Lika-Liku Software Engineer: Pengalaman Interview Pertama

Interview (xlsys Consulting Limited, 2013)

Pas semester terakhir, selain pada sibuk skripsi, anak-anak kuliahan pada umumnya juga pada sibuk nyari kerja. Begitu juga temen-temen gw, mereka udah pada sibuk nyari kerjaan. Beberapa bahkan udah dapet kerjaan sebelum mereka lulus. Gw sendiri? Masih enjoy dan sok jual mahal milih-milih perusahaan. Prinsip gw: Kalo perusahaan bisa sok-sok jual mahal milih staff nya, apa alasan kita, sebagai staff, ga bisa sok-sok jual mahal milih perusahaan? Bener, ga?

Kira-kira 4 bulan setelah gw lulus, ada satu tawaran interview di salah satu perusahaan yang bergerak dalam bidang Business Intelligence yang cukup ternama di Malaysia. Denger-denger company ini pun punya beberapa cabang di Asia.

Sehari sebelum interview, kandidat-kandidat lain, sih, biasanya pada belajar, nginget-nginget syntax coding, ngeliatin diagram-diagram yang mungkin bisa jadi soal test. Sedangkan gw, pas gw mau belajar, temen gw malah ngajakin jalan-jalan. Kata temen gw: 'No need to study lah, usually first time interview they just want to know and see you only. Later if they are interested, you will be invited to second interview and test.' Begonya, gw percaya. Kita pun jalan-jalan dan nonton film.

Pas hari H (gw ga tau kenapa disebut hari H), gw dateng ke tempat interview. Karena banyak hal-hal yang di luar dugaan, seperti ga nemu taksi, ketinggalan train, dan train berikutnya yang biasanya on-time sekarang datengnya telat, dan beberapa hal lain yang ganjil. Pokoknya banyak halangan deh, gw pun dengan suksesnya TELAT 1 JAM! Sampe-sampe pas gw dateng, pertanyaan pertama:

'How many years have you been in KL?'
'3+.'
'You never come to this building? (Padahal buildingnya attach ke salah satu shopping mall terbesar di KL).'
'Very seldom.'

Setelah berbasa-basi dan perkenalan diri yang singkat, dia bilang: 'I'll give you one hour to do the test first. Try to do it as many as you can.'  JENG JENG JENG...!!! Gw pengen ngebunuh temen gw yang ngajak jalan-jalan seharian kemaren.

Gw liat-liat soalnya. Cukup banyak dan bervariasi. Ada soal programming, database, dan soal-soal general seperti: bagaimana cara merespon email dari beberapa case study, bagaimana cara deal with client, dan membuat cerita singkat (kurang dari 100 kata) menggunakan 10 kata yang sudah ditentukan. Pas kasus gw dulu, kata-katanya lucu, ada: frog, needles, lake, leaf, dan beberapa kata lagi yang gw ga inget.

Sebenernya soalnya ga susah-susah amet, cuma gw nyaris lupa semua syntax SQL database. Padahal ini perusahaan Business Intelligence (BI), di mana sangat erat sekali hubungannya dengan database! Dalam artian, gw gagal menjawab soal-soal utamanya!

Gw tengok kiri-kanan-atas-bawah, nyariin CCTV. Bermaksud mau googling dan cari cheat. Sepertinya aman, gw ga nemuin CCTV atau sejenisnya. Tapi setelah dipikir-pikir, ga jadi deh. Semua yang terjadi pasti ada sebabnya. Temen gw ngajak jalan seharian dan gw ngikut aja... Halangan-halangan yang bikin gw telat 1 jam nyampe tempat ini...

Satu jam kemudian, dia balik lagi. Ngobrol-ngobrol sambil meriksa jawaban-jawaban ngasal gw.

Lalu terjadilah percakapan berikut ini antara Interviewer (I) dan Stef (S):

I: I see you are quite strong in programming, but not too strong in database. Why don't you try to apply in software engineering field instead of Business Intelligence (BI)?

