IC COMPS ARE TOO SLOW

This is going to be a very jumpy post because I'm jumpy, sleepy and pissed at the computer.

I'm sitting at a comp in IC because I want to do my ArcGIS assignment but the computers are way too slow and my ArcMap isn't loading fast enough.

So here I am, opting to make a blog post. I missed last week's. Why? Because I was busy doing an assignment and helping my friend in Japan do translations. Oh and when I wasn't doing that, I was watching Grey's Anatomy. I started from the beginning again because I have no idea where I stopped watching like five years ago.

Last week, my boss from my old job called me and gave me my job back - instant. I start again in two days. The second I stop wishing for something, it will always present itself to me. Due to this, I suddenly had much less time to do my assignments/studying (you know, since I leave everything to the last possible minute). I was supposed to spend the Saturday with Freak so I was freaking out about no time and I started wishing for her appointment to be cancelled. It was. Ok, wish hard enough, you get it.

WELL HERE'S A WISH: I WISH ARCMAP WILL STOP BEING SO SLOW ON THIS STUPID COMPUTER.



Whatever. I also learnt something new. For the past week, I've been tortured by Python because we are learning it for compsci111. I didn't pay attention in class so I struggled with the lab. Thank god I have the co-founder of Notable as a friend. Messaged him and he explained the code to me and wrote one for me so I could learn it. Finished it in time.

Today Nescafe was hanging out in the quad giving out free coffee. Asians don't say no to free things - even if I don't drink coffee. So I walk up and grab some freebies.

First, you get a voucher for $1 off the pack in the supermarkets...

Then the girl handed me the cup of coffee.

I was thinking how did they get a tap in the middle of the quad? Who cares, I had to go to class and the cup of coffee was burning my delicate hand.

The extra sachet that was also given with the coffee.

After my freebie collecting self was satisfied, I headed off to my GIS lecture. I suck at paying attention in class. God knows how I manage to pass. Since I am really bad at it, I ended up playing on Instagram - I've discovered the joy of hash tags. Well, I've always known it, so I guess I should say "I've discovered the joy that hash tags bring me". I used hash tags in one of my pictures and people liked my pictures. So... being the attention seeking whore that I am, I went back and hash tagged most of my previous pictures and waited for the likes. So lame.

Also, I just quit the ArcMap programme because I couldn't handle the wait.

Back to my being unable to focus in lectures? Well, I started taking photos of my scarf. 

Polo

by Ralph Lauren

I love red. I have yet to post this on instagram. Also, during my lecture, I decided to do a few things.

1. Hurry up and pass my full license
2. Do something crazy - that is go with my friends to Momotea. ...in Hamilton. Thus the need for my full license.
3. Drive up to Cape Reinga. BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS WILL FOLLOW.

The coffee must have worked well because I had become focused and I even took notes in the last half hour of the two hour lecture.

Well, I've killed enough time. I should probably head home. My eyes are killing me but I cannot remove my contacts.

Moustache Milk and Cookie Bar

Today, I'm going to blog about a very exciting little shop that opened in the CBD last week!

There's this bandwagon called "returning to our roots" many people seem to be unable to resist jumping on. It could be really simple things like family picnics or more challenging DIY activities. You know, the sort of activities that most of us Internet obsessed generation would think it's something the older generation would do.

New Zealand's dairy products are world famous. There are many who buy milk powder for export because our milk is just so damn good. Well, at least that's what I heard from overseas. I think living and growing up in NZ has caused me to lose touch with milk. But what I can vouch for is the chocolate brand Whittaker's. It's probably the most delicious chocolate that I can eat all the time without getting sick of it.

So what's a better idea than to put some of the finest products of New Zealand together and let customers return to the good ol' days? That's exactly what Moustache has done! 

Pretty cute logo, right?!

First I got wind of it, I was so excited. The excitement is questionable since I almost NEVER drink milk and hardly ever eat cookies, but I was still a bit too excited about it. So on the night before Moustache opened for the first time, I went on Facebook and begged for friends sent an invitation to meet me for milk and cookies. Our plan was to meet at 9am since I had back to back classes from 10 and then work, it was my only available time! You don't know how much this means... it takes a lot for me to give up my precious sleep time. But doesn't matter, I was still late since I had trouble getting out of bed. However, being late didn't stop me in my tracks when I got close enough to see their shop sign!

Welcome to Moustache!!! Just like the good ol' days~!

Entrance to Moustache! My friends wanted to close the door and stand behind it to take a picture so the moustache would "fit" on her face. But we refrained because the Moustache staff probably wouldn't have been too impressed.

