, here's the part I didn't tell you. Since the day my dad arrived, he wanted pies so badly, but I've been delaying his crave. I think finally my dad got his wish, as I knew he must be secretly churning his vibe to the entire universe wishing to have PIE..lol. As we know it, we ended having pies at Pie in the Sky; apparently their pies are the best. A quote taken from their website "Pie in the Sky prides itself in offering not only an award-winning selection of pies..."

In my opinion, the pies are not too bad, and I'm not sure if they were the greatest. Selection wise; is plenty and you can be spoilt for choice. Now.. back to the city!

StephAnna

Travel: The Dairy Farm

aviator jacket- thrifted, blouse by Dotti, DP jeans, Viktor and Rolf sunnies

 

cheese, cheese and more cheese.. YUMM

If you're a dairy lover like me, or let's be exact, a cheese lover like me, and then you have come to the right place. I stumbled upon this place while still out gallivanting around Yarra Valley. When I saw the sign board, I knew I just had to pop by to check out this place.

My first thought when I arrive? Oh my.. am I in the right place as all I see was just a barn. However, my heart relaxed when I saw there were cars parked up front at the visitor bay. Okay, let me warn you though.. the first whiff of air is not exactly the most pleasant thing. After all it's a farm, so go figure. But don't let the smell divert your attention to CHEESE.WINE.FOOD!

Once step foot into the old barn, you see old vintage decors and the smell fresh brewed coffee dominates the air. That got my tummy hungry, and what did we have? We had a variety of cheeses with crackers, raisin bread, white bread and tomato crisps. It's simple and yet delish. To complete the meal, and enjoying the view, we sipped latte. I'm usually a non coffee person, but I love my lattes. Yup, I'm strange and weird.. lol..
Aussie got me in love with lattes ;)

StephAnna

Travel: Wine Country-Yarra Valley

I was trying to bend down to my mom'ts height..lol..bad take. let's just focus on the huge wine barrel.

While everybody is sipping hot coffee and heading down to the city for work, I was heading another direction to start the day off with some wine tasting at one or a few [Who's counting? I was just being modest..be assured as I'm no alcoholic ;)] of Melbourne's couple finest vineyards. Ahh.. and that my friends.. is life!

Our mission for the day? The answer is; to stop by every single vineyard that we discover along the way. We [my family and myself of course] took a drive down to Yarra Valley, while soaking in the scenery along the way. As we went further, you will see loads of black and white spotted or brown cows grazing on grass, furry sheeps' sitting around like cotton balls and the next, rows and rows of grape trees.

Surrounding area is filled with various shades of green land, mainly levelled or flat ground and the back drop, is complimented with clear blue sky and fairly minimal clouds. Another beautiful day and fantastic weather.

To our excitement we found Chandon [hear: bells chiming and ringing]. Obviously, we stopped by and the rest as I recalled was smelling, swirling and sipping.. Am sure you got the picture.

StephAnna