Melbourne Menagerie III: The Banksia & Gelato Galore
For some unknown reason, my bro-in-law is an animal freak. He loves the zoo. And so, we ended up a Flinders Street Station (during morning rush hour no less) to catch an hour's train (KTM Komuter!) to Lilydale and subsequently an hour on the bus to the Healesville Animal Sanctuary (the helpful people at The i gave us a perfect itinerary of connecting rides). The further one gets out from Melbourne, the more apparent the graffitti becomes. The sanctuary features 200 species of animals in a natural bushland habitat, but I don't think I even saw 50. The animals were shy? Too well camouflaged? They turned into icicles in the cold weather? Whatever it was, we were quite disappointed. But, we did get to see the kangaroos, emus, koalas, dinghos, Tasmanian Devils (endangered due to an infectious oral cancer!), platypi, raptors, etc. Lunch was a hearty meal of red wine beef stew with rice at the Sanctuary Cafe. In our suaku-ness, we also discovered the wonders of the ingenious Squeeze-On tomato sauce packaging there. In one single fold and squeeze, the sauce comes out of the built-in valve. By 4:00pm, we were on the bus back to Lilydale station. The buses and trains REALLY run on a schedule, something that I cannot imagine happening back home.
Dinner was at Lygon Street, the Italian quarter of Melbourne. Had quite a challenging time trying to figure out which tram to take. And when we finally boarded, we worried about which stop to take. Luckily it was a small world and we were assisted by several Malaysian students who were on the same tram. The two chaps from Sitiawan pointed us in the direction of Papa Gino's. Cheap, delicious and fast service. Through the glass windows, you can see a row of sweaty working on the pizzas. Non-stop kneading and flinging the dough into the air. With the sweat glistening on their scalps they heap generous amounts of toppings on the pizzas. For four, we ordered the fettucine marinara, meat lover's pizza (heavenly sauce and fragrant pepperoni) and fritto misto (mixed fried seafood with excellent tartar sauce). Washed it all down with a cup of red wine that costs just a little more than a cup of coffee! Dessert was gelato from a shop down the road-- Gelatisimo. They make a wicked mango sorbet too. Like chilled mango puree! My bro-in-law vowed to come back to Lygon Street....
Dinner was at Lygon Street, the Italian quarter of Melbourne. Had quite a challenging time trying to figure out which tram to take. And when we finally boarded, we worried about which stop to take. Luckily it was a small world and we were assisted by several Malaysian students who were on the same tram. The two chaps from Sitiawan pointed us in the direction of Papa Gino's. Cheap, delicious and fast service. Through the glass windows, you can see a row of sweaty working on the pizzas. Non-stop kneading and flinging the dough into the air. With the sweat glistening on their scalps they heap generous amounts of toppings on the pizzas. For four, we ordered the fettucine marinara, meat lover's pizza (heavenly sauce and fragrant pepperoni) and fritto misto (mixed fried seafood with excellent tartar sauce). Washed it all down with a cup of red wine that costs just a little more than a cup of coffee! Dessert was gelato from a shop down the road-- Gelatisimo. They make a wicked mango sorbet too. Like chilled mango puree! My bro-in-law vowed to come back to Lygon Street....
Comments
And I took a pic with him too..
I love gelato!
Haha. Everything comes to an end.
@Mel:
I tak nampak pun hunk?! :(
@JL:
What flavour?
@JJ:
One hour? Macam KL le tu.