Puffing Billy Train Ride [Melbourne 2024]

We bought the tickets at AUD$61 each per adult for the 2 way return trip. 10:00am Departure from Belgrave to Lakeside | Return Trip departs Lakeside at 12:30pm back to Belgrave. Need to arrive 60 minutes before to register for boarding. However we arrived late due to traffic. When we reached, fortunately we are able to get up the train, but the train attendant kept nagging at us that we were lucky that there were some delay. Total hour for this activity will take us 4 hours. To breakdown, 1 hour on the train towards Lakeside Station. 2 hours own time own target to explore Emerald Peak and 1 hour train ride back to Belgrave. Over at Lakeside, there were some cafe to have our meal and the souvenir shop is worth visiting as there were so many items that I felt like buying, but have to constraint because they were simply too expensive. So we visited the Emerald Lake Cafe and the scenery around Emerald parks. Nothing much actually and we rushed back to the train to go back to our original location. It was a fun ride, weather is extremely cold, but we endured to put our legs out. In summary, it is yet a one time to go through this journey. No point coming back for a second trip.

Main Address: 1 Old Monbulk Rd, Belgrave VIC 3160, Australia
Lakeside Station Address: Emerald Lake Rd, Emerald VIC 3782, Australia

Kangaroo Steak | Max on Hardware Bar Restaurant [Melbourne 2024]

Initially wanted to try Grill Seafood Restaurant, but they wasn't opened. So we settled on this Max on Hardware. Fortunately, they do served Kangaroo loin as well with char grilled medium rare with an orange, sultana and almond cous cous, broccolini and a peppercorn sauce. We ordered a pizza, Risotto and chips. The best way for me to describe in writing is it tasted like deer meat, but a little bit tougher. Not many will like the taste, but I think I can't eat this everyday also. Hence I gave a 6/10 for the kangaroo dish. The Risotto, Pizza and chips were the one which carried the overall taste where all is at 7.5/10 ratings. Pretty high standard for a random restaurant in this area. So i think if you have the chance, go try out the Grilled Seafood Steak beside, they have one of the best rating there where I gave it a miss.

Address: 54 - 58 Hardware Lane Melbourne VIC 3000 | 8 mins walk from my AirBnB Penthouse

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

South Melbourne Market [Melbourne 2024]

Over here at South Melbourne Market is a little further away from the place i stay, but i like that there are still many stalls ranging from dry to wet markets as well as fresh seafood meals to eat at the spot. Bought a few local nuts, fruits, coffee and fresh oysters and prawns. It was delicious together with the sea salt, pepper and tabasco. Saw a few similar hardware stores selling things that existed in Singapore, but it is generally more expensive here. Dairy, Coffee, Chocolate and Gelato were generally cheaper here than most parts of the world. But well, I think it is still a good place to visit when you are in Melbourne, but the important note is that you have to take note of the opening hours and days. They closed 3 days out of a week.

Address: 322-326 Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC 3205, Australia | This place is a little far from my AirBnb Penthouse. It takes about 11 minutes drive or between 20 to 30 minutes for Public Transport like the Train or Buses.

Operating Hours: Monday - Closed | Tuesday - Closed | Wednesday - 8AM to 4PM | Thursday - Closed | Friday - 8AM to 5PM | Saturday - 8AM to 4PM | Sunday - 8AM to 4PM

Panda Hot Pot 蜀大侠火锅 [Melbourne 2024]

In 2019 this restaurant actually took over the old Dracula’s site and transformed it into a different kind of themed restaurant called Panda Hot Pot. They have free nightly entertainment to combine with hotpot dining. Panda Hot Pot was originally established in the Sichuan province of China. Of course this is not new and is widely available across many countries. What i truly love is the interior in their restaurant where they have a giant dragon structure inside. To be frank, the exterior seems pretty normal or old. As usual, price of the overall ingredients were very expensive. If you said that this is one of the flavorful here in Melbourne, well yeah. But this sort of meals in Malaysia and Singapore, will be much better in terms of quality and even the price as well. Hence we didn't ordered much. I like the toilet's basin very much and will consider doing this at my future home. 😝 All in all, i give it a 5/10 rating.

