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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The Boatbuilders Yard

Chris, his mum and I went to attend an investors and home owners expo a few Sundays ago. It was pretty much a huge empty hall filled with mini white tents and individuals exhibitions. We scheduled our day to attend the talks that we were interested in. Most of them were talking about how to buy your first home/which location is considered the 'hot spots'. Pretty interesting day.

The talks were pretty much back to back so we didn't have much time to do anything else. We did however schedule some time to go to a nearby cafe - The Boatbuilders Yard - for a quick lunch. Chris' mum recommended this place. It was a wonderful choice, the ambience was great and the views were amazing (overlooking the Yarra River).

Chris and I both ordered the Wagyu Burger and Chai Lattes, Chris' mum has a beef pie and pumpkin soup. Their servings were huge! If I had known, I would have shared with someone. Regret max.. 

The cafe is situated on a pier and is designed like a Boatbuilders workshop, it feels like a cosy hangout - perfect to relax and share a cuppa with some friends. They even have umbrellas and blankets for you to borrow in case it rains or is too cold outside. So considerate

The one really unique thing about this place is that we had to wait for our buzzer to go off - indicating our food was ready and then we had to walk all the way out and around the cafe to reach a little window (resembling a canteen) to pick up our own food. That was something new for both Chris and I, we had no idea where we were going and had to look for and follow the signs.

I'll definitely come back here again on a day when I have more time so I can relax and not feel too rushed.

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Wetlands

So happy that the weather is starting to warm up. Melbourne's weather has been crazy this August. According to the bureaus, it was the wettest August since 1991. It wouldn't be Melbourne if it didn't include a few warmer days in the mix. If you're a Melbournian or know anything minute about Melbourne, you would probably know that we have a 4 season in 1 day policy, which in my opinion - sucks! It makes it so hard to dress and even more difficult to plan road trips away. 

Because August was a really disgusting wet month, when we hit a slightly warmer day, we wanted to take advantage of it. We walked to the wetlands near my place to feed the ducks. It such a calming, quiet place that I love to frequent in the warmer weather. As you can tell from the above pics, Spring is very close!

Feeding ducks wouldn't be complete without the swarm of seagulls -argh! They're super cunning and really fast, I think about 4/5th of our bread was eaten up by them. I was quite annoyed at them so in my bad mood, I mentioned to Chris that I heard from friends that if you feed seagulls panadol, their stomachs will explode - fun fact for the day. (well, not exactly that fun if it's true and probably not even a fact.)

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A Weekend Away - Part 1

A group of 6 of us went on a weekend (2 days, 1 night) road trip to Portsea and stayed at our friend, Alex's holiday house. Chris (the bf) came over to pick me up as my place is on the way down to the coastal area. As we were late, we decided to drop by McDonalds for breakfast and coffee. The burgers were steamy hot. So fresh.. and the Hazelnut Latte was amaaazing ~!
 

Look at the steam coming out.. *drools*

 

Our main purpose of this getaway was to spend an evening at the hot springs, we booked ourselves in for the late night session (which is great because it's a lot cheaper and not as crowded!)

 

We met the others at D.O.C Mornington to enjoy some authentic Italian food. Alex suggested we try this place and because he is such a foodie, we knew it must be good! The place is very unique as it's connected to its own grocery store. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a picture of the interior, it was way too busy! I did however take a picture of the Chamomile tea that Christine and I had. It's actually the first tea bag that I've seen presented so nicely, the taste is very fresh too - a little bit of a floral taste. Love ♥ The food was amazing but because we were all starving, we started eating before I had the chance to take any pictures TT

Look how pretty my tea bag is. Chris got me a whole box! ♥

 

We reached Alex's place around 3 and lounged around the fireplace (it was raining so heavily) playing card games etc. I didn't think 6 adults could enjoy snap so much - damn painful though!

Thankfully, the rain stopped which meant we could hit the hot springs without having to worry about the staff chasing us our before closing but a little drizzle whilst you're in the springs is the best feeling ever!

Here are some amazing shots of the sunset from Alex's balcony before we left to relax our evening away.
 

 

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