Perth
What!!! Another trip?! you must be asking...don't I have to work? Have I got any money left in the bank?...well lets just say that I had an unexpected windfall and had some spare cash coming my way...so might as well use it before a hectic year-end and visit my parents and friends back in Perth :)
Now unlike my previous posts...I will try to keep the narration short and show pictures :)
Me and my good friend - Anne.
Would you also believe that a family of ducks actually walked into my house's backyard! Now this would not be strange or unique, but for the fact that we live in the suburbs...and not near any lakes and we are surrounded by roads. My mum was actually worried for the ducks...afraid that they may get run over by cars if they are allowed to leave (typical mum). I wanted duck rice :P But it sorted itself out..and the ducks just walked out of our backyard and were last seen walking happily along the footpath outside, heading towards the local shopping centre (maybe they had shopping to do?) as if it was an everyday thing. Hmmm...still a mystery about how they came to our house :)
Here is something that has changed since my last trip to Perth...$4 pizzas! Yeap..its not Dominos or Pizza Hut, but a new pizza cafe that has opened (and my bro discovered) that has offers of $8 for 2 pizzas. We had a seafood and meatlovers pizza...pretty tasty and decent :) and the price was good too!
The next morning, Dad and myself went to Araleun to play golf :) Dad took the friday off...so it was just me and him...and the golf course. We played about 30 holes that day (just kept playing and playing)...I played pretty well and it was only my putting that really let me down :( still managed to get 2 pars though...which is a pretty good effort considering I haven't played for about 4 mths :).
Araleun has got tons of kangaroos...they are everywhere and totally fearless when it comes to flying golf balls. Also there is some very nice scenary. To my friends who are golfers...if you and I happen to be in Perth one of these days...well this is definitely one of the places you will be playing :P. Also quite fun to drive the golf cart around...otherwise how to survive 30 holes of golf!
That night, after watching an exciting Eagles v Adelaide Crows semi-final (the Eagles won after trailing for most of the game...very exciting), I went out and caught up with Christina and Anne.
Hmmm...did nothing much for the trip as I was there only from Thurs to Sunday. Caught up with Pras, played some basketball, kicked the soccer ball with my bro, talked to mum lots :), relaxed, spent some alone time shooting hoops in my backyard...
To know oneself...its not during the best of times, but when times are down :)
Wet n Wild! (Brisbane)
Just got back from a short long weekend from Brisbane (Thurs to Monday) to visit my friend Wei Wei. A great gal whom I know from Singapore volleyball, studying in Brisbane for 10 mths for her masters. Here she is cooking dinner for us (her roommate and myself) after picking me up from the airport. A delicious meal.
I decided to go to Brisbane for a few reasons: we have been discussing it for some time...to go and enjoy the Brisbane sunshine and the water theme park...
'Wet n Wild'; secondly surround myself with friends and things to do on the weekend - otherwise it would have been depressing :P; thirdly for those that know me well...well lets just say that some plans didn't turn out the way I thought it would so I'd might as well use the time and money to go to Brisbane to see friends :P...
I bring Sydney gifts (as usual)...and a new record: 3 boxes!!! No KK in Queensland.
Now before you start wondering how come I got a guy's picture on my blog...just wanted to write this down FYI. Now the guy above, is my high school friend whom I know (and my parents know his parents, etc) quite well...and he was in the Australian Cleo Top '50' bachelor of the year *he didn't win it*. Mum told me about it but I didn't believe it...until I saw his picture in Wei's Cleo magazine...unbelievable! Ladies...who maybe reading this and interested...his name is Jason and he is half Thai...and oh yes...he is very well off. You have my number if you want an intro *wink* haha...
Next morning, Wei and myself went to pick up the rental car, stopping by the city for the usual Aussie breakfast...this is what we had. Very full! The airport was our next destination to pick up Brenna and Julian who'd just arrived from Singapore also for the weekend :). Didn't expect anyone from Singapore would come just for the weekend, but the flights were cheap (by today's standards)...and of course the more people coming the more fun this trip will be. Good to see the guys from S'pore, those were good times :) Of course with Jul there...there was going to be lots of drinking during that weekend :) I needed the drink so wasn't complaining..haha. Now I got to clarify something, the entire weekend the weather wasn't good...ie. it was wet, rained intermittently, and was pretty cloudy, however in Sydney I heard that the weather was perfect with blue skies and hot sun...talk about wrong timing! :P But still had fun thanks to the company that was around me.
