Finally I've come back to update another day of the Tazzy trip... Technically I'm now super busy with work but bleh, I want to update this before it rots here. Hahahaha~! Good thing I have my travel notes so I'll more or less type whatever I wrote there..
Woke up at 7.30 am. Went to the kitchen to help mum with breakfast and lunch - french toast. [looks at notes] okkkk... the recipe for french toast was 3 eggs, 6 teaspoons of sugar, bread. [lol] lunch was omelette (onions and ham with mushrooms)
Had left the hostel. Dad had misplaced his handphone and stuff. was worried that he may have left it in the previous place. anyway, we went to Coles to buy white peaches and mineral water and also to check abalone prices (but coles didn't sell them) {note: what we didn't know was there was a ban / greatly reduce of sorts on sales of abalone because they were overfishing?? not sure... hahaha}
But yea... we were in the car when dad accidentallty backed the car into that green thing above. could see the tree but the green thing was in the blind spot... ~___~ we were all a bit >__<;; (aka "OH MY GOSH~! Is that what we think it is?" moment) Dad wasn't happy with the car thing and the handphone thing... in the slump of the moment, I was pulling out magazines from the back pocket of dad's seat when I saw his handphone. Quickly and triumphly returned the handphone to dad so the mood in the car was better. hehehe. good life-saver that one. 
moving on with the trip, we headed into the city centre (a few roads down) for the bank and to try to find the abalone. instead, mum and I bought perfumes (it was a steal - 2 for aud25. day before christmas sales marrr), nailclipper (mum... or was it dad's hang nail drove for this search) and clothes (all no more than aud16.95). We stopped over for lunch by the river.
Lunch. Pretty simple. bread with omelette + cheese + tomato Those are the fresh strawberries. [points excitedly to the punnet of strawberries]
Headed out of the city to Cradle Mountain, Devonport. We stopped at a few fruit / fresh food shops, looking for the abalone but no luck. In case you're wondering why we are looking for the abalone and stuff, apparently one of the places abalone was imported from was Tasmania... [shrugs]
But yea after the long drive (1.45 pm to 3.15pm) {in which I drove halfway, dad drove the rest}
At Cradle Mountain, we had to pay for the daypass again. The drive was pretty much one lane, so driving cautiously was a must, giving way to vehicles was important. (Impossible for Malaysian roads. [lol]). The condition of the road was good.
There were sections of the road that bottlenecks to force the driver to drive slowly (or that there isn't much space in the first place.)
When we got to Cradle mountain, it was pretty cloudy and nothing that spectacular... ooo, crow~! I think it's interesting that their yellow eyes stand out so much. =^__^=
Anyway, yea, nothing that great (compared to what we saw in New Zealand), so we didn't walk all the way in plus if we were to walk in, it would have taken us 2 hours to walk around Dove lake [points to the lake]
And 3 days to walk up to Cradle mountain [points to the mountain in the background]
Imagine 3 days out in the bush country with all the wallabies and other bush animals... I saw some people with big backpacks and hiking sticks. I'm like "wor~!"
(Just a photo of evidence that I was there - interestingly for a cloudy day... the shot was a bit over-exposed... [shrugs])
Photo spam 1~!
Photo spam 2~! Oh you have no idea just have many shots of this tree I took... I thought it looked lovely highlighted like that against the dark Cradle Mountain. =^____^=
Photo spam 3~!
Photo spam 4~! If only the road to Mordor was pathed like this, I think Frodo and the fellowship might have reached there a little sooner...
Photo spam 5~! Hop, Hop, Hop Mr Crow.
We did walk a little closer to the lake's edge at least. [lol] There's only so much that the tele lens can zoom. hahahhahahha~!
photo spam 7~! Mum and I walked a little bit further to get photo spam 2 one... hahah~! Sorry if the order of the photos are a little out of order. I'm a little miffed that the system I used to sort the order was a little messed up... that's what you get from using 2 cameras... [sigh]
I got a photo of Dad taking photo but decided not to add it since that would increase the amount of spamming. hahahah~!
Anyway we went to Pencil Pine Creek. Average waterfall.. about 10 - 20 minutes walk...
Went to Enchanted walk. about 20 minutes walk. River shot.
Another River shot. heheheh~! I'm wondering just how cold is the water....
More photo spam 1~!
I saw this sign board and went "dry fly fishing"? OKkkkkk...
