Grace.C

big exhale ! couldnt think of anything better to start my entry. two weeks, two weeks of non-stop travelling, back to back, continuously! man, this is tiring, but i really enjoy it ! there is so much to talk about my trip, i dont know where to start. well, i'll just write some of the highlights, or not i can go pages talking about everything little details about my trip which will then dooze you off. lol!
So, my trip started officially on the day kiau and kate arrive in melb. (yes, i consider my trip in melbourne a 'trip' as i havent really tour around melbourne since i got here lol!).

day 1 - shopping at bridge road
brought them to bridge road to shop on their first day.
day 2 - went up to mount buller to ski.
day 3 - 5 of their others friends from gold coast came. take makes 6 hongkies and 2 malaysians. we started off by visiting melbourne's aquarium and spent a few hours there. for dinner, i brought them to korean-chinese restaurant on victoria street, that's my favourite korean restaurant =)
day4 - great ocean road, we manage to get a really cheap deal the day before. took lots and lots of photos. well, nothing much just some sighseeing, its nice to see the apostles, very nice scenery and i took lots of sepia photos and tried applying the techniques that i learn to snap photos. got some really good ones. =) speaking about photos, it reminds me about a funny photo in particular which i took for kiau. when i was about to press the camera button, she did this weird action with her hands and her knitted scarf. i couldnt think of words to express it, it was just too hilarious!!
at night, i bought them to lygon street, a very famous place to eat italian food. it's also known as 'little italy'. it consists of two rows of italian restaurants. so many we didnt know which one to dine in. that night was also to celebrate kate's birthday and angie's farewell.
day 5 - we went to victoria market in the morning. it was not only their first time visiting this market, it was also mine !! vic mart, one of the most famous landmark in melbourne and i havent been there before.. lol! i know im terrible, its just 10-15 mins walk away from my place. haha..
at noon, we joined another day tour to philip island, a place to see penguins!! not on tv or magazine, but with my naked eyes! oh how i wish we were allowed to take photos, we can only see them from far. they are all very small, maybe about an arm height? and before that, we went to this farm too see koalas and kangaroos. some of the kangaroos were really big, huge and scary ! yea, just for me, for people who dont know, im phobia of animals. they were so near to me, it took me a long time to go near them just to get a shot with them. kiau would know best.. hahahaha.. !
day 6 - took a train to belgrave to take puffing billy ! if you dont know, puffing billy is a train that runs on steam. for me, this ride on puffing billy is my favourite of all ! i really like the classic design of the train and especially when the train starts moving and you see steam coming out from it's head. this train used to bring goods (timbre, flour, sugar etc etc) during the old days, travelling around to deliver goods to the city. and slowly the electric train takes over and they decided to keep this train for the future generation, US! im so glad that train like this still exists. i would really love to go back to the time when this train was used to deliver goods, i just like the old time. even as i sat on the train, i would have all sorts of imagination of how it was like back then. =) on the way to belgrave, matt met his god mother. lol !!! this is funny, the god mum then becomes benson and every other new people that we met turns out to be benson ! hahahaha !
at night, we went up to Rialto Observation Deck to see the night view of melbourne. just sight-seeing, breath taking night view with interesting ligthings on buildings, bridges and highways.
day 7 - yum cha in the morning and DFO shopping at noon. all the hongkies left in the evening, leaving kiau and myself. i believe they had a great time as i had a great time tour guiding them in melbourne! =)
day 8 - took at night flight to brisbane. here i would like to thank eugene for taking the trouble to send me to the manors. really appreciate that, and sorry that i caused you to went wrong way and end up reaching home at 2am. =p
met yunwei !!! miss this girl so much !! i still remember we left klia on the same day, we met just a few minutes before i enter the boarding gate. we had to much to catch up, end up sleeping at 3am after many attempts to end the talking. well, not forgetting wenli, this is the first time we really get to know each other. before this, we just know each others existence but never got introduced before. oh yea, she is from my primary school. haha !
