Melbourne - Photos from the Diana Mini

I love shooting on film because of the element of surprise. Unlike digital cameras, you never know what you are going to get. I especially love the vignetting and lovely retro feel of the photos when you use a Lomo, Holga or Diana.

Anyway, I finally used up the remaining film from my Melbourne trip on our honeymoon in Maldives and developed my photos a few weeks back.

Here are some snapshots taken with the Diana Mini.

Part of the film got accidentally exposed when I opened the camera cover thinking the film was fully rewound, but I thought the overexposed photos turned out rather interesting from the light leaks (the two photos below the one of the license plate).

 

Down Under Days 9 and 10: Mini Golf and Misc Photos

Before we returned to the city, there was one last thing we wanted to do.

Play mini golf at The Grampians Adventure Golf!

We used to play it quite often when we were living in upstate New York, so it was nice to re-live the game again.

It's funny how competitive we can get when we play with each other, such as trying our darnest to make sure no one's cheating on the number of strokes!

Then it was a long 3-4 hours drive back to Melbourne. By the time we checked into our hotel and wanted to grab a bite, it was almost time for a very early dinner. We took a tram to the city centre, explored the alleyways which the city's famous for and settled at this restaurant called The Quarter.

The remaining photos below are miscellaneous photos from what's left of our trip.

Hardware Lane for brunch with Charissa and her hubby

Brunch was at Hardware Societe, recommended by Charissa. The food and service was really good!

Took a walk with her to the City Library, where she was going to study for her exams

Beautiful interiors. I wouldn't mind studying in a place like that :)

Charissa highly recommended us to check out Brunswick Street, to get a feel of the eclectic, less commercial side of shopping in Melbourne.

(XL, YZ, MY! I bought your keychains from here :))

We had dinner at Richmond Hill Cafe & Larder at Richmond. Very good food!

Yum yum!

We would ogle at the wide selection of cakes at Acland Street near our hotel every night.

Hmmmmmm

After 3 months of intermittent writing, I'm finally done with my Melbourne entries. Oh how i miss travelling. Can't wait for the next holiday!

Down Under Day 8: Horse Riding at The Grampians

One of the things I was really looking forward to for this trip was horse riding in the Australian outbacks.

It's something I have always wanted to try since young, so you can imagine how excited i was when i woke up that morning.

The plan was to go to The Grampians Horse Riding Adventures which i had found through internet research, prior to our trip.

I cooked breakfast with whatever little ingredients we had from our trip to the supermarket. As i mentioned previously, the supermarket was not well stocked. We only managed to buy a tiny box of button mushrooms and a carton of eggs. The loaf of bread came complimentary with our stay. No bacon, no ham or sausages, none of those fresh ingredients for that sumptuous breakfast i was looking forward to cooking.

But we just had to make do with whatever we had.

Our sad looking breakfast. I wish the portion of mushrooms could have been bigger but that's all we had, unfortunately.

En route to the Horseriding Centre, we spotted this female Kangaroo and her joey. You really need to be extra alert when driving in Australia, to ensure you don't knock down any wildlife.

We also spotted a field of sheep and what we found very amusing, was how they all stopped in their heels to STARE at the car, when we parked to take photos. Reminded me of this movie The Invaders starring Nicole Kidman.

After a 90 mins drive, we reached the horse riding centre to discover that there wasn't a single soul.

Our hearts sank.

We were so disappointed that we weren't able to try out horse riding. As we were supposed to drive back to Melbourne city the next day, there was no way we could return on another day to try our luck.

Just as we were starting the car to make the long drive back to Halls Gap, a tall man walked up to us and introduced himself as Cameron. He told us we should have made a reservation because he wasn't at the stables all day, but he could take us riding in the afternoon with another couple who had already booked a slot with him. He then suggested we go do some sightseeing at the McKenzie Falls and have lunch before returning.

The less than impressive McKenzie Falls

After lunch, we returned to the horse riding centre and Cameron gave us a short introduction to horse riding, before fitting us with safety helmets and boots.

I had asked Cameron to give us smaller horses to ride, if possible, especially since I was so small. He showed us to our horses, Pete and Sebastian, which were already saddled up. According to him, our horses were "best buds" and would "take things slowly", perfect for a couple like us with no prior experience.