There was a lodge out here at the semi-mountains area. Guess it's like a getaway of sorts...
More river photo spam~! Had to be careful not to lose our footing...
Some photos of the bush plants...
Close up of the lovely flowers.
So we were walking along the enchanted walk path and saw this composition. I thought it was interesting and dad and I did a series of shots actually.
But what I liked best was this one. Hahaha~ I just post the winnning shot.
then another composition came into play.
got mum to model this time. hahahah~!
I like this one best though. heheheh~!
Oh this one is of dad selecting "the rock".
He does consider pretty hard which one is best.... the photo is just evidence of that. [lol]
Oh this shot was pretty funny because mum was waving her jacket to shoo the flies away. [snicker]
My parents are very sporting people. serious. we are also pretty random, in a good way since it's makes for interesting shots like this one. we were like oooo... footprint. would be fun to pose as if we step on it.
Oh. that was mum's shoe. [snicker]
Dad's idea of dramatic shot. ^_^ it's like a "we conquered Cradle Mountain" kind of shot... though there's the absence of Cradle Mountain... [lol] fun to play with shadows.
Left cradle moutain national park (it's a world heritage by the way) at 6.29m Heading back to Launcester.
One reason why one should be alert when driving on the road... you never know when cows decide to cross the road? hahahah~!
But yea, I slept most of the way back (dad driver) {of course I took these photos before sleeping} Slepth only after finishing the cherries that is... (they were beginning to be black-ish and turning soft).
Photo spam x~! {I lost count... hahah~! plus I'm lazy to scroll up... XD)
Photo spam y~! I love how the trees are so white... looks great against the blue blue sky~!
Reached the Country Club at 8.30pm. Settled to eat some food at Watergarden Restaurant. Our pre-christmas dinner. Had porterhouse steak, roast of the day (lamb) and chicken kiev. Waiting number 77. Went to play casino. Not lucky... happens.
wait for mum and dad, they were playing roulette (don't get the game) {interesting note: i was playing a trivia game recently, and there was a question that asked what was the total number you get if you add all the numbers on the roulette table; 666.}
anyway, we went home at 10.30pm. took shower and helped mum to cut vegetables for lunch and breakfast the next day (lunch - spaghetti, pasta sauce, diced mushroom, sliced hot dogs, diced tomotoes; breakfast - fruit cake (from coles), coffee, tim times, German spice cake (lovely) and strawberries. finished at 1am...
Phew~! done with one more day of the long overdue Tazzy trip. hahahah~! Can you believe that it's already mid-year and I'm still working on things back in December last year... hahaha~! oh well. That's the way the cookies crumbles... ooo cookie. [munch munch] Cheers~!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Day Four of Tasmania Trip (24th December 2008)
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Day Three of Tasmania Trip (23rd December 2008)
Woke up at 7.30am. Ants in the toilet, had gone there barefooted... hahaha~! Went down to the kitchen. Had coffee and egg sandwiches for breakfast. Pulled out pillow cases and bedsheets and check out from the backpackers.
Reached Richmond at 9am. According to our broucher, it says it's the oldest town around. Walked into a woodcraft shop. There, we were told that there were some trees that only grow in Australia; Blackwood and Sassafrass for example.
The roads in Richmond was pretty quiet...
We drove to see one of the oldest Catholic Church. [read notes] oh wait, it is the oldest church in Australia. You'll excuse me if I say that the church was very simple indeed... Nothing like the renaissance-gothic style of church that I like. You'll forgive me for not knowing the name of the style... hahahha~!
There was however this lovely tree outside the church...
Anyway, went to the Richmond Bridge.
As you can see, we fed the ducks, seagulls and sparrows with some bread. Mum suddenly reminded me of the Goose Girl. XD hehehe~! We later headed off to Campania... Let me say it was a long drive (thank goodness I was napping behind). Apparently in my nap, we past Swansea. [shrugs]
We arrived at Freycinet National Park, the lookout point was lovely. To gain access into the National Park was interesting. I'll start by saying that we were technically in the middle of nowhere... there was this little wooden building. It's a self-service sort of thing. You take the car sticker from the envelope and stick in the car, you put money into the envelope and put in into the box. People are trusted to be honest.
The day pass was about aud22.
Anyway, we are honest people. And we got to this beach... Friendly Beach. I kid you not, it's named that. I raised my eyebrow when dad said the name of the beach...
The lookout point was so beautiful that we quickly made our way to...
