Australia 2011 (Day 6)

22 December 2012 – Thursday

I had no specific plans for the day.
Letting my legs take control, taking me to wherever they felt like going.
Just being very 随性, 想去哪就走到哪.
That is the beauty of being alone.
Trying to be spontaneous in my own way.

Left the house at about noon after all the nua-ing.
Caught the train to Central and board a city glider bus that took me to West End Ferry Terminal.

Overlooking the buildings on the other side.

Nope, did not board the ferry, did not check out where the ferry would take me.
So I started my journey exploring, half the journey is just backtracking the bus route actually. :p

Swings!

Somehow this picture reminds me of one which I took in Hua Hin.
Walking the stretch of road.

A random house as I walked past.

I used to like the idea of living in a house like that when I was younger.
Nowadays, I am a very realistic person. Big house = more cleaning.
Yes, you may hire helpers but being a kiam ka na , I will not want to spend that kind of money!
话说回来，if you are rich, would you 在乎那小钱? it is still nice to stay in one. =P
I am soooo contradicting! Practical v.s Desire.

The loooong stretch of road ahead of me as I walk on.

It seems like you can never see the end of it!

Well, Montague Road is a really really long stretch of road!

Finally I reached West End. It is a place with edgy, bohemian district with artsy shops and cafes.
Well, pardon the lack of photos to show you how the area looks.
I was so focus on walking the correct route that will lead me to South Bank and absorbing my surrounding that it did not occur to me to snap some photos.
Sometimes I think you would be able to appreciate your surrounding and enjoy the moment more without the use of cameras.

By late afternoon, I found myself to Gallery of Modern Art.
Due to the time-constraint, I would only visit 2 themed galleries.
I wish I had time to visit others too. =(

First one was by Yayoi Kusama.
The theme of her gallery is polka dots!

It is amazing, after seeing her polka dots themed gallery, it makes me fell in love with polka dots even more! I never knew I had so much love for polka dots. It just probably unleash my sub-conscious desire for polka dots!

First, I walked into this room that contains nothing but has red with white polka dots at every corner of the room!

Mirrors to create more red with white polka dots!

Look at those awesome inflated ‘sculpture balloons’.

It made me feels like I entered into some fantasy world. It was like a maze, I totally dig it!

The mirror effect creates the illusion that it is a big room but actually room is rather small.

A couple of polka dot flowers!

Before I left the gallery, I was given a piece of paper with many different colours and sizes of circles stickers.

I was to stick it anywhere in the room!
The whole mock-up ‘house’ was actually all plain white!
But with the creations by many who visited the gallery, look at how colourful it has become!

The colourful dining table

A study table with a laptop.

The floor.

Coffee table with tea set and some animal figurines.

A piano. You can actually play on it, except that some of the keys are spoiled. Haha..

My stickers!

I don’t know about you but being in a colourful polka dots mock-up house makes me extremely excited and delighted!
I am not an arty farty kind of person but her art work excites me!
I wish Singapore will bring the art work from Yayoi Kusama to Singapore, showcase it in a gallery or something, I will be sure to visit it again!

Next gallery I visited was by Henri Matisse. It was a paid gallery and thanks to my trusty RMIT card once again, manage to get the tickets for AUD$16.

What they showcased were drawings by him. After seeing a few rooms of his drawings, I got bored. Oh well, pardon my ignorance but somehow I just do not know how to appreciate his art. (Should have just skipped this one since I actually paid for something I did not enjoy. BAH~)

Have you spotted something familiar?
Our very own Singapore Airlines is one of the sponsers for his gallery.

After I am done roaming the different rooms, trying my best to appreciate his art which I sadly failed, I entered into a drawing room. They provide some props and wooded art stands for people who are serious about drawing.

There are also some tablets around for people who are inspired by Matisse to sketch and enter into a competition to go to France.. of course flying by SQ since they are the sponsers.

A couple of my art work random silly drawings after the ‘inspired’ time I spent with Matisse’s drawings.

Yours Sincerly,

Of course I did not enter myself into the competition.
Well, I do not want to be the laughing stock of the judging committee! :O

The gallery closes at 5 so there I was sitting outside deciding where should I go next.

Somehow my legs took me to the State Library of Queensland.
I stayed there for an hour snuggling myself up on a comfy sofa chair reading my 那些年, 我们一起追过的女孩 while listening to my mp3 and seeing all the power points around me, kicked myself mentally for not bringing my iPhone charger. Heh….
I was also using that hour to think where should I go next.

Then, I remembered Dawn Jie mentioned that there is a cinema at South Bank which is comparatively cheaper to other cinemas in town. Decided to go ahead and check out if there are any movie I am able to catch.

On the way to South Bank Cineplex.

Across the river is where the Central is.

Linking South Bank to Central is the Victoria Bridge.

Well, nobody could help me take a photo so this is the best I could do…

Queensland Art Gallery was unfortunately closed during that period for some renovation and such.

Peak hour with all the public buses as people are getting off work.

Manage to purchase a ticket for Jack & Jill at Southbank Cineplex.

No student price for my ticket because they do not recognise my student card.