Address: 100 Victoria St, Carlton VIC 3053, Australia | Side note: In Singapore, we also have 100 Victoira Street which is our National Library, but in Melbourne, it is pointing to this Panda Hot Pot 蜀大侠火锅 😆| It takes around 10 to 15 minutes walk from our AirBnb Penthouse.

Operating Hours: 12:00 – 15:00 17:00 – 23:00 Carnegie Sunday to Thursday 12:00 – 15:00 17:00 – 21:45 Friday and Saturday 12:00 – 15:00 17:00 – 23:00

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

A break from the long distance walking at Brunetti [Melbourne 2024]

Brunetti cafe is originated in Australia. It is a casual coffee joint brunch concept which offers combination of Gelateria, Cioccolateria and Pasticceria. In fact, they did opened a few branches in Singapore as well, but not sure whether they still existed today in Singapore. In Singapore, we often chill with kopi or tei, but here in Melbourne, we sit inside this cafe to enjoy our Tea with Milk to chill. They had many cakes and pasteries to enjoy here. Looking at this, i'm planning to get a birthday cake back in Singapore to find out about this cafe. [Update 9.30AM] Seems that Brunetti cafe had pulled out of Singapore. 😞At the very least, I tried it at Melbourne already.

Home of the World's Most Instagrammed Cake | Black Star Pastry [Melbourne 2024]

Came to this Black Star Pastry at Melbourne which is another "MUST-COME" cafe. Upon arriving, it was very cold at around 10 degrees. So we got ourselves some Coffee and a few cakes. Being the home of the world's most instagrammed cake, i guess i never did a good job taking pictures of these cakes. While we are there, several other Youtubers with "Professional Cameras" were doing their job of taking professional photographs of these cakes. 😁In terms of taste, all the cakes were simply above 6/10 ratings which is not so bad as most nice nice cakes are just nice on the outside and not the inside. So I got to say that these cakes are worth coming for when you are in Melbourne.

Address: Shop 4/8 Driver Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

First "Laneways" in Melbourne | Degraves Street [Melbourne 2024]

Degraves Street which is north of Flinder Railway Station is one of the first Laneways in Melbourne. They have literally many cafes along these lanes. And even with such big numbers of cafes and seats there, it is often very crowded with people chilling out. So we managed to settle on one of the cafe where we found seats there for the 7 of us. There are some shops in the area to look around as well.

Hosier Lane [Melbourne 2024]

Melbourne's most-celebrated laneway for street art, Hosier Lane's cobbled length draws camera-wielding crowds to its colorful canvas of graffiti, stencils and art installations. The changing subject matter runs from political to countercultural, spiced with irreverent humour.

Located just a few minutes walk away from the famous St Paul's Cathedral, this is also one of the places to visit when you are visiting Melbourne. In this location, you will see plenty of graffiti and art which is unique in this little lane. My mum actually asked one of the locals here why in other streets, people are drawing funny graffiti even at some private buildings? The local said, it is a piece of their culture. 😂

Airbnb Landed | Luxe on Morris | Port Campbell [Melbourne 2024]

One night stay at Port Campbell after the long road trip at the great ocean road. It is a big house with 3 bedrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 balconies and 1 grand kitchen. Garage is not for us to park our vehicle here, instead we will need to park outside this compound which is a 20 seconds walk away. It is considered as my second AirBNB experience here, but they actually charged us for cleaning fees for one of the bedroom's stain where we didn't even use it at all. Of course we had to reject and fortunately no more silly drama after that. This area is quite ulu, but considering ok since it is an area which is very far away from the cities. Simple groceries can still be obtained from a 20 minutes drive away and they only have roughly 1 or 2 proper restaurant for your meals here. But of course don't expect to be good. So we ownself cook in this premises. It is just a resting point which we only spent like 15 hours here and we proceed to drive back to other attractions in the area before heading back to the cities.