I was so excited about it and so were a LOT of other people as the line extended out the door! Clearly the Moustache marketing team did a great job! So what can you order? Moustache has a variety of cookies and milk comes in three flavours - plain, chocolate and strawberry. If you're too cool for milk, there's a barista and a $10,000 coffee machine (so I heard, maybe someone can confirm) on site so you order your hot beverages the way you want. Oh and also, there's the option of milkshakes! According to their Tumblr page, they prefer not to use syrup in their milkshakes and instead "rely on using the most premium ice cream to give the flavouring to the milkshake".

I ordered a chocolate chip cookie and a cup of plain milk - "dunkie milk". If you don't like chocolate chip cookies, that's ok... you can order others such as black forest, peanut butter, oreo marshmellow, m&m's... I saw quite a few containers but I can't remember them all!

My chocolate chip cookie - those are definitely Whittaker's chocolate!

My dunkie milk container - bit disappointed they didn't serve it in those adorable milk bottles!

The shop is a bit cramped and small, but the decor is absolutely gorgeous. It's cute and funky! My friends and I camped around the end of the shop to munch on our cookies.

The shop from the inside looking out. Can you see the logo on the cups?!

Closer look at the ceiling decorations.

What's better than great products and cute design? Awesome customer service. Moustache staff are so nice! Excited and I think a bit nervous for their first day...

Pouring milk?

If you look behind her, there's that blackboard with chalk on it kind of thing... that's the drink menu! Dunking milk, milkshakes, coffee, tea, and Whittaker's hot chocolate! I'm going to have to go back and try that Whittaker's hot chocolate.

The cubbie holes behind her. Cute!

My friend took a picture of her cookie bag.

Annnnd generous gift to the first 300 customers!

Shop window! Too adorable.

I didn't even notice the shop window until I left! I was pleasantly surprised. =) Moustache is open Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm at 12 Wellesley St West, Auckland CBD. But if I were you, I'd head in early in the day. They've sold out every day they've been open way before closing!

Follow Moustache on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter!

Brick by Brick

Hello dears, here I am taking a break between assignments because I'm just that lazy!

Haven't done anything exciting really. Had a few days of pure work and uni just started this past Monday. The only semi exciting thing that's happened would have been last Friday when Freak came over to visit!

Well, actually she went to a dental check up in Onehunga as she purchased a deal for $69 (usual price was $200 some) which included a check up, cleaning and two xrays. Since I live close by, we hung out! Unfortunately for her, she discovered that she's going to need six or so fillings and she's having her wisdom teeth removed (although, I can't be sure if it's 1 or two...). Her last check up was about two years ago and there was no problem. My last check up was way back in intermediate school which was 8 or 9 years ago? I should probably go have a check up too then haha.

To take her mind off the impending doom, I took her to a nearby cafe called Brick by Brick. I really love this cafe FOR REASONS THAT NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW because of the name. Before it opened, I already decided I liked it because it's got such a cute name and the decoration is also appealing. The first time I went was with Sc. To be completely honest, I don't really remember how the taste was since I was completely absorbed in everything Sc was saying. I did learn though that the cafe is owned and run by Japanese people - probably explains the beautiful presentations and slight culture confusion.

Oh I'm sorry, you'll need an explanation for that. In NZ (if it's the same overseas, inform my uneducated soul), cafe food is really expensive and you could almost categorize the food as rabbit food. It is usually served as a small portion on a big plate.

I was determined to go to Brick by Brick again, so my second time was with Freak.

Our order number! Boring, like every cafe in NZ.

This time, I was going to eat there and remember the food! No Sc to fascinate me. We ordered drinks and food - we both hadn't eaten breakfast and it was already past noon. So excuse us for wanting to stuff ourselves with food.

My iced mocha. The chocolate sauce tasted a bit weird - it was delicious but I think there was a hint of caramel flavour?

Freak ordered a latte

We waited a while for our food, Freak told me about her family and how she got a Longchamp bag. I've never really been into this brand as it never caught my eye. But when she showed me, the zip of the bag instantly caught my attention. So much so, I am considering getting one just for the zip.

It's gorgeous! Well, at least I like it. I don't know why either.

I've recently been looking at the tag whatsinmybag on Instagram. I'm a really nosy person so seeing pictures of what everyone lugs around in their bag really fascinates me. I want a bag that I can throw most things in and not worry about it breaking. My current bag makes me worry a bit, and it's pretty shinny. I currently use a black bag by Agnes B. To be completely honest with you, I only bought the bag because of the adorable charm it came with. I'll do a post on that bag one day. I bought that bag while I was in Japan. If I had passed any Samantha Thavasa stores, I would probably have gone crazy with that brand. Thank god I didn't know about it till later and didn't look at their products till recently.

