Evey ask me about the build-a-bear-workshop thingy when we were having lunch at Hilton last weekend… and it actually give me something to blog about!! *nyek nyek*
SO this BUILD-A-BEAR-WORKSHOP is in Chadstone.. Well.. there is a shutter bus provided for the tourist to go to Chadstone but its only available during morning time.. so as for late-”wakers” like me… its a little bit troublesome but still.. easy. Take a train from Flinders street station to Cranbourne station.. or any stop which will then take you to Hughesdale.. YES.. stop at hughesdale..!! Take a tram 767 if not mistaken… not so remember already and the tram will take you directly to Chadstone. OH.. leave a day for Chadstone because half day is simply not enough.
The concept of the shop is actually to personalise soft-toys.. mainly bears for their love one.. According to the shop assistant.. parents are always their main customers as they usually come here to customize bears for their daughters and so on.. For special occasion such as birthdays and valentines day of coz!! ^^
Its kinda special to me because i never seen these things before.. there are a few section.. Here comes..
1.) CHOOSE ME
Yes.. choose me is the first step.. means choose a bear SKIN for you liking.. they are plenty of them.. ranging from AUD 15 to AUD 45… just for the SKIN!
Oh.. yala yala i know..there is skin for hello kitties and doggies as well.. teeehehehe!!
It says.. “build-a-bear-workshop” ma.. so of coz i chooseee… A BEAR SKIN
Teeehehehe!! SO CUTE!!!!
Yes.. you are done with choosing a skin.. F.Y.I.. mine is AUD 15
2.) HEAR ME
Second stage is hear me.. means you can either record your own voice.. your own message to your loves one or you can choose the standard voice..
To record you own voice and message.. you have got 10 seconds.. and its AUD 15.. you can record and delete.. record and delete until you are satisfied with it… as for standard voice.. such as the messages like.. i miss you.. i love you.. happy birthday.. and so on is AUD 5.
After you are decided.. or you are done with all ur sweet recordings.. you can wave to the shop assistant and they will guide you to stage 3!!
3.) STUFF ME
YEs!!! the bear skin have to be stuffed with COTTON now!!!! teehehehe! OH… the whole *aquarium* of soft cotton rolling!
So before you stuff the cotton into the bear skin.. they will help you to place the recording into the bear’s hand!
ANd here you go..stuff with cotton.. you can make your bear full of cotton.. make it hard like a wood.. or you can just lessen the cotton and make it softer.. the shop assistant will request you to step on the paddle.. (the paddle controls the flowing of the cotton to the bear’s body).. Well.. they let you cuddle the bear time by time to test the comfy-ness of your ideal bear bear!
When the stuffing is done.. you pick a red heart from the box.. make a wish.. and the shop assistant will ask you to stuff it in the bear before they help you to knit the bear. they say the red heart represent the bear’s heart and what you wish for your loves one.. euuww… how sweeet!!
So this is my bear!! weehehehehehe!! now she is firm.. YES.. its a she.. i made her a she!
4.) DRESS ME
Next you have to dress her up.. they are plenty of dresss.. costume and everything.. shoes.. hand bags.. hat.. roller skate.. wadever you need it.. they’ve got it!!! The price of the clothing per piece is ranging from AUD 10 to AUD 25. I wanna cut cost on these so i just buy her a dress..
(For a complete set for female bears.. they have got pom pom dress.. different kinda costume.. underwear.. socks.. fairy tale cute accessories.. shoes.. and many other) I only get her a simple dress!!
Awwww.. which one do you like?!
They then have dressing rooms for your bear.. you can take your time with your bears trying out all the outfits and dress!! how cool!!
Oh.. undecided!(but i still got her one.. teehehhe)
5.) NAME ME
AFter you have dress your bear up.. its time to register it.. give her a name and identity! They are making the bear a BIRTH CERT!!!!
huhu!! and of coz.. have to key in the owner’s particulars as well.. so when the bear is lost.. someone happen to find it.. they can just send back to the shop and they will acknowledge the owner. =)
ANDDD… TADA!!!!!
HER BIRTH CERT!!!!
6.) TAKE ME HOME
Stage 6 is the happiest.. You pay and you bring the bear home!! How sweet!
She finally has an owner.. ooh!! perhaps two!
Extra: in case of the budget.. to have a fully dressed and accessoried bear.. the price range will go to maximum AUD 70. =)
AUD 70= RM 175…. *shit.. its still super expensive for such a tiny bear…*
BUT..its the thoughtsthatcounts!!
Its fully customised and there is only one of that in the world..!
One of must-do thing in Melbourne is Wine Tasting..
I had mine at Frankston..! Woots.. Actually if you are too free and you are a wine addict.. you can take your time to spend the whole day just to go for wine tasting in every single winery in Australia.. YES.. there are plenty of them.. a little sip of each type of wine in all the winery in Frankston are more than enough to make you drunk like a pig! *nyek nyek**
For me.. i only tried 2 winery.. because we have to rush for the mornington view as well as the sand sculpture which only opened until 6pm. huhuhu! but hor.. the wine tasting already make me feel like.. never wanna touch wine forever~! hahahahahah!! No lah.. just kidding. *teehehe*
We start off with the B’Darra EState winery.. I seriously love the view over there!!
such a cutie! * i mean the barrel *
The environment was good.. just like a little cottage out of no where! But.. comfy!
