Valencia Oranges

6th Day
We were not booked on any day tour today but we were suppose to get on the Sydney jet. Darlin and I were kinda disappointed when the jet ride was cancelled due to bad weather. However we hopped on the Sydney Explorer ($36(AUD)) per pax. It’s really good since the bus take us round the city. We can just drop off at any of the designated stop and hop back on to any of the explorer bus. We went to many different attrations. I will post some pics and add some comments when I get back to Brisbane.
A long day today and darlin and I were exhausted. Guess we are gonna take a good rest tonight. It’s our last night here in Sydney and we are going over to Tasmania early tomorrow morning.
Will blog again if there’s internet connection over in Tassie!

5th Day
Woke up pretty early today and waited for our bus that will take us to the Blue Mountains. It’s a pretty large bus and we were told it’s gonna be a pretty long ride. We were stuck in a traffic jam for nearly 1.5 hour before we were out of the city. It had been raining these few days and it was rather foggy.
Our first stop was featherdale wildlife park. We get to feed the kangeroos, pose with koala etc. We’ve done that in Brisbane and Melbourne already actually. Darlin actually braced himself and feed the kangeroos! Nice try. The kangeroos were kinda different from those in Melb and Bris. The roos over here were so agressive! They tried to snatched the food, cluching on people and even attempted to jumped on a kid. On man… Even the animals behave differently in every state. We then proceed off for lunch, stopping at a nearby motel for a light buffet lunch.
We continue to travel towards blue mountainsbut it was rather foggy. By the time we reached the peak, we can hardly see a thing! We took some pics tho. But the main attractions were mainly darlin and me. hahaha.. The driver tried to bring us to several other lookouts but still, we can’t see a thing. We were all drenched and wet. It was anopther 3 hours before we get back to city. We get to take a river cruise back to the city. It was really windy and when the ship is approaching darling harbor, the view was magnificent!
We have to take a train back our hostel so we approached the service counter to ask for more infomation. When darlin asked the indian lady at the station how much is the fare, she just look up briefly from her mobile phone (she was smsw-ing while working!) and give us a “yea?” look. We can’t hear what she was saying and darling asked her politely to repeat. However, she just heaved heavily and shaked her head. WHAT THE? You are suppose to help us!
My impression of Australia kinda change after a few similar encounters like this. I always thought that Australians were a friendly lot. But, it kinda changed my perceptions. No doubt, the people at the tourists spots and our driver(cum guide) were really helpful and friendly. We did meet a friendly chap who spoke to us about HRI (Heart Research Institute). Do take a look if you are interested.
We had Vietnam food for dinner. The serving were reasonable, the price is quite alright but the service is so-so.
The trip so far had changed my perception about alot of things. I realised that even in Australia, people in different states behave very differently. When I get back to Brisbane, I might do a comparison chart on the states that I’ve visted. Look out for it.

(Melbourne/Sydney)
4th Day
Checked out early of melb and headed to the airport to catch our domestic flight to Sydney. Melbourne airport is so-so, I guess it serve mostly as a transit center for australians that’s why it’s not being done up really nicely.
Boarded the Qantas Domestic and it was a Boeing 767. Slightly small plane with only 7 seats across the plane. Wasn’t expect lunch to be served but we were given roasted chicken sandwiches which was tasty enough. We were also told that the Australia Idol top 100 was in the same plane. wow! One of them might just be the next Australian Idol. On arrival, there were so many crews waiting for them. I guess it’s the first step to stardom.
Sydney airport is nice and clean. It’s not as cluttered as the Melbourne Airport. We took the airport link to the central station.
It’s only about 5 stops away but it cost us $11 Aud each, which were kinda expensive. Travelling in Singapore is definately much cheaper and easier. It is also from here that we had our first brush with the people of Sydney. While queueing up to buy tickets, people just cut into the queue without even asking if we were in the queue. There were no one smiling or greeting us at the service counters, which is very different from Brisbane and Melbourne. Inside the train, alot of people just stared and us. When we attempted to smile, they just look away. Hmmm..very different from the previous two states that we were in.
Finally we reached the station that is located just next to the hostel we are gonna stay in. Once out of the street, there were cars horning everywhere. Lotsa cars travelling on the roads. We checked into the Sydney Central YHA. It’s really a fantastic looking hostel. A 5-stars hostel I must say. The lady at the reception was friendly though. We got our keys and headed straight to our room on the 7th floor. Having stayed in the hostel in Melbourne, we really did not expect much. But to our surprise, it was marvellous. The double room was really big with ensuite. It contains a double bed with a bunk bed on top. We strongly recommend to anyone who’s coming to Sydney. It’s $94 AUD per night and definately worth it. There is also a sauna and pool located in the hotel. Can you imagine it? In a hostel!
We also went to check out the supermarket in the city. All the people seems to be in a rush. People knocking into you without apologising. The cashiers were shouting for the queue to move forward. It was really different from Brisbane and Melbourne where the cashiers will take the effort to greet you with a smile and chat with you a little.
Anyway, we went back to the hostel after buying some supper. I felt ferverish. I guess it’s cos of the many sleepless nights in Melb and the sauna. We will be going to the Blue Mountains the next day…