So recently, I've been looking for a bag that doesn't stand out as much as these brands (so yes, that means no big brands like LV or bags that have really well known brands). Something cheap that I won't be afraid to destroy. Longchamp doesn't fit these criteria, so I'll put off getting that bag for a while. =) I went to Yesstyle and looked through their catalogue and I was instantly reminded of Chinatown in Botany. Chinatown is a miserable excuse for a mall and it's probably nearly all closed down or are closing down. I'll have to go check if they have any cheap sales before work tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm going to just use a plastic bag. JOKING.

I think this is option E on the menu at Brick by Brick...

Right, back to the topic. That meal was huge. Two pieces of toast, two gigantic pieces of hashbrowns, scrambled egg, mushrooms, tomato (you can't see it), bacon and sausages. Ok so technically that was one sausage split down the middle. For the toast, we had a choice between garlic, vogel and white. I chose garlic and Freak chose vogel. I had vogel last time with Sc, and I think I prefer that one. We both had trouble finishing that meal! The hashbrowns were probably too crispy, but I LIKE IT CRISPY! The sausage is the one with cheese in it. Omfggggggggggggg I almost died and went to heaven. /fatnis.

After lunch, Freak had one filling done and then we went to the outlet mall. Everything sucks there. But I did have a picture taken!

These were heart shaped shades for $5.

Of course, I didn't buy them! Deep down I may have wanted to have them, but when I put them on, I noticed that it didn't actually shade anything... I was disappointed and thirsty so I left and bought a bottle of water (I know, shocking) and Freak bought a pair of gym shorts before we headed back home. I gave her her presents (some of the stuff I got from The Body Shop post a while back) and then we decided to go to Momo Tea for dinner. (OK, many hours already passed! After lunch, we spent nearly two hours at the dentist, and then another two at the mall and then over an hour at home!) Still, we were not particularly hungry. We picked up Ace (who lives in the middle of no where in South Auckland) and headed over to Momo Tea for drinks and snacks. Spent so much money that day...

And here's the final photo of this post:

OMG GUAVA!!!

Firstly, I've never seen guava that small. Secondly, it's my first time seeing guava in New Zealand. I ate heaps of guava when I was in HK but they were all bigger than apples! But in NZ they are really expensive - around $10 per kilo. =( 

Right, back to doing my assignments.

Birthday dindin at Haru no Yume and a bit of D3 speak

In my last post, I mentioned that I bought the game and installed it. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I didn't manage to play it right away but I have managed to get a few hours into it. ("I'll just do this one quest..." *three hours later...* FML).

Actually, give me a sec. I'll just create a Tui inspired ad about that.

Yeah well I don't care what kind of gamer you are: pro, semi-pro, "serious" gamer, gamer's gf significant other who occasionally likes to game... but let's face it. It's NEVER just one quest. Now I don't remember whether I mentioned it before, and I can't be bothered checking my post... but the laptop I am using doesn't even reach the minimum requirements that's written in small font on the box. What I've learnt so far? THAT ONE SECOND LAG IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH. FML. I've never died so fast and so often while playing Diablo. Well ok, so it's D3 and considering there's like a decade gap between D2 and D3, harder gameplay should be expected. But seriously, I DIED AT LEVEL 8. God, I'm getting old. It's so embarrassing, I can't even carry on blogging about this.

So I'm moving on. To the dinner I went to last night! I aimed to get this post up when I returned home, but that didn't happen. Excuse my lazy.

It's Freak's birthday soon but since it's really difficult getting people together to celebrate we just decided to do something small, just the (important) girls and have dinner (and to top it off, it's just her 22nd birthday so it's not like a gigantic milestone. Ok I'm sorry, EVERY BIRTHDAY IS A GIGANTIC MILESTONE, congratulations, you're one year closer to death.) We went to a Japanese restaurant situated in the heart of Mt Eden Village. 

Haru no Yume

To be honest with you, I think the food is average and overpriced. If they're charging me $12 for a plate of deep fried chicken, it better be a freaking huge plate of chicken. The thing you're paying for is really the location. Of course, if you're rich and like dining in the heart of Mt Eden, go for it. The food is nice, and so is the setting (if you like dark restaurants - which I don't, but if I think it's acceptable then it should be ok right?)

Due to how dark it was, I didn't feel like putting in so much effort to take and edit pictures. Sorry for the crap photos. I ordered a green salad (which came with some sort of sesame dressing), a plate of spicy chicken karaage (deep fried pieces of chicken) and a bowl of miso soup.

Cup of dressing! It's actually a tiny cup!

That's how tiny it was! It was so cute!

At first, I didn't realise how bad I am at taking pictures. After I took it, I realised oh gee, no one's gonna know how small it is so I made Ace pick it up and pose with it. Then her order of yakisoba (stir fried noodles) came and it came in a gigantic bowl/plate/thing. It was so gigantic, we were silent for about 30 seconds before voicing a reaction.