Cost for One Night Stay: SGD431.80 enough for 7 Paxs
Check-in: 1500hrs to 2100hrs | Check-out: Before 1000hrs | Self Check-in with Lockbox
Address: 23 Great Ocean Road Unit 3, Port Campbell, VIC 3269, Australia

Freshest and Best Fish & Chips | Apollo Bay Fishermen's Co-Op [Melbourne 2024]

Basically when i arrived here, there were big winds, raining, and its very cold. We were wearing lots of clothes and jackets, but the cold still goes into our bones. However, we were already here and this is a MUST TRY in this Great Ocean Road journey. We actually ordered way overaboard, as we thought that the portion might not be enough. Lobster meat is a little tough, not sure whether it is due to the cold weather here. But the fish and chips were totally great which i will give a 9/10 for it. Lobster i guess you can skip, but if you want to try, can order a half lobster portion will do. There are limited seats in this area, so best to plan on a weekday instead. Not forgetting that coming here to order on a weekend, will occurred a weekend extra surcharge. 🤨 Also from this location, you will get a beautiful sea view as well.

Address: 2 Breakwater Rd, Apollo Bay VIC 3233, Australia | 3 hours drive from my AirBnb Penthouse in Melbourne Central | 1 hours 30 minutes drive from my AirBnb Landed in Port Campbell

Operating Hours: Monday - Closed | Tuesday to Sunday - 11AM to 7PM

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

Mount Franklin Sparkling Water [Melbourne 2024]

Over at Melbourne, cafe is used to serve sparkling water together with the coffee you ordered there. It really rinse the aftertaste and let you enjoy the coffee even more. Over at the supermarket while shopping for mineral water, they had many sparkling mineral water off their shelves. I like it when you can drink water with carbonated effect and help to digest your food to disperse the gas in your stomach. Best of all, it is water and not Light Coke which contains some guilt when drinking it. Bought some bottles of sparkling water back to SG and really enjoying it. Now i am thinking of getting sodastream. 🫣 

KIA Carnival MPV Rental for the whole trip [Melbourne 2024]

Rented the Kia Carnival MPV which is enough for 8 passengers for 4 days. Price is around SGD$406 without including extra baby seat. So this car is running on diesel and should be the most economic option. I think driving in Australia is quite relaxing as everyone on the road is very "chill" and drive slowly. It is utilizing well as we used this car to drive along the Great Ocean Road towards Port Campbell where we stayed there for a night and drove towards our Penthouse back in Melbourne CBD area. It really spent lots of hours on the road and stop along some places for sightseeing and stocking up, drinks, fuel and food. So far the car is comfortable and powerful. But due to the nature of the road in Melbourne CBD, its quite confusing and the worst thing is having a car, the parking fee is a killer. 😑 Imagine having to pay just for the night parking AUD$40+ everyday is 🤨. Not forgetting that the parking at the Crown Casino is even worst. Entry straightaway take away AUD$35. 🥵 One more note is better get insurance. It is a must for car rental.

Booked From: Booking Dot Com Melbourne

The American Doughnut Kitchen [Melbourne 2024]

Operating from the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne since 1950, this hot jam doughnuts had been existed for sibeh long to serve thousands of customers every week from their 1950’s era bus.

Below is the American Doughnut history in Melbourne:
In 1950 two friends, Arnold Bridges, a confectioner and Dave Christie, a fitter & turner owned a wood yard together and then, purchased a doughnut business from a German confectioner, Mr Kiffer. Originally, the German Doughnut Kitchen, changing the name to the American Doughnut Kitchen (ADK), reflected the popularity of Americans in Melbourne at the time. The pair, along with Dave’s mother Lucy and Arnold’s wife Vera, began selling the hot jam doughnuts in the Queen Victoria Market. So it existed till Melvin comes here to taste it. 😂 As tested, they preferred card payment rather than cash and the transaction is fast despite the long queue when I'm there. The donut were good, bought 5 for AUD$10. It is really hot and they does not place it there till its cold. So i give a 8/10 and it really deserve coming down to try it for yourself.

