Melbourne - Part 2

Day Three

Our hunt for good coffee continues... 

After getting some wrong information from Beanhunter, the coffee place we wanted to go to was actually closed. Most specialty coffee places in the CBD are closed on the weekend so don't hope for much.

Postal Hall

116 Russell St, CBD

+ an average cup of coffee. On the milkier side.

++ yum smashed avocado on toast. 

++ ok prices for food

Brioche by Philip

114 Russell St, CBD (and other locations)

++ amazing coffee and pastries. Closest that we've had to NZ coffee

++ one of the only places with beans from origins we love - earthy ones

++ did I mention the pastries??

Chadstone Shopping Centre

1341 Dandenong Rd, Chadstone

Need I say more? 

We took the train to Hughsdale, walked for about 10 minutes on Poath Rd. Easier than getting on and off a bus. 

++ bought a pavlova cupcake. Wasn't great but the passionfruit icing/cream was yum.

++ Annabel found her new toys and got dad to buy them :)

-- great to visit especially if you love high end labels, but because it's so huge it's a bit confusing and you would do a lot of walking.

-- not a great range for food so we had Nandos. Very expensive compared to what we would get here in NZ.

Pho Flinders

233 Flinders St, CBD (and other locations)

After spending all my money on Annabel at H&M and Target, we had to go budget on the food. Actually we had walked along Southbank along the Yarra River and most of the restaurants were too high end for us and didn't look children friendly.

++ smelt really nice as we walked past. Only $9 for a small bowl, $10 for medium and $12 for large. Rice was $9 too.

++ tastes average - maybe don't get the rice but good for a quick and cheap meal

End of day three. Annabel enjoyed her walk back.

Day Four

First stop church. We chose to go to the Uniting Church Gospel Hall as it was close to us and is in Cantonese. 

Next time I will want to go to this one as I really like their name hehe

Mr Kitchen

319 Swanston Street, CBD

Quick stop for brekkie before going to Springvale.

++ nice, quick and cheap Asian breakfast

++ deep fried ghosts and soy milk were the best thing we got

-- congee was a bit on the watery side but again it was cheap and nice to have on a cold morning

Pho Chu The

17-19 Buckingham Ave, Springvale (and other locations)

Springvale is new to us. It is another Vietnamese town with lots of places to eat. This one was the one we went with my mum and her friends.

++ authentic pho, delicious soup with the rice (not like the usual MSG filled ones we get here)

++ great for kids - Bel got her own pho with pretty scissors to cut. Children friendly place

Seven Seeds

114 Berkeley St, Carlton (CBD fringe by Queen Victoria Markets)

++ nice cup of coffee and ice latte

++ pretty decor

++ the food looks good too but we only bought a lamington (and was quite dry)

-- almost missed it because the entrance is not obvious and the sign is on the wall

Flagstaff Gardens

West Melbourne

Nice park to walk and play with the kids.

Next to Queen Victoria Markets.

Something else to do besides eating and shopping hehe

Peek a boo

361 Queens St, CBD

We stumbled upon this one on our way back from Flagstaff Park. Owned by Hong Kong people.

++ nice cup of coffee especially if you like fruity/nutty flavours

++ Asian tasting coffee

++ cute little shop

-- jar cake did not taste as good as I'd hoped.

Mamak

366 Lonsdale St, CBD

Been craving this since Sydney.

++ delicious fresh roti with curry

++ great mee goreng (we asked for no spicyness)

++ no long queues like the Sydney one

-- not as good as the Sydney one, although some might prefer this one as it's more Chinese Malay than South Indian Malay

Day Five

Little Blue Bean

15 Little Collins St, CBD

++ good cup of coffee 

-- only open on weekdays 

We really love Melbourne. It is a very pretty and creative city. Reminds me of Christchurch. There are colours everywhere and they put a lot of thought into their designs. We will be back!!

Melbourne - Part 1

We decided to go on a trip before I was due back for work (that was before I got my new job) and Melbourne was the destination! We love Melbourne - it's technically Bel's second time and decided it was a good time to go because of the weather. The last two times I got really sick... So Melbourne winters don't work for me. Here is a digest of our 5 days.

Day one

We arrived at 9.00pm, had an awesome taxi driver (taxi cost $56 from airport to city) and arrived at the Mantra on Russell.

We were hungry so went to a random Chinese place on Russell to buy congee and noodles. Was to hungry to take photos 😄.

Mantra on Russell 

1 bedroom apartment

++Awesome location++

30 seconds to Chinatown, QV.

5 mins to Melbourne Central, GPO, Elizabeth Street.

10-15 mins to Queen Victoria Markets

 

+ spacious lounge/dining area

- As with most Australian hotels, decor seems dated even thought the room is quite new.

- bathroom/toilets are an ensuite so if you have a 3rd person, they need to come into the main bedroom to use the bathroom

Day two

Nothing was open around our area but we managed to find a China Bar (chain store) in the Target Centre. Limited menu available but was a good start.