At this point, I thought to myself "stop being so lazy and get out your camera". I should have listened to myself.

While waiting for food, we took a few pictures. They didn't turn out that well, some were taken with my iPhone, and others were taken by Freak's tablet.

Birthday girl Freak and I.

Top: Jenjen's sashimi set meal ($36). Bottom left: tamago yaki (egg) and bottom right: seaweed salad.

The last two pics were taken and edited by Freak. Following our dinner, the four of us went to have dessert across the road at Casa del Gelato. I've only been there once, but it's delicious! The first time I went, I think I bought Rocher (Ferrero Rocher taste) and some coffee flavour. This time, I picked Rocher and Crunchie. The crunchie didn't really taste like anything so I was mildly disappointed. I gobbled it up so I could start enjoying the Rocher.

DELICIOUS!!!

Wow! It was really delicious. Only Freak and I bought some and the other two just sat and watched us eat. After we finished, they decided to get some. Freak and I wanted some more (which is why you must always takeaway or leave as soon as you finish!!!) and for the second round, I bought Rocher for both the scoops and swore that I'd only ever pay for Rocher. That's how good it is.

Ace's attempt to get a picture of Jenjen... she made us move and stand there.

Overall, a pretty good night. Probably ate and spent way too much for my liking! That's ok though, I didn't spend any money today and don't plan on spending any tomorrow. But what I should have done and what I should do is do some study and finish some of my assignments which I haven't even looked at.

D3

SOooooooooooooo I bought D3 (that's Diablo III for those of you who don't game) yesterday before I went to work. JB hi-fi were having a sale - 20% off all games and like usual, I went on the very last day to get a copy. =_=

I didn't get to play it instantly because you know... work and all. Sunday nights are usually meh but yesterday was Father's Day (in NZ, Father's Day usually falls on the first Sunday of September) and IT WAS MEGA BUSY! We went over $5000 for the day which is our benchmark for a celebration. I didn't stay though because I was too lazy.

I figured I'd install the game but I ended up just mucking around before going to sleep. Then today (Monday) I didn't wake up till around noon and I spent the afternoon sorting through my iPhone pictures - will be uploading the ones from Japan and Hong Kong in a future blog post. Yes, I know... late by 9 months. When I got bored of sorting, I installed the game.

Here's the box in all it's glory. I suppose a hastily taken iPhone pic is not actually that glorious.

Just as I was trying to decide on my character, I received a text from Shu asking if I was free because it appears that her car got towed. Now, I haven't done anything all day, I had just woken up about four hours ago, rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, washed my face, had breakfast... so I sighed and shut down D3 even before entering in a name for the character! Chucked on some minimally publicly acceptable clothing (would have been a total poster girl for Nike if my entire outfit wasn't completely black - Nike hoodie, track pants and shoes. Hideous mess I tell you.) and drove over to the shore to sort her out. Driving there now requires you to go through a tunnel, one that I've never been through before. I wasn't really paying attention and so when it suddenly went dark I was like "OMFGWTFBBQ?" Sorry if I panicked ok, tunnels are like a near extinct species in NZ. That was the most exciting thing that happened to me today. Drove through a tunnel.

When I got to Shu, it turns out that yes her car did get towed away but they just towed it onto a side street and left it safe and sound there. She didn't even have to pay the usual $200 to get her car back. Someone just had it moved. Weird. Afterwards, we left and went to Botany to try KiwiYo which had just opened at the mall recently - like in the last couple of days.

Mah yoghurt with some fruit and lollies

Ok the concept is this, there's this shop and it's all self serviced. There are a range of yoghurt that is dispensed from a few machines. There are like 8-10 or so different flavours and then you can put toppings on it. Lollies, fruit, chocolate, fudge, nuts, cereal and various syrups/sauces. When you're done creating your yoghurt, you head off to the register and it gets weighed - you pay by weight. The combinations are up to you, you can have one flavour, two flavours or all flavours with no toppings or as many as you like. It's just a matter of money.

I got Irish toffee flavoured yoghurt (it just tastes like coffee to tell you the truth) and on top of that I had a combination of blueberry tart and banana strawberry. The banana strawberry was weird. My toppings were pineapple, lychee and sour lollies. That cost something like $5.15!!! My god. Expensive. At the moment, I prefer Yoghurt Story over this mainly because the yoghurt from Yoghurt Story actually tastes like yoghurt... I'm going to have to give KiwiYo a few more tries before I can truly say which is best.

Following that, we went to have a feast at Yos Mite. Yeah, not a good idea. I probably gained 20pounds form that meal. Ugh. Too much meat, too many flavours. 

