The Best Christmas Present

No fancy gifts. No extravagant Christmas party. No Santa climbing down the chimney.

In fact, the best Christmas present I received was the presence of my aunt and cousin from Malaysia. It’s been a long time coming for my little cousin to visit the Land Down Under but the time had finally arrived. In the 2 weeks she was here, I can’t believe how much of Melbourne we managed to squeeze in for her. For that period of time, I also put on my tourist hat, and we went around taking photos in places that I usually wouldn’t.

Melbourne is such an awesome place! I think most of us take it for granted, as we carry on with our daily routine. It’s no wonder why it was voted the Most Livable City 2 years ago.

City Sight Seeing
As we walk along the streets of the city, with our heads bowed down, or deep in conversation with a friend, we are missing some of the most amazing buildings. It was only when I went around with my cousin, that I realized this. Apart from landmarks such as Flinders St Station, the new Spencer St Station, and Federation Square, we also saw antiquated churches and cathedrals, the National Museum (which I never knew existed) and the Old Melbourne Gaol….all within the city precincts. It was definitely an eye-opener for me to observe my surroundings a bit more closely.




Crown Casino and Southbank
Crown is a place not to be missed. We went there to watch the Christmas lights display they had on and then walked around visiting some shops (even though it was totally out of our price range). Unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance to eat at the infamous Greco’s. This was followed by a walk along Southbank and then to the Exhibition Centre. My cousin thought the exterior design of that building was actually quite unique.

Melbourne Zoo
NO…we do not have kangaroos and koalas in our backyards. But, we do have them at the Zoo, so this was a must-do thing for my cousin. An added bonus, was that she got to see penguins too, which saved us a 3-hr car ride to and from Phillip Island just to see the little creatures.

Melbourne Aquarium
Monsters of the Deep have invaded Melbourne. Well, at least at the Aquarium that is. There were stingrays, huge grey nurse sharks, starfish, turtles, jellyfish and an array of colourful fishes. We found out that when male sharks are attracted to ones of the opposite sex, they tend to bite them, as a sign of affection. Hmm…that’s something to think about fellas. However, the biggest, and I mean biggest attraction was the World’s Only Giant Frozen Octopus. Check it out for yourself below.



Universities
Melbourne is also the host of 2 internationally renowned universities, Melbourne and Monash. Because of that, my cousin really, really wanted to have a walk around. I guess it would just be like me visiting Harvard or Oxford if I was in those countries. Anyway, my brother and I showed her the hot photo-taking spots for our respective unis, which made her happy :p It was something she could take home and brag about to her friends.

Christmas Lights
Something that I guess is not experienced in Malaysia is people decorating their houses for Xmas. After a quick Google search, I managed to find a list of places that had the best Xmas light decorations. A few nights were dedicated to this adventure, as we tried to hunt down the best house in Melbourne. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to travel to the supposed best houses in Vermont and Canterbury, but we did manage to find some nice ones.



Mornington Peninsula
Even though we have hit summer, my relatives would beg to differ (excluding New Year’s Eve, which was the hottest December day in so many years). Despite that, we all went for a day trip along the east coast, to Mornington Peninsula. Our lunch stop-off was at Nepean Country Club, where the oldies prepared the BBQ while the young ones indulged in some table tennis and canoeing. After a fly-induced lunch of chicken wings with flies, hot dogs with flies and salad with flies, we hit the pool for an afternoon swim.

On the way back to Melbourne, we made a few stops are various look out points and just viewed with awe at the scenery that was before us. Blueish-green clear waters, filled with wind surfers, swimmers splashing around and the golden sand stretching around to encase the water.