Address: F-Shed (Outside), Queen Victoria Market (QVM, 470 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Operating Hours: Monday - Closed | Tuesday - 7AM to 3PM | Wednesday - Closed | Thursday - 7AM to 3PM | Friday - 7AM to 3PM | Saturday - 6AM to 4PM | Sunday - 7AM to 4PM

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

Flinders Street Railway Station [Melbourne 2024]

Flinders Street Station is Australia's oldest train station, and with its prominent green copper dome, distinctive yellow facade, arched entrance, tower, and clocks, it is one of Melbourne's most recognizable landmarks. Why is it so famous? Because Flinders Street Station is home to Australia's longest railway platform, though much of the platform is restricted to members of the public. This platform is also the 4th longest in the world ! To me, it is basically a beautiful place to take picture on a piece of great history. The place can be quite touristy with lots of little shops in the area as well as coffee places. Many people came here at least a day and night to see the unique views of this railway station.

Address: Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It is about 15 to 20 minutes walk from my AirBnb's Penthouse.

MONOPOLY DREAMS Melbourne [Melbourne 2024]

There are only two Monopoly Dreams attractions in the world, one in Hong Kong and the another is right at Melbourne, Australia. Typically the Monopoly Dream retail store is opened for visitors without the need to purchase a ticket. The ticket is quite expensive at AUD$49.50 per adult. Children below 3 years of age is FREE ! The good thing about these special store is that they are selling those limited edition for Melbourne Dreams Collector's Edition. I'm impressed that they actually do sell many premium sets there ! Really caught off guard, the most premium costs around AUD$1088+. Very good wood case with the premium board there. I might really get that one day. For now, my budget had been stretched quite a lot. But bought one of the Monopoly Dreams Limited Edition to add on to my Monopoly Collections !! Other than the board itself, they sell very nice key chains as well as T-Shirts as well. Worth going especially if you are a monopoly fan.

Address: Lower Ground Floor, Melbourne Central, 290 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | Typically the mall is just opposite my AirBnb Penthouse, so about 6 minutes walk to reach there.

Operating Hours: Monday to Wednesday - 10AM to 7PM | Thursday to Friday - 10AM to 9PM | Saturday to Sunday - 10AM to 7PM

[World's Best Crossiant] Lune Bakery Crossiant [Melbourne 2024]

Personally tried the best crossiant in Melbourne and I got to say that it is indeed perfect. Price is a little pricy, but the average crossiant price here is around this price range as well. Therefore, i think it is worth trying only the best for such price point. They only sell these few crossiant choices which is their speciality. Take the order and wait for them to pack into boxes. Queue is long and they only had a few seats inside. So we took back and enjoy it. Well, i will give it 10/10, so when you are in Melbourne, be sure to test this out as i also saw many people bring it to the airport also 😅

Address: Shop 16/161 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It takes about 14 minutes train ride or 20 minutes walk from my AirBnb Penthouse

Operating Hours: Monday to Friday - 7.30AM to 3PM | Saturday and Sunday - 8AM to 3PM

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

Airbnb Penthouse | Sub Penthouse Collection 6510 [Melbourne 2024]

In the hearts of Central Melbourne just across Victoria State Library. This penthouse is just at the door step of Melbourne Central Train Station. Or best described as it is directly opposite Melbourne Central Mall.

Typically my first AirBnB experience at this serviced residence. As mentioned above, this is the second highest building in Melbourne and it is in the most convienence location within the CBD area with plenty of amenties around the area. Although i am just staying at Level 65, it is classified as a penthouse as well. We are also able to head up to the highest floor where their gym, function room and library are located at. From the library, we are able to view very beautiful views without the need of any admission fee. Hence we skipped the Melbourne Sky Deck. The stay were good and have a living room, open concept kitchen, three bedrooms and two toilets. Will recommend this stay for anyone who wants to visit Melbourne.

