Happy Birthday Shierlyne

2 weeks ago on 13 July 08, Shierlyne had her birthday dinner at The Meat & Wine Co and invited several friends. We went there after the Sunday service at GRII Sydney.

Me, Diana and my sister Ellen got Shierlyne a pan grill for cooking steaks and steak knives as well. Well, for the rest, they got her the iPhone, errr ...... almost hehehe ... it's not, but the best thing next to the iPhone which is iPod Touch 16GB !!! Cool !!! We bought the iPod Touch on Saturday (12/07) with Shierlyne as well, but she is not aware that will be her birthday present as I said that I bought the iPod Touch for myself. You just have to see her face filled with surprise and disbelief when she opened the present.

Alright, move on to the photos :

Just got there and started ordering, each of us ordered Wagyu Beef, rib eye for the gals and rump for boys (mainly because rump has more meat hahaha)















The happy couple on that evening



While we were waiting for the foods to come (1 hour !!), we got bored and just drawing and writing stuffs on the table, because the table is covered by paper.











Then, wagyu beef rump steak arrived one by one for the boys



and rib eyes for the gals, as presented by the birthday girl



After we finished the dinner, come the time to get the cake out and almost all the restaurant crew sing Happy Birthday, complete with the "fire thing"-don't know what it's called. It was a blast !!









Cake cutting, look at the "thing" wrapped in green paper,





Special present from Feri, beautiful necklace which Shierlyne wears it straight away.











Opening the main present, still doesn't know what's inside



Disbelief, just by looking a bit on the opened part ...



I would assume my little trick with Feri worked well coz she seemed amused 100% and not even realized until now that iPod is for her :)















Feri got the thumb up for the present and dinner



After dinner, we headed back to Shierlyne's apartment to open the other present from us.











Now, she can make her own steaks at home now that all the right equipment is there :)

Lastly, group photos in the restaurant

Melbourne Short Holiday part 9

This will be the last post for my Melbourne holidays so I will put up the last day photos, which is about Melbourne downtown.

First stop is State Library. Only can take photos outside because it wasn't allowed to inside.





Then, off to Fitzroy Garden. I can honestly say it is better than Hyde Park & Royal Botanical Garden in Sydney !!! Trust me on this one, let the photos speak. It's a dull day so sky is a bit washed out in the photos.















After that, we headed back to downtown to meet Diana's friend to have a lunch together.



Lastly, inside photos from the tram. This is the thing I miss, because it is just so practical to hop on and off the trams in the city :)





That sums it up. Thanks heaps for looking !

Melbourne Short Holiday part 8

Here are the photos of Stamford Melbourne Plaza hotel room.

We stayed here for 2 nights and guess what, we got a a one bedroom suite! How cool is that ...

We get this because my sister works at Stamford Airport Sydney, and we use her employee facility :) A one suite bedroom for the price of standard room in the heart of Melbourne ... definitely a bargain :)

Melbourne Short Holiday part 7

As soon as we got to Sovereign Hill, we went straight away to ticket box, costing us $70 to get in. A bit expensive isn't it?

The place is quite big, so Diana made some planning so we could see the good attractions, only to find that we don't have enough time to do it, considering we got there around 1-1.30PM.









There is a gun demonstration by redcoat soldiers, using real gun but empty shells of course.









Obviously not real meat :)



Making 24 karat gold bar



A real gold nugget



Random photos












We took the guided gold mine tour at the end of the day, cost us $10 more. It is quite good and eye opening about how gold mining from the past until now. That "Sorry" sign is about no more people can be included, since the tour is already full.

Melbourne Short Holiday part 6

We went to Ballarat on our second day at Melbourne, using V Line from Spencer St Station, took us around 1.5 hours to get there. V Line trains are quite nice and spacious as well, so long distance journey is comfy.



Ballarat Station



We arrived there around 1 o'clock (or probably 12.30) and found there was no bus to Sovereign Hill (have to wait 1 hour for the next one). So we went to the nearest Visitor Centre and the lady there told us it can be reached by walking for 30 mins. So off we go by foot. Quite healthy isn't it considering our daily life mostly spent on the chair in front of PC :) Here are some photos of Ballarat on our way to Sovereign Hill.













Finally, we arrived at Sovereign Hill.







I will blog Sovereign Hill photos tomorrow. Thanks for looking !