Friday, 26th Aug

Arrived in Melbourne at 615am or so, an hour later due to flight delay from Singapore. Flight was on a Qantas A380, took a SQ A380 to Sydney a few years back and in comparison, there seems to be some differences.

The seat itself on Qantas doesn’t feel much wider or bigger than a normal SQ 747 for example but the aisle is definitely wider and ooh don’t get me started on the refreshment area. I don’t recall SQ having a refreshment area but Qantas does and there were cookies, cakes, soft drinks and mineral water. The flight entertainment system is more or less the same but I like the Qantas remote controller although I was using the touch screen all the time. Dinner was so so and breakfast was quite miserable, just a Danish with the standard coffee and tea.

While on the plane, I watched 2 movies – Kungfu Panda 2 and Arthur after which I tried to sleep but can’t and before I knew it, it was time for breakfast and landing.

Upon arrival in Melbourne, took the Skybus to the city, there were some heavy traffic so it took about 30 mins to get to the city instead of 20 mins as advertised. What is good about Skybus is they offer free hotel transfers from Southern Cross station when the Skybus terminates. By 8 plus I was already at the City Tempo apartment on Queen Street where I am booked for 3 nights.

I was assigned a room which was not ready but I was asked if I wanted an available room which is ready for occupancy but it is on a lower floor. Given that I was very tired I just accepted. Checked in and love the place, especially the kitchen and laundry facilities.

After unpacking, I went straight to bed, wanting to get an hour’s nap but it ended up into 2 over hours cos I kept snoozing. I woke up about 11, took a shower and headed out to Queen Victoria’s Market which is walking distance from my apartment. I thought it was a long walk but it was actually 5 mins or so only. Bought some fresh produce, like fresh button mushrooms, cauliflower, bacon and eggs for preparing my meals the next few days. Came back and bought a loaf of bread from a supermarket opposite my apartment. Came back and cook bacon, eggs and mushroom with bread. After I cooked and cleaned up, it was time to go out and sightsee and run my errands. Ran to the bank and post some letters then walked down to Flinder Street Train Station and towards South Bank and to a supermarket to grab some pasta, chicken and oyster sauce.

Took the tram back to my apartment and cooked my dinner. Then planned to do some reading but was watching tv after dinner and by 930 pm I was snoring away.