Cost for 7 Night Stay: SGD2520 enough for 7 Paxs
Check-in: 1500hrs | Check-out: Before 1100hrs | Key is at the bicycle stand 😂
Address: 228 La Trobe Street 65, Melbourne, Australia

Uniquely Aussie Company | Hungry Jack [Melbourne 2024]

Aussie company Hungry Jack's is the master Australian franchise of the Burger King Corporation. Not sure if only this outlet, but i see that majority of the crowd supports Hungry Jack's more than other fast food chain. Their burger uses 100% Australia Beef and Australians are proud of their own produce. Almost every groceries products, they will indicate Australia-made. If not all, they will also indicate like 87% Australian made in that particular product. So i ordered their chicken burger, nuggets and fries. I underestimate their fries. It is so much better than Singapore. As for burger and nuggets, not really nice la. So burged and nuggets, i will give 4/10 and 7/10 for their fries. To be frank, I am more interested that this queue system is much better and imagine having 14 self-ordering kiosk in the outlet is "Efficient".

Address: 260 La Trobe St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | Basically just 1 minute walk from my AirBnb Penthouse.

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

Royal Arcade [Melbourne 2024]

Built in 1869, Royal Arcade is Melbourne's oldest covered shopping precinct and the longest standing arcade in the country. Connecting Bourke Street Mall, Elizabeth Street and Little Collins Street, this ornate, heritage-listed arcade hosts a range of popular boutiques, cafes and specialty stores. Located in the heart of Melbourne CBD, there are many shops and eateries there, but the main thing is the beautiful designs of the building.

Basically nothing much here except for the checker design. The famous Koko Black which is the original site had been moved from here to the new Melbourne Central area where i purchased more than AUD$80 worth of chocolates there. You can choose to skip this area if you want.

Address: 335 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It takes about 4 minutes drive or 10 minutes walk from my AirBnb Penthouse.

Queen Victoria Market [Melbourne 2024]

Queen Victoria Market pretty meets all of a typical tourists' needs. The food were good especially the hot dog sausage. Noticed that the raw meat were quite cheap. Even cheaper than in Singapore, probably due to Australia is able to produce many pork and beef domestically and hence lower the cost of the meat products. However the cooked food were very expensive. But definitely a place to come when one visited Melbourne.

Address: Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It takes 5 minutes drive or 11 minutes walk from my AirBnb Penthouse

Operating Hours: Monday - Closed | Tuesday - 6AM to 3PM | Wednesday - Closed | Thursday - 6AM - 3PM | Friday - 6AM to 3PM | Saturday - 6AM to 4PM | Sunday - 6AM to 4PM

The uniqueness of KFC burgers [Melbourne 2024]

Ordered both the tenders and 2 piece chicken set meal. Total damage costs $25.90. Seems that the fast food here isn't very good. French fries is not bad. But the rest of the meat, whipped potato, bread and tenders really is lousier than expected. Rating: 2/10. Worst of all, the price is very expensive. Not worth for the price and effort to come here.

Address: 401 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It takes 6 minutes walk from my AirBnb Penthouse

Operating Hours: Monday to Thursday - 9AM to 11PM | Friday - 9AM to 12AM | Saturday - 10AM to 12AM | Sunday - 10AM to 10PM

The 12 Apostles [Melbourne 2024]

The 12 Apostles are located 275 kilometres west of Melbourne which takes us approximately 4 hours drive along the Great Ocean Road. As of current, when I try to count them, it is only left with 8 out of 12 as the rest of the apostles had fallen. Due to the continual erosion affecting the limestone stacks and cliffs, the rock stacks will keep changing. 

Quite surprised that there were many tourists visiting the area as well from across the world. All came to take photos of what is currently remaining. This is the type of trip where we will just come once in our lifetime. 