The show was not due in Singapore until January so decided to catch it! Plus, it is by Adam Sandler, so it should not be too bad at all!

Next up was my dinner which I settled at Grill’d which was just nearby.

The health burger was fantastic! It cost $12.90 with the drink.
I like the ‘crispy’ bun, it was very different from those I had eaten before. Unique!

Went to catch my movie after dinner.
It was a free seating movie theatre.
Thankfully there was not a lot of people in the cinema so I manage to get a good seat in my opinion.
I had a good laugh at the show. Adam Sandler never fails to crack me up!

Finished the movie at about 9 plus.
Finding my way back to Central to catch a train back to Dawn Jie’s place.

The view of Brisbane’s ferris wheel at night. Well, the lighting is boring. Reminds me of the one I took in Taiwan, Miramar ferris wheel. Except that is on top of the shopping mall while this is on ground level.

The last night view of Brisbane before I bid goodbye to lovely Brisbane. I enjoyed the sense of calmness, the sceneries of different places and all!

At Victoria bridge overlooking the South Bank.
That was the best Canon Ixus 860 and my skill would do at that point of time.

Reached back at Dawn Jie’s house at about 10 plus.
I accomplished an full day outing all by myself.
Yes, I do feel a sense of satisfaction doing so. =)

Australia 2011 (Day 5)

I know I am not as diligent to update on my Australia trip anymore.
Blame it on Running Man. I am addicted to this Korean variety show.
I am trying to catch up from episode one to the latest which is about 80+ episodes already.
Ok, back to my Australia trip!

~*~*~*~*~*~

21 December 2011 (Wednesday)

Dawn Jie tried to convince me to spend a day at Warner Bro. Movie World in Gold Coast.
I was rather hesitant at first because going to a theme park alone seems so…. weird and I will look like a loner.
Plus, getting from Brisbane to Gold Coast (again), that means that is another 2 hours to and fro journey on the train for me!
Anyhow, decided to just go ahead with the plan because after all I am already in Australia!

Here I was!

Think I paid about AUD$80 for the admission ticket.

X’mas tree near the entrance!

Here I began my journey.

My first stop.

This is just like the Shrek 4D in our USS.

Their usual show is Journey to the Centre of the Earth which they unfortunately do not have during that holiday season. The Polar Express is the Christmas special edition.

The 4D experience was somewhat predictable. Honesty, it could be because it was a holiday special, therefore it is not as good. I was hoping for something more, more surprises however I was rather disappointed. It was just mostly spraying of water which came at the expected times.
Perhaps their regular 4D show would be better?

With Green Lantern and Flash.

It was tough trying to snap photos with them.
There were no crowd controllers/ helpers with these stars so people were all rushing forward to take photos with them.
Plus I was alone, I had to ask some random strangers to help me snap one.
The time between asking a person to help me with a shot to the time I actually got myself a spot beside these characters took quite a while so some do not have the patience to wait till it’s my turn.
Tell me, how to ‘fight’ with those kiddos to take a shot with them? Tough~

One with Austin Power!

Performance by Tweety Bird and Friends at the central stage area.

Venturing to other area…

A poster guiding me to the Lethal Weapon Ride…

There I went after I mustered up the courage to do so.

It was almost similar to the Cyclone ride in USS, the one where they strap you on the chair and have your legs dangling from the seat.

Thankfully I did not have to queue too long.

I was a little scared before the ride and being I was alone, I could not rumbling myself off to any strangers right? So I channelled the energy to whatsapp! Hoho… My poor friends have to read my rumbling nonsense and endless 忏悔.
Kept reminding myself that since I could handle the Cyclone ride in USS, I should be able overcome the fear to take a ride in this.

This is how the whole course of adventure look, with all the twisting and turning.
Video was grabbed from youtube.

The ride was not too scary as I thought it would be.
I think the one in USS surpass this because of the deep dive and the 2 360 degrees turn into the mist.
This is definitely milder than that!
This feels safer than the Cyclone because I could have a better grip.
Ok, I did squint my eyes to see, except for those diving down moments. Ha…

I went to the arcade area queuing up for the bumper car ride, however I pulled out after a while because I reckoned no matter how ‘brave’ I was to venture to a theme park alone, I can never ride a bumper car alone because people usually play in groups and they have a ‘target’ to hit. It was more fun playing with friends than strangers than probably I will look funny inside the rink just driving around aimlessly as nobody want to bang me or give me a weird look when I bang them. Oh well~

Next stop, to the Wild West Falls!

*Bang Bang*

This is the ride inside Wild West Falls.

The ride was close for the day, probably doing some maintenance work of some sort.
Too bad for me.

With the fake Marilyn Monroe

That’s my lunch.

2 churros for 6 bucks.

Next, I went for the Hollywood Stunt Driver show.

They have 2 shows daily, 1 at 10.30am, the next one at 1.30pm.
Attended the 1.30pm show.

Here are some pictures and videos of the show.




I must say, the show is fantastic!
Impressive driftings, explosive fires and amazing stunts!

