Hello everyone!
It’s {Sundays with Raphael} again and this week I would like to introduce myself and share a more personal side to the readers as I find my own place as the regular (once a week) male perspective for renzze.com .
Life has been very kind to me as I have been given many opportunities to traverse and experience many destinations. In a nutshell, three key activities sums up my life passions – car meets/gatherings, road trips and food!
My biggest passion is one that involves wheels and fuel. Not surprisingly, I’m a regular face at gatherings with car enthusiasts in Melbourne. I’ve learnt much from the locals in Melbourne as they constantly surprise me with their astute knowledge and immense passion for their rides.
Car Meet
On a typical friday night in Australia, you would most likely find me at a car meet. These meets usually start off midnight at an appointed car park compound and ends with an exhilarating cruise on Princes Highway into the wee hours of the morning.
Friday Night Princes Highway Meets
I have owned quite a few cars and each and every one have etched many enduring memories in my heart. Whenever I see models of my past cars on the roads, a surge of reminiscing emotions hits me. As I’m typing this, I fondly recall the beauty of my 1JZ Single Turbo, my trusty daily for the last year I was in Melbourne.
1JZ @ workshop.
To many people a car is just a mechanism to gets them from destination to destination, however, for me, it is a medium which echoes my joy, sadness, sense of pride, friendship, love, and connections. It goes beyond being just a hunk of metal especially when indelible bonds have been formed with a multitude of friends and love ones through it. I appreciate the ease of being able to travel together with my friends and loved ones on mind-altering adventures while forging remarkable memories along the way. Being behind the wheel gives me a colossal adrenaline rush and I’m in my best element when I’m navigating through challenging driving routes with tremendous control. Of course, the downer comes when I’m careless or when the maintenance of my passion starts burning a hole through my pocket by way of fines and fixes.
Mustang @ Seattle Mcdonalds
Outside of Australia, the highlight moment in my pursuit of cars is my electrifying experience with an iconic American muscle car when I took a trip to Seattle in 2013!
This leads me to my second passion which is travelling by way of road trips.During my stint in Melbourne (while pursuing my education), I made an effort to travel to as many places as I could, and took many memorable pictures with none other than my trusty mobile phone camera.
I’m one who believes that a picture tells a thousand words so here’s sharing some of my favourite ones taken during the many road trips I went on.
Mornington Peninsula
Great Ocean Road
In addition to the many memorable photos from Australia, I’m also adding one of my favourite photo from my momentous Alaskan trip.
Alaska
Through the exploration of my love of cars, road trips and regular gatherings with like-minded people, I’ve shaped so many close friendships. Unfortunately, it is also these friendships and unique connections I’ve established there that had caused me much emotional turmoil when I eventually left Melbourne and returned to Singapore.
My third and probably the most relatable passion for food! I understand that “You are what you eat” and how food is a strong determining factor of our lifestyle and health. Even though I try to be careful with what I eat, I’ll have to admit that I’m a foodie at heart and there are some things (like fabulous food) that I just can’t control.
Here’s sharing some of the mouth watering food that comes to my mind immediately.
Snagstand Melbourne Central, Best Fries Ever!
Seven Seeds University of Melbourne (my daily coffee must-have for 2 years!)
Seafood dinner @ Seattle
Going through these photos brought back so much fond memories and I am glad that I can share them with everyone. As I continue my journey, I’ll be sure to bring more exciting experiences back to my weekly articles. Thank you for reading.
