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trip to OZtralia [part 2]
[[ context: date in which this entry started being typed out was 14 june 2006, last wednesday. ><'']]
Okay, so I have at least blogged about the first three days of the trip! Haha, just came back from a primary school gathering at tampinese mall today. Oh my god, two days of buffets, I am going to grow even more, if it even possible that is. (Sakae yesterday and Seoul Garden today) I realize that there isn’t much left of the holidays and I still have some unfinished homework to do. Hopefully I can enjoy the rest of this week and start rushing the work after that. Would you believe it, I watched X Men 3 for the second time yesterday! >< Okay, on with the rest of the trip.
Day 4
Today was when we made our impossibly long trip to Canberra. We actually woke up late in the morning and had to inhale our food when we finally got down to the café for breakfast. It was an awfully long trip there (as the naggy me as already mentioned) and we were fairly restless in the tiny bus with rules that limited what we could do. There was this rule that said we had to wear our seatbelts whenever the vehicle was moving. Evidently, being the slightly rebellious people that we are, no one really abided to the rule after the first few days. And it was because of the boredom that we had to endure with, that the whole story cum guessing game started. Sleeping was definitely something else that many partook in too.
We had our first pit stop at the Kambarra Winery. I was wondering if there was any meaning in the misspelling of Canberra, but I didn’t really get down to inquiring about it. We didn’t really get to see the vineyards and like walk among all the wine grapes. What we had was a detailed explanation about how their wine is brewed and I remember one interesting fact that was mentioned. The guy, whom some girls were swooning over, mentioned that the barrels that some of the wine were kept in actually added flavour to the wine. After we went to see the machinery which helped brew the wine, we got to taste some. Though it was illegal for most of us there to taste the wine, the people there were nice enough to close one eye. Leanne and I had the most to drink because everyone else didn’t seem interested in finishing the glasses that were being passed around. We had three different types of white wine and a glass of red that had the nice oak barrel taste to it.
It wasn’t long before we reached our second stop for the day. It was the National Museum of Canberra. We had this lesson like workshop there with some of the staff of the museum. It wasn’t as boring as I had anticipated it to be. We had to work with the props that were presented to us and were to guess how the props represented the people’s relationship with the land etc. My table got a dead wallaby and some dead parrot. With the time that we had to wander the museum after the workshop, a group of us went trigger happy and started taking pictures all over the museum. In my opinion, I think the nicest one was the shot in the lift, which is huge I tell you. It is literally bigger than my room!
A few more hours of bus ride and we finally arrived at the motor inn. Apparently a bunch of whiney young Australian kids were on some road trip with their school. Being young and all, they seem to prefer to all room together instead of being spilt into rooms of three. So our rooms were switched with theirs and it was purportedly better because instead of six to a room, we were now three or two to a room. However, the guys wanted to all room together, so a mattress was moved from the Matts’ room to ours and I shared the queen sized bed with Foo again. Poor Foo left his luggage at Aaron’s hotel. I shall be politically correct here and not bitch about the whole issue. However, I must say that I totally didn’t think that it was his sole fault or even hugely his fault that his luggage was left behind. Fortunately, the slightly irritating tour guide, whom I have no idea why she is our tour guide to begin with, managed to contact the place and confirm that his luggage was still there.
The food at the motor inn was bloody disgusting! At least the first meal there was. It consisted of terribly flaky fish fingers and boiled vegetables, with no seasoning whatsoever. In light of the fact that there was no MysteriOz and that a trail of words ended early, the teachers brought us to this supermarket to buy some stuff to eat. We sort of got lost on the way there, but eventually we found the place. Benjamin and I shared some 2.25 litre bottle of Pepsi, I think. No surprise why they have such high obesity rates there.
Day 5
We got to visit the national capital exhibition today. Our itinerary was sort of reorganized today because we wanted, or the teachers wanted to fit in this timeslot for us to see how the opposition party/parties of the country hold political debates with the ruling party. The national capital exhibition was mundane in all definition of the word. I can’t tell you what was going on there because I didn’t pay attention, at all. The only thing I heard or truly looked at was the little model of the capital city that they had made for an overview of how the capital city was chosen and the reason behind some of the designs they had pointed out. When the man, or was it woman, finished rattling about some random stuff, we got to tour the place and cam whored with some of the views outside the place.