S: Believe me, I'm strong in database as well. I just don't remember the syntax. Haven't interacted with any DB since I officially graduate.

I: I see... Why don't you try to answer this question? (Dia nunjuk salah satu soal programming yang ga gw jawab).

S: Eerr.. that one I'm not so sure.

I: Just give it a try. You just tell me the logic, step by step.

S: I think that first step is to create an array, then bla bla bla (Gw coba jawab dengan ke-sotoy-an gw)

I: Ok correct. You reached half way already. Then?

S: Then I don't know.

I: How about this? (Dia coba ngasih clue). Do you think it works this way?

S: Oh yeah, sure it works.

Dan akhirnya dia 'memaksa' gw untuk menjawab hampir semua pertanyaan. Total interview kira-kira 2.5 jam.

I: How far do you know about our company?

S: Not much. I read about your company profile in your web. I know you provide solution for bla bla bla.

Dia terus menjelaskan tentang perusahaannya, bisnis utamanya, dan client-clientnya. Beberapa client cukup ternama, seperti beberapa bank, beberapa perusahaan telekomunikasi di Malaysia. Dia juga menjelaskan bagaimana konsep BI digunakan dan betapa pentingnya BI bagi perusahaan-perusahaan besar.

I: We don't mind to provide training for our new staff. Some of our staff here also do not have any IT background. But we still take them if we see that their logical thinking is strong. And for your case, I see your logic is quite strong.

S: I see.

I: How soon can you are able to start working? 

JENG JENG JENG...!!! Ini soal yang dari kemaren gw pikirin jawabannya, tapi ga ketemu. Gw dilema. Bokap nyokap gw dapet nawarin tour ke Eropa, mumpung adek gw juga lagi libur panjang karena barusan UAN. Dan tawaran ini baru dateng pas gw udah confirm mau interview. Pastinya, gw ga nolak donk. Kapan lagi bisa jalan-jalan bareng di saat semua free gini?

Gw harus pulang Indo dalam waktu dekat buat ngurus visa Eropa. Tau sendiri, kan, bikin visa Eropa itu lama, kadang-kadang sampe 1 bulan. Selain itu gw nunggu sampe koko gw married baru mau kerja, ga mungkin bolak-balik Indo-KL terus.

I: (Nungguin gw ga jawab-jawab, dia nanya lagi) Any intention going back to Indonesia?

S: Yes, soon. I need to apply Europe Visa and I'm going on Europe tour in the next 3 months.

I: For how long?

S: Maybe around one month for visa, and the tour is 2 weeks.

I: (Terdiam sejenak) We expect you to be able to start working immediately. And let's say, if you start working in beginning of next month, which is another 2 weeks from now, you are still not allowed to take any annual leave. Some more it's a very personal reason, a holiday tour, for such a long period.

S: (Gw berdiri, pamit dan nyalamin dia) Okay.

I: (Ikutan berdiri dan nyalamin gw, kayanya sih dia nangkep maksud 'okay' nya gw) Well, I will report all the things to my boss and let's say he decides to approve you, we will let you know via email. Good luck. (Sambil nganterin gw keluar).

S: Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. Bye.

I: Nice to meet you too. Bye.

Anehnya, gw ngerasa lega dan senang setelahnya. Padahal gw yakin, gw ga akan diterima!

Europe, I choose you!!  

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Jalan-Jalan Terus: Melbourne Discovery

(Untuk versi bahasa Inggris, klik di SINI. Click HERE for the English version)

Satu lagi checklist yang bisa gw centang dari wish list gw:

 (✓) Pegang kangguru

Oke, ga penting memang. Kalo mau ketawa, boleh-boleh aja kok. Udah banyak yang ngetawain gw. Anyway, gw baru aja menginjakkan kaki di Melbourne dan sekitarnya. Waktunya cukup singkat, cuma 5 hari. Berikut rincian perjalanan gw.