The beach itself~!
I would have frolicked happily in the beach...
But it was terribly windy and really very chilly.
Initially we wanted to eat our lunch out at the beach but it really was so cold that we ate near our car... It was so funny that we were more or less huddled in spots that weren't windy...
(The corn was so sweet that you've probably never tasted one as sweet as the one we did, hotdogs, egg sandwiches + zucchini, peach, apricot, boiled cauliflower)
We did meet some wild bush animals; above is a wallaby. So yea, wallabies (2 playful ones), porcupine, gila monster
It was a lovely drive down. I think that's Cradle Mt in the distance there.
Passing by Coles Bay (I think that where this was). I got daddykins to stop the camera for me to take some photos. 
We were heading to Wineglass Bay lookout... though along the way, we did stop at this ermmm camping areas...
Yea, you get to rent campsite area that has direct access to the beach. We stopped at one of the areas. Ok, we technically took a wrong turn. Hahahah~! But seriously, it's like getting your very own private beach...
Anyway, back to Wineglass Bay lookout... Don't mind me, I tend to go snap-crazy when I see wild animals...
They were close enough to touch...
Though I didn't since they said not to (since it's wild and all)
Right, just to get to the lookout....
We had to take this tedious, uphill sandy walk up. It took us 45 minutes to walk just to the lookout...
It was no joke man... Of course, there were signs that gave the estimate time of the walks. Plus advice like wearing good shoes and having bottles of water, use hat and sunscreen...
You know... that sort of thing. The 45 minutes was a killer... and that was just to the lookout...
But it was a lovely view. It looked like a wineglass which holds blue cocktail with green / yellow in the bowl of the wineglass. To take this shot, I had to stand as far back as I could and tilt the camera (like duh~!). Of course, the shape would have been more obvious if we had taken the helicopter trip but.... yea, we're not the kind to spend money like that.
Anyways, then began the walk down... bleh. We took the boulderpass instead of the scenic route we took (where we could see coles bay lookout, richardson beach) thinking it was shorter... I believe it was longer... I had slipped twice on the slippery sands. Nothing serious, just scrapes on the right arm but we did make it down by 4.30pm... (think we started at 2.40pm)
Spotted this Brunnett Wallaby in the bush.
We made a quick stop to the lodge nearby; Freycinet Lodge. Lovely pier and stuff. Drove towards Laucester (4.53pm). I took over the driving for a while and then napped some more after someone else took over the driving. hahaha~! Drove to Perth (Haha, not that Perth we all know and love, but rather there's another Perth down in Tasmania, as well as a Richmond)
Reached Laucester backpackers. It was certainly an upgrade from Pickled Frog. A room to ourselves, no creaking floorboards, no shaky beds, no ant-infested floors, spacious rooms, clean kitchen. We paid aud22 per person per night for this triple bedroom. Note it's still a single room.
Anyway, we showered and hanged our clothes out to dry. Walked to a Shanghai Restaurant for dinner. Had fried rice, small charsiew and Mongolian lamb. Dinner was fabulous, though it did come up to aud60+
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Day Two of Tasmania Trip (22nd December 2008)
Author's note:
'Oh my god. After Easter break has come and gone, it was as if a dam broke or something~! I'm now up to my waist in work to do... hahahah~! I super duper apologize for the delay.My internet at home is not the greatest in the world... though miraculously I was able to upload these photos... one by one.
Can't work on them in school... but now since I can do it at home, it's good. Can fall back into the routine of updating the blog... slower than I ideally want. I've still been taking photos (though not as much since I'm not sitting next to a window anymore... I miss my sunset spot...
Anyway, on with the update about the Tasmania Trip. If you're wondering why I'm still bothered to do this even after so long, it's because it's ultimately for me since my blog is my journal and I plan to keep it as chronological as I can.'
Woke up at 7am. Mum was downstairs cooking breakfast, went down to eat breakfast (which was 2 pieces of sandwiches made up of bread, zucchini, smashed eggs, ham and garlic butter)
(Here's a photo of mum in the common hall)
Dad washed the dishes while I helped to pack lunch away. (The common kitchen, at least we can cook our own meals)
(You can play chess too if you wanted, hehehe) We left the hostel at 8am. Heading to scenic look out point. Not much there to look out... I did play with the swings there, hehehe
(Duckies~! Quack, quack, quack~!) We stopped by the Royal Botanic Gardens again.