They have the whole selection of different wine for tasting.. red wine.. white wine.. any wine you can think of!!
YES!! and even WINE CHOCOLATE!! Definitely love it!! i bought shiraz flavor for mummy!! thats the best among all!
And of coz.. they let you to write comment of each wine..
They introduced and they served..
This one is the best.. PURE RASPBERRRIES!!! no grape nothing! just pure raspberry wine! its a winnning wine in Australia wine 2006 can!! and… guess what? YES… i bought two bottles.. one for my family and one for dar’s family! *woots*
and it ends up anson buy two boxes of wine.. yeah!! 24 bottles!!
We then proceed on to the second one.. called PHADRUS ESTATE... this one is so much smaller..
Even the vineyard is just in front of the cottage! cute!
Another magnificent seaside or you can called it beach is at Mornington, Frankton.. About an hour drive from the city.. There’re plenty stuff to do in frankston such as Winery and wine tasting.. plucking strawberries and cheeries when they are in the season.. going to the maze and botanica garden… Sand scrupturing.. shaving the sheep fur and live like a farmer or you can just walk along the seaside or any cliff.. *like wad i do*… to just feel the cold breeeze around you… Oh.. it feels so great!!
EVen when you are just on ur way to the sea.. U couldnt resist to stop by along the roadside and take picture with the beautiful view… like this!!
Gosh.. isnt it pretty!
What more to say when you actually reached the destination.. one sentences.. relax relax relax and enjoy the brreeeeze and the view…! I couldnt find any better words to describe.
All pictures are taken by Anson.. He preferred to be not shown in the blog so i just snap his sideway loh! hehe! Credits to him!! i love the place..
How many time do i get a chance to sit on the cliff.. listening to the sea and enjoying urself with the cold cold breeeze …? Not much.. so.. here i got my chance.. Very nice hor.. but to tell u the truth.. its bloody cold.
But still.. ahyien is happie!
Not only the cliff.. mayb the stairs look great too..
AHHHHH.. really not bad lah. teeehehhee!
Oh.. they got sails as well… but i think st kilda has more. ^^
Also… there are these two landmark statue called Matthew Flinders.. and a big compass things.. they marked down how this place is found and the history of it..
Matthew Flinders..
Oh.. the compass look cool rite?
teehehe!! thats it for the mornington sea breeze.. haha!! so boring right?? I m just being random ma… lalalala… wanted to post the winery visit together but hor… kinda sleepy for now.. so… winery stuff to be continued tommorrow morning after me breakfast!!
This is for long the best italian food i had throughout the whole melbourne trip.. oops.. should say the best italian food i had in my whole life.. The truth is.. the so-called best italian food in Malaysia is still incomparable to Sofia’s. *thumbs up to Sofia”
And of coz.. thanks to Anson for bringing all of us to Sofia.. he always bring us to those good food around town.. omg omg!! i m missing Sofia so much now. T.T
So according to anson.. they have lotsa branch around city area.. but the restaurant which served the best food quality and the largest portion is still the origin one.. The first established one.. which is at Camberwell… Well.. you are right.. the one we went to. =) I have not tried the others Sofia but i can say that this one is really good. No regret. *affordable price too* Best recommended to go in a group as u can see how big the portion is later!!
Sofia bares a very classic interior design.. The classic italian style of coz.. I personally thinks it a good place for gathering because the environment is good so as the food and price..
Oh.. their pizza is homemade too!!! No wonder its called pizza house. *blueks*
5 of us there.. 3 dishes but we cant even finished it all. =)
The first dish is Avocado Seafood Salad.. I love this very much.. the portion is big and most importantly.. they have lotsa lotsa fresh juicy prawns and scallops.. whenever you scoop.. you will have a spoonful of prawns and scallops instead of vege and avocado. haha!! how fun it is right??!
See those fat and juicy fresh scallops and prawns?? You can tell after your first bite of it.. huhuhu!! Basically.. the whole dish is made up of 50% of fresh prawns.. 30% of fresh scallops *my favourite*.. 10% of Avocado and 10% of vege.. teehehehhee!! THIS IS WAD I CALL A SEAFOOD SALAD.. its really full of seafood.. Imagine if u order seafood salad in M*l*yS**… you will get 90% of vege and a few stingy tiny dried prawns. RIGHT OR NOT??!!! not to say i like to complain lah.. but its the truth ok? =)
Back to the juicy salad.. i had Horrace as the Background to compare the portion.. and mind u… its a portion for ONE PERSON… *screaaaammmm*
Second dish we have the platter.. Spaghetti.. Risotto… and Carbonara.. Words to describe.. it looks like a mountain when the food arrived. =)
I loved their risotto the most.. creamy!! Or mayb its the first time i have risotto.. followed by the carbonara.. oh.. i found one similarities in Sofia’s food.. they have plenty of fat and juicy prawns..! =) ALL OVER EVERY DISH. =)
PIZZA!! its BBQ Chicken. hmmm.. nice one but i still love the first two dishes more.. teehehehe!
So heres the ladies.. Myself.. ee laine.. and yvonne!
And the gents.. Horrace and Anson…! Busy eating la them. Hmpf!
lastly.. we had Gelato for desserts…! I m personally not a dessert kinda people so i think if my dar comes.. he will finish everything within seconds. teehehehe!
Apart from that.. they have very famous cakes too.. but too bad we are so bloated…T.T