Informasi Umum

Flight Kuala Lumpur <-> Melbourne memakan waktu 8 jam. Walau masih jauh lebih singkat dibanding ke US atau Eropa, tetapi cukup untuk membuat pantat jadi kotak.

Awal Juni, Australia memasuki musim dingin, suhu berkisar antara 10 - 15 derajat celcius, dan bisa mencapai 5 derajat pada malam hari. Jadi kalo ada yang mau ke Australia musim dingin, long john is a must!

Peraturan imigrasi dan bandara Australia cukup ketat. Minuman beralkohol maksimal 2 liter per orang. Sedangkan rokok, 50 batang per orang. Diusahakan, tidak membawa makanan atau minuman apapun, khususnya buah, sayur, kacang-kacangan, segala jenis daging, dan makanan yang mengandung susu dan telur. Kenapa? Karena semua makanan, minuman, dan obat-obatan harus dideklarasikan. Apabila membawa obat-obatan, harus ditempatkan pada botol aslinya, di mana bisa terlihat dengan jelas nama obat, bahan-bahannya dan negara mana yang membuat. Bila membawa susu bayi pun, kaleng harus masih dalam segel tertutup rapat dan belum dibuka.

Gimana kalo gw bawa sesuatu tapi gw ga declare? Tahu sendiri kan, orang Indonesia, kalo ngisi declaration form kaya gini, nih:

Are you bringing into Australia:
- Goods that maybe prohibited... NO.
- Goods obtained overseas or... NO.
- Animals, part of ani... NO.
- Have you visited a ru... NO
- Have you been... NO!!!

Asal centang No - No - No! Dibaca aja kagak.

Di Australia harus hati-hati. Declaration form itu diperiksa bersamaan saat menyerahkan passport di imigrasi, dan dicek ulang di pintu keluar. Kalo ada random checking, apalagi kalo tiba-tiba si Hush Puppy nungguin di samping koper, dan ketahuan membawa barang tanpa dideklarasikan, bisa-bisa stuck di bandara untuk pemeriksaan lebih lanjut atau harus membayar denda yang cukup besar. Bahkan bisa masuk penjara bila benar-benar ketahuan membawa sesuatu yang dilarang.

Declaration Form Australia

Coba perhatikan gambar di atas. Misalkan kita membawa obat-obatan, pertanyaan pertama kita harus mengisi 'Yes'. Begitu juga dengan pertanyaan-pertanyaan lain, sebaiknya diisi dengan sejujur-jujurnya, kalo ga berbahaya, ga bakal ditangkep kok :P.

Biaya hidup, pastinya apa-apa mahal. Lha, air mineral 600 ml aja harganya AUD 3.5 (sekitar 35 ribu rupiah). Untungnya, air dari keran bisa langsung diminum. Makan biasa bisa mencapai AUD 15-20 (sekitar 150-200 ribu rupiah) sekali makan. Biaya penginapan? Jangan ditanya, gw kurang tau, tapi pastinya: MAHAL!

Hari 1: City Tour

City tour. Melihat gereja St Patrick Cathedral, Fitzroy Garden, dan War Museum. Sepanjang perjalanan bisa melihat Royal Exhibition Building, Town Hall, dan bangunan-bangunan lain yang bernuansa coklat. Berhubung hotelnya sangat dekat dengan Chinatown, malam harinya, kita semua kabur ke Chinatown untuk shopping.

Gereja St Patrick Cathedral

War Museum (tampak luar)

Fitzroy Garden

Hari 2: Great Ocean Road

Hari kedua sedikit membosankan. Perjalanan menuju Great Ocean Road memakan waktu 4 jam, dengan jalan yang berliku-liku. Untungnya, kita sedikit dihibur dengan pemandangan pantai, pedesaan, hutan-hutan kecil yang cukup indah.

