Finally, part 6 is here (mainly because of pure laziness, not because the pics are missing).

Brisbane is not in Gold Coast, and Gold Coast is not in Brisbane. They are both different cities. But, they are in the same state of course, Queensland.

Today is our last full day here in Queensland before flying back to Melbourne tomorrow.

Yesterday on our way to Australia Zoo, we saw this sign. It took us by surprise that I was not in time to turn on  my camera to snap it.

This time, I managed to snap it (you have to use the same highway to Brisbane)! Hey… since when Kelantan is here? Closer to home than we think? hehehe…

We got a very good itinerary from our friend Vik Tor to travel around Brisbane in one day.

Our first stop, Mount Coot-tha, highest point of Brisbane. Here, you can get a very good view of Brisbane.

As you can see from the picture, heavy clouds hovering above! We were soooooo hoping that it will not rain.

But once we drove down Mt Coot-tha, parked our car, walked out, and it rained

We walked along South Bank to a tourist information centre and got maps.

Then we hopped on the City Cat, which is a ferry. It’s one of the public transport there. You see, there are many rivers cutting through Brisbane. So if you don’t want to walk across the many many bridges there, you can catch the City Cat.

We took the City Cat to University of Queensland (UQ).

This uni is so cool! Firstly, it’s a uni on an island. Secondly, they have their own City Cat stop!

Pic above is not UQ’s stop. But the ferry stops look like that.

Cool eh? UQ is pretty big. Very nice buildings, I like!

They also have their own lake (MMU also got… hehehe…).

Then we took the City Cat back again to the city.

Next stop, QUT, Queensland University of Technology.

VikTor studies here. You must be wondering where VikTor is. Well, he was back in Malaysia.

Anyways…

The rain came down of course. So we were walking around Brisbane with hoodies and an umbrella. We took a City Walk around Brisbane, so we could try and see the whole city in one day. So the next few pictures, is in order of the places that “We’ve Been There, Done That” kinda thing. So let the pictures tell the story:

Parliament House, and opposite is City Botanic Gardens

King George Square. No cars allowed, only people.

Brisbane Arcade

City Hall

Treasury Building aka Casino

Albert St Uniting Church

The Windmill – which was unfornately surrounded with scaffolding for repairs.

Jacob’s Ladder from the top

There’s something to talk about this Jacob’s Ladder. We were expecting to see a really grand staircase of some sort. But we didn’t expect such a colourful “ladder”. Apparrently, this 85-step staircase was a worker’s shortcut from the suburb of Spring Hill to the city

Jacob’s Ladder bottom view

Shrine of Remembrance

Eternal Flame

Brisbane General Post Office (GPO)

Crossing a bridge back to our car. On the left, a rainbow.

On the right, a sunset, and alot of bridges.

I should have taken a picture of my jeans and shoes for you to see how wet it was. And thankfully, we didn’t catch a cold after walking in the rain the whole day.

So there! You’ve finished Brisbane city in less than 10 seconds?

It’s about 2 hours drive from Gold Coast to Australia Zoo. So we woke up (or rather Mat woke up and dragged me up) early in the morning, and drove up to Australia Zoo. It’s voted best zoo in Australia. And if you didn’t know, it’s home of the Crocodile Hunter, the late Steve Irwin.

We arrived there just 2 minutes before opening time (see, early again… hahaha….)

And you’re greeted by the Irwin family!

There are zoo staff in some corners of the zoo holding some kind of animal for you to touch and take photos with. Like this lizard below. I also took a photo with a parrot, which apparently didn’t like to be touched

And some animals of course, you’re not allowed to touch, like the tasmanian devil, unless you want your fingers to be chomped off. The lady carrying this baby tas has been looking after it since it was born.

Home of the crocodile hunter, of course there will be crocodiles. This is the first time I see such clean crocodile enclosures. Normally when you go to a crocodile farm, the water is so murky and muddy and the crocs are so dirty and even have algae growing on them.

This zoo, it’s sooooo clean. And the space they give the animals are really big and spacious, which I like! And I’m sure the animals like it too. Birds love it there so much they don’t even fly away.

Picture below, see the bird opening up it’s wings? It felt it’s territory has been invaded… by a zoo staff sweeping and cleaning it’s enclosure to make it nice an tidy. The head of the bird was following the staff to keep an eye.

