Free Melbourne City Tour, Free Wifi Spots and Kangaroo Meat

Hello Again, as I have said in my previous blog our first few days in Melbourne were the most difficult.  On our second day, I was dying to speak with my sisters. I wanted to tell them that we arrived safely in Melbourne. However, I did not have enough load to text them (even though I still have $3 worth of load, I wanted to save it for emergency purposes). Besides, I really wanted to see them using the video call. The internet connection in the service apartment comes with a hefty price of $5 an hour. I didn't want to pay that much.

All that we had was the Huawei Pocket Wifi and our Ipads. If you will visit Melbourne, smartphone is a must. It is beneficial, for example you can check the arrival of the tram using the tram tracker app. If you want to go somewhere, you can always use the PTV journal planner website to get there. . Really helpful for newcomers and tourists. Of course, Facebook..Need I say more?

My hubby and I decided to take the Melbourne Visitor Shuttle wherein you can visit the famous tourist spots in the city of Melbourne for free. At first, we thought it was the double decker bus. We realised that it was a different tour when they started asking for a $35 payment. Apparently, this wasn't the bus we were looking for. So, when we saw another bus arrived with a sign that says Melbourne FREE Visitor Shuttle, we were pretty sure it was the correct one so we hopped in. We visited a lot of places, but I dozed off most of the time. My hubby would woke me up once in awhile if he saw something amazing. We were excited to visit the Queen Victoria Market but got disappointed when we got there. It was closed because it was a Monday (They are close on Mondays and Wednesdays, don’t know why).  We didn't get to take a lot of pictures because my card memory was pretty full.

 MCG Stadium 

 We didn't know what was the name of the place but it looked historical so we took a photo. 

 Federation Square

 Flinders Railway Station

Melbourne Museum

After the tour, we went to Federation Square for the Free Wifi (Yipee!). Even though, I didn’t get the chance to speak with my sisters I just left them a bunch of Facebook messages. We spoke with my Tita Mina (“The Cool Tita”) and my in-laws.  We had to bid our goodbyes because our body couldn’t take the cold temperature anymore.

The first three days in the city, all we do is walk and walk. Even though the tram was right in front of us we still preferred walking. Why? It would be easier for us to learn the city and of course we didn’t know how to ride the tram. I tried reading the brochure about Melbourne transportation; but I still couldn’t understand it.  Tram looks little intimidating, so we chose to walk our way to our destination. We thought it was a good exercise. But..Oh boy! It could really test your strength and endurance especially when you have to walk 3km while carrying 5 kilos of groceries. Tired as a dog, I felt like we lose 2 lbs or more because of all the walking we have done.

We had our dinner at Hungry Jacks (Thanks for the free one-hour wifi). Finally, I had the chance to speak with my sisters. I really missed them. While holding back my tears, I tried to show them what Melbourne looks like. I showed them a poor picture of Bourke Street and Russell Street from my Ipad. I showed the food that I was eating using video call. My sisters and I were so excited to talk to each other but it was cut short because I already consumed the one-hour wifi. An hour of chikahan was not enough. I went home still trying to contain myself.  At home, my husband comforted me as usual and promised me that we will buy mobile broadband sim first thing in the morning.

The next day, my husband and I decided to buy the Vodafone sim broadband. It has the best deal among the Internet providers. We paid $2 for the sim card and $39 for 3GB. Imagine, 3GB for both of us! I didn’t think it would last. We are both heavy Internet users. My hubby likes to download stuff from the Internet and I am a self-confessed Youtube addict. Well, a little sacrifice wouldn’t hurt said my hubby. The 3GB lasted for 2 weeks with no Youtubes and video calls; we strictly used it for chatting and emailing. We also bought 2 Optus Phone simcard for $30 each (pre-loaded with $30) because most of the people we know use Optus. Optus offers unlimited call and text and free use of social media. Unfortunately, we couldn’t maximise the freebies because none of us has smartphone. Initially, we thought it would work on my Lenovo phone but it did not.  One of our greatest regrets is not buying Iphone in the Philippines. It was way cheaper and has flexible payment terms.

My hubby and I had our first grocery shopping in Coles. We spent $50 worth of groceries. My husband insisted on buying Kangaroo meat while I bought minced turkey (It was $2 cheaper than chicken for a special deal). When we got home, my husband asked me to cook the kangaroo meat for dinner. The moment I opened the cover, I was shocked with the smell. I wasn’t sure if it was the marinade but I really couldn’t tolerate the smell. I fried the meat, still wasn’t sure if I did it correctly. 

My first attempt to cook kangaroo meat

For my dinner, I cooked my own stir-fried veggies with minced turkey. Since, it was my husband’s kangaroo request, he had no choice but to eat it all. He said it was like a chicken liver with a rubbery texture. Well, I am not into liver and rubber, so I did not dare taste it.  I can still remember his face of displeasure while finishing the kangaroo meat. It looked like he was going to vomit. Maybe, I cooked it wrong. I do not know.  I just do not like the idea of cooking and eating kangaroos. They are way too cute and adorable in TV and pictures, aren't they?

 Photo courtesy of fanpop.com

See you on my next blog. Thank you for reading!

Love,

Nikki D.