Address: Great Ocean Rd & Booringa Rd, Princetown VIC 3269, Australia which is about 10 minutes drive away from my AirBnb Landed at Port Campbell

Operating Hours: 9AM to 5PM Daily

Best Gelato in Melbourne | Pidapipo Laboratorio [Melbourne 2024]

After trying the gelato ice cream here. We tried Chocolate Sea Salt, Salted Caramel, Nutella and Rock Melon Cream. 2 scoops for AUD8.10 each. I give it a 10/10 for the Rock Melon Cream, 7/10 for the rest of the flavours. To get a 10/10, i will recommend everything to have a try here. It will definitely be worth it !

Address: 429-431 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065, Australia | It takes 10 minutes drive from my AirBnb Penthouse.

Operating Hours: Monday to Friday - 12PM to 10.30PM | Saturday and Sunday - 12PM to 11PM

AmateurCraft Rating: 

[0 to 2 - Cannot Make It (CMI)]

[3 to 4 - Edible, but not great at all]

[5 to 6 - Normal Day Food, decent "everyday" food]

[7 to 8 - It is delicious, but still have room for improvement to perfection]

[9 to 10 - Perfect ! One of the godly quality that can be eaten everyday without thinking.]

Disclaimer: All information, details and reviews are true at this point of posting. Under no circumstances will AmateurCraft be held responsible or liable in any way for any claims, damages, losses, expenses, costs or liabilities.

The Great Ocean Road [Melbourne 2024]

Basically speaking, i think this is good for foreign tourist to go there just once or maybe twice in our lifetime. The drive to the respective attraction are really too far. Most of the time were spent on the driving with steep turning around the low mountains. But of course along the way, you will tend to see many sheeps, cows and horses. Only a handful of cafes, shops and petrol stations. But the ocean really had pretty views and objective is to visit the main attractions so car is definitely a must. So it really takes like more than 4 hours to reach 12 apostles from Central Melbourne CBD. 

Victoria State Library [Melbourne 2024]

Its a pretty famous library in the hearts of CBD and educational institutes, Victoria State Library. Can see lots of youngsters and elderly folks around and within the library to enjoy themselves as well as tourists like me. It is indeed very beautiful and full of historical information about this library there and lots of Librarians on the ground helping to provide wide range of enquires on the library services. Working at a local library, i saw many familar devices there like the MicroFlim Stations and Multimedia Stations there like in Singapore. 

Of course regardless whether you worked in the library or not, i think it really worth your time to visit Melbourne Main Library.

Address: 328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | It will take about 7 minutes walk from my AirBnb Penthouse. But we are using the Melbourne Central Station to link to another exit at this location, so it much easier to walk across.

Operating Hours: 10AM to 6PM everyday

The Melbourne Central Clock [Melbourne 2024]

The Giant Pocket Watch in the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre weighs two tonnes. Every hour on the dot, a marionette display with Australian galahs, cockatoos and two minstrels performing Waltzing Matilda drops down from the bottom of the watch. The watch is located on level two of the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre at Melbourne.

Address: Melbourne Central, 300 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia | Basicially it is just opposite my AirBnb Penthouse.

Trial to utilize Youtrip 80% in Melbourne [Melbourne 2024]

Had set aside about AUD$686 budget on my YouTrip Mastercard for this trip and planning to utilize all transactions using this Youtrip card. And carried about 20% in cash just for Non-Card transactions if needed. Because everything such as tickets, lodging and car rental had been paid for, so the budget is just for the rest of the personal expenditure. One thing good about this card is that I can lock the card when i don't intend to use. This card can also withdraw hard cash at multiple ATMs across the country. Of course if i will to withdraw SGD$400 and below, no extra fees. Once you exceed this amount, you will need to pay the excess at 2% per amount withdrawn. I think this is good enough for places where they required cash instead of digital payment. But from what I can see, card and digital payment is accessible throughout Melbourne, Australia. In fact, they encourage digital payment rather than cash. Best of all, I personally felt that Youtrip is really good when spending abroad as I instantly can see the past history transaction made from the Youtrip app easily. So I do recommend for those who have yet to try out and have the intention to sign up, you can click from the link below to get some perks while signing up a Youtrip account.

Interested? You can click my referral here to subscribe to YouTrip and get $5 in your account.