Here is the rental car (my first ever red coloured car) - a Hyundai Getz that we used for the weekend, and as usual we were reliably assisted by Tom Tom (see prev posts) throughout the trip...although for this trip I didn't use it as much as my previous trips because I was ably assisted by Wei Wei (there was also some backseat driver too ;) haha... Now with the car being manual, and Brisbane being so hilly it was definitely a different driving experience..having had to control speeds and gears while going up and down hills...haha :)
Along the way to Gold Coast, we went through Mt Tamborine...which is famous for two things: its vineyards and meat pies! :). Here we are at Cedar Creek Vineyards...doing what else but taste wines (for free)! Unfortunately, I was the driver so couldn't really drink much...otherwise I would have started early :) haha. Anyway the wine tasted pretty good...although call me bias but I still think that the Margaret River wines from Western Australia (my home state) tastes much better ;). Its an informed choice.
Haha...now here is something I may have taken for granted. Fruit Trees. Apparantly Singaporeans seem to go crazy over real fruit tress (apple, orange, etc). The pictures above show Julian getting excited over an orange tree outside the winery...and some pretty incriminating evidence of what he did next...haha...well all I can say is that the oranges were sweet! ;). The picture on the left is of us enjoying the wine..ahah. I am trying to do a 'Julian'. Notice how there aren't any vines behind us...must not be the season. Margaret River is better!
Next stop was a place called 'The Distillery', which made all sorts of full flavoured alcohol (schnapps, vodka, absynthe, liquers). Jul, Bren and Wei all bought bottles (see how nicely painted they are...collectors items) of alcohol and trust me we were going to be drinking that stuff in the coming nights. Back to the good old S'pore days at Hume Park...haha. Of course there was free tasting...too bad I still had to drive :P. Lesson for next time...don't drive! It was quite a nice quaint little place...very old fashioned. Excellent service. Prices range from $35 to $55 per bottle (not exactly cheap).
errr..chess anyone? lucky girl...
Cheers! and bottoms up!...what did we just drink?
Right next door to the Distillery, there was also a Cheese Factory (again the similarities with Margaret River is so obvious :P)..selling yup you guessed it...all sorts of cheeses. We bought some cheese and crackers (to be drunk with our alcohol later..haha). The Blue cheese was good! Quite unlike the pungent variety you normally would get :o...and the Brie was so soft, you could use it like a dip. Nice.
After the Cheese, we went to another vineyard on the mountain (called the Mt Tamborine Heritage Homestead and Vineyard...I think)..where as the sign says they sold the best meat pies on the mountain. I had the beef and red wine pie...delicious! Real chunks of beef and you could taste a little of the red wine. A nice lunch :). The gang also bought a couple more bottles of wine here... After lunch, we finally headed off to GC (thanks to Tom Tom), first we stopped by our accomodation...called the Crowne Plaza (very nice place and pretty cheap too..$120 per night...Thx Weis) to put down our stuff and get changed into beach wear for the sun sun sun and surf :P...only 1 problem...there was no sun and in fact was cold and windy. But not deterred, we pressed on...thinking that the wonderful Queensland sun would win in the end. It didnt.
So here we are at one of the most famous beaches in Australia, if not the world...Surfers Paradise (main beach). It was my third time going there..and it looked all the same :) Can you imagine living right next to the beach in one of those high rise buildings...beautiful, not to mention pretty expensive :P. Beach was prestine and water clear...but weather not fantastic. Still manage to spend a decent amount of time playing some beach vball (although without a net) and just generally exercising off that pie we just ate..haha. After a long walk back to the Crowne Plaza, we settled down and got ready for dinner.
What our room looks like @ Crowne Plaza...pretty nice and clean.
One of the views outside our apartment...can almost see the beach and waves :P
That night, thanks to the recommendation and confidence from Julian, we went to this delicious sukiyaki resturant (luckily he still remembered where it was)...where for $25 you can have 'You can Eat' where you cook meats (beef, chicken and pork) and veges it in sukiyaki sauce. I can tell you that on a cold Brisbane night in the Gold Coast...nothing beats a hot sukiyaki beef meal with lots of wine (I drank my limit :).
Between the four of us...we finished 2 whole bottles (a modest effort)...and the sukiyaki just kept on flowing! Good 1 Julian! will definitely come back here again if I am in the area...:)
Needless to say, after those two bottles of wine and a long day of driving, beaching, touring and more wine tasting...everyone slept well.
