3 Days of Melbourne-ing: Brighton Beach!

That was my first time visiting Australia (I mean, REALLY toured around the places, not just setting my feet at the airport during flight transit). It was an unplanned, unprepared vacation - it was just like, 'hmm kalo lepak Aussie 2-3 hari orait gak ni' and there I was. Sounds like me, eh. If not for Myra, Put, Ain and Sed came to Christchurch and lepaking at Farahin's place for like 4 days; this sudden meeting, chitchatting, watching Korean drama sessions and this idea of 'owh aku skang ade someone yang aku kenal kat Aussie', I will not be there.

It cost me some cash, of course, to change the flight ticket and all. I already booked the flight ticket on 23rd July and so I changed it to 20th July so I can have about 3 days stay in Melbourne. Well, what to do, I am the infamous, most disorganized person in the world who do things (or buy things) regardless of how crazy it is (or how much it costs) once I set my mind on it (even though I never thought about it before). Anyway, here's how the spontaneous journey began.

20th July - 12.30 A.M.

Haven't book any shuttle to pick me up from Melbourne's Tullmarine airport (just because I refuse to spend 16AUD on it). Annoyed my juniors, asking them for any other Aussie's contacts (someone with a car, particularly). Got one, texted one. Alhamdulillah! She replied, saying she can pick me up and I can stay at her house. So grateful!

Sudut insaf: Inilah pentingnya ukhwah sesama muslim. Muslim itu kan bersaudara, perlu saling tolong-menolong antara satu sama lain!

20th July - 6.30 A.M.

Saying goodbye to friends and juniors who send me away at Christchurch airport (owh malam tadi actually ada farewell party for me, sungguh la terharu ya!) so after taking some pics -berpesan2an-ber'muah2'an - goodbye, Christchurch! Sobsob~

Sudut insaf: Bak kata Kak Diana, sahabat itu ialah pinjaman dari Allah. Oleh itu berusahalah menjadi seorang sahabat yang dapat memberi kepada orang lain, di samping menghargai sahabat yang berada di samping kita di waktu susah dan senang selagi kita masih diberi kesempatan untuk bernyawa =)

Those comels I left behind in Christchurch (T_T)

20th July - 9.00 A.M.

Arrived at Tullmarine, already done with immigration check-up and all. Miss Maimunah then came with her white Camry hehe. Thank you so much Muna for picking up a stranger yang text u tengah-tengah malam buta ntah hape-hape ni! *Wink wink pun tak cukup ni*

Sudut insaf: Muslim itu sentiasa bersedia untuk berkorban demi ummah, sentiasa bersedia untuk berjuang tak mengira masa dan tenaga =)

20th July - 12.00 P.M.

Sudah kenyang with Muna's nasik goreng. Thank you again! Read Myra's text, and so we are going to Brighton Beach! Yayy!!

Brighton Beach is a longggggg beach with lots of colourful bathing boxes.Before this I never knew that all those small houses along that beach are actually bathing boxes (beach hut where you can shelter yourself from wind and sands), I thought they are just 'there' without any function (okey I know, forgive me for my bimbo moment). I tau ni pun sebab while writing this entry I tetiba terfikir nak Google about this beach and I found it from sweet old Wikipedia. And guess what, actually the Aussies paid for these huts (they bought the hut as their own private property where they can put their personal belongings or change their clothes inside), it was actually some kind of fund-raising project set-up by the Aussie government. Ok enough information so let's gooooo!!!

Sudut insaf: Nak tumpang bersuka ria di pantai pun kena bayar kat kerajaan, tambahan kita yang menumpang hidp di bumi Allah. Bayar la balik hutang kita ni dengan beribadah, menjadi hamba-Nya yang beramal soleh, jangan buat muka tebal tak malu hehe =)

20th July - 1.00 P.M.

Me and Humaira inside the tram, on the way to Brighton Beach! To get to this beach (by tram, it looks sebijik like LRT), you can purchase the daily ticket (it cost about 6AUD? In my case, I took the tram from Melbourne Uni Station) and changed the ticket at Flinder's Street Station (from Zone I to Zone II) as Brighton Beach is in Zone II (near Sandringham area). Wow I tengah kagum dengan diri sendiri, how come a person with no sense of direction whatsoever like me can still remember all these details without referring to Wikipedia.

Sudut insaf: Manusia ni tak kira lumpy macam mana pun, insyaAllah takkan sesat kalau ikut manual yang dah disediakan oleh-Nya, Quran la ape lagi hehe

Me inside the tram, nervous woh first time using that auto machine sebelah tu, yang minah rambut cokelet tengah guna tu

2oth July - 1.40 P.M.

So here we were at the Brighton Beach! Yibaa!!

Sudut insaf: Di samping enjoy, banyak-banyak jugak berzikir. Buta-buta je dapat pahala, bukan susah pun. Hehe =P

Me with the cute Myra

Snap snap, as usual... the beach here is quite nice, with cute colourful huts (82 huts in total, tapi kitorang tak kira la pulak hehe)

Bathing box bercorakkan Australian's flag. Patriotik habis.

20th July - Can't remember the time anymore

We waited for the tram to go back to Melbourne city. We walked along the street before reaching the station, and all I could see along the street were big luxury houses (I think they might be holiday houses kot), sungguh kaya la mereka ini.

Brighton Beach tram station

Still 20th July but ignore the time please

Arrived at Melbourne city, Myra belanja me this chips (thank you honey! =D). This chips beli kat this shop called 'Lord of the Fries', haha kelakar tak nama dia. But the chips memang superb wallawey, memang layak la dengan nama kedai ni. The chips come with different sizes and we can choose different sauces. Sauces yang best bak kata Myra are Indian apebende ntah and I can't remember the other one (why bother mentioned it here? haihh). We ate at the stairs of the famous Federation Square, sungguh mengada tak.

Owh dia ada jual burger jugak. Nampak tak simbol burger di atas.

Lepak pun mau ada kelas, mau kat tangga Federation Square

Basically Federation Square ialah tempat di mana bangunan2 pelik dilonggokkan bersama

Nampak tak saya dalam skrin itu? Ya yang macam perempuan gila tu.

Sudut insaf: Kita kagum dengan ciptaan manusia yang pelik-pelik ni, cuba fikirkan pulak ciptaan Allah yang pelbagai-bagai. Dah la banyak, perfect pulak tu. Sungguh Maha Genius. Di samping berfikir tentang tanda-tanda kebesaran Allah, kita pun hendaklah jadi someone yang berkaliber, mampu buat benda-benda best macam bangunan ke, tulis buku yang bombastik ke, supaya tak ketinggalan umat Islam di mata dunia =)

20th July - Yang pastinya dah malam

Bertolak balik ke rumah (rumah orang, bukan rumah saya). Thank you so much Myra sudi ngedate sama saya! Alhamdulillah hari yang menggembirakan!

Sudut insaf: Balik la rumah awal sikit ye. Anak dara tak elok balik lewat-lewat malam! Haha =P


p/s: Next day: Phillip Island! =D