Australia Adventure Day 1 - Cairns

27 January 18-

Our SilkAir flight was at 1.10am and I took a day off to chill and pack. Silkair is the only one which provides a direct flight to Cairns. We booked all our three flights via Singapore Airlines, with the domestic flight with Virgin, and our home flight with Singapore Airlines. We booked it in Oct 17 at about $972 per pax and the price increased at least $200 when I checked it at the beginning of the year.

This time, we did not use Changi recommends Wifi but instead buy a data roam plan with Singtel. For Australia, the wifi would cost $12 per day, and the Singel plan of $10 per 1gb seems more cost savvy. Don't forget that we need the electronic travel authority as a visitor to Australia. Thankfully, it is really convenient to apply online. And also, I bought packing cubes for this trip! If you see the packing videos on youtube, one of their tricks is to use packing organisers. I really think that these cubes are great for the storage of clothes. It looks real neat and it is easy to take out as well. You can also separate the clean and used clothes. I bought the Le Fleur series (about $18), a six piece set, from Style Degree. For this series, the quality is really good! I was so happy to receive it.

We reached Changi airport at 10pm. We managed to buy a Longchamp for me, have supper at Pho Street, take a look at the sunflower garden and just sit in the massage chair to chill before we board the plane! Silkair’s in-flight system is a little different - they call it the SilkAir Studio. You need to download their app on your own device and connect to Silkair’s wifi during the flight to enjoy the entertainment. I considered about bringing my iPad over but decided it was too bulky and troublesome. It was just a sleepy flight with very stuffy & blocked nose. The food was average and I preferred  the green curry chicken. About 6 hours plus later, we arrived in CAIRNS!

Travelling makes me go eggcited! 

Indeed, we had a lot of yummy eggs. :D
 

Sun Palm Transfer -
 

We reached at 10am Cairns time, which is 2 hours ahead of Singapore. Prior research has informed me that Sun Palm can provide us with transfer to our hotel. There is a counter right outside, and the staff was quite helpful with our 2-way tickets (A$20 per pax). Do take those brochures and vouchers at the counter because they do provide some good discounts for attractions you may be going! The frequency interval of the shuttle bus is an hour and we were good on the time to catch the 11am bus. 

"Good Day Mate!", our friendly lady driver greeted us as she arrived 5 minutes prior to 11am. Unfortunately, her minibus's aircon was down and we enjoyed the wind with drizzle of rain through the ride. There were a few groups of people, all going to different accomodations, and it was just a matter of location on who gets to reach first. No worries, getting around the CBD is relatively quick.

 Park Regis City Quays - 

We tried Airbnb for the first time and the daily rate was quite affordable. For 7 nights, we paid about $640. I thought it was a cozy area, with a balcony for drying our clothes. It also has the option of a ceiling fan if you don't want to use the aircon. Basic amenities are provided but there would not be any room service every day of course. It was definitely okay with the same sheets for 7 nights but we had to survive with two towels each only (thankfully, they provided 2 each). In such an enclosed room, towels tend to stay wet and cold, so it was great we had the balcony to air it. If you prefer to have someone make up the room everyday, go for the regular hotel accomodation instead. We arrived at the place early but our host was nice to let us leave our luggage in the hotel room while he clean up. It was like we checked in earlier than 1pm.

By the way, we checked out the swimming pool of this hotel as well. There were so many dead flies on the surface of the water and it does not seem properly maintained. I guess nobody really uses the pool.

 

Cruze Coffee, Meldrum Pie & Cairns Museum - 

Our first thing to do was to look for the coffee place recommended - Cruze. We were a bit lost at first but we got used to the directions soon. As we arrived at Cruze, we were overwhelmed with the number of beans we can choose from! It ranges from strong blend to lighter versions and flavoured ones. I went for a mix of the stronger beans (White Knight), while my bf went for the strongest (The Godfather). White Knight is more bitter while Godfather has a soury distinct taste. Both were ice coffees and there is ice cream in it (A$7 each)! We were thinking how nice and bitter it was at first, until we realized that we did not stir the ice cream in. Ice cream in coffee is not my kind of coffee still, but it seems quite common there. The staff were really friendly and gave us an introduction to what we could have. We asked for recommendations for food around there, which brought us to Meldrum.