Immediately went to queue up for Scooby-doo ride as everyone were taking their own sweet time to move out from the car show stunt area.
Lesser waiting time for me. Hoho, the waiting time was a crazy hour during lunch time!

An armour statues.

I thought the ride would be somewhat like Mummy ride in USS.
It turned out to be more exciting than Mummy!
The ride is definitely a lot longer, it has more unexpected moments.
The backward fall lasted longer, after the backward fall, we had to go through this long journey of many turns and twist before coming to an end.
It is definitely worth the wait!

Manage to find a video from youtube with people going through the ride with lights on. It looks alot better with the bright white lights switched off.

There you go, a rather bad quality of an unglam snapshot.

Done!

A photo with the heros of Justice League.

The daily parade by the stars of Movie World begin at 3.30pm.

Sylvester has a car of its own. Very cool!

Tweety and Friends!

Scooby-doo

Joker!

Justice League

Cat Woman

So SM feel. =X

Here is the Batman!

Car from the Stuntshow!

The stars doing their Shuffling. Terrific!

The batman returned to wave and shake hands with the crowd!

After the parade ended, I was heading towards the direction of Superman Escape! That is after I plucked up the courage of course!

Yeah, did this ride all by myself!
I swear this is the most scary ride I had ever taken till date.
It is definitely 100 times scarier than the one in USS.
The speed was… FWAH~ 3 dives and the first one being the highest of all.
I shutted my eyes througout the ride. All I could do is to feel the speed and all.
A sense of accomplishment I must say!

The ride I did not take.
Never taken such rides before and I remember watching those Taiwan variety game shows back then, I could feel cold palms just watching them play the Tower of Terror.
Well, I would not mind taking the ride with friends or something, at least they could offer me a sense of comfort but doing it alone and trying this for the first time.. No thanks. I am not that brave after all.

Here is the more family-oriented part of the theme park.
This area just for the kids!

You know why because this is way milder!

Well, it could be rather embarrassing to be queuing with those kids to sit on this right?!

A carousel.

Daffy Duck!
When I was in secondary school, I used to think Xian Liang looks like Daffy Duck. Hahaha….

Tasmania!

I even master the skill of taking self photos with statues. Hoho….

After purchasing those souvenirs, it was time to head back to Brisbane.

The super heroes bidding me goodbye!

The transportation system in Australia has very accurate timing, I had purposely planned to catch the bus at 4+ in order to get back to Brisbane at nearing 7.
In the end, because there were too many buses that came along to the bus-stop, the bus I had to board was hidden right at the back behind so many buses that I missed it.
I ended up having to wait another hour just to board the correct bus back to the train station and begin my long train journey back to Dawn Jie’s house! I only reach back home at 8 plus. Boohoo~

She had an early Christmas dinner and some sort-of purchasing of a new car celebration *roll eyes* at her boyfriend’s dad’s place hence she had to abandon me to settle dinner by myself.

Curry from the same Indian stall for second time that week!
This time, I ordered a mango curry chicken.
The Indian rice was complimentary from the boss. That was a very nice gesture of him because I had initially wanted to eat the curry with some breads I bought.

It was yummy yum yum!
I love the curries there!

At the end of the day….

A messy luggage.
So glad to have a room all by myself. It is allowed to be as messy as can be!

Australia 2011 (Day 4)

20 December 2011 – Tuesday

Took my breakfast early in the morning before I set off for the day.

I packed 2 slice of bread with me too.. in case I got hungry along the way.
Just being very 节俭. Hahaha…

Took a train to Indooroopilly Station then hopped onto the bus from the interchange which was of a walking distance away.
A helpful lady saved my day by giving me directions because I reckoned it would take me longer to get there with the aid of my map app and I do not want to miss the bus else it will be a long wait for another one.

Reached my first destination of the day!

Asked a Japanese woman to help me with this photo while I return the favour.

I put my RMIT card into good use and thankfully they were not so strict as to verify it.
Paid student price of AUD$24 entrance fee. Saved AUD$8. Yeah! 我有节俭的美德. Hahaha…

There I went, entering into the Koala Kingdom.

There you go, the cute sleeping Koala.

FYI, Koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day. That explains why those I snapped are sleeping soundly hugging the branches of trees.

They offer a chance to take photo with the Koala.

Well, the price to pay for that is 16 bucks with a professional photo of course.
Too expensive in my opinion… although I DID contemplate for a moment, I decided to give it a pass after all.

Instead, I bought kangeroo food for 2 bucks! That sounds more reasonable to me.

Ready to feed the kangeroos!

First, I saw the emu instead. Erm.. Hi!

Here comes the kangeroos!

They looked really tame.
When you stand near them enticing them with the kangeroo food in the hands, they will automatically come to you and munch on the food.

One of the kangeroos and me!

It did not looked into the camera. *frown*

Fed another one here.

Another came to join in.

It looked away. Cam-whored with kangeroos FAILED!

Hopping Kangeroos

Continued my journey after I was done feeding the kangeroos.

Spotted the crocodile (I think) sunbathing.

Snakes! Ew~

Oh yeah, when I was theere, the person that came to my mind was Shi Min. =.=
Because I remember how she enjoyed herself in the snake section when we went to the zoo together!