Sesampainya di lokasi, kita bisa melihat... batu. Hah, seriously? Iya, batu! Tapi bukan batu biasa, batu yang cukup unik, indah, dan natural: London Arch dan The Twelve Apostles.

Pulangnya, hari udah gelap banget. Maklumlah Winter, jam 6 sore sudah segelap jam 8 malam. Dan jam 8 malam bagaikan jam 12 malam. Untungnya kita tidak perlu kembali melewati jalan yang berliku-liku, karena menggunakan highway untuk rute pulang.

Twelve Apostles

BATU!!

Hari 3: Victoria Market, Warrook Cattle Farm, Philip Island

Kalo ada temen mau kemana-mana, apalagi ke luar negri, pasti satu kalimat ini ga pernah kelupaan: 'Jangan lupa oleh-oleh, ya!'. Nah, bagi yang mau beli oleh-oleh, Queen Victoria Market tempatnya. Dari barang-barang yang gw liat sih, oleh-oleh khas Australia itu: lanolin body lotion (paling murah di Chinatown), boomerang (Victoria Market), vitamin-vitamin seperti omega 3, minyak ikan, sampe barang-barang apapun seperti tas anak-anak, jam, gantungan kunci, post card, atau apapun asalkan ada gambar bendera Australia, kangguru atau koalanya *yaelah*.

Abis buang duit a.k.a shopping, kita diajak menikmati nuansa peternakan di Warrook Cattle Farm. Nah di tempat inilah, wish list 'Pengen pegang kangguru' gw tercentang.

 (✓) Pegang kangguru!

Selain pegang kangguru, kita juga diajak melihat gimana anjing gembala mengumpulkan domba-domba untuk balik ke kandang dalam waktu singkat, mencukur bulu domba, dan memerah susu sapi. Mampir ke sini bikin gw inget main Harvest Moon, deh!

Proses pencukuran bulu domba

Puas bermain di peternakan, kita dibawa ke Philip Island Chocolate Factory. Berbeda dengan pabrik coklat kebanyakan, pabrik coklat yang satu ini keren abis! Kita jadi tahu bagaimana pembuatan coklat, serta banyak maket-maket yang dibuat dari coklat. Serunya lagi, ada beberapa mini games yang kalo kita menang, kita bakal mendapatkan token, yang bisa ditukar dengan coklat asli! Nyam nyam.

Kekenyangan makan coklat, kita langsung menuju kebun anggur, di mana kita disuguhi beberapa macam wine, dan diajari bagaimana cara membedakan wine yang enak dan yang tidak begitu enak. Daaann, gw jatuh cinta sama white wine 'Sauvignon Blanc' nya. Soal red wine, red wine di Italia yang dulu gw coba, masih jauh lebih enak.

Phillip Island Vineyard & Winery

Pukul 5.30 sore, sudah waktunya pulang para penguin pulang ke rumah. Eits, penguin? Yap! Philip Island itu pulau di mana para penguin terkecil sedunia, dilindungi dan dipelihara dengan baik di Australia. Saat gw ke sana, ada 197 ekor penguin totalnya.

Sekitar pukul 6 sore, mereka berjalan pulang dari pantai ke rumah masing-masing. Beberapa dari mereka rumahnya cukup jauh (apalagi untuk badan berukuran mini seperti mereka). Makanya ga mengherankan kalo sebagian dari mereka, suka berhenti di tengah jalan hanya untuk bengong istirahat, dan ada pula yang kesasar! Gara-gara 2 ekor penguin kesasar-yang-mau-nyebrang-jalan-tapi-takut-karena-banyak-orang ini, kita semua di stop sekitar 10 menit an. Presiden mau nyebrang jalan aja kalah VIP nya deh! Sayangnya, pukul 6 sore sudah agak gelap, dan kita tidak diperbolehkan mengambil gambar ataupun video karena lampu flash nya membuat si penguin takut.

