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Last week, Mathias and I went for a one week holiday in the Gold Coast. Since we’re here in Australia, might as well take every opportunity we can to try and travel the whole of Australia. We planned this trip 6 or 7 months ago, so we managed to get a really cheap budget airline ticket to the Gold Coast.

Our holiday lasted 7 nights with 6 full days. On our first full day, we went to Sea World. Mathias snapped a photo of me walking towards the main entrance (I went back to the car because we forgot something). He thought I looked really excited. Of course I was excited… holiday worrrrr…. and going to see fishies and ride rides and touch poo look-a-likes (sea cucumber), who won’t be excited!

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That gray colour car is not our car. We rented a small 2 door hyundai.

I think we were both a little too excited, we arrived there too early. Doors not even opened yet. So waited outside for around 20 minutes I think :P We prepurchased our tickets to these theme parks before we went to Gold Coast. It’s cheaper (but the ticket price is still very expensive if you ask me). Please ask Mathias how to get cheaper tickets if you’re interested.

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How would I describe Sea World. Well… it’s very similar to Sunway Lagoon, minus the water rides, very kid friendly, cater more for little kids rather than adults. They have the monorails (is it called monorails?… ah, whatever). You get in and you get a ride around the whole Sea World.

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I wouldn’t say Sea World is very big. The variety of fishes here is actually very little. But they concentrate on the particular animal well.

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First animal (or bird) we passed by is the pelican. We saw these during our Philip Island trip. This area I thought was very smelly!!!!! Maybe they were giving rotten fish? :P

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Sesame Street “Beach” which we saw no beach. Alot of kiddy rides which I’m too big to sit in unfortunately.

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Ah, this next picture, Mathias with his 3D glasses. I lovedddddddddd this one. It’s a 4D show. Well, you all know what a 3D show is right? You put on funny looking glasses, they show you a 3D film, and things seem to be popping out from the screen and as if you can touch them. Well…. a 4D show is all that, with something extra. You can feel it! Like when there’s wind, you actually feel air blowing at you, and if there’s something sneezing, you actually feel the sneeze spray (ewwww). It’s really cool! I absolutely love love love love love this!

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Then there’s this water ride which we braved ourselves to sit in.

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And you get to touch things like starfish, stingrays, and also sea cucumber (really look like poo, slimy feeling!)

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And there’s the hillarious Sea Lion show called Fish Detectives.

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I recorded a really short video:

Then there’s the Dolphin Show. They will choose volunteers who wants to touch dolphins. If you want to be chosen, just jump and scream like crazy, you will surely be picked (no, I did not jump and scream like crazy, if you wanted to know).

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And finally, before we walked out of Sea World, there’s the water skiing show. We later found out in the news that this show will no longer continue after August or something like that, because the stunts are too dangerous or something like that. Can’t remember what it was, but we were really lucky to see it.

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Mathias trying to steel the walrus tusk because he couldn’t get an elephant’s

After Sea World, we ate at this steak house very near Sea World called Hog’s Breath. It was recommended by a friend.

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Well… it’s delicious. But, I wouldn’t really go there again. One, it’s too expensive, my plate of steak is AUD25. Two, the portion isn’t exactly as I expected. It wasn’t a satisfying full.

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So there goes our first day.

Next stop, Warner Brother’s Movie World! Stay Tuned!

Adelaide – Part 2

After our city tour, we went and meet up with my friend, Shameeta!

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She brought us to this Mongolian BBQ restaurant for dinner. It was interesting… but I wouldn’t recommend eating it often. You fill up your bowl with meat, then top it up with veges, and then mix in your own sauces/marinates… then pass it to one of these cooks to cook it on the hot plate or whatever you call this stove.

Advice: Follow the suggested ingredients, or else you’ll find that the food you “invent” yourself taste funny.

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The very main reason we visited Adelaide… Shameeta’s birthday!

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Shameeta and her husband

I was the deep fryer for her that day. I fried currypuffs and wicked wings! I know how to make wicked wings, thanks to Shameeta for the great recipe!!! The wicked wings tasted sooooo good ok…. can compare with KFC!

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There was also rendang, sandwiches, cakes, fruit, etc.

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Birthday girl didn’t want to risk her dress splattered by rendang, so she wore a bathrobe

The theme for the party is Indian. I didn’t have anything indian, so borrowed a top and also stuck one bindi on my forehead.