Saw lilies, Canna, Lavendar, etc. Left again at 9.16am.
(We drove past this road which I thought was pretty interesting... )
(It was a long stretch of road that was paved across the lake...or was it the river... hahah~! I think it looks pretty awesome regardless. Reminded me of the one-lane bridge back in New Zealand I suppose...)
Heading to Sorrell Fruit Farm.
(The flowers looked lovely, the pinks and the purple... smelled gorgeous too)
There, as an entrance fee, each of us was required to buy a punnet (that plastic box you see mum holding) and was allowed a max of 1.1kg each. Should you exceed the weight, you would have to pay more money.
(There was a sign of the names of the berries... I didn't know there were that many kinds of berries...)
(You actually can look at this fruit chart that tells you what fruits is ripe for the picking, when their season are and the price) It's soooo much cheaper to come to fruit farms to get the fruits and fresh. hahah~! How more fresh can it be... We're picking them off the trees and bushes.
We had fun picking the fruits...
Bosenberry (taste sourish), Loganberry, Raspberry (very small ones), Tayberries, Silvanberry, blueberry (mum took a taste, too bad it wasn't ripe yet)
(I'm not sure what berry photo is what... hahaha~!)
(But these ones look very much ripe for the picking)
Walked past unripe apricots, apples (march), nashi pears. (Dad actually picked one and ate it... hahaha~! From his face, you can tell that the fruit was SUPER sour)
Went to harvest the cherries~! There were two types; a smaller, sweeter cherry which was yellow red and then there was the normal, slightly sourish cherries (deep red)
(It was my first time harvesting for cherries~!)
(And there were so many to choose from~!)
(They grow in bunches like this...)
(They look a little like cherry tomatoes, don't they?) I harvested while eating...
I only filled my punnet halfway when mum came to show me how much she picked. hahaha~! Oopsies~!
We then went to harvest strawberries. (I had picked strawberries before in Cameron I believe. But I think this one was cooler~!)
Oh in case you're wondering, we paid Aud 9 per punnet. Made our way to Eaglehawk Neck View. .
Drove nearer to see the terracated plains, it's like a square-rocked pavement but crumbling. 
(EDIT: hehe.. thanks to dad i got some photos to show you what i was trying to describe)
Stopped to see a Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park but because it cost aud 26 per head, we opted to buy a aud 13 picture book instead. After that, we continued our journey to Port Arthur. I was pretty shocked to see a big visitor centre building. I had thought it was like Elizabeth St Bay. I didn't expect it to be a big scale tourism thing when dad told us that we were going to visit Port Arthur.
We took the bronze pass which was aud28 for adults and aud23 for me, student consesseion. This includes walking tour (40 minutes) and the harbour cruise (20 minutes). Our tour guide, Heather was funny, good, charismatic guide. For a prison for 40+ years, they made some impressive building / system.
There was a hospital (but no anesthetic), asylum, the main cells (used to be a flour mill) which is able to house 400+ inmates, the separate cell (introduced when the physical punishment lost its effect) aka the dark and dumb cell, the church, the civil row (this is where people like lawyer, accountant, surgeons, upper class people stay = family of the guards). Althought they stay in the other side of the picket fence, the free people were also in a sense like in jail. All they have is a fine English garden but beyond that; nothing.
Sat on the river cruise, was a lovely weather; clear blue sky, windy. By the time we were done with the cruise (I'm a little sad that I forgot to copy the photos from the SLR which is why this section is without photos EDIT: thanks to dad, at least i got something here now. hahaha~! thanks~! [hugs & kisses]), we made our way to the memorial stone in memory to the random shooting that killed a number of tourist in 1996 (done by a crazed gunman who was caught).
Here, dad had pointed out that one of his friends had been a victim to this sad tragedy. His friend's remains was laid to rest back in Malaysian grounds.
I was in charge of driving back to Sorell. I had not driven in 10 months (11 feb - 21 dec). I'm still in one piece so it's good. Haha~! Back in the city, we made our way to the fruit market again to buy tomorrow's breakfast and lunch.
After that, we had KFC for dinner. In the hostel, we had a new hostel mate (My parents and I shared the room with one more person), a japanese girl who was here on working holiday. Anyway, took a good shower and then went to Wrest Point Casino again (8.20pm - 11.20pm). All left with winnings. hahah~! Went to bed at 12 something.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Day One of Tasmania Trip (21st December 2008)
I'll just write down what I wrote in my travel journal.