Australian wild dogs, they are sooooo cute! After I saw them, I was wondering why nobody keep them as normal pet dogs. I think the name describes it. It’s wild, it needs lots of space.

Notice this dog in the water, it’s fur not even getting wet… waterproof!

Of course there will be koalas. As usual, they are asleep. There was a touching koala session later in the afternoon. The queue was so long, and the only place you can touch the koala is the Ass!! Why would I want to queue so long just to touch the backside!?

The main attraction of this zoo is the crocodile show in the Crocoseum.

They brought in a large snake.

Swam with it.

There’s one section of the zoo where they put all the snakes. Most of the time when you see snakes in other zoos, it’s almost always sleeping… boring! In this zoo, all the snakes are so active!

And there was a bird show as well. They birds just flew into the crocoseum when called, very cool!

Talking about birds, we bumped into this type of bird a few times around the zoo.

It looks abit like a turkey, but it’s not a turkey. There are quite a few of them around the zoo. They are not in an enclosure, unlike the other animals. They are free to do whatever they want, wherever they want. And all they do is, dig a hole. It’s really funny, because they leave such a mess on the walking path. They are digging their nest.

We were very lucky indeed, because the whole Irwin family came out. Terri (Steve’s wife), Bindi and Robert (his children), were hosts of the croc show. They rarely come out I heard, but we came during a school holiday, so maybe that’s why the whole family’s out.

Bindi fed this croc.

I lounged around with a kangaroo.

This family, bidded more than a thousand dollars to spend time with the Irwins and some animals of course. Robert Irwin, the blonde hair boy with the famous khaki shirt and shorts look so much like Steve. He even talks like him.

Bindi on the left, and Terri on the right touching the elephant’s knee.

I really like this zoo. Well maintained, clean, the animals look happy, and most importantly, the space given to the animals is fantastic! And the zoo is still expanding.

It is very pricey to come to this zoo, AUD54, but if you like zoos, it’s totally worth it!

This morning as I was about to write Part 5, I realized I didn’t complete my Part 4!

After Byron Bay, we still had alot of time, so we went to Surfers Paradise. Surfers Paradise is the face of Gold Coast. Very Miami like, with city skyscappers along the beach. When you tell someone you’re going to Gold Coast, they will say you must go to Surfers Paradise.

Personally, I think Surfers Paradise is overhyped! It’s just a beach. A very very very long stretch of beach! Very very long… I don’t know how to emphasize that further. And the waves here are not calm at all, alot of waves, therefore, good for surfers, therefore, it is called Surfers Paradise. So if you are not a surfer, this beach is totally overhyped.

Well, it’s a very clean looking beach. I can’t imagine summer time here. I think it will be totally packed. And there are lifeguards all along the beach. Just remember, swim between the flags that they put up, or else… good luck!

And opposite the Surfers Paradise “gate”, is an open shopping mall. Picture below doesn’t really justify how it really looks like. It’s just a street, no cars allowed, just people, or shoppers I would say, and shops on both sides. Very hip place, full of cafes and restaurants and shops of course. So if you like shopping, this is the place!

You can’t see the sunset here because it’s facing the east. So if you’re very semangat, wake up early to see the sunrise, in Winter is about 6 something, in summer it’s around 5 something in the morning… either which I’m still in La La land.

Byron Bay, is not really in Gold Coast. It’s not in Queensland(the state where Brisbane is in). It’s in New South Wales (the state where Sydney is to those who’s not familiar with Australia).

It’s about 1 hour drive from Gold Coast. And the most eastern point of Australia is there.
I realized I didn’t take a picture of Byron Bay’s town. The way Mathias described Byron Bay’s town: “It looks like Sibu town”. hehehe… I agree.

Eventhough the sun is up, it wasn’t warm enough to be sunbathing on the beach.

We drove all the way to the most eastern part of Byron Bay and found free parking there which was fabulous. Then we walked on this beach to the end and climbed up a hill.

There were so many steps to climb. Mat and I were taking stops at anywhere possible, and panting very heavily to catch our breath. For such a small hill, we’re already feeling so tired, how can we climb Mt Kinabalu?!

And here, picture below : the most eastern point of Australia, the east of the east of the east. Saw quite a number of people on canoes out in the sea.

Then we continued our climb to the lighthouse.