Some more koalas for you!

Sleeping in such awkward position. Aw~

It could be that I am too hungry there because as I was taking this photo, it reminds me of the biscuit.

Ok, I am hungry again. Bah~

Meh Meh 小绵羊s!

大绵羊s!
Their wools are so comfy to touch.

I successfully cam-whored with a 大绵羊 and it looked into my camera! Haha…

Caught the last bit of the sheepdog show that began at 10.30am.

Took a photo with the darling sheepdog. =)

Quack quack quack!

Little pony. 小马.
Actually this photo is taken specially for Weida because I remembered how he mistook baby goats as little ponies back then when we went to the zoo. Haha…

Saw 2 staff walking the leashed kangeroos.

Drinking water.

Failed attempt to the photo with the koalas!

A Christmas greeting decoration that looks like 春联 to me.

Cannot remember the species of the birds but they are definitely not parrots.

The blissful Koalas even have a retirement home to themselves.

That is all for my half a day trip to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.
Munched on the bread I packed along with me while I waited for the bus to take me back to town area.

Despite the bread I ate, I was still STARVING when I reached town!

Had my lunch at the Broadway On The Mall’s food court.

My yummy lasagna accompanied by salad and it was 人间一大享受 when you just washed the food down with a bottle of coke in such hot summer!

After lunch, I took a bus and off to Mt Coot-tha Lookout I went!

Mount Coot-tha is 287 metres above sea level. It has the highest peak in Brisbane.
So I had the opportunity to look down at the whole of Brisbane!
I could felt the difference in the air pressure as I travelled up.
Along the way, there were houses build on one side while the other side is the cemetery.
According to Dawn Jie, she said that was one of the prime area in Brisbane.
I do not understand why people like to live opposite cemetery for. Funny people.

I felt as though I was on top of the world!

I absolutely love the fantastic view up there!
Not to mention the fresh air, the scorching sun shining down on me!

One last shot of me.

I spent quite a bit of time over there embracing the moment.
It was definitely another 人生真美好 moment.

Was thinking of exploring one of the walking tracks, somehow I had a little trouble trying to look for the path and with the time constraint, I gave up. Hahaha…
I have to be very punctual with the transport system there yeah!

According to Dawn Jie’s boyfriend, Christian, the view there would look much better at the time the sun sets.
Unfortunately, the public bus do not operate until so late.
No car… so not able to do so. =(

Took the bus to the base of Mount Coot-tha where the Brisbane Botanic Gardens is situated.
The Brisbane Botanic Garden is 52 hectare big!
As I need to catch the last bus back to town, I only had an hour to explore and I cannot afford to get lost in the huge place!

Here I start my journey into Brisbane Botanic Gardens.

Not sure if these are 满天星s but they looked like to me.

I love 满天星s by the way! Ha…

Walking on.

Entering Japanese Garden.

Attempt to cam-whore with the scenery.

Stones hopping.

There you go.

Random photos with some flowers.

As I was walking, I somehow got myself lost.
As the place had not many people, I can only pray I can find people to direct my out of the place.
I even set an alarm in case I forgot the time as I went roaming around!
Thankfully I managed to make it out of the place with a little bit of help to catch the last bus back to town. Hohoho….

Met Dawn Jie in town as she knocked off from work to do some X’mas shopping.

Saw these camels that were sitting obediently by the busy street.

Cute cakes in dog shapes at one of the bakery shop.

Throughout the week, there was this Myer Christmas Parade. It is organised by Myer, one of the largest departmental store in Australia. I think it is the first time they held one in Brisbane.

Here are some videos I took of the Christmas Parade. =)

I only managed to buy a few presents. I gave up doing my Christmas shopping in the town of Brisbane.

Bought my dinner from Red Rooster back to Dawn Jie’s place to eat.

Dinner was crapz…
The meat from the burger was so tough and dry. Totally unsatisfied meal. BAH~

The gadgets I brought along with me which I needed to charge depending on the rate of usage every night.

I should have known better

What happen?
What happen to my enlightenment?
What happen to my rationalisation?
What happen to my own stand?

For your own selfish reason and perhaps mine too.
We achieved it.
We should have known better.

I hate it.

What is the point of apologising when that is all that you do.
What is the point of me sharing my thoughts when you are not going through that thinking process.
What is the point of communicating when I want a 2 way honest communication, not just simply I-don’t-knows.

Going forward, we would need an action plan! (this just sounds soooo business like!)
Stick to it.

I hate feeling so negative.
BAH~~~ Go away.

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Australia 2011 (Day 3)

19 December 2011 – Monday

Woke up to a bright and breezy morning at 5am Brisbane time which means it was only 3am in Singapore!
The room was so brightly lit that it was so hard to me to go back to sleep.
If only I am such an early morning riser in Singapore, my parent will be so proud of me! Heh….

Forced myself to go back to sleep.
I put those eye mask given by the airline into good use.
I like how it gives a little pressure onto the eye area when you put them on.

After Dawn Jie left the house at 6.30am, I was still still nuaing in bed reluctant to get up.
It is another 人生真美好 day!