Using both of these Sim Cards in Australia [Melbourne 2024]

Basically, I bought the Telstra45 with 45GB Data for SGD$28.90. Both of the packaging looks different from what I ordered, but had verified with the seller that it is the correct product. So below, I will list down whether Sim Card activation and network in Melbourne CBD how good it is so that you can consider yourselves if you might want to get these Sim Cards if you visit Australia in future. In actual fact. Telstra coverage covers 99.6% of Australia's population. The instruction for this Sim card, we need to reach Australia and cross through Australia Immigration first. After passport is scanned, only then we can go through a specific website to register with our passport details, then we can placed in the Sim card into our phone to use. This card leh, really made me encountered some issue on the first day lah. Many complicated steps to activate the card, but eventually managed to settle with the technical support and achieved 5G Network. So 😅😐

Bought this Australia Sim Card from NPN Travel 10GB of 4G Data for SGD$15.50. According to Australia Network study group, Telstra comes top for Excellent Consistent Quality with a score of 83.1%, followed by Vodafone's 80% and Optus' 77.2%. Basically this is one of the easiest option where you don't have to register anything. Just need to be at Australia's shore and you insert the SIM Card and turn on data roaming and it is ready to use. Damn simple. 💪

Special Melbourne Trip 2024 Series

From today till next month, i will be sharing Melbourne trip information and details for my trip. Of course today is the day where I will kickstart this trip and document as much as possible here. It is a challenge I give to myself to shorten the release of information even while I am now exploring this wonderful country. I am currently taking the overnight Scoot Flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Melbourne airport which is also known as Tullamarine Airport. Book this flight for more than 8 months ago and also to avoid important meetings and activities along the way. [I'm not that bastard to siam things one. My Integrity level is 9.5/10😝] By the time you see this post, I am still in the air in transition towards Melbourne.

So the total cost of this flight is SGD$1240 for three pax including my 1 year old daughter. As you know the distance between Singapore to Melbourne is around 6,066.01 km, the flight will take us 7 hours and 15 minutes to fly over. Melbourne Time zone is 2 hours ahead of Singapore. So when Singapore Time is 9AM, Melbourne Time will be 11AM. Hence there will be a little adjustment to the time difference and to adjust our sleep. Therefore just to take note that in my post, the operating hours are aligned to Melbourne timing.

My decision on my first 360 camera | Insta360 X4

It took 5 days to arrive when I ordered from Insta360 on the launch day of this new product, Insta360 X4. It is in fact the 4th generation of the Insta360 X Series. Insta360 is first founded in 2014 which is 10 years ago to empower people to freely share experiences – full, immersive, lived experiences – no matter the time or place. There are many models, but would like to touch on only the X Series.

So the history of the X series release are as follows:
Insta360 One X - October 2018
Insta360 One X2 - October 2020
Insta360 X3 - September 2022
Insta360 X4 - April 2024

After using for the past few days, my overall damage is SGD$996 where I purchased quite a number of accessories such as the Premium Lens Guard Insta360 X4 Set, Utility Frame and Insta360 own 256GB Memory Card. The connection between the Phone application and the Insta360 X4 is pretty seamless where I can easily export files to my phone. So memory capacity is isn't really a concern if I do my daily backup after a long day's shoot. Coming from a GoPro Hero 11 user, I can say that I am impressed with the video quality as well as the capabilities to capture good 360 videos. Take first and frame later is just too good to be true. You do not really need to plan how to shoot, but rather just record everything first and edit later. So this product just came earlier than expected for me to seriously utilize for my awesome trip tomorrow !! 😌

No-fly zones for drones in Singapore

Happy Labour Day all and happy holiday ! With regards to the above piece of news, there are majority lots of No-fly zones for drones in Singapore. Initially I was shopping for aerial camera system to take along my trip overseas and of course locally. However, it seems that worldwide had quite strict rules on Drones. Singapore is already very small and not being able to utilize drones in many places, defeat the purpose of getting one. Therefore, I had given up getting drones for all purposes.