Friday, April 27, 2007
Updated my album with more photos...and also organised all of them properly. Ahh..I'm going mad with uploading as there are tons of photos. There's probably hundreds of them more. >.<
Melbourne Zoo pics:
http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/okuni_chan/Melbourne%20Trip%202007/Melbourne%20Zoo/Luna Park:
http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/okuni_chan/Melbourne%20Trip%202007/Luna%20Park/Draculas:
http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/okuni_chan/Melbourne%20Trip%202007/Draculas/*cough* I secretly snapped my coffin desert.
Phew, LJ, Hazel and I were lucky. =) We got the company-sponsored project: Hydrolysed protein energy drink. It is a new project and from what we hear, it's gonna be challenging. I hope everything will turn out well in the end.
There's something wrong with me! I'm sleeping as early as possible these days and yet, I'm still dozing off in a few classes. I'm such a terrific sleeper!
PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 10:36 PM
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Wee..uploaded some Melbourne pictures:
http://s19.photobucket.com/albums/b181/okuni_chan/Melbourne%20Trip%202007/Will upload the rest if I'm not lazy. XD
PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 11:10 PM
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Sunday, 8th April 2007It's Easter public holiday! We were lucky to have a 5 day long easter holiday this week. Yet Good Friday was the worse for me. All shops close here on public holidays and I don't know where to go so it was really really boring.
Chun came over on Sunday and I went over to her friend's brother's (great connection) place for a 3 days-2 nights stay. They ordered Peking duck pizza for dinner. (sliced peking duck toppings). It's not bad. =) We even had supper at late night. Chun's friend drove us to Chinatown and we met up with more of their friends (all from China) We had supper at a Chinese restaurant. Most of them ordered porridge while I ordered wanton soup. The soup was alright, not so fantastic. It was midnight by the time we returned.
Monday, 9th April 2007We woke up at about 5+am to prepare for the trip to Great Ocean Road. There were about 8 people going. The drive experience was really horrible to me. Firstly, we spent about 7 hours getting there just to see one scenic area - The Twelve Apostles. (wasted some time getting lost) In the middle, there were many loops and turns and they drove really fast that I felt sick and giddy. Fortunately, The Twelve Apostles didn't disappoint me. Basically, they are huge, majestic stones jutting out from the ocean. They look nice in our snaps.
So, we only spent about 1 hour there and left. The return trip was a lot faster and we stopped at Chinatown for dinner again. And, Chun's friend met up with some more friends over there. (one of them kinda resembles Ayumi XD) Anyway, I think I ordered the right dish over there. (spicy sliced pork with rice, I think) It was delicious and spicy to the core!
Then, we went to one of the Karaoke lounges in the street to sing from midnight till about 2am. I want to say that Chun's friend can't sing! He sounded more like he's reading out the lyrics instead of giving them a rythmn. XD The whole group would laugh madly when he sang. (and his buddies couldn't seem to stand him) Poor him but you will know if you hear his singing, haha. Chun and I sang quite a number of songs too. (we got kinda high at the back) And, we tried to sing one of Beyonce's songs together but I couldn't make it. It was too high for me but Chun could go really high at the correct parts. =)
After some mad singing, we left at about 2+am. Chun's friend intended to drive us back first but we got lost! Ahhh..we wasted probably 1 hour going round the city and roads and not finding the right way out. In the end, we returned to Chinatown to fetch his brother and girlfriend altogether cos' they were familiar with the way. And then we were back, phew.
Tuesday, 10th April 2007Tuesday was a shopping day! We walked around a street somewhere near Melbourne Central. Had brunch at this asian cafe. I ordered Tom yum noodles and it was also delicious! Good thing they didn't alter the taste and spiciness much.
During late afternoon, we went to Smith Street which is famous for many popular factory outlets like Nike and Adidas. The shoes range from 60 to 90 Aussie dollars. Really great bargain so I got one pair. (one of my converse shoes had a big hole anyway)
In the evening, we went to Crown Casino to take a look. The casino had many slot machines and players were mostly old folks. Nothing special here, I would say. I was expecting more of the small fire festival taking place outside. At around 7+ to 8pm, there would be some fire display outside, near Yarra River. Fire would spurt out from tall chimneys (or whatever you name them) in supposedly a nice pattern. It was a different experience watching them up close, compared to watching them from Rialto Tower.
We visited Rialto tower. (this was my second time) The only difference was we watched this short video about the country before going up. The city view looked more spectacular to me tonight though. More twinkling lights from below. We only spent a short time in the tower and then it was home sweet home!
PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 1:26 PM
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Tuesday, 3 April 2007We caught TMNT in Melbourne Central's cinema. Movie tickets are not cheap here. We got the cheaper ones cos it's tuesday. (tickets are cheaper on tuesday for this cinema) But, it's still 8.90 Aus dollars. The usual rate is 12+ I think. =S
TMNT was probably one of the shortest movie I have watched so far. It's about 1 hr and 15 minutes long. It has great action but I think the plot's not so fascinating. (the usual save-the-world kind) April in the movie looks very different from the usual animation I watched long ago. XD
Can't wait to catch Mr Bean's Holiday when I'm back!
PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 11:16 AM
Monday, April 02, 2007
Friday, 30th March 2007 to Sunday, 1st April 2007Pictures will be uploaded when I return and finally get back in front of my computerProfessor Mariott drove us to Philip Island! (about 2 hrs drive from the city) 4 other phd students also came along with us. They are quite interesting people. A french, a mexican, a thai and a vietnamese.
It's the nicest place I went to so far. Beautiful oceans, beautiful grasslands, beautiful etc. Another fabulous place of peace and tranquil. We stayed in a rented-out holiday house for 3 days 2 nights. (Just like a chalet) So, we had alot of fun there.
On Saturday, we woke up at 4am+ and left the house at about 5.30am to catch the sunrise at the beach nearby. It was very dark and windy (you need torches and wind-breakers during this period) on our way to the beach. (very scary if you walk on your own) Sigh, we were disappointed though. There were too many clouds blocking the sky and so we didn't get to see the orangey-red sun rising. So, we returned to our house.
A kukabaroo (spelling?) flew to our balcony! It was quite big and it's used to people. (plus point: it's cute!) All of us took turns to take quick snaps with it. Nisha managed to get very close and touch its feathery head. I managed to touch a bit too, wee. Then, after breakfast, we left again to walk around the island. It's a long walk but it's really worth the time and energy. The ocean and searocks combo was just so great. The ocean is naturally clear and occasionally, you see tints of bluish green on top of the clear blue colour. The cliffs and rocks were naturally shaped too and looking kinda majestic. We spotted some cave-like holes. (certain areas resemble scenes of Lord of the Rings) We took alot of photographs on the way. The plant scenery on the path was not bad too. I like the hay-like plants fluffing and flying in the wind. We saw lots of dead birds on the ground though. (wonder why)
In the afternoon, we walked around the little town. It's a relaxing place. More relaxing than the city, I guess. We ate in a pasta restaurant. They really should marinate and slice the chicken more. Otherwise, the food's still not bad.
Then, we went to Nobbis centre and there's also pathways where you can walk and view the scenery on the way. We were lucky to spot some penguins hiding under the board floors and took a couple of pictues of them. Then, we proceed on our walks. Spotted this island-like thingy standing alone not far from the sea. (I think it's named the nobbis) They used to allow people to hike on it but not anymore as I think the environment was disturbed or something. Then, we also spotted this nice rocky island. There's a huge hole in the middle and there's mini waterfalls cascading down the sides. (really nice)We finally returned to the town to get items for the barbeque in the night.
In the night, we went for the penguin parade. The professor told us that the penguin swim in the oceans during the day and return to shore in groups at night. The ticket's not cheap and at first, we were kinda disappointed. Basically, you walk in (and might spot some penguins already on the way) and then sit down on this "audience" area. The beach's blocked off at the front as the penguins will be coming up. Photography is prohibited as you would scare them. The problem is certain seats don't get you good views of the beach. Penguins come out really slowly in the beginning too. So some of us were complaining that the price wasn't worth it. We changed positions many time and in the end settled at the front-most place on the sand. Basically, the penguins gather and wait at the shore until the whole group's present. Then, they will waddle quickly all the way to the grasslands/mudlands? (cutting into the beach) and finally to their burrows. In the end, We did manage to see many penguins (quite closely) from our boardways. I noticed that many of them were in pairs. (I think it's the mating season n0w) They are really adorable animals. >.<>.<) After the whole crazy game, we finally slept at 1am+. We planned to wake up early in the morning again to catch sunday's sunrise but we failed. (all snoozing madly)
After breakfast and packing up, we came to churchill island. It's a heritage farmland. There's quite a history behind it. It's also a very nice place. I love the little heritage farm inside. The animals are really friendly. I patted the farm dog and the only horse there. (I love both of them) Both are old and grown to huge sizes already. XD Nevertheless, they really love to approach people and are very gentle creatures. I love the cottage there. (I think it's called Ames house, used to belong to the ames family) Inside retained the 1800s style and the ancient stuff. I know I love ancient beauty but yup, it's really nice still. You also get to see very old farm tools and they even retain the blacksmith. I spotted some cool stuff there. After a short walk in the farm, we walked outside and toured the north loop for the island. There's supposedly 50 million rocks surrounding a part of the island but the rocks just look like any other ordinary rocks. XD
After 2 hours in churchill, it was time for return drive back to the city. We dropped by Red Rooster (a fast-food restaurant) and had lunch. Then, it was home sweet home.
PandaPirate [Hagane no Renkinjutsushi] 9:15 AM