We were not super hungry so we shared a pie. Even just choosing one pie took us some time to decide. We checked with the staff on what is the best seller and her favourite. The decision was to have the steak cheese pie. The crust is really buttery, crispy and yummy! Unfortunately, the filling is a little too salty. Might just be the seasoning plus the cheese. The steak is more like braised beef type but we still liked it. After some time spent outside familiarizing with the place, seeing some art pieces at the Cairns Museum (Free!), our room was ready and we headed back to sleep!

Dinner at Corea Corea -

On our itinenary, it was to have Korean food! By the way, I did a lot of research on what to eat in Cairns so our food places are mostly planned. It is within Orchid Plaza shopping mall, and it is not air conditioned. Not sure why, but korean pancake always tempts me. I regretted ordering the seafood pancake (A$19.95). It is huge, and I only ate like half before it felt very 腻 and oily. I told my bf to remind me not to order pancake again. But eating this tasty pancake is still very shiok, just that you cannot have too much of it. The other dish is the stonebowl bibimbap (A$14.95) which we were very satisfied with. Have I said before that one should always order bibimbap in stonebowl because hot is nicer? I believe I did, in my Korea post. Heed my advice on this, it is true :p.

Woolworths - 

One of my goals for the trip is to visit the supermarket! We ended up visiting it multiple times anyway. Sometimes, we just go in for the air con (SO COLD) or just to walk through it because the other entrance is nearer to our hotel (One day, we entered in from one side and was told we only had 1 minute before closing. It was quite funny, and we quickly made it to the other entrance). The supermarkets there have special 1/2 price or discounted sections/items and they can really be a good deal. We bought 4 bottles of ginger ale in a pack at A$2.60 only! Unfortunately, the Schweppes gingle ale seems to be a different one from the dry ginger ale we had in Singapore, with a much stronger ginger taste. We left the 3 bottles in the fridge and hopefully the next guest can enjoy the drinks or maybe it was thrown away.

I would also like to introduce my favourite snack found in Australia (recently saw it at Watsons Singapore! Yay!) - Ancient grain twist snacks that taste slightly like murukku! I guess it is just the spices (chilli, paprika, turmeric, cumin). It seems like quite a healthy snack - made of rice, tapioca, yellow pea, chia seeds, poppy seeds, quinoa seeds and etc. I bought this pack at A$1 ++ at the half price section. From then on, I have been actively looking at what are on discount. Machiam like auntie.

That was all for my very first day & very first time in Aussie!
See the poster below. Rest of Asia is represented by Singapore's Gardens by the Bay.

>.<

Sunway Lagoon Christmas Getaway

All I recalled from my previous trip to Sunway Lagoon was the ultrascary ride that goes 360 degrees in a caged up box. I guess that was the Tomahawk. I am not sure why I was so brave to go up that ride because I screamed and struggled till the skin on my legs peeled. Traumatic experience! That was about 10 years ago and it seems like my courage dwindled over the years.

During the Christmas weekend last year, my family were booked for a Sunway Lagoon short trip to relive the moments. Not that I remember much though. Booked a small bus to bring the 10 of us to Resort Suites Bandar Sunway, which is right beside the theme park. It is quite affordable with all the essential kitchen necessities too. Still, pictures online are deceiving. The room is smaller than expected and the things look old and dirty. The floor of the room felt so sticky that we wore our room slippers everywhere. Nevertheless, it is a good deal for around S$244 for 2 nights, inclusive of Sunway Lagoon tickets. I strongly recommend FastPass by the way. It was something we did not get but we saw that the fastpass queue is indeed fast. At the Sunway Lagoon Water Park entrance, we exchanged our hotel tickets for the sunway lagoon wristbands.
 

We started at the round family slide area and walked around the area. There are areas like a mini zoo where we can see cute little animals roaming around in their own enclosure. There are the goats, the emu, tortoise, meekat, goose and many more.