After we got on our horses, Cameron taught us to get the horse to move, stop and turn. We were given the analogy of it being like driving a car, moving from gear to gear.

Cameron was right. Our horses were very easy-going. Too relaxed in fact! The fiance had some trouble getting good old Sebastian to move faster and lagged behind while the rest of the group was constantly moving ahead.

Once we got the hang of things, we were taught to trot. Trotting by the way is extremely physically exhausting. You aren't supposed to just sit back and relax on the saddle as the horse trots but literally need to lift your butt up and down, in sync with the rhythm of the horse's trot, to protect your butt from the impact of all that bouncing (does that make sense to you?).

We spent the next 2 hours alternating between trotting and walking among the outbacks. No cantering for us as we were novice riders.

Not that i was complaining.

I could feel the adrenalin rush even while trotting and there were times where i felt like i might have gotten thrown off by the speed.

I had some trouble with Pete towards the end because he kept stopping to feed. Every time i pulled the reins up, he would bend his head down to chomp at the grass again. Look who's the master now?

The 2.5 hours were over before we knew it, as we made our way back to the stables.

Even though my butt and thigh muscles ached for the next few days from the trotting (you have no idea), I loved the experience.

Glad to be able to strike this off my 'must do' list.

Doubt i'll ever be good enough to gallop with the wind (a secret childhood dream of mine), but this, is good enough for me :)

Down Under Day 7: The Grampians Part 2

Once we had checked into our lodge, we decided to make full use of time and do some hiking, despite the ominous weather. After all, that's why we decided to include the Grampians in our itinerary - because we love the outdoors.

I first got hooked on hiking when I tried it in Bali in 2008, where we did an early morning climb to the summit of Mt Batur. Though i struggle with steep terrain and the descent (i blame it on the short legs and the fear of heights), i enjoy the changing landscape and that sense of accomplishment whenever i reach my end point.

But i digress.

Based on the information we had found from a website on the different walks in the Grampians, we decided to start off with an easy hike at the The Balconies Lookout (the walk is graded as Easy with 50 metres in elevation), which according to the Visit Melbourne webbie, is a great place to take in panoramic views.

Grey and foggy on our drive there

One of the lookout points near the carpark. A pity the weather wasn't clear.
The start of the trail to the Balconies Lookout. The return trip took us 45 minutes in total.

Little Red Hiking Hood

I'm not into bird watching but I was very excited to spot this Kookaburra on our way there. Thanks to Wikipedia, i've found out that it's a Laughing Kookaburra.

At the Balconies Lookout

The two sandstone rocks jutting from the cliff face are nicknamed the Jaws of Death. Again, i wish we had better weather. The view would have been much better.

We then drove to the Boroka Lookout, which was known as one of the best lookouts in the Grampians. This time round, it was just a short 15 minutes walk from the carpark to the lookout point. Amazing how the weather could morph so quickly.

We were very thankful for the clear weather, and the double rainbows :)

Our last stop of the day (racing against sunset again) was The Pinnacle. There're two routes leading to The Pinnacle from different car parks. We chose the easier route, a 4.2km return walk graded as Medium with an elevation of 110m.

And it was back to gloomy and grey weather again. It was drizzling almost the whole return trip and we were wet and cold.

Because i was too busy getting my footing right and making sure i didn't slip among the wet rocks, I don't have photos from the first 3/4 of the ascent. Photos below were taken when we were nearing The Pinnacle.

Nowhere near The Pinnacle

The weather got clearer and clearer as we ascended. Hooray!

The only people we met at The Pinnacle was an Australian couple who had taken the tougher route to reach the summit. Kudos to them for making the wet and slipper climb in their Wellington boots! By the way, it was really scary going up the steps to the lookout point where they were standing in the pic. You can't really tell from the photo, but it was so windy I felt like I was going to get blown off any moment!

The beautiful view from The Pinnacle. Reminds me of how small our existence is really.

I guess he likes to live life on the edge, literally

Yay, I made it!

The fiance led the way on the descent and pointed out the yellow arrows to follow. If I were lost in a National park, i'd never be able to find my way out :P

Back to gloomy weather again

We just had to take these 'accomplishment' photos

It was then back to Halls Gap for dinner

Nothing like a warm hot choclate to end the physically exhausting day