This post is going to end here now. Must get the pictures sorted soon so I can upload and blog about them. Long awaited.

Family dinner at MAKODO

It's been a while since I went out with my parents. Today I went with my mother to a few open homes. The first one we saw was a complete trash. Seriously, you can't trust photos... they can make a dump look like heaven and that's not taking photoshop into consideration even.

Our last house viewing was to take place after my father finished work so we decided to wait. While waiting for my father, I was trying to be Asian. I haven't camwhored in forever and so I'm so very rusty. I'm going to have to up my game and polish my image way better!!

That and I'm going to have to clean that mirror!

The houses we viewed today were in Papatoetoe, South Auckland. That suburb is on the rise... the last house we viewed today was a tidy brick and tile house with a large backyard which was clear that the landlord had long given up on using a lawn mower. My father wandered through the forest grass and muttered to himself "who needs a lawn mower, just have a couple of cows and she'll be right".

My only disappointment about that house is that it's the third house behind two large ones. It does have its own driveway, although straight as it is... that driveway is probably over 25 metres long.

After leaving the place, we decided to go have dinner at a small restaurant that goes by the name of MAKODO in Botany/Howick area. It is run by a chef that used to work in the restaurant I work at. He's by ethnicity a Chinese man, but he learnt and trained in Japan and by Japanese chefs. Apparently the kanji he used for the restaurant name is meant to be pronounced "makoto" but I'm going to stand on his side and assume he chose to use "makodo" to protect his ass since there will probably be haters who will riot "that restaurant isn't even authentic" then the owner can easily say "I'm not claiming to be authentic!"

EXTREMELY hot miso soup!

My parents are vegetarian and since this chef is strictly vegetarian on certain days of the month for religious reasons, his vegetarian cooking is very strict as well (he does cook meat food since he's not vegetarian all the time). He has two deep fryers - which considering the size of his restaurant, two is one more than enough. One of the fryers is strictly for vegetarians and the other has meat products go through it.

Deep fried tofu pieces with sweet miso paste. Garnished with coriander and sesame seeds.

Some of his dishes are very obviously "inspired" from the restaurant I work at. It's cheaper as well but there's no obvious competition. We also ordered a bowl of udon soup. It came with tofu, mushroom, seaweed, cucumber and was once again garnished with coriander. Udon is a thick type of noodles.

MAKODO's vegetarian udon soup.

Vegetarian box set - served with rice and miso soup.

This is surprisingly cheap! Set at NZD$12 for all that! That box contains spinach dipped in a thick, sweet miso paste, salad dressed with delicious Japanese sesame dressing, vegetarian sushi (avocado, carrots and pickles) and three slices of "vegetarian fish" (soy based). I love the sesame dressing! I once bought a small bottle and it was practically all we ate until the bottle ran out.

Vegetable tempura

This was a dish of kumara, eggplant, okra and pumpkin slices deep fried in a tempura style! Taking into account that the fryer has extra clean oil (has only ever deep fried these vegetables), these came out really good. The tempura taste was very distinct and although the oil could have been drained better (I've had tempura made by the same chef so I know he could have drained the oil a bit better), you could taste that the oil was very clean (not mixed with meat, cleaned often etc).

That dish was made so well that my mother ordered another serving for takeaway! It's obvious this chef puts a lot of effort into his dishes even though he runs a small restaurant and there aren't many customers. Wish him luck and hope he'll gain lots of customers or enough money to move to a better location!

MELBOURNE!!!!

HELLO ALL! I'm back from my trip to Melbourne! Actually, I was back just after midnight on Wednesday morning but I haven't had the time to post pictures till now!

Starting from Day 1! Thursday:

I had an early morning flight to Melbourne. My parents took me to the airport and when I checked in, I found out I actually needed a visa to get into Australia. I think the reason is because I hold a British Overseas passport and Australia doesn't recognise it, even if I have New Zealand Residency. Never mind though! I was able to obtain an ETA Visa (Electronic Travel Authority) for NZ$30.

I went through customs after checking in and I got picked out randomly and pulled aside to be checked for explosives. What do you know, you learn something new everyday! Apparently, these people are only allowed to check for explosive and nothing else. I.e. they didn't care if I were smuggling drugs or anything else out of the country.

Seriously? Do I look like I'd go and blow up the plane?!

Well, obviously, I was let go! Went through customs and did a bit of shopping! I finally bought Karen Walker's Runaway Girl! You can get it here for NZ$259. While waiting to get on board, I took some pictures of it.

Here's the box!

Karen Walker's Runaway Girl

I flew to Melbourne on Virgin Australia. It wasn't the most comfortable flight but they offered free water, coffee and tea unlike Jetstar if you only paid for the cheapest ticket which only includes the seat and 7kg carry on luggage. I slept a good lot of the way there.