Our first ride was the go-kart which we paid extra 22 RM per single rider for 5 minutes. There was nobody yet and that was the best time to go for that ride. They provided a shower cap before we put on our helmet, which is very hygienic. I was the first in my group of family to start. At first it seems like it does not go any faster with the accelerator but after awhile it was okay. For me, it was a good 5 minutes utilized as I was the first to start and I ended about the same time. Those who started later should have gotten more time, especially for my sister’s bf whose go-kart actually stopped halfway due to engine issues. The track is just a circle and you go round and round. It was fun enough for me, but almost knock into my slowpoke sister :x.
 

Near the go-kart is the stairs to the main bridge right in the middle. The bridge is where the bungee jump is! I took a step onto the bridge and woah was it shaky! Especially with people purposely trying to sway the bridge, it is scary. But anyway I took the free ride down - the flying fox! The weight limit for the flying fox is 40kg to 70kg which is a really narrow range. So half of my family walked the bridge while 4 went for the flying fox. The gears were so wet and smelly. I was quite nervous but the height to the ground is not that high, and nobody seemed to scream. When it was my turn, the staff spoke to me in Malay, and I was so panicky. Haha. He was trying to tell me not to touch the metal grill at all times. Worried about my slippers dropping, I pointed my feet up. While it looks like it is an okay ride, I screamed while it went down because it feels faster than it looks. But I enjoyed the scenery and being above the swimming pool. As we reached the end point, that’s when our group of family just reached after crossing the bridge (they went for one ride of spinning teacups).

We changed into out swim wear, bought our lockers (about S$15?, but can be reopened with your wrist band), and was ready for our water rides. If you have no space for your slippers, or if you prefer to walk everywhere with your slippers on, you can always place them on the racks provided near the water rides. Our first water ride was the big family float that can sit a total of 6 people - the Vuvuzela. We came down 5 by 5 and it was fun! It is a good ride for family oriented groups with older children. After the last part of the steep slide down, close your eyes and prepare for the waterfall. I would go for this several times if it was not for the long queue!

We walked towards the big swimming pool that I just flew past earlier on. Nothing special and it does not seem to have scheduled wave time. I think for this part, you would have to rent your own floats to laze around at the deeper side. We queued for the next ride in which we lay on a mat on our stomachs and slide down! This is similar to the slides I tried at Seng Kang swimming complex. Be careful not to let go of the mat before you put your body weight on it, if not your mat will just escape down the slide. That was what happened to my 10-year-old cousin and my aunt had to sacrifice her ride for her lol. Imagine queuing and losing your chance like that.

So much fun waiting under the bucket of water. SPLASH!

We had a simple lunch at Subway (usually I can't eat much at theme parks) and then it was just me and my bf exploring the rest of the place. [No more photos as our bags were locked inside the locker. First time feeling so light walking around in an amusement park!] Since he definitely wants to take the roller coaster ride, we queued for about 30 - 45 minutes for that. It's a smaller scale roller coaster so I was quite relaxed. The thrill level is just right for me and I could go again. There is a short dark part with lights.
 

My bf's next ride was the viking ship, the viking ship that goes 360 degrees. CRAZY that he wanted me to take with him. "Okay what" he said. How is that okay for me?? Just watching it chills me to the bones. I cannot stand the falling and overturned feeling. Anyway, you could say there was no queue for this ride because of the small number of people willing to take this. Also, one turn can possibly take 30 people? I watched him through his ride and it was entertaining. His face was just calm and filled with enjoyment. He can see me too so I was taking the ride with him mentally!

We walked over to the Nickelodeon Lost Lagoon to more water stuff. I think some parts of the park was closed for renovation. We queued to collect the float for the rides. Cannot be sure which slide comes from where until you walk to the back and see for yourself. My advice is to go for the highest one with the longest queue. I think it is pink in colour. The slide has a part whereby it is open-air. After that part, it zooms down fast and that is awesome!

We wanted to queue for Monsoon 360 but the queue for the backfloat was a little long. And the staff was telling my bf that no spectacles were allowed. We were not sure if he could hang it at the chest or what. Since nobody was around to care for our belongings, we gave that a miss. Then we found a good ride that is hidden at the back. That would be the Kubarango.The queue was almost non-existent! The ride is quite short, and you will reach the steep drop in no time before you fly up again. We went for the ride once more since there was no queue at all when we were done with the first. I was able to full enjoy myself the second time and realised that we could reach very near to the tip. Must be due to our heavyweight together. What a great benefit for being heavy haha.