The next morning, we awoke to an overcast sky :( but not deterred and keeping a positive attitude that the GC sunshine will finally show during the day, we got changed into our swimwear and headed to the entire objective of this Brisbane trip...Wet n Wild! This is a water theme park...with slides and lots of water rides. Of course if you want to compare it to S'pore water theme parks...this one is huge so it promised lots of fun fun fun for the day...now if only the sun came out too..haha :)
A new ride opened (the 'Tornado') that very day...and it was the most exciting ride of the day. Hmmm...well I won't describe the ride to you..except that you have to try it if you are ever at Wet n Wild. The ride is short, but really gets ur heart pumping (and lungs screaming) for that split second (sorta like that roller coaster feeling as you are going down :P). Here are some of the pictures of the rides we took:
Red Rock Deli chips (Honey Soy Chicken)...while waiting in the car.
After WnW, we started out back for Brisbane. Along the way we detoured to a a nearby strawberry farm - for hmmm...more eating (Waffles + Strawberries + Ice-Cream = Yum!) and sightseeing.
What is it with girls and deserts???
After that small detour, we went off in search of lunch. Thanks to the brochure we picked up, it directed us to another famous pie shop..Yatala. Now this is a famous pie :P. Haha...so we had another one of those famous pies...it was ok, but would the Mt Tamborine pies tasted better...and much more homemade :)
After that late lunch, we finally reached Brisbane city, and as Jul and Bren had not even seen the city since they arrived (we picked them up straight from airport and headed to GC directly)...Weis and myself decided to bring them to a place called Southbank...where they could see the Brisbane river and the city skyline. So at least they can say that they have seen Brisbane city.
There was even a man-made beach right in the heart of the city...looks better than Sentosa :P haha...
After our short walk along the banks of Southbank, we finally went home. But the day wasn't over yet...we quickly changed and headed out for a quick game of beach vball at UQ (University of Queensland)..yes they have a beach vball court there, which was just a stone's throw away from Weis place. Making full use of the remaining daylight, we played some 2 v 2 beach vball until we couldn't see the ball anymore. Fun. The sand was so soft and very diveable...so I made full use of it :P haha...
We then went back to shower and change for dinner...and headed to 'Hogs Breath Cafe' for...steaks. Australia is famous for its steaks and the steaks here were pretty good and decent :)
Full of food. I brought them to Mt Coot-ha (yes that is how its spelt)...which is sort of like a Mt Faber...where you can see the whole of Brisbane and the surrounding area. Even Weis has not been up there (shame)...so it was a good experience for all. I had already been there twice..although never at night *not much of a romantic* haha...but the view was still the same ;) ...spectacular.
Finally the day was over. Not quite yet...we still had wine, schnapps and the cheese we bought the day before. So what better way to finish (or try to finish)...and to keep conversation...then by playing drinking card games! haha...just like Singapore of old! This was the time when I think I drank quite a lot (kept losing :P)...and had a sudden aversion to alcohol...especially schnapps!. Slept at 3am with the world still spinning.
The next morning, we were intending to wake up at 6am to catch the 7.30am ferry to Moreton island...however due to the morning's activities we (well with the exception of Weis...she is an amazing girl..doesn't she need to sleep?) were still sleeping and I felt (coz I woke up at about that time) that I was in no condition to drive as my blood alcohol limit would still have been over. Also had this headache which I couldn't explain :P. So I went back to sleep and woke up about 2 hrs later...
Special mention needs to be made of Weis efforts...after our card games when everyone was too drunk/sleepy to care...she went and prepared our lunch for that day (cut the tomatoes, lettuce, etc)...this was at like 4am in the morning!!! Amazing and respect :)
When we all finally got up and prepared, we drove to a nearby ferry terminal where we caught a ferry to Moreton Island. Hmmm...what else could be said about it...except that it was your typical Australian beaches on an island. Very relaxing and beautiful. Of course we brought our beach vball...and wasn't disappointed...there was a beach vball court there! Here are some of the pictures from the island...
Note..the picture above shows blue skies and sun (one of the rare times when the weather cleared and the sun showed up...as we were leaving the island :P haha). We even braved a swim in a very cold ocean...and it was cold! I mean you cannot not go to a 'tropical' Queensland island and not swim in the blue waters..right? Haha...crazy and determined Singaporeans :). It was an Invigorating swim.
That night Weis took us to...a popular Japanese resturant in the heart of the Brisbane city mall for sushi. It was like Sushi Teh. The sushi was pretty fresh and good :)
That night, we sent the Singapore people back to airport. I stayed another night, and flew the next morning (almost missing my flight due to some unexpected traffic jams...some excitement and definitely gets your heart pumping) back to Sydney. Then it was a short train ride straight to work...for the start of another long boring week :P
I had a great time in Brisbane :) chilling and having fun with friends surrounding you. Too bad about the weather..but you cannot have it your way all the time, and you won't have something to look forward to for the next time.
Thank you everyone for the fun, memories and conversations...especially Weis for putting us up, planning most of the itinery, being the perfect host and navigator ;)