On our drive to this place, I did see a road going up to the lighthouse, but I didn’t direct Mathias to go there. And boy, are we lucky I directed him somewhere else! If we drove up, Parking Charges Apply, Cars AUD7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Walau!!!!!! Just to see the lighthouse, you pay AUD7! Climbing and walking and panting up those stairs wasn’t that bad after all! lol!

Oh oh… and I think we were kinda lucky. Why do I say that? Well… we saw 2 white splashes of water in the very very far distance.

What? We see 2 white splashes of water is considered lucky?

Heh… there are whales out there my dear friends! We didn’t have any binoculars, so couldn’t really see the whales. My camera couldn’t zoom that far, so we’ll just be content with the splashes for now… hehehe.

After climbing all those stairs, we really worked out an appetite. We found this very secluded fish and chips shop in one of the back lanes of Byron Bay called Fish Mongers (recommended by a friend).

It’s one of the best fish and chips I’ve ever eaten!

Mt Tamborine, is not famous for tamborines! I think it’s famous for its wines. And there’s also a pie shop who claims they won a competition for best pie. So we tried a pie, pumpkin spinach pie… to tell you the truth…it tastes like currypuff.

Mt Tamborine is about an hour drive from Gold Coast. I slept half of the way, until I had to wake up again to look at the map and give directions to the main town. We have a GPS, but GPS doesn’t really show you where the tourist attractions are, so we got a tourist Mt Tamborine map from the hotel. I was nearly trying to curse the map the whole time we were driving around the mountain. The map is so terrible. But we managed to cover the main attractions up there.

The main town is just along a 500 meter stretch of road, with 2 rows of “shops” (unique looking houses I would describe it). That’s it. Very quaint. Like the shop above, feels like a house fit for Barbie.

And this shop which is built to look like a cuckoo clock:

And inside the shop is full of them, from cuckoo clocks, to grandfather clocks, to mini mechanical music boxes. I can’t imagine how to choose which clock you want to buy, everyone of them has it’s own uniqueness.

I found this one quite interesting. Even dogs have a place to pit stop. I wonder after one dog pee on the post, will another dog pee on the same post? since the territory is claimed?

Next, we went to the Glow Worm cave at Cedar Creek. While waiting for the guide to bring us into the cave, I was acting very jakun at this tree. A man who was standing nearby said it looks like a magnolia. I was like wahhhh, didn’t know the flower is so big (jakun).

The lake in Cedar Creek:

We asked about this Glow Worm cave at our hotel information counter, and the man said “Oh, you have to make a booking, this tour only runs at night”. Clearly this man has not been to Cedar Creek Glow Worm cave. It only runs during the day!

Oh yes, another tip, get a discount booklet from the hotel you’re staying or anywhere you can find one, because there are discount coupons inside, and it covers most of the attractions in Gold Coast. Tickets to see the glow worms is AUD10 per person, we used a discount coupon, we get AUD2 off per person.

Apparently, they made a manmade cave. And they get the glow worms from a real cave, and put them in their manmade cave, and manage the humidity, bring them food, etc…

You have to sit through an introductory video about glow worms.

And then, you get to go in the cave to see them.

Note: picture below is not taken by me, and this picture looks more spectacular than the one we saw because of the amount of glow worms. Picture below is a glow worm cave in New Zealand. But it’s close to the one we saw.

It pretty amazing when we entered the cave. It’s like walking into space with all the stars around you. Only female glow worms emit light, and it’s not their head which is shining, it’s their butt! The brighter the light, the bigger the butt! They make these silk threads and sticky droplets to capture and eat the insects attracted to their glow, which they then feed on.

Next, Thunderbird Park! We saw alot of people camping here.

I was very keen to try the Adventure Parc. But Mat wasn’t so keen, so we decided to just see look see look.

It looks like a boot camp on trees.

And then there’s this shop called the Rock Shop.

If you want, you pay a sum, then go pick rocks, then ask them to cut the rock in half, and you’ll find that the rocks have this marble like patterns and crystals in them.

Mt Tamborine is the highest point of Gold Coast. There wasn’t really a proper lookout spot on Mt Tamborine. We drove round and round and this was one of the 2 perfect spots we could find to see the skyline of Gold Coast.

I was freezing a little on this day we went up Mt Tamborine. I asked the locals there whether it’s usually this cold. They said no, and today was really unusual. Lucky I brought along my winter jacket in the car.

Next post, Byron Bay.