That was the last ride of the day as my feet were so painful already. High arched feet made worse when walking barefooted. We past by the paintball gun area and decided to try it. Only 4 shooters are allowed at one go and you can shoot until there are no ‘bullets’. I think the aim of the gun is quite bad. A little shift can make a great difference in the shoot. Not so fun for a shooting game, especially when I cannot wink. Now this reminds me of the Toy Story ride at Disneysea Toyko and that just brings me back to childhood time!

We were near the same area where the flying fox starts at the long middle bridge, so we decided to let me conquer my fears of the wobbly bridge. It was not so bad after all, except the middle part where we were standing at the metal grills with holes rather than wooden planks. It was harder to walk in slippers on the metal areas when there are spaces. The shakiness is a little scary but less people were around to sway the bridge that time. Bf commented that I walked like a penguin. When confront with balancing problems, I tend to go lower to stabilize myself.

After that, we went to our exit area and washed off the sand at our feet before heading out. The park closes at 6pm and we ended all at about 5.30pm. The time in the park fully maximized!

I am going to Australia next week! My next test of courage is SKYDIVING!
See you when I am back :).

Nox - Dining in the Dark Experience

On our 9th anniversary of togetherness, which is also the last day of 2017, my dearest planned an exciting & expensive ($168++ per pax) dinner for the both of us. He wanted it as a surprise for me but somehow it did not really turn out that way.

He said: ‘Dear, there cannot take pictures though.’ And I replied: ‘Oh, Nox is it?’

He had told me about this restuarant long long ago, but since one of his friends posted about Nox on Facebook recently, its name immediately came to me.

I was a little apprehensive at first and asked him whether he thought I would be able to take the dark. All along, I could not stand total darkness in the hotel rooms when we sleep, let alone dining in the dark. He assured me that he was there with me. It was enough for me. 

We arrived 15 minutes prior to our booking at 7pm and was warmly welcomed by the staff. They ushered us to the sofa seats and gave us our choice of welcome drink. I went with sparkling wine, and he went with the mocktail, a mix of chocolate, ginger and some other stuff. The end result turns out quite nice, and the chocolatety taste stands out. To compliment our drinks, we had 2 different  types of welcome snack. One of them was an almond chocolate filled with cheese-like filling. It tastes funny because of the saltiness in a sweet chocolate. On the other hand, the savoury snack is really delicious - should be ebiko + raw salmon + truffles on wanton skin.

There were a total of 3 servings of drinks which will compliment the food we would be eating. I chose to have the cocktail pairing while my bf continued with mocktail. Mocktail is like the only choice if you do not want any alcohol. According to my bf, he booked a special mystery new year package. There are 4 categories - appetizer, mid-course, main-course & dessert. The lady staff briefed us to eat from our 6pm, 9pm, 12pm & 3pm as there will be 4 bowls. Shortly after, we locked our belongings in the locker, visited the restroom and were ready to be ushered up to the second floor.

At the door, we were greeted by our host, Liu. You will see how amazing this whole idea is after you meet your host who would be assisting your table for the whole dinner. Like a train, we put two hands on the shoulders of the person in front (our host together with another couple behind us), and we walked up the stairs. We were told the number of steps, and as it starts to turn really dark, I counted the steps in my heart to keep track. Once on the flat ground, we literally take mini steps forward. Liu guided my bf to his seat first while we all stood there. He guided my hand to my chair before he moved away. The lack of further guidance actually surprised me a little, because I had to figure out whether the chair was pushed in and how to sit down.

He gave us instructions on where our utensils were. Just the very basic were on the table - the spoon and fork on the right, and an empty glass near the middle on the right side as well. The table felt small but adequate, like a square with rounded edges. The area on second floor sounded considerably small as well, maybe 5 couples at a time? Our drinks were served shortly and it was placed right beside the empty glass. Oh, so that glass is just a marker for us to gauge where our actual drink is, and a guide to help us place it back at the exact spot.

