BBQ No.2: Alissa's Crib

As soon as I made it home from BBQ No.1 (I mean the run @ Canning Reserve), took a quick shower and waited for Den & Andrew to come pick me up. Keng couldn't make it as he has exam the next day. Reached there and we were just in time to eat. Elvin was the Master Chef for the day. Jo and Kim came over later and as everyone has left, Uncle Malcolm and Tua Koh came by. There were plenty of food on the table and by the end of the day, I had some 'ta pao' (packed) food for me and Kheng for our dinner.

Alissa wanted to have the BBQ not only for my farewell but also to celebrate Arina's birthday, which falls on Tue (yes, her birthday is actually today).

A Hot Hot Day In Melbourne

Days are getting warmer in Melbourne. Today it peaked at 36.3 C. Being exposed to cold weather for so long, to acclimatise back to a warm day seems a difficult task. I tried running today at around 6:45pm, but I seem to be struggling in my run eventhough I wasn't pushing hard. My mouth dried out fast and had to stop for water break 40mins into my run. My average heart rate usually will be around 145 bpm, but today I think it was 155-160 bpm.

I decided not to continue my run, after taking the water break. Instead did some speed drills to cap off the day. I think I will have a tough time acclimatising running in KL weather when I head back next week.

On other note, my cousin got his new 42' Toshiba LCD. No longer does he need (or me) struggle to view on the old 15' TV.

Out goes the old TV...

In comes the new one....

So how much different does it make? See for yourself......

One good thing is that he didnt need to buy the Digital Receiver to receive digital channels in Melbourne or even HD channels. It seems his apartment already has a centralised access to it. Wonder when Astro will provide us with a digital feed in Malaysia? It sure is nice to watch sports channel in High Definition (HD).

The Whole of Australia Stops for A Horse Race?

"The Horse Race that Stops the Nation", that's what Melbourne Cup is all about. It's a public holiday for Melbourne, not all parts of Victoria though (A upblic holiday for a horse race!). I was in the city this morning andthere were a lot of people dressing elegantly, ready to head towards Flemington Racecourse. Betting agencies were full of people trying their luck in picking up their horses. Well, I did put some money into it, just too bad my total winning is only AUD2.25 after deducting my losses in other bets. LOL! Still a win, right?

Shocking winning the Emirates Melbourne Cup

Yesterday, me and a friend from KL, Chun Man, drove down to the famous Great Ocean Road, which is a 243km stretch of road along the south-eastern coastal road of Victoria. We didn't go all the way to Warnambool as we need to get back to Melbourne, as Chun Man's catching a flight back to KL at midnight.

We rented a car in the morning and started our journey at around 9am. The drive took us to Geelong (we didn't stop by the city centre), Torquay, Bells Beach, Apollo Bay, etc towards Port Campbell before making our way back using a shorter route in the inner land. Reached Melbourne only at around 9.30pm. Chun Man picked up her bags from the backpacker she was staying in before driving her to the airport.

Woke up early this morning to get some groceries from the supermarket, before returning the car at 9am. It saves me the trouble of carrying heavy bags and walking back.

Some photos from the trip yesterday:

Well, there's no longer 12 Apostles as some have erroded.

For those intending to make a trip here for the Great Ocean road drive, it's better to stay a night or 2 along the coast (Plenty of hotels, resthouses, B&B to choose from). That way, you can take your time to explore more.

Burning The Calories from Laksa Loading

My sister and her friend, Stella, who were here for a week's holiday, came over to the apartment to cook Sarawak Laksa on Fri night. All our cousins here in Melbourne (all 9 of them). Only Den couldn't make it. Anyway, it was a good to see all my cousins in one roof. Of course, we had our "adopted" cousin, Stella and Josiah. LOL! Josiah's wife, Kim came later in the night to "ta pao" some back to eat.

Most photos of the gathering are in my sis's camera, so can't upload many photos here...

My sister and Stella in action

The next morning, followed my cousins, Den and Andrew with Josiah for a ride to Frankston again. This time around we didn't go all the way to Frankston town. Stopped by a cafe about 35km out from where we started to have our breakfast. It's one of the hottest day I felt since reaching here, where temperature soared to about 32 C. Den went on a solo ride to Inverloch which is about 140km from city. For the rest of us, we rode back facing a headwind throughout the whole journey back. Well, me being the weakest, just sat back behind the 2 strong riders. We covered about 70km in about 2:37.

So what did I had for lunch? Well none other than leftover laksa from last night. Well we had a lot left from the night before, so better finish it before the laksa gravy is spoiled. Me and Keng could not even finish the leftovers for lunch. So invited Andrew over for laksa dinner again. Not too sure how many bowls I had since Fri night?!

Followed the Cool Running group for a run this morning. We started our run at Morell Bridge near the Tan. There were 7 of us who turned up for the day. Tony led the group. We ran along the Yarra River till Dight Falls, turn into Yarra Bend Park, passing thru Richmond, MCG before coming back to Morell Bridge. Total distance covered today is around 23.5km, with my extra 2.5km run to the start, that makes my mileage for the day 26km in about 2:27. Longest run I had since Melbourne Marathon. Legs sure do feel sore near the end of the run. We then head to our usual cafe in the Royal Botanic Gardens to have our coffee and food.

