Coal Cellar + Grill is a new restaurant opened in Hilton Adelaide recently. As the name suggested, Coal Cellar + Grill serves a lot of grill meat and uses many traditional Australia native ingredients. However We decided that the mains they serve looked more quite unique and we thought we might give the Grill a miss this time. We ordered four different entrées and three different types of mains.
Melbourne- Brighton Bathing Boxes
Melbourne is the “Cultural Hub”of Australia. Every street and avenues are full of little surprises. The most famous beach in the suburbs of Melbourne would be Brighton beach due to the Brighton Bathing Boxes. They are extremely colourful huts built in a row on the beach. It’s a must go place for tourists in Melbourne!
Day Trip to Grampians National Park
I have always wanted to go to the Grampians National park since I have been in Australia to see the beautiful scenaries, crazy rocks, amazing wildlife and famous aboriginal paintings. After four years in Australia, I finally have a chance to take my young cousin to visit this place during our travels from Adelaide to Melbourne. Grampians is roughly 500kms from Adelaide (5.5hours of driving) we woke up very early that day and made Grampians our first destination!
Granite Island & Victor Harbor to see Penguins & Whales
This was my first time visiting Victor Harbor, a coastal town about 80 km south of Adelaide. It is a highly touristy town where many people in South Australians come to in the summer months. One of the attractions includes whale spotting and the best time to do this is around June to September as it is their mating season and they return to the more secure shoreline.
Lost World Tour at Waitomo Caves- Tom Cruise did it 7 times!
The Lost World. It was surely one. Maybe I have not seen enough of the world but this was definitely the most amazing adventures I have ever been on. I believe I have told the story of this trip countless times since I have been on it. Apparently Tom Cruise did this cave with different groups of family and friends countless of times when he was filming The Last Samurai
To climb Uluru or not? The Reasons
When the British settlers arrived in Australia, they took over and forced the Aboriginals out of the area and renamed Uluru into Ayer’s Rock. Many people attempted to climb the Ayer’s Rock and will accidentally fall and die. The rope on Uluru was placed around 1960s to make rescue missions easier for the locals. Not too long after, many people from all over the world starts to come to Uluru and climb the rock. The actual climb is only 2 hours; physically there is nothing to brag about (only 348m high), unlike climbing Mt Everest (8848m) where it is actually physically demanding.
Uluru Sunrise & Kata Tjuta- Valley of the Winds Walk
We woke up at 5.20am to watch the Uluru sunrise at 7am. The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is half hour drive away from the campsite. The actual name of this place is called “Ayers Rock Campground”, next to the campground there’s another hotel called “Ayers Rock Resort” for people who enjoy staying in luxurious places. Judging from their website, it looks like a completely different world. Today’s sunrise is still a distance away from Uluru itself, Leith said only when the sun goes over the horizon then we can have breakfast.
The Sugar Club (Auckland, New Zealand)
The Sugar Club is the fourth restaurant opened by Peter Gordon who is a famous New Zealand-born, London-based chef. The restaurant is located on Level 53 of Auckland’s iconic Sky Tower. The restaurant itself does not rotate like the restaurant “Orbit” which is a level below. There is also complimentary valet parking for people who dines at the restaurant in the car park below. I reckon this is the must-go restaurants for any tourists who wants to dine with a view!
The Fake Uluru & The Real Uluru Sunset
After whole day of sitting in the car, at 4.40pm we arrived at our final resting station. We saw a massive mass in the distance that looked like Uluru. All of us got super excited and started snapping away. Leigh yelled to us saying that is Mt Conner, aka, “Fool-uru”. It may look like Uluru from one angle, but it is not. We didn’t believe him until we saw some random paintings outside the toilet walls with bald writing that says “Mt Conner”.
Crossing over to Northern Territory
Apparently Coober Pedy has the best filter water system in Australia due to the high mineral contents in the water. The water actually tastes quite good, much better than Adelaide. I guess the governments rather invest in good water filter system in the area than people dying. We filled up our water tank in the van with Coober Pedy’s water and chuck in some ice to make it icy.