Drive through....

Finally I can stick a pin on the Australia map and say: I have been to Canberra!! Although it was a short trip and I didn't get to go around Canberra city or visit a family friend whose father recently passed away, but I love the city. It's so beautiful; it has a similar feel like in The States and Canada during autumn.
This was how my day begin in Canberra; a quick short drive through. Landed at 7:30am.

Driving along the gorgeous scenery of Canberra, red,orange and yellow leaves falling everywhere.










Heading towards the New Parliament House and then passed the Old Parliament House.




















Then head to the Australia War Memorial and stopped for a while for some sight-seeing. Just as I left the War Memorial, a group of soldiers and marching bands started some sort of a ceremonial performance.










Then head to the Telstra Tower Hill for the view of the city.














The War Memorial = in remembrance of the soldiers who were involved in war (Korean war, Vietnam war ... etc) , old machineries used (land, sea and air "can't find planes")

























































































Where does it face?? Towards the parliament. A few military personal last minute adjustments /preparation of the ceremony.





































Had breakfast in the Australian National Botanic Garden; cross the wooden bridge for the food!!









































After breakfast, it was time to do some work = the reason i was in Canberra. Due to the collaboration between both party, my bosses and colleague needed to update on what our side had done and what the other side had done. The seminar went on about 6 hours and it was back to Adelaide for me.



















That's my Canberra experience =P

I LOVE MELTS!

Move aside Pizza Hut/Dominos/Shakey's, Melts Pizzeria is in the house!!! The pizzas that stole my appetite away, far far away from big fat layer of crust and dripping cheese & meat oil; substitute with gourmet pizza with vegetables.

Every meal starts with a drink; and I've decided to be bogan for the night: Come to me, my Stella....
























I have nearly finish the list of pizzas that they serve in Melts. These are just a few of the pizza that I've taken photo of. Pic 1: Scallop which has scallops, truffle, buffalo mozzarella, peas and spring onion. Pic 2: Funghi which has mushrooms, porcini, foir di latte (cheese), free range egg, thyme and parmesan. Pic 3: The Jamon which has tomato& mozzarella with rocket salad, olive oil, shaved prosciutto & parmesan.





















































The best idea is go with friends as you can share (max 6 ppl, they cut the pizza to 6 pieces, portions wise, 1 pizza per person is just nice =), unless you're pigeon who can eat more than 2 in one sitting). I've already tried Margarita, Broccolini, Prawn, Scacce, Albondigas, Pepperoni and El Diablo.

I've still got Bianca, Patatas, The 160, Puancho and Bimbino to go. Sigh, downfall is that this place is burning a major hole in my wallet. A pizza cost about $20, 3 times more $$ than the fast food ones.... =( I am determined to finish the menu!!...

Suggestion: Funghi, Broccolini, Scallop and Prawn are classified under the light tingling full flavour pizza, eat those ones first before you move onto the ones with pepperoni and anchovies. If you eat it the other way round, stronger favour tends to cover the lighter ones.

Danger: Once you start, you can't stop.

What is in my garage??!!

I have a huge garage where I live; as in HUUUGGGEEE....... So many cars parked in there and only one is mine =P
Anyway, there was a SA/AUS antique car-race competition & exhibition few months ago. Some of the drivers stayed at my apartment and parked their very cute antique cars in the all over the parking lot. I became an antique car paparazzi for that week; stalking at new comers. hehehehe

Pic 1: Papa car & baby car
























































I was stalking this car for days (pic 5) literally. The driver had the car under a cover the whole day but I manage to snap one at night when the driver was giving it some fine tuning for the next day's competition.
















The competition was abit like Tour de Australia, where the drivers had to drive the city routes and the valley routes. The competition last about 5 days, I think. After a chat with the driver of pic 5, I found out that that car was made based on the same model somewhen in the 1900's and the driver went all over museums that had information on this particular car (blue prints, shape and sizes of the car parts...etc) and made one (himself) that is "exactly" like the one it was made in the 1900s.
Very interesting and $$ hobby.

Winter approaching

Damn the cold weather. It's autumn and already feeling the chill of winter. Surprisingly the house's temperature is colder than outside. What do you do? Open the doors and window and let the hot air in!!

ps: Weather is freezing up my brains.....

Irony

Such an irony trip. I went to the market and bought cling wrap from the plastic shop. Half way home, the plastic bag carrying the cling wrap broke. -.-|

Hog's Breath Cafe

Hog's Breath Cafe, a place where you can get a decent steak without having to dress uplike a penguin. A normal steak is about $30 whereas the lite cut (for the light eater) is about $20, which is an average price for a steak over here.

It tastes alot better than some overrated restaurants in Adelaide. The portion is reasonably big.










Me and my cocktails! I love the different shades of colour and an umbrella for a tropical touch..=)

Escargot Hunting Round 1

I have been on a hunting spree to find good escargot dish in Adelaide.

My first stop: La Guillotine along Gouger Street. Let the eating begin with a glass of wine and Champagne.










Moving on to the appetiser: I ordered the escargots and pigeon ordered the prawns. Both had a similar garlic based but with slight different in taste. The escargots that I had was different from the ones I had from back home; probably I'm not used to this kind of cooking style on my escargots, didn't really like it =)










A little palate rinse with a berry sorbet before the mains are served. We ordered some vegetables at the side. It was a mush of onions, tomatoes, carrots ... etc Quite tasty!










For mains, Pigeon ordered the seafood dish and I ordered the goose. I can't remember the name for these dishes but If you look at the 1st picture you'll be able to know what the names are (provided you understand french =P)










What is left after mains?? Shells. A bowl of water was provided to wash the fingers (licking good)










Dessert: Crepes and Creme brulee.... SLURP!!!











PS: Based on Escargot hunt: Me not satisfied with the dish....and the hunt carries on!!!

Port Augusta

The beautiful river that flows to the sea, in Port Augusta with dolphins swimming at their leisure.


















































Trying my hands out on fishing. Armed with a fishing rod (which got awfully tangled up; Paiseh CC, caused you to cut the strings), clams and small prawns as baits we caught 2 Tommy Ruff. Wasn't enough to feed one person, so back to the sea it went.










The Pichi Richi Train. The Heritage train that still runs on the old Ghan railway.










Note* Wasn't able to take photos of me kayaking, it was a good exercise; tiring and refreshing at the same time =)