Anyway, woke up at about 8.30am, washed up, changed and walked to a nearby supermarket, Woolworths that was just round a corner to check out the similar or different products the supermarket carrys.
I am such a supermarket addict! Heh…
Bought a loaf of bread at AUD$1 & a Philadelphia cream cheese. I cannot find my favourite strawberry cream cheese in Australia too. I wonder did they discontinued the production or what. =(

Anyway, let me show you around the house a little.
Sorry, no picture of the whole house. Heh.. just the room I sleep in for the that 5 nights.

The view from my bed.

It leads to the back door and along the way there, there is the bathroom, washing area and toilet which is not visible from the picture.

The curtains did aid to block a bit of the sunlight unfortunately it was still rather bright!

The table with my messy kuchi kurangs. There is even a little walk-in wardrobe! How cooool!

The bed I slept in. I love the comfy and girly comforter that keeps me warm on the slightly breezy nights.

My 战利品 from Gold Coast!

After my brunch which was the left over rice and curry from the night before….. got myself all dressed up and I am ready to start the day!

Took a train down to Central station. That is somehow like our City Hall mrt.
Except the shopping is less happening.

There was a group of people singing carols during lunch time.

I wanted to get to the visitors centre to ask for some recommendation of places to go for the next few days in Brisbane.
Somehow no matter how 我穿梭在大街上, trying to locate it with the map app on my phone, I cannot seems to spot the visitors information centre!
Thank goodness to a helpful guy from the newsagency who gave me the direction.
I think I must be too pa jiao to see it at the beginning. =.=

Anyhow, the lady recommended me to go to the Brisbane museum that was just a few streets away and of course some other attraction spots which I did visit the next few days.

Inside the Museum of Brisbanethat was on Ann street. The museum is not that huge, it occupy 2 levels of a small but decent area in a building. It was free admission by the way.

Appreciating some arts at the first level of the museum

Attracted to this piece of drawing.

Pretty flowers

Still inside the museum.

Although the first level was filled with arts and drawing, I like the 2nd level better.
It is the Cabinet of Curiousity and it is a alot more interesting.
Did not take any pictures there though. =(
The thing there which made the most impression on me was this Regimental Flag for one reason or another.

The 2/26th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the
Australian Imperial Force which was formed in the late
1940s and drew its recruits from Queensland and northern
New South Wales. They initially trained at Grovely, Brisbane
where their regimental flag was manufactured. They
moved to redbank, Bathurst Camp (NSW), then Singapore
and malaya prior to the start of the Pacific War.
In 1941–1942, the 2/26th fought during the malayan
campaign after the Japanese invasion of malaya. After the
fall of Singapore however, many Battalion members became
prisoners of war (POWs) held in Changi prison. In addition
to being used as labour in work parties, they suffered
starvation, dysentery, dehydration, vitamin deficiencies
and disease, resulting in enormous loss of life for the POWs
particularly on the Thailand-Burma railway construction.
The regimental flag of the 2/26th remained with the
Battalion members during the time of their captivity. They
had resolved to keep the flag and carried it in secret either
under their clothes or hidden in equipment used in the
construction of the Thailand-Burma railway. Discovery
of the hidden flag would have meant certain death.
At least one serviceman died while in possession of the
flag and his comrades risked severe punishment to retrieve
it before he was buried. The Battalion remained in captivity
until the end of the war in 1945. The regimental flag came
back to Australia with the returning members of 2/26th.
The flag here is displayed still bearing the sweat stains
of the servicemen who ensured its preservation

I guess I like history in a way no one understands.
I like to think how the people back then experience their lives and what happened then.
Although I may not be able to understand fully but I could feel it.

After the visit to the museum, it was lunch time all by myself at Queens Plaza food court.

I can never understand why the Australian love such salty fries!
Imagine the salty fries and the person over the counter actually gave you a little sachet of salt in case you prefer saltier fries! BAH~

After lunch, went to explore City Botanic Garden that was just another few streets away.

It was nice to take slow stroll all by myself, enjoying the breeze and have the sun showering itself on me.
Another instant of me thinking 人生真美好! =p

Walking by the river….

Life was indeed a breeze back then….. Enjoying the quality ‘Me’ time that I always crave for, only better because I am all alone in a foreign land and no work to think about!

I was a very carefree and happy girl until I bump into this bugger!

The path is not exactly that wide, probably enough for 2 person to walk past or maybe 3 to walk close together and that bugger had to strategically placed itself in the middle of the pavement!
I hesitated for a moment before walking past him crossing my fingers that it would stay put in that position and luckily it did. =.=

I love how people can just sit down and the grass to enjoy life there!
The only people that does that in Singapore are….. oh well.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is smack right in the middle of the botanical garden.
Nice! Imagine you can just roll yourself on the grass after school and study on the grass. Aw~
That is very the kind of school life I wish I led. =(

Da-tah! QUT Art Museum.

Unfortunately it was close on a Monday. How disappointing. I would love to visit it!

Sat down on a bench, checked the map app just to make sure I know where I am and where should I be heading to next.