day 9 - in the morning, we started our day with a resounding gongyo and daimoku. it reminds me of my other comrades in msia. how i miss all the msian accent when reciting the gongyo. =) they first brought me to tour around University of Queensland aka their uni, then we went up to mount coo-tha to see the view of brisbane from up above, then to the city and took the city cat, again to see the night view of the city at night. we rush home early to attend a chanting meet at ronda's. some house nearby. had a great time chanting with members in brisbane as i didnt have time to chant during my 'trip' in melbourne. we sat and chit chat for a while before leaving to meet melvyn. well, i really must stress on this, this night is one of the highlight of my trip in brisbane. i must say that i had a really great time catching up with this friend of mine whom i met 5 years ago. we lost touch since then, and after so many years, i didnt thought i would meet him again that night ! we had a great time catching up, like old friends trying to catch up after so long. well, the whole thing sounds like childhood friends reunited again though it was just 5 years. lol! cant believe we sat at the dining table and talked for more than 3 hours, really enjoyed the company. plus, the whole conversation never went weird at all. you know how things would go when you have nothing to talk about, but it was nothing like that at all !! i was impressed, really! well, if you're reading this mel, i thought that night was wonderful! even my friends thought they already knew you despite the first meeting. that night itself, i had a pillow talk with yw and wl. they actually told me initially they thought they were going to just accompany me to meet my friend and stay quiet, but look how good it turn out to be, he's your senior in pshchology ! haha. so much to catch up with them, we ended up sleeping at 5.30am. thanks so much for sharing things with me, really appreciate it. well, so much happen despite the short 5 months. =) im so happy for both of you !
day 10 - woke up late, went to sunnybank to have brunch. at night, wl brought me to chinatown and thereafter to attend choral performance by the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Misucum from USA and man i tell you, they were really good !!! first class harmonization, two thumbs up for them !! and did i mention most of them are not from musical background? that reminds me so much of my choir group in msia, miss them heaps !!!!
that night itself, i slept at 6am, i cant believe it. lol !!
day 10 - yunwei left for her cheer competition early in the morning. leaving myself and wl. we had brunch at pancakes together with mel. wl was suppose to bring me to the train station, but because we spent too much time talking at pancakes, she have to leave early to meet her friend, but thankfully mal was free to send me to the station. i was so sleepy throughout the entire journey to gold coast, i slept and almost missed helens vale. thank goodness i didnt ! met up again with kiau when i reach, at night we went to surfers paradise.
day 11 - the next day i went to gold coast convention centre to see yw and lil competing in a cheer competition. yw represents UQ and lil represents my uni, RMIT. its a coincidence that both of them were in the same competition and also another coincidence that i was there in gold coast watching them. there are just too many coincidences sometimes. hehe.. thereafter, i met up with kiau at harbour town. by the way, i was already travelling alone on my second day in gc, hehe im impressed. at night, we had dinner at surfer again.
day 12 - went to dreamworld, had lots of fun trying all the thrilling rides. but still i thought the rides were just so-so. none of them really got my heart drop with adrenaline rush. even the giant drop were not as scary as the solero shots we have in genting. go, malaysia boleh !! =p at night, we had dinner at southport, at a korean restaurant then to surfers again to take the old time photo with kiau. hahahahahhahaha !!!! i still find it weird when i look at myself in the bargirl photo that we took !! ahahhahah!
day 13 - went to movie world with RMIT's cheer team that consists of a few asians and many australians. they were a bunch of crazy and outgoing people, cheering all the way, everywhere they go. telling everyone 'We are, cheer leaders' especially when we were seated to see the police academy show and they they go cheering again, making us the centre of attention ! at night we went to chiang mai for dinner, that cost us AUD 29. and we met this guy eric from taiwan whom we speak mandarin to him. kiau was laughing everytime i attempted to talk to him. hahaha !
day 14 - im half dead even when i wake up in the morning. went to walk around griffith university before goint over to harbour town to shop, but i was yawning all the time. felt sorry for me acting this way. no motivation to shop at all. this is so not me, hehehe. anyway, manage to buy a dress and some skirts. then it was time to go home to pack and then took a bus to the airport. thanks kiau for sending me to airport. it feels so good to be able to travel alone again !! =)

ah.. i find this really uninteresting.. there is just too many stuff to put in.. anyway, thanks for reading if you're still reading til this point.. haha =)

photos at http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e154/Grace-C/
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