Market Lane Coffee

Prahran Markets

++ nice decor, nice cup of coffee

++ cupping is normally on fri / sat at 10am so we just missed that

++ lots of coffee gear available

Prahran Markets

Off Chapel St, South Yarra/Prahran

++ love this market. Heaps of fresh fruit and veges. 

++ my personal favourite market

Master Roll Vietnam

169 Toorak Road, South Yarra

++ maybe it was a super hot day but it was one of the best banh mi that I've had. 

++ fresh bread and pork belly was delish

-- the only that that could make it better is the pate

Einstein's Relative

1/9 Yarra St, South Yarra

++ freeman liked this coffee more than Market Lane Coffee

++ good cup of coffee - reminded us of our brother - in - law Francis' coffee

Melbourne Central

Melbourne CBD

Much of it has stayed the same, except now there is the Shot Tower building which is joined to La Trobe Building, which is joined to the Emporium, which is joined to David Jones. We didn't shop much but used the parents retreat on L2 the most. It's one of the best parents room I've been to. Lots of space for kids to play, ropes to climb on, tv, play kitchen, wooden train table, picnic table for families to eat on, spacious colourful breastfeeding rooms. It is definitely a retreat for parents.

New Shanghai Restaurant

Melbourne Emporium, CBD

++ Happy hour was great. You could choose a dish and drink for really good prices. Xiao long bao and drink was about $6 and fried rice and drink was $10.

-- not the best xiao long bao's but when you have a hungry kid with hungry parents it works out well. Plus it's cheap.

Christchurch - food and coffee

During our 1.5 day stay in Christchurch we tried to fit in as much coffee (and food) as we could. Here are the places that we went to.

Christchurch Farmers Market

Riccarton Bush (near Riccarton Mall)

After a bit of a walk, we found the markets in a very nice park. It could be the season but there wasn't much fresh produce as it had expected but there was a lot of food. German sausages, Gyoza, macarons, bread, fudge, Thai and Japanese food...

It was really nice to get out of the cbd and see how relaxed people are. Nice way to enjoy a sunny Saturday.

Crafted Coffee Company

Re:start mall, Cashel Street

Coffee is ok here. Food is nice. Nice decor, brings a bit of colour back. Great seating area.

Caffeine Laboratory

3 locations- Re:start mall, corner of Walker Street & Montreal street, New Regent Street

After walking to Walker/Montreal street from Central Station, we were a bit gutted that we couldn't find it. It was by accident that we found one of their stores in Cashel Mall (we were so happy). Turns out they have a small cafe on New Regent Street.. Which is right outside our apartments... and which we walked to in the morning but totally missed...

It also turns out that the Walker/Montreal street one only operates on Mon-Fri out of a black container.

Best coffee in Christchurch (or the ones we have tried). Seating is limited at both places but staff is very friendly. There is a great selection of food at Nee Regent Street.

Re:start Mall

New Regent Street

Sakimoto

Cathedral Junction

After having not a luck of finding recommended places to eat that was in close vicinity to our apartment.. We decided to head downstairs to this little Japanese place.

Food was great, fresh and well presented. Prices were pretty good too. Very yum Japanese food. Staff was a bit harder to understand. 

C1 Espresso

High Street

After seeing it on Campbell Live and have been told they have great coffee we decided to give it a try after dinner.

Great quirky place. Very creative use of items such as a sewing machine used as a water tap. The sliders were great $20 for a choice of 3. There were cabinet food as well. The menu for the morning is better with a wide range of breakfast items. Coffee is pretty good. 

You can sense that they have a very different perspective of Christchurch and their view on what is happening (or not happening) with the rebuild.

Black Betty

Madras Street

A very family friendly cafe - more like one we would see in Auckland. Great seating. Great food. Coffee is pretty good too. I ordered their Mac n cheese and was very delicious. It wasn't like a typical one where it was just Mac n sauce. Definitely a must go. Great selection of cabinet food and menu options too.

One thing to really commend the Christchurch coffee places is their ability to do latte art with soy milk. It's a rarity here in Auckland for me to not only have great coffee but also someone who can make nice art.. Instead of a blob that I always get. 

I can't wait until I go back to Christchurch again to try out some of their other restaurants... When it's not so cold!😄

Christchurch - a city of resilience

Our latest trip was going down to Christchurch for 1.5 days with my sister and brother in law. As with any trip, each experience has been amazing and left us with different feelings.

We often see news stories on Christchurch and the people who live there and I guess after 2+ years, we sort of got used to it.  Slow recovery, lack of engineers or people willing to move there, housing shortages, insurance battles, government battles, vandalism and the list goes on. It was only until we got there that we really felt what it was like.

The CBD was literally dead. Cafés and restaurants were open to the few tourists who were around.. And random parts of the CBD would have more signs of life like the Re-start mall. All you could see are damaged buildings, holes, rubble, fences and abandoned shops that still had stock or offices with their gear left behind. It was very heartbreaking to walk around and see this. The suburbs are apparently even worse with empty homes that were once filled with families.

