canberra - floriade 2008

was a weekend trip to canberra... with jing, wanyi (my housemates), zijia (my upcoming housemate), giang (my vietnamese snr), shuwen and xunwen (who were visiting from sg)... this is the 2nd time i m heading thr.. but it's for a different reason... was gg thr for the floriade... was looking fwd to it cos love tulips... was rotating the driver's seat with wanyi.. so here's the photos i took along the wae when i m bored as the co-driver...

these are the "canberra trees" per jing.. haha.. cos we tend to see these trees in neat rows on the wae to canberra... hahaha...

upon reaching canberra, we saw these "cherry blossom" look-alike.. veri pretty!! but have no idea what these trees are... saw quite a lot of these trees juz as we entered canberra....

the group taking pix in front of our first stop - new parliment house.. n the iconic flagpole with 4 pillars...

some trees b4 the start of all the flowers pix... like pix of bare trees.. somehow feel tt they have a veri artistic feel.. hehe...

here's the start of the pretty flowers... was a bit disappointed though.. cos it's the first weekend of the floriade so the flowers were not all blooming... but still got some nice pix...

these were 2 little kids taking photos.. n the whole grp of us gals were snapping away like the kids were some superstars... but they were realli veri cute!!! cant help it... the younger brother is called nicholas n the older kid in red jacket is called douglas...

ben commented that this pix looks like a poster shot... hahah.. so proud of it!!

more flower pix... first time i took so much photos tt wanyi n zijia wanna confiscate my camera cos i was sooo slow... hahah... kept stopping to take pix.. heheh...

the focus of this pix is supposed to be the bare tree behind... but somehow it din manage to turn out like tt... the yellow tulips seem to be the focus pt instead... but still pretty photo i think... haha....

these are gnomes painted by ppl who wer at the floriade.. this is a grp of gnomes picnicking...

see the white one in front?? 3rd from the right... looks like some super star gnome...

the "priscilla - queen of the desert" gnomes....

this one is cute.. hiding behind the bushes...

last pix of the dae - mi with the gnomes!!!

Ski Trip (30 - 31 August 2008)

2nd ski trip since i came over.. different group of ppl all together.. went with the juniors, melb kias and a couple of us from sydney.. totalli random combination.. realli yuan fen tt this whole grp went down together.. .this time round we went to perisher blue - blue cow slope (supposedli the most beginner slope)... was realli a veri massive group - total of 21 ppl!! hahah... like tour grp like tt...

we pia all the wae down... drive for about 6 hrs... plus all the stop over to change driver as well as rent out ski gear.... we started the drive at abt 8 plus n onli reached the accommodation at 4 plus... super super shack... n den the next dae need to wake up earlee at 7plus to get dwn to the slopes to start the dae...

n after ski-ing for one whole dae, we pia back to sydney at nite... started the drive abt 10 plus... reach in the morning at 3plus... cos was jus tooo cold to stay in the hse... n den not intending to ski on sundae... so might as well pia back on sat... but was glad we did tt... so can rest on sun... hahha...

pictures of the slopes below... but this time round, the scenery was not as gd as the first time...


the slopes were pretty crowded... though it wasnt ani long wkend...



mi n zijia... both super tired from all the ski-ing....

Tassie Trip

to be update~~~~

Cairns - 30 May 08 to 4 jun 08

realised a consistent blogging trend... all my posts are 2 months late... this current blogging is for my cairns trip from 30 may 08 to 4 jun 08... the 3 of us (jing, wanyi n mi) went to cairns with darren, max and michelle.... the main purpose is for diving.... n it's quite cool to do it in cairns.... cos u can dive without a license.... the instructor will just gif u some theory lessons on the boat n den down u go with an instructor to about 4 - 5 ppl.... this sounds like a much better deal.... cos u dun haf to learn to do anithing... jus go dwn n the instructor will do all the inflating n deflating for u... den dun haf to panick abt not getting the correct pressure n not being able to go dwn.... n the instructor will hold ur hand as u dive dwn... hahah... okies.. enuff of my luo-suo-ing.... here comes the pix!!!

Day 1
the instructor giving his theory diving lesson to this entire group of newbies... i was trying veri hard to concentrate cos dun wanna die during diving in the ocean... it doesnt sound tt hard though... jus 2 impt things tt we need to remember... or at least ttz why the instructor claims..... (1) remember to breathe; (2) dun come straight up; (3) dun panick!!!... hahah... how hard can tt be.... but u realli haf to be in the water to noe how hard 3 things can be... esp the dun panick one...heheh....

Not before long, i'm in the water!!! it's real tough to plunge ur head in... cos not used to breathing through the mouth.... the 4 of us (jing, were together with some japanese instuctor) took damn long to get everione into the water.... i think he was damn pissed off with us... hahah... cos he jus wanna go in n haf fun.....

din have much pix of us in the water cos everione was in the water so no one to take pix... this photo was taken during the 2nd dive... yup... i had so much fun during the first one tt i wanna go a second time... first one was too short... not shiok enuff... heheh... jing din go a second time so thanks to her, i had this pix....

we took this pix with "da jie" after the dive on our wae back.. look at how dry he is!! haha.. cos he din go for the 2nd dive as well... he din even snorkel... was jus happily slping on the ferry waiting for us.....

grp pix at the esplanade after alighting from the ferry...


saw this cool signboard along the streets after dinner... it's pointing to the various attractions in cairns as well as major cities ard the world... cool!!!!