3rd Day
It’s 8° now in Melbourne and a very quiet Sunday Morning. I’m in a 7-11 now, after $5 AUD for an hour access. Grab a bit this morning at a local bakary and we started our day. The shops aren’t open and darlin andI had been walking around city for the past hours. It’s our 3rd day here and I guess our last “real” day in Melbourne. Time seems to pass especially fast whenever you are enjoying your day.

We had wanted to take the free city tram but to no avail. We were waiting in the middle of the road (It’s dangerous but it’s the way the tram station is) for a while before a kind chinese gentleman drove pass and told us that there’s a strike today and the tram might not be in service. He even offered to give us a ride to wherever we were going. But darlin and I thanked him and told him thatwe will walked around instead. We have lotsa time on our hand anyway.

We walked around for an hour before I ended up in this 7-11. They actually offered internet access..

I shall continue blogging when I’m in sydney tomorrow.

2nd Day
We had booked a day tour aith Autopia before setting our. Having heard so much of the penguin parade, we decided to join the tour for $80AUD. Darlin ahd been there before but accompanied me again this time round. I guess I won’t be able to go if darlin is nto with me. It’s really boring to travel alone I guess. We make our self to the Melbourne Transit Ctr for our bus. We’ve expected the transit center to be filled with busy buses coming in and out but no! WE can’t seems to find it and had to ask a passer-by for directions. The gentleman was really nice, he even offered to walk with us to the center. We realised that we had missed it cos it was so small. Anyway, the mini bus arrived and we proceeded. After an hour and a half ride, we arrived at the wildlife wonderland where there’s wombats, kangaroos and birds. We get to carry the wombat but I didn’t. I was really scared! It weighs around 23 kg and it looks hairy. Hee… We also get to feed the kangaroos. They were really cute, particularly a small one. Kangaroos are just like human I guess. After finishing the food, I gave the ice-cream cone (which) contains the food to the roos. The male roos had one before mine and he actually pass the 2nd cone to his mate. Awww..how sweet! Even roos know the basics of being gentlemanly. I’m surprised some guys still don’t. Anyway, I took some pics with the roos. Darlin was too scared to go near the roos cos they seems to be ready to pounce on darlin anytime. We then proceed to a wonderful beach with lots of surfers. The wave was nice and it was real chillin’. I can’t believe people actually surf in the temperature! It was about dusk and we proceeded to the penguin parade. It was much much colder over at the penguin parade. Lotsa people came well -prepared with hot tea and blanket. We were given cookies and hot tea by our driver(cum guide). Soon, it’s dark and the penguins starts arriving! They are so cute. They were call fairy penguins or little penguins cos they are really little. They each weight about 1kg. We get to sit really in front and the penguins were just right in front of me. I really wanna touch it but we were told by the ranger that we were forbidden to. The penguins might bit in self-defence. After the parade, we went off some pizza dinner. The bus ride home was faster than when we were going. We reached the hotel and bathed. We went to the 3rd floor to bathe instead of the floor we were staying in cos there’s more people on the 3rd storey! Hmm..darlin and I were both timid creatures! hee..Anyway, we fell asleep straight after hitting the bed, of cos,not after darlin cracked some jokes about our crappy hotel room. We learnt our lesson told ourselves that hostel with shared bathroom is a big NO-NO. heh!

