Cheap Flights to Melbourne!

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Calling all visitors-to-be, Jetstar is having a sale!



"Massive Mid-Winter Sale
Sale now on until midnight (23:59 AEST) Tuesday 5 August 2008, unless sold out prior. Sale may be extended. Travel dates vary depending on the route and sale fares are not available on all flights or days. School holidays are excluded. Sale fares include JetSaver Light fares, for when you travel with carry on baggage only. Of course you can also choose a JetSaver fare (as shown below) for $10 more for domestic flights and $20 more for international flights, with the full 20kg checked baggage allowance. So whichever fare you choose, you're sure of an amazing fare!"

Travel Periods:
15 Oct 08 - 10 Dec 08
29 Jan 09 - 28 Mar 08

Singapore - Melbourne (and back) from AUD$259... there's the Jetsaver light for AUD$239 but you don't get to check in baggage... haha... so, no, not counting that... =)

However, I randomly searched some dates, and I've found that there are quite alot of dates which are actually priced at SGD$128!!! yes, no typo. SGD not AUD. excluding tax, though. I searched Singapore to Melbourne return, for dates like 28 Nov 08 - 10 Dec 08 and/or 28 Jan - 12 Feb 09.



So, come visit! and let us know your dates so we can accomodate =) Do note that there's an extra fee of SGD$35 per way for meals and unlimited soft drinks (optional).

Rainbow

On my back from work. I saw the biggest and clearest RAINBOW i have ever seen. I am so glad that I was stuck in the traffic jam. From where i was i can see the complete ARCH ! I wish I had my Canon 40D to take some nice photo but all I have with me, is my Apple iPhone.

The rainbow is a beautiful token of the Lord that continues to testify of the covenant that He made with the world and all flesh (Genesis 9:11-13). It is a perfect reminder of our Lord’s protection and the keeping of His promises

Listen to this song =)

VicRoads Driving Test - Booking Tips!

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Some info about booking VicRoads driving tests... which we wish we knew in May when we first booked our driving test... they made us wait til mid-July - and by that time, the driving rules were tightened

1. Call their customer service line at 131171 at 8.30am SHARP every morning.
- If you call them later, or book at the office later, the earlier dates will all be gone... and you'll be left with some appointment like 1-2 months away.
- they have new dates almost every day, due to cancellations and releases of new appointments, which they won't tell you in advance. so just call every day to ask. In our case, I called today and got one for this Saturday, which is only 2 days away.

2. Ask them for the nearest date for any vicroads office IN MELBOURNE ONLY
- seriously, when I said 'anywhere', I got an appointment someplace in victoria, 4 hours drive away. hahaha. Even in Melbourne, you'll have to look up the addresses (http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/AboutVicRoads/ContactUs/OfficeLocationsAndHours.htm)
coz some of them are still an hour's drive away. I guess it depends on how desperate you are to get the test done fast.....and make sure the map reference says 'melways'... those stated as 'country directory' are reaaaally far...

Payments/Costs:
you will need a credit card in hand. they charge:
Appointment: $11.10
Car practical driving test: $35.00
for the first booking and each re-sit.
if you already have a booking for a future test that you haven't sat (or re-sat....hmm is there such a word? haha) for then they only charge the $11.10 to change the appointment.

this is assuming you already have your license and you don't need the L or P licenses... and this also doesn't include the previous 2 tests we took before this, which are the Learner Permit test and the Hazard Perception Test, both of which are computerized.

VicRoads Test #3

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okay, here goes again. we've booked yet another vicroads test for this Saturday, 2nd August. What are we doing differently? Driving lessons! And no, we're not learning to drive - we need lessons to teach us what they will assess us on. We're gonna do a 45 minute crash course each before the actual test, and bring our instructor to sit in the car with us too. Statistically speaking, applicants with instructors somehow have a higher % of passes. We're about to find out if that's correct or not ;)

What not to do during a VicRoads driving test

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ok, I'm getting used to this... we failed the test again and we're gonna have to retake it... again... and by the end of it we would have compiled a long list of not-to-do's during a vicroads driving test that hopefully helps someone else to know what not to do.

the first test we failed, we learnt the following:

1. at the 'stop' sign, you need to stop before the line, not on the line. and it has to be a complete stop too.