Watched Red Boots of Christmas while waiting to board plane. (In case you're wondering... it's a christmas cartoon. hehehe~!) Boarded plane at 6.45am. Took off at 7am. Slept and arrived at Hobart at 8.15am.
Picked up rented car from airport, Thifty. (I thought the roadsign warning for the possum was cute.. though I had to admit that I did see quite a number of flat ones on the road.)
Drove from airport to find Liverpool St. (that's one big overhead bridge 0____0)
Staying at Pickled Frog, backpackers place. Rooms weren't ready yet. (Did I mention that it was my first time to stay in a backpackers hotel?) 
Walked around... (First it's pickled frog and now the quilted crow... what next... the grilled cow?)
(That's dad, consulting the map... note that we had driven here. Since we wanted to save up on fuel, we decided to walk instead. Luckily for us, it was Sunday and the lot we parked on didn't need any parking fees)
(Apparently mum was also curious what the quilted crow shop was about)
(It was a fantastic view of the city with all the christmas deco and the cotton swirls of clouds)
(We walked and came to a market square. The fish there is a drinking fountain. Cute~!)
(I was beginning to wonder if the signboards are actually like that or was it because it was the christmas occasion? It looks pretty much like in finding directions in christmas town...)
(I don't remember what this place is.... but on a wild guess, I think it's the town hall. There's something similar back in Glenferrie and even Melbourne town. If I was to reference it to anything back home home, the building at Dataran Merdeka? Though that is a court of law...and not a town hall, hehe..)
(One of the parks... which I also forgot the name to it. Remember taking a photo of the signboard.... [goes to look for it] Blah, details details... [waves it away])
(Here's dad, whipping out the video camera... Speaking of video camera, I remember that I got lots of vacation video tapes sitting at home, waiting for me to work on them... Hahaha~!)
(Just another take of the town hall)
Walked to Elizabeth Harbour.
Saw all the luxury boats. (The boats aren't really boats... I'd say there are ships~! They got sails and all.. Hahaha. You can actually pay and go for a boat ride but I must say that there's really nothing more exciting than driving the boat yourself [motorboat; did that when my family and I went to London, if I'm not mistaken])
(If I have a boat of my own... I would actually wonder what was I thinking when I could use that money to buy a PS3. Hahahah~!)
(I thought this sculpture was very interesting in this angle because it looks like an angel of sorts... Surprising that it isn't covered with bird do-do)
(A photo shot of the pier, looking to the town hall)
Ate at fishy business. (You'd think we would choose something better since the shop sounds "fishy")
Had ordered a seafood bucket and fish burger. We ate lunch while sitting behind the restaurant, overlooking the small lake. Lots of seagulls were attracted to our food... but luckily they had none. (But you can be sure that we were practically on our toes, in case the seagulls decided to swoop down and take our food. Though the thought of a massive seagull swooping is enough to give up the fight and go far far away)
(My guess would be this is an important building... Why? Because there's a flag pole on the top? Hahaha~! 'Does that mean that if one puts a flag pole on top of one's house that would be an important building?' In that case, I'll say that you're just being patriotic.)
(Besides, I should be able to tell apart a normal house from a building like this one... well unless you're very rich and like to randomly put statues above your front door, you win)
(Pretty yellow-ish green tree. The only time I see this colour back at home home was when I don't water the plants, that and chinese cabbage... YUM~!)
(As the sign says... "Mawson Place". Leaving the Elizabeth St Pier...)
(We came across the Tasman fountain.. I'll add here that the smell was a bit bad here since someone kind of peed into the fountain... Ugh... Aside from that, I think the sculpture were pretty)
(That's Abel Tasman. I don't really know why he's here... Let me wiki a bit. Hang on... [goes to wiki] [copy and paste] Tasman is best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the VOC (United East India Company).
His was the first known European expedition to reach the islands of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) and New Zealand and to sight the Fiji islands, which he did in 1643. Tasman, his navigator Visscher, and his Merchant Gilsemans also mapped substantial portions of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.)
Walked to Salamanca Road. We missed the saturday market (It was a sunday. Plus don't you think the little girl is a cutie pie too? Teehehe)
(We came to the fountain and it seemed to be a central spot for children really... They loved dipping their hands into the cool water.)
(I remember that one boy loved it so much in fact; that when it was time to go, his parents had to carry him away while he was bawling = To cry or sob loudly; wail.) Went to buy some fruits and nuts at the fruit market.