We had MysteriOz 3 after that. It was basically just some time for us to do some shopping. I bought this like semi-formal shirt to wear when we go to watch the Hanging Man a few days later. That was pretty much the only thing I bought there, the stuff there were just too expensive for me to purchase. Had another fast food lunch because we didn’t know what else to eat and we left soon after.
The parliament house was next on our list and we got like some grand tour of their different rooms in which their little debates take place. Debates may not be the word to use, but if it were supposed to be some other word, I can’t think of it. Anyway, I was probably really tired that day and I fell asleep when the woman was ranting on about their country’s politics. Photo taking was limited to a few rooms only and we had to declare our cameras at least twice at the bloody place.
The debate between the opposition and ruling party was interesting to watch. The opposition party would bluntly and crudely put forth a question to the ruling party, one at a time, and they would laugh loudly and maliciously whenever the question has been asked. It was all very rowdy and the head of the debates or whatever he is called, he was sitting in the middle of the debates, kept calling order but his calls were ignored more often than not. We left halfway because we were suppose to visit the last stop of the day.
Australian University was super interesting and I am interested in studying there! We had a lecture by this teacher there who taught international relations and I didn’t fall asleep! If I were to go to that school, that will be the subject I’d take up because it’s just so interesting. Sadly, I think my dreams of going there will not come true because of practicality sake. Supposedly the only job available if I take up that subject would be foreign affairs, something I am not really into. I guess boring NUS/NTU/SMU in Singapore will just have to do, that’s if I actually get in of course. We had a tour of the school and we were brought about by two students there. Even though the Asian guy was enthusiastically scary, I guess it would have been smarter if we asked him about stuff that still lies unanswered in our heads.
I found the whole idea of having to plan something both educational and interesting for the bus ride back to Sydney quite retarded. Like why can’t we be left alone to entertain ourselves in whatever means we please. And I guess I would have rather this not be an educational trip because there were other things I’d rather do than visit boring places like the Migrant center for example. Oh well.
We went to Mr.Lam’s room after that to drink the dessert wine! Haha! We managed to wipe out the contents of the bottle in a short amount of time and than it was off to the girls room to hang out for a while before we went back to our rooms to call it a day.
Day6
Supposedly one of the more memorable days in the whole entire trip, the first of our two stops for the day was the Deep Space Communication Center, which I think is somehow affiliated with NASA. Presumably cool, we just walked around looking at the small showcases of different satellites and what nots, and we got to watch some videos that the center had created. It wasn’t all that blow-me-away sort of interesting, but at least I didn’t fall asleep this time.
Our next stop, which was also our last for the day, was the Birrigai Aboriginal Center. I’m not sure what the link is, but Birrigai means laughter. Just for your information of course. Haha. Fortunately, before we were brought on any tour or forced to sit in on any lectures, we were provided with a barbequed lunch which had a sort of catering twist to it. If you don’t get what I mean, I shall try to explain it in a different way. Basically, we got to eat barbequed food, but it was served to us in a way that we would see when we cater food. Probably better to have it this way, in my opinion. I stuffed myself with all the chicken, beef and sausages because they were just so darn good. I can’t really say the same for the fried rice and pasta though, but at least I was satisfied at the end of the meal. :)
After lunch, we were brought into this lecture theatre where the presented to us all the different Aboriginal artifacts that they had gathered. There were things like mats, weapons and household items like a cradle. Oo. Oh, we also got a nice little souvenir free of charge. It was this bottle which we wrote our names on, and somehow I think it’s misplaced somewhere in my house. Haha.
Anyway, we were brought on this hike after the presentation. OH MY GOD! I can’t even stress the amount of faeces I stepped on when we went into the kangaroo enclosure. It was as bad, if not worse than the amount of faeces that was present when we went to the University Of Western Australian Farm School. We spent like the first half an hour stealthily walking around trying to take pictures of the kangaroos. Haha, I was amused by the way they hopped around and I think I managed to get close to only one or two kangaroos. The guide brought us along and we got to look at the different things of nature, like rock formations or special plants. It was really enjoyable to just like stroll around and enjoy the nice weather and beautiful scenery. Haha, and the wild spread of kangaroo faeces stopped after we went higher up, so that was quite pleasant too. We were allowed to pluck some of the plants and currently I have some eucalyptus leaves and tea tree oils in a zip lock bag, rotting somewhere on my desk.