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My new boyfriend, Aidan…. cute right?

Aidan is soooooooo handsome and cute!!! He calls me “Aunty Flowa”, so cute.

Shameeta’s father-in-law is so sporting. He really came dressed up as an indian, from head to toe.

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FYI, the beard is fake. I wonder how he took it off after the party. It was funny to see him try to eat, because his moustache kept getting in the way.

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We stayed 2 nights at Shameeta’s. Really had a great time with her and family.

And then, it was time to go and meet Mat’s cousin again on Sunday morning. We took the bus to the city. The bus service in Adelaide is really good. They even have special bus highways/tracks called O-Bahn. The bus goes at the speed of 100kmph on these tracks.

Mat’s cousins took us for tim sum. I can’t remember the last time I ate tim sun… really missed it.

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This restaurant is so popular that, you cannot sit and talk after eating, they will “chase” you away to accommodate waiting customers. So eat, pay and leave!

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First stop, Mount Lofty Summit. This is the highest spot in Adelaide.

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You can see the whole of Adelaide from up here. The picture is not very clear, but you can roughly see the city. It’s really small… but the housing area is very spread out. Alot of satelite towns around the city.

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And there’s this lighthouse that Mat and his cousin revealed their hidden talent….

Posing…

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My hubby look very yao yeng here hor :D

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We all stuffed ourselves abit too much with tim sum, we went for a short walk in the “bush”. FYI, Australians call their jungle or forest, “BUSH”… go on… you can laugh… cause I did… hahahahahaha

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Next stop, Beerenberg Strawberry Farm. It’s not the season to pick strawberries, but they produce some really good jam.

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I heard SIA get their jams from here.

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And our final destination, a German village, Handorf.

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German people live here, some even speak english like German. They also sell German products, like their famous cuckoo clocks.

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We also did alot of touristy stuff… like this classic one:

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And I also digged a horse’s nose… everybody say… EWWW!!!!

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You ever wonder where Crocodile Dundee went to all this while? Well… somebody burried him upside down here.

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And who could resist an ice cream on a cold winter day…..

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Reminds me of the ice creams we ate in Germany.

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Next destination, airport. Time to fly home. Holiday over :(

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So many people say Adelaide is so boring, so small, nothing to do, etc… Too bad it was such a short holiday. We really like Adelaide! It’s so laidback, relaxed, peaceful. There are still many more places we haven’t visited. So… Adelaide… we’ll be back!

Adelaide – part 1

We were on a short weekend holiday in Adelaide. Just came back on Sunday.

People call Adelaide the city of churches. And yes, there are really alot of churches. It reminds me of Mainz, Germany, with every 20 steps you take, there’s a massive church. Adelaide is something like that, but not that close in proximity.

People say Adelaide is a very small city. Well… we finished walking nearly the whole city in just 3 hours, including a 1 hour tour in the museum. That should give you an idea how small the city is. I think the size of the city can be compared with Kuching. I like it. Small, quiet, relaxed. For first time visitors, I would advice to go to the information centre in Rundle Mall and get maps and advice how to go around the city. Very good tourist service there.

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Silver balls in Rundle Mall – this carless street is Rundle Mall, in other words, shopping haven

One thing we noticed, Adelaide is such a clean place… like Kuching… I think I’m a little biased here.. hehehe

Well… they have pigs to clean up the rubbish…

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One place in the city you must see is the Haigh’s Chocolate shop. We bought a strawberry in white chocolate, and it tastes really good. Abit expensive on the price, but, I’m assuming it’s quality chocolate.

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Haigh’s Chocolate

There are 2 churches here that you need to visit. We only managed to visit 1. The other one is walkable, but abit too far, and we had limited time for we had other things to do.

First church, Holy Trinity church and clock. It’s the oldest church in the state, built in 1838.

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Holy Trinity Church and Clock

This next one is the old Parliament House:

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Old Parliament House

And just next to it, is the new Parliament House. We wanted to go in for a tour, but we missed it by 5 minutes. We won’t be able to make it on the next scheduled tour. Oh well… next time.

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New Parliament House

This building, is the State Library. I was in awe when I stepped into the old part of the library. It is absolutely amazing!

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State Library

I was like wahhhhhhhhh…. then turned and wahhhhhhhhhhh…. then went upstairs and WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH somemore.