Arrived in Melbourne, on the shuttle bus!

When I got there, I bought a ticket for the Skybus which took me to Southern Cross Station in the CBD. I checked my map when I got there because I had to make my own way to my aunt's workplace.

=O Batman Street!

What followed was pretty uneventful, I spent the whole day at her office. Watched a few youtube videos, and kept nodding off. The original plan was for me to go to her office and get her home key. I was then supposed to go back to her apartment and sleep the day away. What really happened was I lounged around her office till she finished and we walked to her apartment together. On the way, we stopped by Melbourne Central to go shopping at Coles supermarket. AND LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!

FREAKING PURPLE CAULIFLOWER! On special too! Forgive my fascination, but I have never seen this before!

Dried blueberries! Delicious! Except I think in the end, I preferred dried cherries.

Friday:

So I didn't actually manage to stay awake long. Slept like a baby all through the night. Got up early and went with my aunt to work. She sent me to Boxhill - which is like 45+ minutes by tram from the CBD to deliver a parcel to her boss who works in the Boxhill branch. So off I went, on my little adventure.

Tram! I got excited and thought this was the one I had to get on.

The actual tram "109" that would take me to Boxhill.

Got a little bored on the tram and so took a picture of the seat patterns.

I also kept seeing these rhino signs everywhere...

After I reached Boxhill, I had a little roam around before I went to the office. This suburb is like an Asian country! They had both Chinese and English signs for things. In the pharmacy, they had Chinese labels as well! Crazy! When I got to the office, her boss had bought me some savoury treat to eat! I don't usually like Chinese doughnuts at all! I also dislike spring onion and just about every other ingredient that was found in it, but this was surprisingly delicious!

I think they call this a Chinese doughnut. The savoury version, wrapped in a thin piece of egg.

After I left, I returned to the CBD and had lunch with my aunt. Following this, I walked over to Melbourne Central to get a haircut before I was due to meet up with my high school friend.

Saw this on the way there, it is of course, no significance to you or to anyone else who doesn't know my history. Which is of course for another post later... or never. 

Saw these cupcakes in the mall! Didn't try them though, so can't tell you if they are worthy of being named "heartbreak cupcakes".

And this adorable pup! It was pretty difficult getting a good picture of him. This was the best I could manage. T_T

After wandering around, I finally got my hair cut. A quick cut and wash cost AUD$36. At first, I wasn't too impressed with it, but as I left the mall, a hot Portuguese guy stopped me to tell me how beautiful he thought my skin was. I would have been more flattered if he hadn't tried selling me a product. He was trying to sell me skincare products made from manuka honey. When he found out I was visiting from New Zealand he said "Oh, you should know these products are good then. It's made from stuff that comes from your country!" When he failed to get a purchase out of me, he wrote down his name and number on a card and asked me to message him for coffee.

Meh, whatever. But I still took a picture of my cut after my encounter wit him, even if he was full of shit.

I eventually met up with my friend and I forgot to mention this earlier, but nearly everyone I saw in Melbourne seemed unbelievably beautiful or stunningly gorgeous. Jokingly, I sent a text to my high school friend about this and he replied saying he's the 1% and will try his best to exceed my expectations. And he did! He didn't become unbelievably beautiful or stunningly gorgeous, but his looks did improve from my high school memory of him.

First stop? Harajuku Crepes! I have to admit here... this could be better than the crepes from the actual Harajuku in Tokyo, Japan. Perhaps it's the ingredients used? More fresh, maybe?

  

Green tea crepe with strawberries from Harajuku Crepes!

Following our crepe, he took me on a quick tour of Melbourne. I don't actually know where we went... but here are some pictures!

Opposite the road from Flinder's Station

Flinder's Station

Not entirely sure what that tower thing is...

Brown water of the Yarra River. =S

Sorry, don't know what this bridge is called either. He told me to take pictures because it's the touristy thing to do.

This was taken in Crown (the casino with the flash shops that sold things I can't possibly afford). This picture was my feeble attempt to catch the shots of water that jumped. My camera isn't quick enough. =(

In Crown, we walked around and saw some nice things... every shop was high end and then... I saw Forever New. In New Zealand, that shop is like the high end of high end shops... but in Melbourne, it just looked like a cheap store.

We returned to the CBD and went to Passionflower! It's a cool little ice cream shop! Look at the light fixtures! Aren't they the cutest?!

I just want to steal them all and take them for my room!

I was treated to delicious ice cream! The flavours were lychee rose, vanilla bean and green tea! 

