Day 1: A Very Very Cold Day

Got out from the Emirates plane about 2am at Melbourne Airport. It was 3 deg. C that morning. (according to my dad's friend - it was one of the coldest night) I was not wearing anything to cover my legs and wearing a one-piece clothe, hahahaaa guess what, felt like my heart was going to stop pumping oxygen and was shivering so badly! Went to the ladies to change and I found out something about Melbourne. Tap water was so warm (since it's winter, heater is ON); felt so relieved, my numb hands got un-numbed...? Ok, the thing about the public washrooms here are different from Malaysia's is that there is no water pipes in the cubicals, so the floors are not wet. And the cubical walls does not touch the ground; which means you can actually see the persons' legs (I think it's for safety purpose).

Melbourne Airport is smaller as compared to KLIA

We have already reserved a car online from Avis Car Rental. The office only opens at 5am. In the meantime, we had an early breakfast at McDonalds in the airport (BIG MAC set - AUD8.50) For your info, you do not need to book it online because there are cars for rent opposite the arrival hall in Melbourne Airport. And it might be cheaper not to book online as there might be special promotionsfor walk-in customers. We rented the car (Holden Cruze - velvet colour) for 6 days at AUD560 using our Malaysian driving license. I would say the best thing was all cars have heater. Lol! We now appreciate the sun and heat in Malaysia :P

Travelled to Uncle BV and Aunt De's house situated in Nunawading. (doesn't Nunawading sounds so Malay-ish? lol) managed to read the Melbourne map correctly and reached around 7am. After some initial greetings with the hosts, mum, bro and I went straight to bed. Haha! Dad stayed up talking to Uncle till he had to get ready for work.

This is our rented car (Holden Cruze - Australian-made car)

It was already in the afternoon when I woke up. Got dressed and our first stop was to visit a shopping mall at Burwood. Suggested by aunty, we can get our groceries and clothes over there. Shopping malls over here usually have K-mart, Target (clothes, cosmetics) and Coles (something like Giant - they even have their own branding). Had KFC for lunch @ AUD19.95 dinner box (10 pieces of chicken + 2 fries).
Take note; the weird thing is that their water in bottles here are expensive - more expensive/same price as soft drinks approx AUD3. The government encourage to reduce the bottle containers. We kept on converting every price tag we see on the shelf to Malaysian Ringgit. Aaaahhhh. I wanted to get some 'boots' (is that what they call it?), sweaters, leggings etc.. but it's still expensive as compared to Malaysia lol! The only item I notice is slightly cheaper than Malaysia is MILK!!! (hot milk with honey... yumm yummm...)

By 5.30pm, the sky is already dark. Most shops close at 5pm except for some supermarket and fastfood restaurants. We even lost our way and 'thank you' Mr. Security Guard for helping and walking us to the carpark area ^^ (he's from India, been 5 years in Australia).

For dinner, had McDonalds nearby the mall road. Mum like the Aussie guy who took our order, because he gave us a refill for the coffee. Hahaha... Actually in Australia, there's no refill for the drinks unlike Malaysia. McDonald Dinner box AUD19.95 (6 pieces nuggets, 2 cheeseburger, 2 big mac, 4 soft drinks) - we changed 2 of the soft drinks to cappuccino ^^

Just to show you how the petrol station is like:
Different prices (100litres) stated, depends on what type of petrol your vehicle is using. Different station different price :O

This is how the shops look like.

Tadaaa... me and mum...~