The tour guide was really nice and warm and I think she made the experience so much more enriching. A trail of words that night was the presentation of all the different skits. My group had a rather impromptu one and it was quite obvious that it wasn’t well planned because everyone had no idea what to say. Bloody waste of time also la. I was down with sore throat and flu so I took medicine that night. So sad, I couldn’t help finish the last of the white wine because I will probably die if I mix alcohol and medicine.
Day7
Yay! We are heading back to the nice hotel today and Foo is going to get his luggage back. Haha. As retarded as it may seem, I was quite excited about visiting an orchard because it would be the first time that I go to one. We got to pick oranges there! However, I was more concerned with taking photos there, to capture all the nice memories, than to bother about filling my bag with oranges. Haha, there’s even a method to how to efficiently pluck the oranges off the trees. We got to see how the oranges were sorted into the different sizes and each of us got three free oranges to bring home!
MysteriOz 4, which was our last one for the trip, was free time for us to wander anywhere we wanted before we met up to go watch the Hanging Man. Somehow I lost the people I was walking with at Paddy Market and ended up walking around with the guys. I managed to get this nice jacket that I was hunting high and low for since I arrived in Australia. Funnily enough, the brands called Billion. Oo
Haha, we rushed back just with enough time to change, freshen up and get ourselves ready to watch the play. It was a long walk to Sydney Opera House and we got to take the Sydney Subway!!! Haha, it must have been very touristy of us, or at least me, to be fascinated with their trains and be snapping away like an idiot at their subway station.
We had lunch at the nearby cafés. Leanne and I shared sushi and a teriyaki chicken wrap. Yummy! Matthias bought this heavenly, sinful chocolate cake with an acquired taste that is to die for. Stuffed with the delicious dinner, we wandered around the place a while more before we headed in to watch the play. I feel sad to say this, but the play was very good and I actually feel asleep in it because I was too tired from all the late nights and early mornings!
Our last night in Australia, pigged out on cup noodles and the oranges that we got. Pretty much spent the rest of the night packing before hitting the sack.
Day8
Our last day in Australia and we spent it sightseeing. -.-‘’ We managed to get down and visit the Sydney beach. Of course on our way there, we stopped by the nearby shops to look out for cheap stuff. There was this shop that had some sort of clearance sale. Everything there was below $10. Of course I didn’t buy everything there; I for one don’t see the point in getting the DVDs that were on sale because I have never heard of a single one of those shows before. Oo.
What others have once said about the surf brands there costing the same as Singapore is true. And even if it were cheaper, it would be about only $2 cheaper? I probably learnt that after the first few days there so we pretty much skipped all the surf shops after that and headed down to the beach. It was so nice; they had nice fine sad and beautiful waves. The view was spectacular and it supposedly was an experience to deep your feet in their waters. However, only Ben and Yvonne managed to deep their feet into the sea because the rest of us weren’t as hazardous. The water must have been freezing and their shoes were soaked. In the end they walked barefooted, all the way to the ferry that we were taking.
I feel so sad. I should have gone on the deck of the ferry along with some others. Apparently the view was very nice. Instead, I spent the ferry ride sitting down, resting and playing cards with a few others who were as stupid as me for not going up.
The Rocks Market was somewhat disappointing. Sure the things there were nice and all, but there wasn’t anything that was worth buying. I ended up buying three bars of fudge. Haha, oh I also got myself strawberry and marshmallow fondue. Leanne on the other hand, got herself corn on cob. At least the food there was nice.
We left for the airport soon after, but not before stopping at some scenic place to take photos for the last time. Haha, my luggage put on 8 kilograms!!! When I left Singapore, it was only 13 kilograms. Yet when I left Australia, it was 21 kilograms! Haha, thank god it was only like 1 kilogram above the standard weight and I didn’t have to pay like extra charge or something.
Haha, I assumed that the flight back to Singapore would be faster, since it usually seems shorter when you are returning home. However, it may have been because I was looking forward to returning to Singapore, hence the air plane ride seemed even longer! Haha, anyway I was glad to return home to Singapore. Immediately ate noodles that my mom cooked when I got home. Than it was off to sleep on my own bed!
I guess this pretty much ends my trip to Australia. If I get the chance, I will definitely go back again, only next time there will probably be nothing educational about it. Heez*
farcical-rants - 3:41 pm - Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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