Caribbean Market, Southern Star Observation Wheel and Santa's Workshop

We brought mum to Carribean Market last Sunday. It's located near the Ferntree Gully and Wheelers Hill area. The market only opens on Wednesdays and Sundays and they offer a huge variety of goods ranging from clothing, fresh produce, lollies, plants, art and crafts, household goods, tools, prints, shoes, toys, giftware and bric-a-brac. A live band was playing that day and we've gotta say they were really not bad in their singing.

They also had rides like: a train which runs along the lakes, a jungle boat ride which Mum, Ying and I took and the chairlift which brings you from one end of the lake to the other. It was a hot day but we had fun. Mum bought some treats for Jasper and we were pretty amused by the "bully stick which is actually bull's penis. heehee... :p We also saw a salamander a.k.a four-legged fish with legs. I think I turned a shade darker after the sun that day.

I was on leave from the 22nd Dec onwards and so mum and I took another day trip to the Docklands and the city because the Southern Star observation wheel is finally open. But not before we took a quick trip to St. Kilda beach where we had some gelati to cool down.

It was funny to see Mum in her jacket (to keep her hands out of the sun) when everyone were in bikinis or swimwear. We took a short walk along the beach. There was also an indoor salt bath or something, and you can look into the swimming pool from outside. Seemed funny to have a pool just next to the beach? :p And yes there were lots of hot girls sun-tanning too.

Lucky for mum, the "ferris wheel" was opened just on that Saturday before. And surprisingly though, it was not at all crowded on the 3rd day of opening. Mum was saying, if it were in Singapore or Malaysia, people will be lining up around the block. :D Anyway tickets are AUD$29 for adult and my non-expired "student pass" got me concession price of AUD$23. It was air-conditioned inside and although the view wasn't that great at all, it was just an experience I guess. We were supposed to look at the camera in the capsule after us and it would take a photo of us, but bad luck that the camera wasn't working. :(

We met Santa along the way and decided to take a photo with him. He was giving away free candy too. :p And just outside on Bourke street, Myer had their usual annual Christmas displays on the windows. I don't know if it's the same theme for every year, but this time it was Santa's Workshop. Basically it's like a display of moving puppets and miniature buildings. There was a line if you want to catch a closer look, but mum and I were lazy, so we just took photos from the outer section. :p

It was a tiring but happy day and later, we met darling after work and went home with him.

A visit to waterfront city at Docklands and Crown Casino's christmas splendour

Mum, Ying and I went out to Docklands last friday to see The Southern Star observation wheel which is more easily nicknamed Melbourne eye just like the london eye. It's located at the Docklands and also houses new retail stores there which they call the Waterfront city.

It was disappointing though because mum and I actually wanted to take a ride on it. Tickets were about AUD$29 per person I think, but it wasn't opened yet. It was funny because they recently had an opening ceremony, so you would have thought that means it's open? :o Even then, most of the shops there weren't opened as well, so only a handful of shops to walk around. The "soon to be" opened stores had posters and funny things stuck on the shop front to indicate what kind of goods they sell.

A view of the Southern Star observation wheel from the Tram stop. Trams 48 and 86 from flinders street and bourke street respectively bring you there.

A white christmas tree outside the row of shops which kinda reminded me of Bugis for some reason, Ying also said the same thing. The weather was scorching hot that day lah, not at all a "snowy" christmasy feeling.

As mentioned the unopened shops had a display of images with a combination of things pasted on them to tell you what kind of shop it would be. For example this would probably be a hair dresser or a shop selling hair products. We also saw one that had lots of bowls and cups pasted on the wooden boards.

A snap shot on the second level. Note the shops at the back, most of them on this level are also not opened yet. The white building on the top right are apartments. Imagine staying at one there! You wake up every morning, walk out to the balcony and what a view you get! :D And also all the shopping temptations nearby!

We met darling at Crown Casino when he finished work. After dinner as we were walking towards the hotel lobby to watch the Crown Christmas display, we passed by this seafood restaurant with such an ENORMOUS crab that we just had to take a photo.

In front of some of the christmas decorations with mum. See the glittering Crown logo on my right. heehee. :D That's like a super gigantic "glass" ball or bobble decorations that you hang on Xmas trees.

The choir which performed so many wonderful christmas tunes.

I probably took more video captures as compared to photos because it was better to capture the animated moving performance. It was Crown's annual christmas show where the tree "talks" and then puppets pop out from the tree and the carousal turns with dancing puppets and stuff. And then Santa Clause pops out from a carriage on the carousal.

Gosh it's just so much easier to show it on the video, which I hope (I will not be lazy and upload to youtube) so I can post it up here. Meantime enjoy the photos first... :)