Continued my 逍遥快活的 journey…

Asked a stranger to help me take this photo with my phone because I forgot to bring my camera out that day. =.=
Yes, all the photos taken on day 3 are with my phone.

Brisbane Parliament House.

I love how it looked from the outside.
I did not know I can actually walked in and have a tour until Dawn Jiejie told me that night. =(
I wish I went in and explore. I hope I have the chance to explore the inside some day…

Walked past Treasury Casino.

Decided to walk inside and try my luck if I can manage to get in as I was wearing slippers.

To my surprise the security guard allow me in after seeing my passport.
He joked if I am sure the person in the passport is me as I look very different from the passport.
Hahaha, it was a compliment anyhow.
I guessed he knew I just wanted to in to see see look look, not your typical gambler.

It was just a pretty quiet Monday afternoon in the casino.
Not that many people, most of the tables are closed.
Came out after 15 minutes.

Walked across the Victoria bridge to South Bank.

The Brisbane wheel.

Managed to ask a Japanese girl to help me snap this shot because smart me took the initiative to help she and her friends to take a picture first!
No proper camera, blame the iPhone4s’s camera quality. BAH~

Walked, walked, and walked a little more, I finally reached the man-made beach at about 4.30pm.
That was where I wanted to go because I brought my bikinis and a beach towel in case I wanted to get a tan.



Honestly, I was kind of disappointed with the size of the man-made beach.
I was expecting something bigger. I was hoping for something that is say, half the size of the man-made beach in Sentosa but I think this is like 1/20 of the one in Sentosa!
They have got a couple of lifeguards on duty as well.
The sandy area were not that big and it was already pretty occupied.
In addition to that, the sun has decided to hide under some thick clouds and the wind was cold.
Abort the tanning plan in the end. =(

I sat on the downslope path of grass where some people sat. Looking down at the pathetic man-made beach.

There was this little boy which did what I always yearn to do when I was there but never plucked up the courage to do….

Rolling on the grass!

So I sat there, reading my book, listening to mp3, sucking in the good moment.

Stayed until Dawn Jiejie called me after she knocked off from work.

Walked back to where I was in the afternoon, that bustling street.

Met her and her boyfriend, Christian for a pint of beer at Pig ‘N’ Whistle to chill before dinner.
It was my first time meeting him and he is the same age as I am, only that he looks older. Hahaha.. Chao (Lau) Ang Mohs!
He was sharing with me about the places and things we could do with in Sydney and stuff.

Proceed to have Mexican food at Rosa Mexicano which is of walking distance from Milton train station for dinner.

Tacos which was an entree for dinner as I was afraid a main would be too filling for me!
We shared a bottle of white wine to go with our food.

Bumped into a couple friends of theirs and we went for ice-creams at Gelateria Cremona after dinner.
I had the Christmas pudding ice-cream.
Something very different from the usual selections.
It tasted pretty good!

Bid them goodbye and back home we head after the yummy ice-creams
It was a nice brief session with her boyfriend and friends.

Did you realise something?! No pictures during the night.
I think I was too shy and lazy to take out my phone and snap photos of everything. So not me I know.

*Well, I thank my foursquare which I religiously checked in while I was there as it gave me the exact name of the places I went for easier blogging and it did helped me with recalling some memories. =)

Australia 2011 (Day 0 – Day 2)

I know I have not been blogging as regularly as I should, all thanks to Facebook and Twitter, however I will try my very best to complete my Australia trip entries.
I did not take as many photos during this trip as compared to all my other previous trips.
The photos will look not as fun as previous trips because most of the time, it’s just photos of my surrounding and I am the one and only constant subject.
Looking through the photos, it is as though I went on this trip alone.
I had my ‘part-time photographers’ with me and of course random strangers to help me with the photo takings.
I will try to blog down every single details I can remember, pardon me if I missed out any as 2 weeks are not that short you know.
I experienced many first times during this trip.
I know I will refer back to these entries in the future reminiscing the fun time I had.
It was one of the furthest, longest and best trip I have taken so far. =)

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16 December 2011 – Friday (Day 0)

My flight with Qantas on A330 was scheduled to fly at 9.05pm from Changi Terminal 1 to Brisbane
There was such a long queue of people waiting to check in.
Thank goodness I was flying alone (yes, one of the 1st for me), I was quickly directed to a newly opened counter to do my check in.
Yay to their excellent service, it saved me time from all the queueing behind the large groups of families.
A failed attempt to get a complimentary upgrade and a window seat. Managed to get an aisle seat though.

Well, the weight limit for my luggage is 23kg.
Out of the 20.7 kg, 4.5kg belongs to my cousin as I helped my aunt to bring a set of curtains as well as a glassware over for her. So technically, my things weigh 16.2kg.
I know it is still considered super heavy to all the seasoned travellers but I really tried my best to remove whatever that is redundant already.

