Kayaking

Following our Chez Drè lunch - read about that here, we went to Studley park to make the most of the nice warm weather and go kayaking. Yay!

Personally, I love kayaking,takes me away from my busy lifestyle and let's me relax with nature. Not forgetting that it's also a great workout!! Boy, did my arms hurt afterwards.

As Chris and I have kayaked before, we told Cassy and Ethan to come with shorts and sandals as there's a high probability that they'll get a little wet from the splash back when you move your oars. We all got changed, slapped our sunscreen on and booked 2 two-seater kayaks for 1 hour, put our life jackets on then off we went!

 Our plan was to go 35 mins one way and 25 mins back (since coming back is a lot easier once you're familiar with the technique) but that was not the case with Cassy and Ethan. The both of them kept circling around and the two were so brave that they started rocking the kayak to get it to move. Thankfully they did not capsize!

They got a little better after the crash course from Chris and I but in the end, we thought we should start heading back earlier since they might meet so trouble on the way back to the boathouse.

Chris and I were so far ahead of them that we lost sight of them so we decided to get out at the one hour mark (so we can get our deposit back).

Afterwards, we got milo ice cream to re-energise then went for dinner and movies. We watched 'Gravity'. Lucky me got a buy 1 get 1 free voucher on my movie card. Yay! We enjoyed the movie and company a lot.

Studley Park Boathouse

1 Boathouse Road, 

Kew, 3101,

Victoria, Australia

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Chez Dré

Chez Dré is a café situated opposite the famous South Melbourne market. It’s situated at the end of an alley way and looks like an old factory but the food there is amazing!

Went there on a Saturday with Chris, Cassy and Ethan for brunch before our kayaking adventures.

We were blessed with warm weather that day – it was so beautiful compared to the recent rain that we have been having in Melbourne (what happened to Spring!?)

I’ve been to this café three times now and all three time, I’ve ordered their duck sandwich. Amazzzzing! The duck is cooked so well, it melts in your mouth and I’ve never had bread that has been toasted so well.

Cassy and Ethan shared a steak sandwich – which was also amazing!

I got a karmarama juice which contained 9 different fruits. 100% fruit juice = super healthy

And the others got ice coffee, delicious and perfect for the warm weather. (All three of them drank their ice coffees before I had a chance to snap a pic! )

We also decided to spoil ourselves by ordering 2 desserts between the 4 of us. I’ve heard great things about their desserts especially their salted caramel macaron – so that’s what I chose and it didn't fail to meet my expectations!

And Ethan chose the lychee coconut jelly pudding – usually I don’t like the taste of coconut but it was very subtle and the lychee taste was beautiful!

Look at the detailing! So intricate!

Definitely coming back to try some other desserts! Look at their range. Wooww!

We then walked across the road – partly to help digest and partly to get Ethan some oysters. There’s a few oyster bars there, selling $1 for one fresh oyster. Ethan ordered 12 to share with Cassy. Oyster shots! Not Chris and my thing – we hate raw oysters!!

Chez Dré

285-287 Coventry Street,

South Melbourne, 3205

Victoria, Australia

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Alex's Birthday

Chris has been recommending a Japanese Restaurant called Shira Nui to his friends for a while now. We finally had the chance to go there to celebrate Alex's birthday.

It's a small restaurant so we had to book earlier and thankfully secure the last table for 8!

The food there is melt-in-your-mouth amazing!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Below is what we ate that night, seriously making myself so hungry now. Definitely coming again!

Was such a wonderful night filled with great food and awesome company! Going to come again to try the teppanyaki bench!

Shira Nui

247 Springvale Road,

Glen Waverley, 3150

Victoria, Australia

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Enchanted Maze Gardens x Ethan's Birthday

Chris and I have been planning to catch up with our good friends, Cassy and Ethan for a day trip for a while now. We chose a Saturday that happened to coincide with Ethan's Birthday. We all decided that we wanted to go to a late night hot spring session so we planned our day around that. We had brunch, went for a walk to the coast, went cheese tasting, Strawberry farm, enchanted maze gardens, dinner then hot springs.

Ethan mentioned that he wanted to visit the Enchanted Maze Gardens. Chris and I actually wanted to visit this place about a month back but didn't end up going in because we thought the facade looked like it was designed for children and not suitable for us - it also rained that day, which drew us even further away.

We were really blessed with the weather on Saturday. It was forecast to rain that whole weekend but it was such a beautiful sunny Spring day. Chris and I were actually glad we didn't go in the last time because the rain would have spoilt everything as the maze gardens is entirely outdoors. Going in Spring made it so much more enchanting and beautiful, the flowers were in bloom and the trees were luscious green! Look how perfect everything is.

It really is so beautiful inside. The sculptures are perfectly cut out! Really impressive. It's not easy to maintain such a big high-maintenance area!

The lady at reception recommended we visit the Tube Slides and The 3D Spooky Maze first because they close earlier compared to the rest of the park. Good call from her because our favourite hang-out for the day was at the Tube Slides. Too bad it's super tiring because you have to lug these huge tubes

up a super steep hill before you can slide down and get sprayed with water. What's not to love?

Can't say the same about the 3D Spooky Maze. In my opinion, it was quite lame. You walk through these rooms with your funky 3D glasses on and the painting on the walls appear in 3D. I have to admit, I did get freaked out (at the very end, when the air machine popped and steam touched my leg). Props to me for freaking out the others! :P

Whilst we were going through the gardens, we looked up and saw these people tree surfing! Omgoodness, looks like so much fun but too bad, you require a booking to participate. Will definitely find time to go back there to tree surf!

Finished off a jam packed day with a relaxing night at the hot springs.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ETHAN :)

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