2. headcheck - make sure they see you doing the headcheck. if the gesture is not 'big' enough, you still get penalized

3. there's a limit as to how slowly you can drive, so driving slower is not playing it safe. you cannot go below 10km/h of the stated speed limit (at the same time, if you go above the speed limit, you're still in trouble)

today, we learnt, amongst other things, that mirrors can make you fail:

1. Before signaling left you have to look at the back mirror then look at the left mirror then only left signal

2. before signaling right, same thing. back mirror, right mirror, then signal

3. before braking or slowing down, look at the stupid back mirror again first

4. if you signal, and while turning the signal goes off, you have to turn it back on, or else its considered 'not signaling long enough'

5. if you're turning or merging with traffic, you need to take the FIRST safe gap. if you wait til the next one, too late (at the same time, if you don't stop to observe the traffic before moving out, u get penalized too)

anyway, today's story was mainly on the mirrors, coz every time the officer said turn right, turn left etc, we lost points, not because we didn't check the mirror - she said she knows we did - it just wasn't in the right SEQUENCE. so, anyone who's gonna be taking the test, as far as I understand, what went wrong is we didn't follow the sequence of back mirror then side mirror then signal. we either signaled first or did them simultaneously... both of which were unacceptable.

and believe it or not, I still lost a point for not keeping up to speed. and this time it was only for a short stretch, just from the time we turned out of the office til the first traffic light. didn't seem to help that it was all fine after that...

hope we dont need to learn too many more lessons... haha...

Sunday, Monday, today and all...

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What a day it has been! and so many people to thank =) thanks Debbie and Caleb for coming over and cooking dinner (really yummy chicken soup and Caleb's special vege dish was great!), Debbie and Anna for cleaning up, Caylie, Dylan, Dayson for the get well soon cards for uncle Joey, Rachel and Dorcas for your online prayer... =) We're happy Debbie and Caleb's family came over. As usual, we had fun =)

The day is finally drawing to an end. kids have gone to bed and Joey's resting. The distant sound of cars passing by fill the night. peace and quiet... *tyres screeching* ... ok, not THAT quiet if you're living along a main road. haha. but quiet enough to reflect on the things not blogged =)

Sunday:
I wanted to write about the pot-bless (aka pot-luck) lunch my lifegroup had in our leader's house. the kids have been asking to go visit Vanessa and Valerie, which are the twin daughters of our lifegroup leaders (Henry and Marjorie), and also Sunday school teachers in church. great family, they're a joy to be with, and I must not forget their lovely little sister Vivian who always tries out the food and lets me know what's nice to eat =) what will I do without her! I don't know how we ended up in an almost-all-malaysian lifegroup. sort of just happened. anyway, the kids had a great time there and they wanted to bring Vanessa and Valerie back... although Ryan kept calling them both Vanessa. haha. another day he'ld call them both Valerie =) the silly thing that happened on Sunday was that some hopelessly forgetful person left her handbag at that house and we all went home.... fine, fine, so I did it... hey, accidents happen... err... although that's the 2nd time I've left stuff at their house. the first time was Ryan and Noel's jackets... *sigh* anyway, I've got a picture of half a twin here ;)

Anyway, they ended up coming to visit us (while bringing back my forgotten handbag...hehe) and we had some fun eating chocolate ice cream, strawberries, playing on the Wii and iPhones... and chatting away... so it all turned out good.

Monday:
I seriously wish I could have got a picture coz even I found it hard to believe that I was scraping ice off my windshield in the morning. but seriously... u know how there's like a morning mist that makes your car screens foggy? well, I took out the squeegee to clear it all off so I can drive on to work smoothly, and of all things, I found that parts of it was ice and not water... haha... had to scrape real hard at it ... and if anyone wonders... it was a rubber squeegee, so no, i didn't damage the car =)

oh no!!! we haven't read the rule book for the vicroads test tomorrow!!!! argh... bye!!

...and he's back

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ok, just got my VIP from the hospital... yes, the doc said its migraine, and he's not allowed to use the computer or TV for today and I think tomorrow too (Anne, stop laughing....) he's on MC for two days... migraine is due to various reasons including insufficient fluids and computer/tv screens ... like 'staring at code too long...'

he won't let me take a picture of him....
off to work I go!