I think green tea flavoured ice cream has been ruined for me by my workplace and Japan. Any other type of green tea flavour just disappoints or doesn't match up! The lychee rose was fantastic! Such an exciting flavour! It tasted like rose tea but then it also tasted like lychee. 

Passionflower also serves tea, but they didn't have the cherry blossom flavour that we wanted!

Just mucking around at the counter

Another picture taken at the counter.

After this, we hung out in the mall's food court. I think I must have bored my friend half the death... eventually my childhood friend turned and she hung with me for the rest of the night. She took me to this burger place and I had one called "Baa Baa Burger". It was the most wonderful lamb burger I've ever tried. Granted, it's the only lamb burger I've ever had... but this was absolutely delicious!!! I completely forgot to take pictures! 

Ok, this is going to be a super long post. On Saturday, my aunt headed off to work in the morning, and I had the apartment to myself. I opened the windows and took pictures of the view.

Straight out the window. Nice view huh?

Straight down. I think that's a pool...

I was like wtf? Apparently that is a design university...

Weird cone thing that I believe to be the building of Melbourne Central

State library

This was my fail attempt to take a cute picture of myself with some sort of view. Sorry.

After this, I gave up and headed down to Melbourne Central. I walked around and did a bit of shopping. I needed to buy clothes as I didn't bring much!

To me, saba is the Japanese name for a type of mackerel fish...

So forgive me if I cannot see it as a fashion brand...

I met up with another friend from high school after this and she took me around Melbourne. We went to the state library! I didn't take many pictures, but here are some:

This was in the state library. I lol'd when I saw this so I had to take a picture of it.

My friend took me to a gelato place called Gelatissimo. It was pretty good! I wish I got the passion fruit flavour instead though... that was really yummy!

Gelatissimo's coffee and blood orange

Around this time, my uncle had called me up to say he was picking me up so after gelato, my friend left and I went in search for him. While walking there, I saw a great rainbow! I had to take two pictures to get the whole thing!

I met up with my uncle and his family. He then drove to pick up the aunt I am staying with (his sister) and we went to dinner. I think the restaurant was called Pacific Seafood or something...

The aunt I am staying with and my little cousin! She's so adorable!

We had crab on some sort of noodles, an entire fish, roast pork and a plate of snow pea veges. Being what I am... and used to Japanese food in which they chop everything up into bite sized pieces, I was completely horrified at Chinese dining. Especially when it came to eating crab. I don't understand why people go through that much trouble of digging out crab meat for themselves and using pliers to break through the shell! On top of that, your hands get so dirty! I was shocked beyond horror. My uncle kept urging me to have some and I just couldn't. I did have some... I had enough. He shouldn't complain, since the less I eat, the more he gets. The roast pork had so much fat. It was like a layer of skin (crunchy and yummy, I can't deny that) and then like over half of what was left was fat and then a measly portion of meat. Despite that... I cannot deny that it was delicious. 

Then the fish came and I wasn't horrified but I don't really like fish. The only fish I seem to eat is raw fish. =/ I'm not a fan of fish at all. This dish had a really overwhelming fishy tang. Not to my taste at all, but by the looks on my relatives' faces, it was probably really delicious. Once again, they shouldn't complain, the less I eat, the more for them.

By the time the snow pea leaves arrived, I was already full but I had some and I WAS BLOWN AWAY by the delicious taste! I ate like... half the plate even though I was so full!

Jumping on to Sunday! After dinner, we went home, I watched an awesome Bollywood movie and then we went to sleep. Woke up on Sunday and I went with my aunt to my uncle's place.

Saw this Barbie tram on the way to the train station...

On the train, taking a picture of a train!

A picture of me on the train

Picture of my aunt on the train...

My uncle's house is pink!!!

My uncle and I. Excuse my fatness.

My little cousin sound asleep!

My uncle took us to Dandenong Ranges and we had lunch at an over priced restaurant. Was not amazing, not gonna blog about it.

But to make up for that, here's a picture of my cute cousin!

My aunt (uncle's wife, cousin's mum) and I.

Baby cousin and her mummy!

Picture of the family, excuse my ugly mug.

We tried to get my cousin to show off her kimono...

Another one of my aunt and I

Baby cousin and I!!!

Acting coy? I don't know, but she's a little drama queen.

Picture of the family again.

After that, we drove to St Kilda Beach and took some more photos.

We left St Kilda's and went in search for dinner. We actually went to two places. The first one, had rude staff, who didn't really care if we stayed or left so we left. The reason we left was actually because they didn't have any suitable food for the baby.

But they had a cute menu...

We headed over to PappaRich. I was astonished at the number of people waiting in line to get a seat... and my astonishment grew when we joined the line. If I were in NZ, I would have gone elsewhere. But we weren't in line for long, so that was surprising.