I . cannot . wait . to . fly!
Ok, a part of me was really excited but as I walked towards the departure gate, I had butterflies in my stomach.
All of a sudden, I got so worried and I start to miss my family and friends here.
A part of me just wanted to stay here, it suddenly seems that 2 weeks were a little too long and I was too adventurous to even fly alone, I  never felt so independent.
Ok, just between you and me, I did tear a little after I past the departure gate. =X
Hahahaha, I know I am very drama mama, I just felt too overwhelm all of a sudden.
The moment I had been waiting for, then when the moment came, I just freaked out. Hahahahahahaha…

Anyhow, I did made it to the aircraft without getting lost.
I can be pretty muddle-headed at times. (Just like right before I left my house, I actually placed my mobile phone in the luggage bag and spent 10 minutes looking high and low for it!)

It was a full flight and I was surrounded by all the Caucasian families.
They must be thinking that I come from Cheena as I was reading 那些年我们一起追过的女孩 and watching Hong Kong drama on my Galaxy Tab as the shows on board were not fantastic and some were lousy quality.
I only managed to watch Hangover 2 which was not fantastic at all.

First meal being served to us.

I think it was some braised pork with steam rice.

Requested for some red wine to aid me to sleep better.

I only managed to catch about 2-3 hours of sleep during the 8 hours journey.

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17 December 2011 – Saturday (Day 1)

A light breakfast was served just about an hour or two before we touched down.

The plane was 40 minutes earlier than schedule.
Waited super long at the immigration checkpoint as there were many planes which landed at Brisbane International Airport about the same time.

Finally as I get through the checkpoint, I was hoping to get a pre-paid SIM card from Optus as Zong Yao suggested unfortunately they do not sell it there.
Realised that somehow my auto-roaming was not activated since I forgot to double check with M1 before I fly as I switched over to them from Singtel recently.
No available wireless can be found at the airport too!
I needed to contact my cousin, Dawn to inform her that I have reached the airport as she would need to pick me up from the train station nearest to her place.

Thankfully I had googled on how to get to her place from the airport plus I could access to the specific instructions she had emailed me before the trip.
Worse come to worse, I would just find my way to her apartment myself.

As I came out from the Airport terminal to the Train station, I could feel the cool breeze despite the sun shining brightly. Felt damn shiok!

Thankfully I managed to find a payphone at Central where I need to transit to another train.
I was not sure how much it cost to make a phone call, hence I tried with the lowest denominator I could find, 20 cents.
I even had to check with a random stranger how to dial her number as the number she had given me was with the area code in front which was not needed to make that phone call. All I needed to do was to add a ’0′ before her mobile number.
As just I heard Dawn’s hello, the line got cut. =.=
It was then I realise, it cost 50 cents to make a phone call and 20 cents to SMS!
Hahahahaha… silly me. Still, the pay phone was kind enough to return me that 20 cents. Muahahaha…
Anyhow, I managed to get through to Dawn and yup, she would wait for me at the train station as she promised.

On the way to Dawn’s place…. The view from the train as well as the inside of the train plus a really tired me.


What I love about the trains there is that it is never as crowded as Singapore’s MRT!
Plus, I was super heng to be there while the rest of my fellow Singaporeans were cursing and swearing at SMRT when the trains broke down and cause disruption to their lives.

When I reached Sherwood station, indeed, Dawn Jiejie was there waiting for me!
I hugged her the moment I got down the train.
There was this sense of accomplishment that I flew miles to see her! Hahaha.. It was good to see a familiar face too! =)

Got back to her apartment, she showed me around a little.
I had a room all to myself because she kicked her housemate out of the house weeks back.
Called my aunt, had some instant noodles before we packed for our trip to Gold Coast over the weekend!

Brisbane and Gold Goast railway system are well-connected so we took the train and head towards Narang Station, that is where Gold Coast is.

While on board the bus to Surfers Paradise, we saw a woman with a head of purple hair. Super random I know.

As we were walking along the 名副其实的 Surfers Paradise to our hotel which is just round the corner.

Fantastic view isn’t it?
蓝天 瞭望无际的平行线 with no ships in sight. The water looks really good too. Not to mention, the sands are so fine and soft!

Reached the hotel just in time for our check-in at Holiday Inn.
It was a pretty decent deluxe room.

Big and comfy twin beds, clean and big toilets, they have got mirrors everywhere and I actually slept beside a gigantic mirror next to me. Ha…

How can I forget the amazing view right from our balcony!


Hello, we have got the ocean view peep. Hahaha…

Grabbed a couple of pies from Pie Face which was pretty popular in Australia.

Each one for us.

Honestly, I feel it was rather overrated however it was told to me that the taste differ from states to states. It seems that the nicer Face Pies are in Melbourne or something.
Anyway, it is not cheap, it cost about $5+ AUD per pie. It did fill up my tummy though.

After we are done checking out the hotel, out we head to the beach!
It was a rather windy day in Gold Coast. I experienced the strong wind by putting a towel on my body and remove my hands from it, it could still stick on to my body with the force from the wind! Despite the sun shining right down from above, I was chilling cold from the strong wind.

Initially, we wanted to tan ourselves by the beach, but the fine sands keep hitting us and it got rather painful so we had to move to the grass patch area nearby for our tan.

That’s cousin Dawn for you.

Can you see how windy it is over there?

We did not get much of a tan as the sun was playing hide and seek with us. =.=

That is me in Surfers Paradise!