I think we were too excited again today. Reached there before it open… hahaha. But it wasn’t a long wait, just 10 minutes. Again, please prepurchase tickets to get cheaper tickets.

Welcome to WB Movie World!

Walking through the entrance, you’re met with this freakingly daunting looking roller coaster called the Superman Escape.

And I think they have all the collection of Batmobiles.

Don’t let that sunshine fool you. There was a little chill breeze blowing around, so we kept our jacket on most of the time. The photo below here is the main street.

Our first stop, Shrek 4D. I told you that I loved the 4D “movie” in Sea World right? This is EVEN better!!!! I loved it so much I wanted to watch it again, but Mat said we have to finish playing everything else first. (I think Mat was “freaked out” a little with the Shrek 4D because there was one scene with soooo many spiders, and with that 4D experience, you actually felt the spiders crawling on you )

Opposite the 4D cinema is a Harry Potter shop.

And next, we watched Hollywood Stunt Driver. This show is awesome, ended litterally with a big explosion! Unfortunately, my camera was not really for the ending, really unexpected.

Then we came to this part called Wild West Falls.

We were just standing at the back of a big crowd trying to watch a dance straining our necks off, when suddenly this sinister looking mexican cowboy was standing beside me. You would expect him to have an evil sounding voice, macho and deep. What came out of his mouth was a squeak fit for a mouse.

Look at the size of this drop!

Next, Scooby-Doo Spooky Coaster. We waited quite a while to sit on this ride. The queue was so long that you nearly start to feel frustrated. But it was really fun!

This ride is in a big dark building. We didn’t really know what we were putting ourselves into because we couldn’t see the physical roller coaster in all it’s dauntingness. But it was really fun. Not for the faint hearted though

WB Kids, only one word to describe it, fun fun fun fun fun (hmm… that’s five words). Adults can sit on nearly every ride (except for a few mini ones), and you will really enjoy it without being afraid. This one is a really family friendly one. I think even my mum who I think is really afraid of roller coasters can sit in the ones here.

Like this roller coaster called the Road Runner Roller Coaster. One mother and son sat behind us. The boy was so excited, the mum was freaking out. She said in cantonese “I’m so scared ah, I’m afraid of heights”. Son said “no worries mum, it’s not scary”. They came out really happy!

Lastly, at the end of the day, a parade on main street hosted by Austin Powers.

We get to see some childhood cartoon characters that I use to love to watch. Photo below, I can only recognize Wonder Woman. Anybody know the characters beside Wonder Woman? Right at the back is Sherlock Holmes I think.

And daffy duck:

And Putty Tat:

“I tawt I taw a puddy tat!”. “I did, I did taw a puddy tat!”, none other than Tweety Bird!

And Shrek:

And Flash: I think his muscles are fake. I saw a misshaped thigh muscle.

And Marilyn Monroe.

And Scooby Doo! with Freddie, Daphne, Velma…

… and of course Shaggy! This was an accidental photo which I didn’t expect it to turn out this good! I was just randomly shooting photos of all the characters. Mathias was just browsing through the photos I took that night and he pointed out that this photo turned out so cool! Cool eh? I must have been subconsciously moving my camera with his running.

So there. We visited only 2 of the 5 theme parks in Gold Coast. Another 2 of them is water worlds where you get wet like in Sunway Lagoon, and another is full of rides. We didn’t go to all of them, main reason, it’s really really expensive! Just imagine, one theme park ticket per person is AUD70 (without the discount). So just imagine if we went to all the theme parks, pok kai lo. Another reason, we didn’t really want to get wet at this time of the year, it’s winter.

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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!

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

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

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

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).

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.

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.

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.

So there goes our first day.

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

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

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

Posing…

My hubby look very yao yeng here hor

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

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

I heard SIA get their jams from here.

And our final destination, a German village, Handorf.

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

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

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

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

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

Reminds me of the ice creams we ate in Germany.

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

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!

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.

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…

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.

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.

Holy Trinity Church and Clock

This next one is the old Parliament House:

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.

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!

State Library

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

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.

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.

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

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

And just outside the Governor’s house is

…. oh… they shouldn’t have…

… oh.. I’m so honoured!… …

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

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

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.

What’s left of the vineyard:

And a rose garden:

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.

China Town

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

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

More pictures to come.

So excited I saw snow again!

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!

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.

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!!!

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

View of the mountains:

Views around “bandaraya” Mt Buller.

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.

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…