Penguin pulang rumah (Sumber: http://phillipislandwines.com.au)

Hari 4: Sovereign Hill

Sovereign Hill

Bosan dengan nuansa pedesaan, hari keempat ini, kita dibawa ke suasana tahun 1850an. Jaman di mana para buruh emas bekerja di bawah tanah untuk mencari emas. Yap, Sovereign Hill - Ballarat, tempatnya, 2 jam perjalanan dari Melbourne via bus.

Sovereign Hill di-design sedemikian rupa sehingga keadaan di sana benar-benar mirip dengan keadaan di tahun 1850an. Buat yang ke sana, wajib banget ikut  ‘Journey through the Labyrinth of Gold’ yang bisa membawa kalian ke bawah tanah. Di bawah sana, kalian bisa melihat benda-benda dan peralatan yang masih lestarikan, seperti underground tunnel, lift manual, dan emas yang terkandung di dalam tanah, bahkan batangan-batangan emas asli, supaya para pengunjung bisa benar-benar merasakan bagaimana situasi buruh emas pada jaman dulu.

Pintu masuk menuju tambang emas

Emas

Semuanya emas asli!

Belum puas dengan semua itu, kita masih dibawa ke Gold Museum, di mana kita bisa melihat bongkahan-bongkahan emas yang lebih besar lagi.

Sorenya, setelah silau dengan emas, kita kembali ke Melbourne untuk shopping di Direct Factory Outlet. Soal harga, untuk brand asli Australia seperti Cotton On, Billabong, Rip Curl, Quick Silver, memang jauh lebih murah. Tapi sisanya, harganya sedikit lebih mahal dibanding harga di Indonesia.

Malemnya, kita diberi kesempatan untuk ke Crown Casino, mempertaruhkan peruntungan kita.

Hari 5: Last Minute Shopping

Hari terakhir, ga ada rencana apa-apa selain ke bandara. Last minute shopping dan bengong-bengong di ruang tunggu bandara. Hoaamm... Duduk di pesawat 8 jam lagi, deh.

Overall

Total biaya untuk tur sekitar 19 juta rupiah, termasuk tiket pesawat, penginapan 4 malem di hotel bintang 4, makan dan minum (full dan dijamin kekenyangan tiap makan), dan tiket masuk ke berbagai objek wisata. Untuk belanja sendiri dan oleh-oleh, sekitar 2-3 juta pun sudah lebih dari cukup, kecuali mau belanja gila-gilaan.

Kalo ada yang nawarin mau ke Melbourne lagi atau ga? Mungkin gw bakal mikir lima kali buat ngejawab 'iya'. Kotanya agak membosankan, ga ada kehidupan malam kecuali bar dan club malam. Toko-toko rata-rata tutup pukul 6 - 7 sore. Udah gitu biaya hidupnya pun ga murah. Mungkin kalo ke Australia lagi, mending ke Sydney atau New Zealand.

Next destination, ke Jepang atau Korea kali, ya? Denger-denger asik, tuh!

( ) Jalan-jalan ke Jepang atau Korea. --> Doakan secepatnya bisa dicentang :)

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Travel Around The World: Melbourne Discovery

Another thing I can finally checked off on my wish list:

(✓) Touch kangaroo

Well, feel free to laugh at my silly wish list! Anyway, I'm super happy right now, I just had fun in Melbourne on a 5 days 4 nights trip. I will share my itinerary in this post:

General Information

Flight Kuala Lumpur <->Melbourne takes 8 hours. Even though it's less time consuming compared to US or Europe flight, it's still long enough to make my butt flat.

Early June, winter is just started, Australia weather is around 10 - 15 degree Celsius during the day, and drops to 5 degree at night. So those who plan to go to Australia during this period, long john is a must, unless you have a high resistance of cold weather, which in this case, I don't.