(Brisbane/Melbourne)
1st Day
Woke up really early at 4am and it was chilling. Darlin and I did not manage to sleep too much the night before. Guess we are both excited. We were ready by 5am and very kind Gengxing picked us up and sent us to the Brisbane Transit Center. From there we took the Airtrain to the Brisbane Domestic Airport. After checking in and getting our boarding pass, we went to the cafe, have some muffins and headed to the gate to await for boarding. Flight to Melbourne was delayed for 30min due to heavy fog in Melbourne. After 2.5hr, we finally touched down in Melb. It was chilling and it kind of remind me of the time I was in Korea with sis. It was almost 2 years back but it just seems like yesterday when my sis and I went to Korea. Anyway, Hotel BakPak had a free transfer bus that bring us straight to out HOTEL. You might notice that I’ve BOLD the the word “hotel”. I shall proceed to exaplin why later on. The driver who pick us up was Brian, at least that’s what darlin and I heard, was really friendly and while on the way back to the hotel, explained to us the different places and culture of Melbourne.
Soon, we reached hotel after a approx 25min ride. The hotel; stuff was no doubt very friendly and helpful. WE gotten our keys to ROOM 413, and we proceeded upstairs. The lifts remind me of those pre-war housing. It was sop OLD! Ibet you can’t find that in Singapore anymore. When we reached our room, we were greeted with a really spartan room. It had only a queen bed a very old chair and a mirror that’s only enough for my hair. Darlin and I looked at each other and laughed! hahaha… It was so empty! I’ve never stayed in somewhere so empty before. I guess that’s as fast as $75 AUD per night gets. And yea, I forgot to mention the communal bathrooms. It’s kind of like a hostel so we had shared bathroom facilities. It was locatedso far away from our room. Not to mention, it was so dark and eerie inside! Haha..darlin and I both have half a mind to skip bathing for the following few days. Anyway, enough said of the crapping hotel. I shall post a crappy pic when I get back to Brissy.
We decided to walk over to the Queen Victoria market. It’s basically a very big market that sell lotsa stuffs. A must place to visit. It helps to kill time cos it’s huge. Darlin and I bought a mini “musical” player. I shall post some pic of it when I get back.
At noon, we joined the FREE city tour. We were told it’s gonna be around 3 hours. It sure is. We travelled by foot for nearly 3 hours to explored the city with a guide. It was nice though. Not much to complain except the fact that I thought it’s gonna be done in a mini bus. After early 2 hours, we went our own way cos darlin and I decided to take a look at the crown casino . There were lots of people inside, particularly Asian. BlackJacks, Sie Bo, Roulette, plenty! We decided that we were too poor and shan’t put our wallet at risk by gambling, hence we jsut walked around and took some pictures. The coldness is making us hungry and we had to look for food. We went to an indonesian eateries and had some asian cusine. It was really nice and value for money. We took a long long walk around town and was back in the hotel after 3 hours of walk. Gosh, we were both deadbeat. Darlin and I washed up and turned in. It was a really crappy room but we had to force ourselves to sleep…..

It’s cold cold cold! Winter’s here and I’m beginning to enjoy it. Might be a tad cold at times but heck! We don’t get this back in Singapore, do we?

Let me explain why darlin wasn’t in the pic. Haha..It was partially my fault. I made him wait for 1.5 hour before I finally got ready. Hence, he forbade me to snap any pic of his grumpy face! hehe.. Anyway, that’s beside the point. Look how cold and wet it is now! The trees had all turn “bald”….

Exams’ finally over! Time to relax..yes..just doing the stuff I like! Gonna blog more later in the day. Wanna just sit in the lounge and enjoy the crispiness of winter.. Well, maybe I shall go for a spin with darlin later on! We’ll see how

Will post some pic..in the later post. See Ya~

Econs was over on Tuesday. Just had my Business research Paper a couple of hours ago. Totally shagged Was a pretty long paper and I was so worried that I won’t be finishing on time. Luckily, all went well.

Come Saturday, 2 more paper and IT’S OVER!

Darlin and I will be going off to for a little gateaway.. well..3 places to be exact. Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania. Hopefully, it will be a fruitful trip.

Kinda chilling today. the Sun is up and it’s 19.1°C but STILL I feel cold. And it’s gonna be 7 °C or lesser in a few days time. I need the heater but freaking elect. is expensive over here! Well, I shan’t complain. Once back to Singapore, It’s gonna be warm warm warm!

Alright, gonna take a quick nap and back to Books. I hate finance paper!..and darlin hate it even more! ahaha….

Some silly piccies…Look at my messy hair! I’ve gone “coo-coo” from the exams!

Well..after all the assignment..It’s mugging time! And I am not at all excited about it…

alright, gonna see me again after the exams!

wait…I think the format of my blog kinda screwed up abit! Will have to fix them after the exams… Urgh!