Dinner was so so. I reckon if I ordered something else, I'd have been more satisfied. I think I'm just not used to South East Asian tastes. I prefer one taste in every spoonful, instead of three. =/

Ok, I'm getting impatient! Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Met up with my uncle, had lunch. He gave me a long talk. Ugh. I know he's right and all, but whatever. After lunch, he took me to a department store (?) and he bought something for my mother. Picture at the end of the post.

Dinner, I went with my aunt and her friend to a Japanese restaurant called Meshiya. I wasn't impressed at all. I was impressed with the amount of carrots they used for decoration, but the actual food? No.

Still, here's a picture of the sashimi. Wasn't impressed.

Got watermelon after dinner. I was impressed with THAT. At 60c/kg, we got a massive watermelon for under AUD$4! Most brilliant thing I ate in Melbourne, I swear.

TUESDAY!!! Finally! In the morning, I went shopping, bought a dress and a coat. I'm glad I put it off till today! When I saw the coat, I saw that it was something like $79 but was marked down to $69 then to $49. I hadn't bought it yet because I wasn't sure about it. I ended up deciding to get it and went back to the store. They had reduced the price even further to $39!!! I don't have pictures, but maybe it will make it on here in the future. =D

I ended up leaving my aunt's place early for the airport. Mainly because I had nothing left to do! I ended up reading HP7 on my ipad while sitting in McDonald's in the airport. My flight back to NZ was on an AirNZ plane and I was surprised when I got on! All the seats were black! The journey back was surprisingly comfortable and the service was also good. 

It was only after I posted this picture did I realise... this doesn't actually prove how black the plane seating was...

 Ok, so here's the stuff I got at the airport! 

Marc Jacob's Daisy in solid perfume, Victoria's Secret wallet thing and Elizabeth Arden's mascara and lip gloss.

Ok, here's the embarrassing thing... I intended to buy Chole's solid perfume but I picked this one up instead by accident. I thought I was getting Chole's even though I knew I had picked up something entirely different. It doesn't matter though, I love this just the same, perhaps even more...

These were AUD$10 each! I don't know what they usually cost at retailer's, but on the shelf, it said that it was usually at least AUD$35.

I bought these notebooks at half price from a shop in Boxhill that claimed it was having a closing down sale. I just needed notebooks and I liked these ones so I bought it. I don't really care if they were really having a sale or trying to scam people.

Aesop Skincare

My uncle insisted on buying something for my mother and since I couldn't actually think of anything, he said how about skincare products? He then went on to talk about the Aesop brand which is an Australian product. He mentioned my baby cousin had problems with eczema and this helped a lot and now she doesn't show signs of eczema when they use this. Since I have eczema on my leg and ankle, I showed interest in it so he took me to the store to get samples and bought a small jar of moisturiser for my mother.

When I checked in at Australia, the lady at the counter commended on how awesome Aesop is so I guess it's worth trying. I don't know what's going on with my travel documents, but when I went through Australian customs, the guy at the counter asked me if I had two passports. I don't, and he asked me if I have a visa. What does it matter if I have a visa or not?! I'm leaving the country already!!! I showed him my ETA Visa that was on a piece of A4 paper and he checked it twice and didn't really look satisfied but he was like whatever, you may pass.

Going through customs in NZ is strange for me. I was stopped when I came back from HK and I was stopped once again coming back from Australia! When I came back from HK, I was asked if I had two passports and they checked with immigration about me since my passport wasn't popping up at all on their computer. This time, my passport popped up, but my visa or permanent residency status didn't! The lady at the counter was like "oh this is strange... you don't... exist..." What? Do you mean to say I don't exist or do you mean to say for the past decade I've been in NZ (ok perhaps 5 years since I renewed my passport), I have actually been here semi-illegally?

She then asked me what food and products I bought into NZ then waved me through and told me to sit down. I sat in the same seat I did when I came back from HK and they disappeared off with my documents. My residency status is obviously real, but it seems no one bothered to fix whatever problem keeps occurring! I asked the lady who handed me back my stuff and she said: "what? Didn't immigration tell you anything?"

Of course not! If they had, I wouldn't be asking you! So she told me "well, I don't know what's going on, immigration just handed this to me... so you can have it back. But here's the number you can call immigration NZ and complain that you're stopped all the time and you want to know what's going on. Anyway, did you bring in any food?"

WTF? You're more worried about the crap people bring in to NZ and not the person who's coming in? For all you know, I could be a spy sent to infiltrate NZ. No wonder we have questionable people obtaining NZ citizenship! Y'all don't care who comes in as long as it doesn't negatively impact on your biosecurity. Although, it could have been my accent that gave it away: regardless of my looks, I obviously lived in NZ for a decent amount of years.