Some parts of the run we've covered this morning. A mixture of both concrete road with trail running.

A group photo we took at one of the rest stops.

From left: PJ, Steven, Bruce, Tony, Baz and Michael

With me in it

A Trip To Ballarat

Every photos of my family members who have been to Melbourne will always have photos of them panning for gold in the town of Ballarat. It seems to be a popular destination for our family. Well it is for the "Khoo Clan" the least. So, Elvin (my cousin) drove me, my sis, Chun Man (my friend from KL), Stella (my sis's friend) made our way to Ballarat on a warm Wed afternoon - 28 Oct.

Ballarat is a town famous for it's gold rush in the 1850s and is located 112km from the city of Melbourne. It's about an hour plus drive from the city. There are actually quite a number of places to visit there but we only got to see Sovereign Hill, as it takes while to go through the whole area of Sovereign Hill. But mainly because we had to pay quite a bit to get in, so better make full use of the money spent. Entrance Fee is AUD39.50 per adult. It used to be cheaper couple months back when he was here. Now they've included the gold musuem entrance fee, which was sold seperately last time. There's a family package too but can't remember how much was it.

What's inside Sovereign Hill? There are a lot of beautifully constructed old buildings, reconstructed gold mines to walk through, demostrations, play, souvenirs to buy, etc.

This is actually a bowling alley in the 1850s!

Of course one of the popular thing to do there is none other than people panning for gold.....actually for gold dust! Haha.

Let's start panning and seek our gold!

As we didn't get to see much of other parts of Ballarat town, I might just head there myself. Who knows might just ride there.....

A Day At Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley

r Had a day trip up to Mount Dandenong with my cousins, Elvin and Fei. A pretty good day to make a trip up the mountain. It was sunny and when we were driving up the mountain, there were quite a lot of cars making their way up and also cyclists too.

We decided to stop for a Dim Sum lunch at Golden Leaf Restaurant before making our way up. The restaurant only started serving at 11am. If that was in KL probably not much left to eat.

Here are some of the dishes we had....

The view on the way up the mountain is very scenic. Lots of tall trees covering our way up to the top.

This is the view from Sky High, on the uppermost reach of Mount Dandenong.

Here are some other photos taken from Dadenong Ranges.

Miss Marples Tea House, which was pretty packed when we went.

Pie in the Sky restaurant serves freshly baked pies, which has won many awards. We shared the Beef & Guiness Pie and also their popular scones served with frsh cream and homemade raspberry jam.

After that, we head on to the Yarra Valley for some wine tasting, stopping by at Seville Estate.

After the wine tasting, we headed back to Elvin's house, a nice and cosy home he bought couple years back before retiring for the day. May head to his house again to do some bike cleaning.

Running with the Training and Coffee Group

Ever since reaching Melbourne, I've been searching for a group to run with. I don't mind to run by myself, but at times running in a group can keep your motivation up, especially on the longer runs. I've done a few runs with the Melbourne Marathon training series group, usually on Wed evenings. Think I've done 3 runs with them on Wed nights and 1 on Sun morning run. However, the best group runs I had were with a few runners I met through the forum of Cool Running Australia website (link). Got in touch with Michael, a 51-year old runner who has vast experience in marathon running. He has done sub-3 hours marathon time and has plan to do it again soon, however, not for this coming Melbourne Marathon (MM). Not all are sub-3 runners, but they are very easy to get along people which i like in a running group.

I don't think I got all the names right, as most are known by their nicknames in the forum. But Im sure of the names of Michael, Grace, Baz, Bruce, Michelle and Michael, as I've run with them for the 2nd time. Well, I've only done 2 runs with them. The first time was a 34km run, which they were about 15 runners turning up for the run.

I had a hard time waking up for yesterday run as the Daylight Saving Time (DST) for Australia started at 2am. That means I lost an hour of sleep due to that. I can't understand why don't they just stick with one time and do away with the DST. Before I went to sleep I adjusted the time and realised Im sleeping around 2.30am and not 1.30am!! And I need to wake up at 7am. Anyway, dragged myself out of bed and was there by 8am.

We ran around 5 laps of the Tan Tracks before we head for the usual coffee catch up at a cafe in the Royal Botanic Garden. Too bad this is the final run as Im not too sure whether they will get together for a run after the MM.

Michael (middle) and Baz (Right)

From left: Alisson (white cap), Grace (black cap)

From left: DiJ (forum nick), Michelle, Marcus, Bruce, Flick (forum nick)

(From left after Flick) Bennie and Adam

Guess this is officially my last long run before the MM this coming Sun. I can't expect a good time, but I'm pretty excited about the run. Better than how I felt when I first reached here. I guess running in group really helped. The catching up after runs, sharing stories of the ups and downs in the race or training, the experience, something most runners look foward to after a hard run.