Day 2

We're on the cruise to Green Island... thr's nothing much thr though... went on some glass boat tour n "trekking" ard the island... did some snorkelling along the beach too... or rather attempted to snorkel cos din haf life jacket n mi din dare to swim out to places whr i cant touch the ground.. hahah... anw after this trip, i realli realli wanna learn swimming....

busy eating on the wae to green island which is our usual favourite activity... haha...

guess wat we are doing... we are trying to sing without moving our shoulders... hahah... someone jus made this comment, saying tt good singers do not move their shoulders when they sing... we are real bo liao right... "pretending" to be good singers....

see wanyi is in my eye!!!

aussie 5 acting cool.... like some advertisment pose again....

i like beaches here in aussie!!

Day 3
We went trekking around to get to the nice nice waterfalls.... this is a veri spontanteous pix... we were walking thru the forest n den all of a sudden darren took out his camera n we all posed.... it's quite a good shot...


this's the josephine falls.... nice but short waterfall....


the 3 sisters with the waterfall... i like this pix.....


this is still at josephine falls... the 2 adventurous saggis walking dwn the stream to take pix...


this's our 2nd stop... the milaa milaa falls... milaa = lots of water.... a rather appropriate name cos this waterfall is indeed much longer than josephine falls.... n the water's veri cold thr too... thus, thr's a polar bear challenge... if u dare jump into the waters n swim to the waterfall area, u can go to the nearby village to collect a "i m a polar bear" badge....

curtain fig tree... looks scaree... like one of the props for those typical ghost movie.....

after all the trekking thru the forest, we went to lake eachim.... nv knew i got take such nice pix... hehhe... but it's cos of the still-ness of the lake... see how nice the clouds reflection is... another one of my fav pix....

darren took a dip in lake eachim while the 3 of us sat at the corner, practising our stone throwing skills... trying to master or at least learn the art of "stone jumping on water surface" throw... after numerous attempts, i finalli manage to get it right once or twice... hahah.... this is how lousee we are.....

this is the pose for the animals tt we represent during the animal game tt we play everinite at the hotel room...

darren - crocodile / max - fish / mich - penguin / mi - starfish / wanyi - shark / jing - jellyfish

this is just a random scenice lookout tt we stopped along our way to the waterfalls... real nice although it's just an unintended stopover / lookout point.... beautiful blue blue sea....

went to the factory of dairy farmers for afternoon coffee break....

Easter Getaway

A few of us went down to Albury and Wodonga during the Easter long weekend... The location was chosen not cos it was some exciting happening town but mainli cos it's in the middle of Melb n Syd... Cos need to cater to the needs of both the Syd and Mel kias... Flying is too expensive.. So we decided to drive around...

Having brekkie at this Gypsy's Cafe... Only place in Albury-Wodonga that is opened on an Easter weekend... But the coffee sucksss.... Probabli ttz why it has to be open during Easter... Cos this is the onli chance for it to make $$$... Hahah...

The main purpose of gg Albury-Wodonga is to chill n play golf... But a few of us din noe how to play on the greens... So we ended up being bungee-drivers... That's mi n Lilian (Darren's gf) posing as drivers for the golfies....

There's realli nuttin to do in Albury n Wodonga except golfing during the day time.. So the few of us did a stunner at nite... We drove down to Melb!!! I'm still amazed by it lor.. The drive from Albury to Melb is alright... Abt 4 hrs... But it's the drive back to Syd which is like 10 hrs!!! So we reached Melb at abt 3plus am and we need to leave the next dae noon time... Hahha... Didnt even spend 1 day in Melb.....

Evidence of our adventure -- Walking along Melb streets....

Wanted to have the famous cheesecake @ Greco Cafe... but were all too full after Yum Cha... So onli took a pix with the yummy array of cakes...

our great escapade

feels good to be on unofficial leave.. over in aussie, leave is alwaz spent in style... n away from sydney... once again we haf ventured out to the entrance... n yes, indeed the place is called "The Entrance".... wat a name!! heheh... but it's jus a nice chill place abt 2hrs drive away from the bustling city... a nice beach n coastal place.... n the 3 of us jus spent the day relaxing, watching pelican feeding n cafe-ing.... we were driving ard the entrance n everi stop we make, we will jus go to the nearest cafe for coffee, cakes n pies....

(entrance with marine parade in sydney)

(jings-max-mi)

(nice coast)

(feed time)

(greedy pelicans)

(nice poster pix)

first chinese new yr away from home

chinese new year away from home seems veri un-chinese new yr... the feeling of having to work on the first day of chinese new yr sux... it jus feels like any other normal wkg day... being overseas made mi treasure chinese new yr in sg more... more festive feel... with all the ang baos n chinese new yr goodies... over in sydney, some chinese dun even celebrate cny... n i haf chinese colleagues telling mi tt "ohh.... reunion dinner?? we din haf it cos we were all wkg late...." how weird can this get??? chinese not celebrating cny and not hafing reunion dinner cos they haf to work late??!?! culture differences.... same skin colour, same roots but growing up in a different country is wat realli moulds u....

but one happie thing abt cny away from home is tt we still haf "Lao Yu Shen" here!!! although it's super expensive... but it was a yummy dinner n yu shen.... everione looks sooo happie... we had dinner n yu shen at "Ginger and Spice"... the authentic must-try singaporean food restauratnt in sydney... yum yum!!

~setting up the ingredients~

~all chopsticks in action~

~happie faces~