Airport and immigration rules in Australia is very strict, compared to other countries I had ever been, such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, and few countries in Europe. Each person can only bring alcoholic drink maximum 2 liters and cigarettes maximum 50 pieces. It is advisable not to bring any foods or beverages, especially fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, or anything contains milk and eggs. Every food, drink, even medicine need to be declared. Medicine must be put in its original package, where all the ingredients can clearly be seen. In case you need to bring baby milk powder, it is advisable to bring the new and sealed one.

How if I bring something but I do not declare it? Just like what most people do when filling up a declaration form:

Are you bringing into Australia:
- Goods that maybe prohibited... NO.
- Goods obtained overseas or... NO.
- Animals, part of ani... NO.
- Have you visited a ru... NO
- Have you been... NO!!!

Straight away tick 'No' without fully read each statement.

In Australia, we must be very careful. Declaration form is checked and handed out together with passport to the immigration officer. They will read through and sometimes question you for verification. Once they are done, they will hand back the declaration form to you and you need to give it to another officer when you are about to exit the airport.

In a very unfortunate case, like you forget to declare something you are supposed to, and there's a 'Hush Puppy' is waiting next to your luggage. What should you do? Don't even try to shoo the dog away. Just explain nicely and pray so you might not be stuck in airport for hours or obliged to pay quite huge amount of fine.

Declaration Form Australia

Pay attention to the picture above. In case you bring any medicine, you need to tick 'Yes' for the first question. Same goes to the others, fill up the form properly and honestly to avoid getting stuck in trouble later on.

How about living cost? Expensive, for sure! For example, mineral water 600 ml is AUD 3.5. Luckily, tap water is safe enough to be consumed. Normal food in normal restaurant costs around AUD 15 - AUD 20 per person per meal. Hotel? I'm not sure about this, but all I know, everything is expensive here. At least for Indonesian citizen like me!

Day 1: Melbourne City Tour

Commenced Melbourne city tour to St Patrick Cathedral, Fitzroy Garden, and War Museum. Along the way we could see the Royal Exhibition Building, Town Hall, and few other brownish buildings. As our hotel was very close to Chinatown, almost every evening, we all walked and shopped in Chinatown.

St Patrick Cathedral

War Museum

Fitzroy Garden

Day 2: Great Ocean Road

Second day was a bit boring. The journey to Great Ocean Road took us 4 hours. However, along the way, we were entertained by the super amazing coastal scenery, villages, and small forest.

After 4 hours journey, we finally arrived and saw some things. There were... BIG STONES. Seriously?! But those stones are quite unique, beautiful and natural. And in fact, they don't call it stone, they call it London Arch and The Twelve Apostles.

During winter, 6 pm is as dark as 8 pm. At 8 pm, we totally cannot see anything, and that's what I really saw on the way back: Darkness. So I spent most journey sleeping in the bus.

Twelve Apostles

BIG STONES!!

Day 3: Victoria Market, Warrook Cattle Farm, Philip Island

If any of our friends is going for holiday, especially overseas, one thing we would never forget is to remind them: 'Don't forget my souvenirs!'  This seems to be part of our Asian cultures. So, for those who wants to buy souvenirs, Queen Victoria Market is the best place.

There are wide varieties of stuffs, like boomerangs, lanolin body lotions (the cheapest one is in Chinatown), vitamins like omega 3 and fish oil, bags, watches, key chains, magnets, post cards, foods, drinks, and etc. As long as it has either Koala or Kangaroo or both design on it, it's considered as a souvenir from Australia.

I spent 2 hours buying souvenirs as Victoria Market is quite big, then we went to Warrook Cattle Farm to have lunch and *drum roll* touch kangaroo!

 (✓) Touch kangaroo!

Apart from playing with kangaroo, I also saw how a well-trained sheep dog directed sheep towards their home in few seconds, learned how to shear a sheep and milk a cow. All activities here reminded me of playing Harvest Moon: Back to Nature in PS1! Oh, I really miss the game now.