(At this point, we were trying to figure out how to get to Kelly steps on the map... We knew that it was somewhere here... It was until dad asked some guys that we spotted the very small signage below)
Walked to Kelly Steps while eating sweet sweet cherries (back home it's 80 cents for one cherry, here it's 30 cents one) (so you can imagine how thrilled we were that they were so cheap and so sweet =p especially mum) and also bought white peaches.
(That's wild lavender bush... It smelt so pretty walking past the bushes. Somehow I had imagined lavender to be less bush like... like our paddy fields or something... hehehe~! Would be nice if our paddy fields smelt like lavender... They would taste good and smell nice. hahaha~!)
(There was this big beautiful bush of red red flowers that was growing beside the pink exterior of this house)
We made our way to Battery point (nice houses~!) (At least I think this is battery point and all... It's hard to tell since there wasn't anything to indicate "Hey~! We're here or something")
(Just thinking if living in this type of house would be nice... It looks nice on the outside... not sure how furniture would be arranged inside..)
(The fun thing would be that there was this museum that house a bit of antiques.) 
(Since there was a fee to pay, mum and I sat outside whilst dad went in and took photos inside)
(I think that the flowers in the garden outside the museum is really much more awesome... mum took this shot. It looks dramatic, neh?) 
(I think that's a peach... growing from the tree... I might have grabbed it if I didn't already know that it's not ripe yet.. But it belonged to the museum so I won't have taken it anyway)
(Dramatic lion statues at one of the other entrances of the park)
(It's pretty cool to be able to take a photo of the town like that) Headed back to Pickled Frog and we all took a nap from 4pm to 6pm. Showered at the common bathrooms. (Yup, the only thing that you actually need when you travel is a place to sleep and place to put the luggage, the others can be shared.) The water temperature was crazy. Cold, hot, cold... (Who knew it could be so "exciting" to shower)
Drove out. Arrived at Royal Botanical Garden, walked in for 5 minutes... and it closes at 6.30pm. (So we were practically "shooed" out of the gardens... Hahaha~!)
Stop by Cadbury Factory at Claremont but it's closed at 4pm (Sept - May)
(But even standing outside the factory, you can smell the delicious smell of milk chocolate.... [drool])
[sigh] (Well, we didn't plan to go to the chocolate factory but now I'm thinking that going to one would be fun~! I think I've been to quite a variety of factories... Batik, whisky, paper umbrella, animal skin production (just the later parts of it - I didn't see the slaughtering . de-skin part), dried seafood production...)
(It's nice that they have a picture in the car plate. Though I'm not too sure if I'd like a rafflesia on my car plate back home home. Wouldn't mind a tiger or maybe hibiscus but not orang utan or hornbill) We continued to drive up to New Folktown. There, we went to buy groceries (Chocolates + breakfast + lunch stuff) (Notice that we didn't buy anything remotely for dinner...)
(We walked into a Shanghai restaurant. But because it was close to closing time, we could only order for takeaway. While we were waiting for the takeaway food for dinner to be prepared, dad and I walked around in the small park)
Fried rice and noodles (which has lots of meat [grin]). Ate outside in the park near a church. Has found it earlier while waiting for the food. There was singing, but when we brought the food, service just ended.Chilly evening to eat dinner out. (It was~! Mum thought we were crazy to insist on eating out in the park and not in the car)
Left for Wrest Point. They didn't check my passport. (In the case, you don't get it. It's a casino. Though I'll admit that they don't advertise it as a casino but an entertainment centre) 
Played pontoon, which is similar to black jack. Mum won in her roulette. (I like pontoon. They reward you the moment you get black jack. Why you ask? It's because it's harder to get a black jack in pontoon if compared to normal black jack; they removed the 10 cards)
(Casino entrance... nothing of the casino inside because they don't allow photography inside... you know, in case you use the photographs to cheat?)
Dad lost. Had to wait for mum. (He really looked like the "dai lou" / big brother that own the casino...)
Had found a coffee machine that served free drinks at the pokey (machines) section. (Mum won money~!) Went back and slept at 1.20amto be continued
Monday, March 16, 2009
19th & 28th December 2008 Room Cross-portal
19th December 2008 New Apartment
So right. After the graduation and stuff, we went back to house hunting. Remember I mentioned that there was an apartment that we thought was perfect except the only window was facing another building (in other words all you saw was a wall)...