However, it was encouraging to see that amongst all this, the people of Christchurch are trying to bring life back to the garden city. There is amazing artwork on the buildings, small interactive areas such as the sound mat where you can play your own music and it gets blasted on massive speakers, colour is everywhere, and there is a group called the Plant Gang (https://m.facebook.com/plantgang?_rdr) who go around empty sites and plant to make the city cleaner and more attractive.

Despite everything they have gone through, the people of Christchurch have found ways to bring life back, which for most of us will take for granted. It feels like the government has forgotten them but I think that there is still hope for Christchurch because it's not just the buildings and physical structures that make a city a city but it's the people who make a city a city and most importantly, HOME. Huge RESPECT for those living in Christchurch!

Christchurch is a garden city, a city of resilience, creativity, survival and hope. I pray that this spirit of community will continue to help them with whatever battles they have to face next. 

(Photos courtesy of my husband.. And me)

Parachute music festival

This is a long overdue post...

Each year, we always look forward to the Parachute music festival held at Mystery Creek, Hamilton. I think this must be my 7/8th festival that I've been to and over the years it has given me a lot of insights, encouragement and not to mention the fun we have over the weekend. 

This year was not only significant because it was Annabel's first one but also because it's the last Parachute Music Festival. We found out early this year that it wasn't viable for the festival to continue due to increasing costs and yet the ticket prices remained pretty much the same. We were all very sad about the news.

So looking back at this years festival, we were blessed to have Stan Walker there. He was one of my highlights as I've never seen him perform (except on NZ X Factor) but also his testimony was amazing. It really touched me on how he was abused, had a rough life with drugs, stealing and dealing with a miscarriage, he asked God to fix his brokenness, built a strong relationship with God and became who he is now.

MC Jin was another person we saw who had such humility in what he does. We saw him in the Village area with his crew and instead of them serving him, he served them but ordering and buying drinks for them. We also had a photo op with him and as I was taking the photo with him, my husband and little one, he also said "let's take another one, we can't leave out mum". Not to mention that it was raining at the time too.

So here's to Parachute Music - I pray that God will continue to use them to help influence people through music and the work that they do!

Mama diary - 2 months

Little A is now 9 weeks old. Time flies so fast seeing her grow up and reaching those little milestones - her first smile, coo, sleeping 6 hours straight and generally starting to settle a lot better. I would describe motherhood as one large experiment that requires a lot of patience and perseverance. Things that worked in the first few weeks stop working, things that didn't work ends up working.

So what have I learnt so far?

Don't expect to be perfect.
The most stressful times I had was when I wanted everything to work out. Little A would be doing normal newborn things such as crying...and crying... and crying but firstly I was afraid that I would look bad in front of my in laws so all I wanted was for her to stop crying. Sometimes I don't know why she would cry and I would get frustrated but then the guilt would set in because she can't communicate in any other way except for crying. Then there is the thing of us living in the age of information. Yes information can help - I have been guilty of googling a lot to reassure myself that it's normal and I would only trust reliable sources such as Babycentre (not the forums). But then there is also too much information or rather opinions online and some of it did make me feel bad. To have a routine or not? To co-sleep or not? Should we use a dummy? Swaddle or not swaddle? Leave her to sleep in the capsule or not? What I have found is that tiredness is probably the most dangerous thing for your newborn. There are risks to all of those things mentioned above but having a baby that doesn't sleep and as a result, you lose sleep is even more harmful. When I'm tired, I find I get frustrated easily, I don't bond as well with her and as a result she cries even more and then the cycle gets bigger. Also when you're tired there are simple things such as walking becomes a hazard cause your balance is that much more off and forgetfulness sets in too. In the end we did co-sleep a bit in the morning hours and it helped the both of us so much more.

Be thankful for the little things.
There is nothing more rewarding than seeing your little one smile at you for the first time. No matter how bad the night has been, once she is awake and gives you that smile, your heart will melt.

I am thankful that I have a little one who can sleep pretty well. At first she was very clingy and now as she is older, I can put her down by herself and she can sleep longer stretches. Every child is different and when I expected her to be able to sleep by herself and tried to do all the training, I just got frustrated. I decided to let it go and as the weeks go by she has learnt by herself. I wish I had saved myself from the stress before hand in getting her to be the 'perfect sleeping' baby and just let her grow and develop.

I am thankful she takes injections quite well given that I hate injections. She will only protest for 30 secs and once I give her a cuddle she is fine.

I'm thankful that she loves music and that always calms her.

I'm thankful that there are so many people around her who loves her so much.

Finally I'm really thankful that she got to meet my grandma.. Her great-gran!

Some useful articles that I wish I'd read sooner.
This article is so true and I think every new mother should read this:
The newborn survival guide http://www.ohbaby.co.nz/blogs/-/plus1/2012/7/9/the-newborn-survival-guide/
Tips for bonding with grandparents http://grandparents.about.com/od/growingintoyournewrole/a/Bonding-With-A-New-Grandchild.htm

Finally, I saw this canvas at one of our favourite coffee places and is something I want to give to little A :)

We love you Annabel! :)