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This library is so beautiful, no wonder people in the olden days had such motivation to read and study and research eh? If my library was like this, I’ll read in here all day long.

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Close up of the books from floor to ceiling

Mathias missed 3 days of doing this studies and research, so he had a little catch up time with his revision.

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Talking about competition, The University of Adelaide and The University of South Australia is just side by side.

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We passed by Governor’s House. It was opened for public on Sunday, but we had other places to visit. Maybe next time.

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And just outside the Governor’s house is

…. oh… they shouldn’t have…

… oh.. I’m so honoured!… …

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There was some service going on at the National War Memorial. This was erected in 1931.

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Next stop, Botanic Gardens. Very much like the Botanic Gardens in Victoria.

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There is a vineyard. Behind the vineyard, is this futuristic looking greenhouse. Well… you have to pay AUD8 to go in… to see what you ask? A Tropical Rainforest. I think I have seen more than enough in Malaysia. So I shall leave this to the people who has never seen a tropical rainforest. They built that humongous greenhouse to control the humidity.

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What’s left of the vineyard:

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And a rose garden:

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Chinatown… seems like every where outside of China, there is a chinatown. Chinese are just in every corner of the world. The usuals… chinese food, chinese people, chinese ornaments, etc.

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China Town

Adelaide too has a Central Market. Very much like Victoria Market here in Melbourne, but much smaller.

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And this last picture… is for my mother-in-law to see.

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More pictures to come.

Mt Buller

So excited I saw snow again!

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Last week we had a very unusually cold autumn. And there were reports about snow coming in early on the mountains in Victoria. I was just asking Mathias whether he would like to make a trip up and see snow, because Mathias has never seen snow before. And the very next day, a friend emailed and asked whether we would like to go up Mt Buller to see snow. YES!!!!!!!

On Saturday morning, EARLY morning, we started our journey at 5am (semangat nye…), 3.5 hours drive up to Mt Buller, and thank you Lord, the snow has not melted!

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Since we’re up there, might as well try skiing right? I’ve always wanted to try skiing. We were extremely lucky to come on this day. The rentals of the equipment was way cheaper than usual. Even the ski lifts ticket was cheaper than usual.

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I was very determined to at least ski properly before I go home. As with learning how to roller skate and roller blade and ice skating, you will never learn without falling. So I had my fair share of falling again and again that day. Thankfully snow is so much softer to fall on compared to hard tar/concrete road.

I am sooooo happy at least I know how to ski a little now… WOO HOO!

Btw, we spent the whole day there from 9am to 4pm, skiing. So after skiing, what else to do… SNOW FIGHT!!!

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That was an extremely large ball of snow Mathias was about to throw at me. Lucky he missed.

View of the mountains:

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Views around “bandaraya” Mt Buller.

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I know I really had an enjoyable time. Really thanks to our friends who thought of the idea and brought us there to experience it.

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Us against the backdrop “bandaraya” Mt Buller

On the very next day, I nearly couldn’t get out of bed. I was sore from the tip of my head to the ends of my toes (the things I pay for enjoyment…*rolling eyes*) Joints and muscles which you thought never existed ached. It was so bad I had to take 2 panadols just to be able to walk properly. Funny Mathias was fine. I suppose I’m really that unfit… :P

Good Friday started with food.

After church service, church offered everybody a hot cross bun.

Then, our cellgroup, went to a cafe opposite our church for brunch.

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Then, we went to a place where nearly everybody who gets married here have at least one of their wedding photo taken here:

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Brighton Beach Houses

These are bathing boxes that were built in the 40’s for people spending the day on the beach.

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They are now heritaged listed and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to own one. What do they put in there? I dont know. Boats?

What else to eat by the beach… fish and chips.

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Fresh seadfood anyone?

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We found this live jellyfish on the shore. It was still moving. We didn’t dare touch it, because this is a poisonous jellyfish. I think it’s the same type of jellyfish we saw in Dockland, called  Blubber Jellyfish.

After the beach, went to my friend’s house for a rest before dinner.

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Mat and I was sitting cross legged on the floor. And this baby just crawled over to Mathias, climbed into the cradle of his legs and sat there. Then after a few seconds, got out, crawled towards me, and did the same thing to me. Good training for Mathias… hehehehe

Everybody say….. AWH…..!

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