We head over to a shopping mall nearby to jalan jalan.
Dawn Jie bought a kimono lookalike night robe from Cotton On, while I managed to get myself connected with the world with my Optus SIM card!
Oh well, none of my friends has any peace since I activated that SIM card. Oooops!

After the aimless roaming around, we got back to the hotel.
Bathed and slacked in the comfort of our own beds.

It did not take me long to fell asleep.

According to Dawn Jiejie, she tried to wake me up but I was sleeping like a log to wake up.
Apparently I was feeling extremely tired from the long flight.
I woke up just in time as she was about to write a note informing me that she was going to head out to grab some food.

Borrowed a dress from her, changed and out we went to fill up our starving stomachs.

The first proper meal for the day and it was also the first Vietnamese meal I had in Australia.

Dawn Jiejie had the seafood fried noodles while I had the beef rice noodles.
I still miss the one Natalie brought me to in Joo Chiat earlier that week. =p

You know how the sound of fireworks and gunshots sound rather alike.
While we were having our dinner, we heard that sound but we never got it figured out if the sound was from fireworks or gunshots.
Apparently Gold Coast is not as safe as I thought.

Yup, that is me, without my liquid eyeliner, I think I did a bad attempt with my crayon eyeliner. Haha…

After dinner, we walked around a little.
Unfortunately, those shops that were opened, the clothes either do not look good or too expensive. Some were a combination of the two!
The shops we were interested in were closed. =(

Decided to take a bus to Gold Coast Casino which was located at Jupiter hotel.

While waiting for the bus…
It was a freezing cold night and I left my cardigan in the hotel. We had to keep escaping from the cold by getting into a shop that was near the bus-stop.

Finally, we reached the Jupiter casino!

What is Christmas without X’mas tree?

The casino has pretty good crowd that night.
Yes, the security guard did checked my passport. Hehehe.. *cheap thrill*
Nope, I did not gamble.
All we did was checking out tables to tables.
Observe how people play their games.
I am such a noob when it comes to casino gambling.

We did not stayed for too long.
Caught the bus back to the hotel and sleep….

~*~*~*~*~*~

18 December 2011 – Sunday (Day 2)

Woke up to a rather cloudy morning.
At least it was not that windy.

Not wanting to miss any minute in Gold Coast, we hit the beach hoping to get a quick tan through the clouds.

There were not a lot of people by the beach in the morning so we enjoyed a little of the peace with just waves crashing on the sands.
人生可真是美好啊!

Seagull

I am missing the beach already.

Me, totally relax, enjoying the breeze.

After another unsuccessful attempt to tan, we head back to the hotel to wash up and got ready to check out.

Outfit of the day.

I really love this dress which I bought months back from Forever 21, unfortunately, this is not the kind of dress I will ever wear in Singapore. Hohoho… this shall be kept in my wardobe as part of my Holiday collection.

Went shopping after we checked out!

Bought this dress from Chica Booti for 20AUD.
The quality of this dress is pretty good.
I think this is a very good buy!
Well, the dress is so me lor!

Lunch was pizzas at Crust!

Dawn with her Mediterranean Lamb pizza.

I had Philly Steak pizza.

I think it was very worth the price!
A pizza and a can of drink cost about 10AUD.
The portion was just right for us and the pizza tasted really yummy!
I still prefer my Philly Steak pizza as compared to the Mediterranean Lamb one. =P
Ok, just realise they do have one outlet in Singapore, Holland Village.
I want to go there and try the pizzas one day!

Did more shopping after lunch before walking to the bus stop to check out the timing of the bus to take us back to the train station.

Spot Dawn Jiejie!

Confirming with the bus driver.

Ok, that is me, just tagging along.

The bus stop was located just opposite Gold Coast’s ferris wheel.

Proceed back to hotel to grab our bags then head back to the bus stop…

While travelling on the bus back to Narang train station……

I know the picture just looks damn obscene as though the lady was giving the man a blowjob!

But nope, the girl was just somehow too drunk or whatsoever, she looked really unconscious.
She just happen to have her head well, on the guy’s laps.
Initially the guy looked really awkward with her in that position.
I guess after a few moments he decided to just make the best out of the situation by putting both his hands behind his head as though he was enjoying it.
All the passengers on board the bus saw it and yes, we all laughed out loud.
Humour, humour!

It was already 8pm when we reached back to Brisbane, Dawn Jiejie’s place.
Supermarket was closed, most of the restaurants were closed.
What was left was quiet and empty streets.
Popped down into a nearby Indian restaurant and ordered a regular Butter Curry Chicken and a Nan (Bread) to share for our dinner.
Dawn Jiejie cooked some rice (Brown & White) as add-ons.

We still had quite a fair bit of leftover which became my breakfast and Dawn’s lunch the next day.
Heh…. 一餐变四餐.
Quite worth it. =D
The curry was really good too!

I was not used to the deafening silence at her place which she describes as peaceful.
Thankfully I brought my iPod and speakers along!

Washed up, packed/unpacked a little, showered then off to our respective beds.

(To be continued…… watch this space!)