We noted that the apartment building also had a notice with another number that was renting out a room. We call to try our luck, lo and behold... the very same apartment layout. Mind you that there was still the tenant staying in the apartment.
So the things you see here aren't all mine and stuff... It is fully furnished. The dining table and two foldable chairs are with us. It was the very same as the other apartment...
And the window actually faces outside~! As in, not feeling boxed in and stuff.
So from our window, we can see the State Library...
Melbourne Central...
and hear the busy streets below... Since I'm quite deaf, the numerous sirens and trams are ignorable. Hahaha~! 
This one will be Khuan's room...
and this one mine...
Only one bathroom...
And the long narrow corridor. All in all, it's pretty spacious. The rent was aud 390. When we found out that the rent included a cap on water and electricity, it was a done deal~! 
Explore what was outside....
My parents were relieved to note that there was a restaurant just downstairs...
Not that Khuan and I had went in there to eat yet. Hahahah~! 
Next to the restaurant, there's a Korean shop.
Up round the corner is already RMIT. Can you believe it? My sister just have to roll out of bed and she's in college already. Hahahah~!
I have to take the train... At least it's not a long train ride and I don't have to wait at richmond no more. Which is a good and bad thing since I had learned to use my time waiting in richmond to write my fiction. 
"I chose to live in the city so that it's more convenient for Khuan". My sister would debate; it was not her decision and that she wouldn't mind living near Prahran she says. 
Frankly it's more convenient for both of us. 
2. Trains and trams run more frequently in the city.
3. There are more things to do in the city.
So yea, living in the city is the better option alright. 
I think from all the photos I've posted here... has enough information for... say... someone who wants to fire a missile to my room... [shrugs] 
It pays not to offend anyone... especially if they have access to missiles... [lol] I know, I'm being totally random~!
Here's an Indonesian shop that sells quite a bit of things which I'm familiar with...
Good thing that I ate lunch already before writing this section... I would be drooling at the computer if not. 
Oh, in case you're wondering, all these photos of the room and city were taken by dad with the SLR camera... [sigh] I miss the SLR a lot...
I must admit that the photos turned out beautifully. Helps that it was a beautiful clear day~!
City Hall~!
No matter how many times I see it, I'm always going "Horsies~!" when I know a horse carriage is passing by. There are times when I don't realize the horses carriages... when I'm rushing to somewhere or if my mind is filled with other matters...
A far away photo shot of St Patrick's Cathedral (or was it St Peter's Cathedral..) I know it's a cathedral and not a church... though I don't know the difference actually. 
A better shot of the count down to christmas banner at federation square..
Flinders Street station~! 
I took some photos while I was accompanying mum in DFO (direct factory outlet)
This lady was suspicious... I was actually trying to take photo of the shop with at least some body walking in the shot... if not, I thought the shops would look a little empty...
After the whole day of exploring the city and settling the house deposit, my parents and I went to Glen Waverley (that's in zone 2) to meet up with Dad's friend for dinner who had migrated here. 
That was the end of that day... I'll say that after this, we had a trip down to Tasmania.. which I forgot about it until just now.. I'll post it as the next post I suppose.
So after helping mum and dad carry the heavy luggage to Southern Cross station to take the bus, I got to cleaning up my old apartment....
(note that I have actually placed most of the things for this year in the store room in the new apartment - the previous tenant's lease only ends at 1st Jan and I was leaving on the 28th Dec)
Making sure that I didn't leave anything behind... throwing out the food that I couldn't keep in the storage room.
At this point, my roommates were not around anymore. Brett had returned back to America, Hanna left left just the day before I came back from Tasmania and Natalie went back to Hong Kong for the holidays.
I was just going around, saying goodbye to the rooms that I stayed for a year. 
Not that I grew terribly attached to the room or anything. Just that I'm giving thanks for serving me for a good year.
I didn't really realized that I enjoyed the lots of time that I had for myself but I knew that I had missed being with my family since day 1. Hahaha~!
With a final glance, I left Unilodge and made my way to the airport. I'll point out here that I may have the many lucky opportunities to travel frequently but this flight back would be my very first time to check in and fly by myself. 
I photographed this because I thought it was peculiar that they used "relax" on a departure notice board. [lol]
Reporting from the photographs, it's like I haven't gone home yet. Hahaha~! But the truth of the matter would be, I'm back in Mlebourne already.