Shearing process

Another amazing place is Philip Island Chocolate Factory. Unlike most of the chocolate factory, Philip Island Chocolate Factory explains how chocolate is being made in a super attractive and interactive way. They also have few toys miniatures made of chocolate. To make it more interesting, there are few mini games that will give you a token if you win. At the end of the session, each token can be exchanged with a real chocolate ball for free. Nom, nom, nom.

With the stomach full of chocolate (yeah, I love chocolate so I tried as hard as I could to earn tokens!), we moved on to wine yard, where they kindly served us and taught us how to differentiate the old wine and the young wine, and how to drink a glass of wine like a pro. Aaaanndd, I fell in love with its white wine, Sauvignon Blanc. The red wine was also quite nice, but I still love the wine that I drank in Italy more. Too bad, I don't really remember the name though.

Phillip Island Vineyard & Winery

It's 5.30 PM, perfect time for penguins to go back home. Wait, what, penguins? Yap! Phillips Island was our next destination, an island where the smallest penguins in the world are conserved. When I was there, there were 197 penguins in total.

Every evening 6 PM, penguins walk back from the beach to their home. In my opinion, for those little penguins with super tiny feet, the distance between beach and their home is quite far. If I were them, I would just probably slept in the beach. I saw most of them even took few stops to rest, and few of them seemed super blur and got lost! They are super cute though, especially the way they walk.

The most funny thing was, the officers blocked people from walking and crossing around, even making noise for about 10 minutes, just because there were 2 little penguins took a wrong way and wanted to cross the walking path, but very shy and afraid of humans. Unfortunately, it was soooo dark and we were not allowed to talk very loud, touch penguin or take any picture or video, because the flash or light would scare them.

Penguins walking back home. I really didn't take any picture, so I got this from their website (Source: http://phillipislandwines.com.au)

Day 4: Sovereign Hill

Sovereign Hill

We were brought back to 1850s where all the gold miners worked in an underground tunnel to find gold. Yap, it's Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, 2 hours from Melbourne city via bus.

Sovereign Hill was designed in such a way to make the visitors feel like stepping back in time to gold rush Ballarat during the 1850s. When you are there, don't miss ‘Journey through the Labyrinth of Gold’ activity! It's super cool and memorable. We went into the underground tunnel and I'm super amazed that they still maintain the way it was, we could even see a manual lift, few raw gold in the ground, and real gold bricks as well!

Entrance to underground tunnel

Gold... gold everywhere!

All are REAL!

I also went to the Gold Museum next to it, where I could find even more and bigger gold bricks! But nothing really special here, unless you are a fan of gold.

Back to Melbourne around 3 PM to shop in Direct Factory Outlet. For Australia brands, such as Cotton On, Billabong, Rip Curl, Quick Silver, are much cheaper compared to those which are sold in Indonesia or any other countries. But non-Australia brands are more expensive.

At last, we all were given a chance to Crown Casino to test our luck.

Day 5: Last Minute Shopping

It was our last day here. I still did a very last minute shopping in Chinatown before transferred to airport and prepared my butt for another 8 hours flight.

Overall

Total tour costed me around USD 1,500. Airplane tickets, accommodation (4 nights in 4 star hotel), transportation (bus), foods and drinks, entrance fees to all those places are all included. For my own leisure and shopping, I brought USD 400 and it was more than enough, unless you are a heavy shopper or heavy gambler.

If someone asked me if I would like to visit Melbourne again, I would need to think 5 times to say yes. It's kinda boring, no night life except bars and clubs. Most shops, even shopping malls are closed at 6 - 7 PM. Everything is expensive, compared to Indonesia. The plus thing is people are very friendly here. If you've never been here, it's still worth to try. But if I could go to Australia again for holiday, maybe I would choose Sydney or New Zealand (yeah I know it's not part of Australia, but it's just near by).

Anyway, I heard Japan and Korea is fun.

( ) Go Japan or Korea for holiday -> Hopefully can check this off pretty soon! 

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