Our appetitizers were served in a tray with 4 small square bowls and we were to eat in a clockwise direction. Bf reminded me to feel the bowls first so that I can picture the whole image in my mind. Now how should we eat our food? I really wonder if everyone eats the same way since you cannot really gauge if you lifted any food up. You do not even know what you are lifting up. So we both put the corner of the bowl to our mouths and sweep the food up. This is the safest way.

The first one was an easy guess, a salad with walnuts and some other ingredients. We started each bowl together and had fun guessing what we were both eating. I recall now that my bf had asked Liu this question: ‘Do we eat with a spoon or fork?’ Hahaha. Liu said he preferred the spoon. We used the spoon throughout, and the fork was useless. It was fairly easy to know whether you finished the food, just put your spoon at the corners to feel it. Since we were eating the same dishes, we did not have to share. Only for the drinks part, you have to communicate properly to pass the glass to each other or just ask the other person to take from the original position of the glass. By the time we were done with the appetitizers, we were more or less used to the dark. At some point, I was just closing my eyes while eating because it made no difference.

We were quite full after our main courses. There are 4 kinds of appetizer, 2 types of mid-course, 4 different mains and 4 variety of desserts! By the time I finished my 2nd drink, I was already a little high. They do not serve water unless you buy the mineral water. We felt for each other in the dark and it was quite an interesting experience. The comfort of just purely feeling his hands and face. Generally, you would only go for such dining experience with someone close. At some point after the main courses, my nose was very blocked. And I was very sniffy. It was probably due to the effects of alcohol as well. One of the host was really nice and passed me some serviettes twice, once on the table, once on my hand. It felt a little panicky when I could not see and breathe properly at the same time. I felt the need to see light. 

Desserts were served and the dessert spoon was passed to my hand directly. Before I closed my grip, the spoon slipped off my hand! It shocked me a bit, like NOOO I would not be able to find my spoon by myself. Anyway, I was talking to the air that my spoon dropped. If I am not wrong, the same guide that passed me the serviettes passed me a new spoon after. I made sure I held on tight this time.

After desserts, Liu checked with us whether we were ready to leave or do we want to sit longer. Once you are ready to see the light again, he will guide you the same way down the steps. As the path will gradually be lit as you walk down the steps, it was not so difficult to adapt to the full light downstairs. In fact, the first storey is also dimly lit, with the atmosphere of a relaxing pub.

It was now time to see what we had eaten! At this point after we have been overwhelmed with the different types of food, we have already forgetten some parts of the food experience. It seems so foreign when we looked at the nice food display in the little bowls. Are you sure we ate that? Does it really look so beautiful before we digged in? We guessed correctly for some of the dishes. Did not remember how the venison tasted like. The scrambled egg appetizer is really good, with some pieces of raw tasting food. Turned out to be uni, the sea urchin. I thought I would never eat it again after the smelly first experience of uni at Sushi Express. There was this root vegetable which we have never heard before and it is quite yummy like potatoes. My favourite is the cod fish with edamame. I love codfish to the max.

We asked for some iced cool water. After the glasses of cocktail, I felt dehydrated. See the difference in my eyes after the drinks on the right. And more desserts were served! The tart chocolate was super good and crispy.

This dining experience was unique and it was awesome we tried it together. It was kind of an intimate experience when you cannot see but only feel your partner through your sense of touch. And the voice, it seems to resonate more clearly in your head. On a personal level, it made me appreciate the power of my sight even more. The visuals make everything a lot better, even the taste of food seems to be enhanced. While the food at Nox is delectable, it still felt like something was lacking. We could not 100% tell what we were eating based on just the smell and taste.
 

Due to the fact that we were so focused on guessing the dish, our conversation revolved around the food rather than a good quality discussion of sorts. There were also various sounds made by the hosts to let the other hosts know about their position in the dark. One of them sounded like a duck, and it got us a little confused at first. Not sure if it is a sound device or their actual voice. Also got knocked into/ brushed against slightly a few times, which can cause a mini shock since it was in total darkness.
 

Overall, I would say that this might not be the best romantic dining experience but I definitely think it is the kind of adventurous dining that everyone should try once.