After the long break....

After the long summer break, which was totally enjoyable, I have come back to Australia. I was really reluctant to leave Singapore, my family, my friends and my cats, and when it came time to board the plane, I felt like if someone offered to give me a device that could turn back time, I would use it without hesitation.

But time marches forward relentlessly and I had to board the plane to Australia, the land down under. When I touched down, Australia felt familiar. I didn't experience the displacement stress that I felt when I first arrived in this foreign place last year. Perhaps it was because the sight of the international airport in Sydney was so familiar to me already. But the familiar sight didn't lessen my longing for my bedroom at home, nor my nostalgia for my cats. I was already missing my Danny and Millie despite being less than 5 mins on Australian territory.

It's been 3 or 4 weeks now since I arrived again in Australia, and while this return home should have been less stressful for me, this past 3 weeks have seen me labouring under more stress than ever. I've split sesame oil on the carpet, and now it's stained quite badly... I've searched for 2 housemates within 2 weeks consecutively.... I've got tough school work... I've got a project to do... All these daily stresses seem just to pile up, and suddenly, I find that I'm not so resilient to these stresses anymore! I become paranoid, tired, and I worry endlessly. I worry about money, I worry about my schoolwork... Sometimes, these past 3 weeks seem like an endless round of worries.

There were times of enjoyment of course. Being a seasoned traveller in Sydney, this time round, I am more out-going. I have taken up riding lessons once a week, gone to the gym for cardio workouts and pilates classes, and have occasionally gone out to auburn to eat, and lounge at serene's pool when the sun is out. I've held a party at my apartment, dressed up, made a few friends, strengthened more than a few friendships, and at the moment, have my own room to quietly recuperate my strength and resilience.

Well, the surest thing to overcome worrying oneself to death over hassles is to decide on a plan of action, act on it, and well... Just to entrust the rest to God above! And in the meantime, to count my blessings, and make full use of my time in Australia.

I keep forgetting that I will never again have this chance to live in another city as I am doing right now. The path that I chose before, has led me here, and really, I ought to put it to full use!
God willing, I will make a life here that will be pleasing to Him.

What I did this Summer

The exams are finally over, and it's time to relax a little and smell the roses by the wayside. Of course, being the procrastinator, I've tried to avoid blogging about my travels, because I think I've done too much to put into words. And, travelling in New Zealand is not an experience that you can easily put to pen and paper.

To summarize, after Fiona's japanese exams, Fiona and I took a little trip round the South Island of New Zealand to get away from the hot Australian Sun. We booked a 'free and easy' tour with Magic, flew to Christchurch by Jetstar, and started our 12 day adventure in the adventure capital of New Zealand.

We started off in Christchurch, went to Greymouth via the Tranzalpine Railway, then boarded the Magic bus down to Franz Josef, Wanaka, Queenstown, Dunedin, Lake Tekapo, and back to Christchurch. Accommodation on all nights were in backpacker hostels, and because we like our privacy, we paid a little more to be accommodated in a twinshare room. Altogether, our budget for the whole trip came to be around A2500, including airfare.

We took many photos along the way, and all of them are posted on Facebook, on mine or Fiona's 'webpages', so I won't be replicating these photos here in Blogger. So if you get a chance, pop down to Facebook to have a peek at what New Zealand offers.

I liked New Zealand because it is an extremely hospitable place. Her people are warm, friendly and have a sense of humour that's equivalent to the Australians. You don't feel like you're a tourist or an 'outsider', because no matter where I went in the South Island, you're always treated like a person! Surprisingly, even in cities, people are willing to stop and talk to you for a bit, find out where you're from, what you're doing, and they're even willing to tell you which are the best spots to see things, and what you should not do, etc.

In addition to all these lovely people. you have in New Zealand, the most spectacular scenary, the most heart-pumping activities, the most famous cuisine and also most importantly, the most agreeable weather! It's really difficult for you to share my feelings just by reading what's written here, for you must, must experience New Zealand for yourself in order to appreciate what's recorded here.

Holidays

I'm going on a trip to New Zealand and Melbourne starting coming Monday, right after Fiona takes her JLPT level 2 exam. Because it's the end of the year, and because I've basically spent nearly all of my money on presents for the folks back home, I'm having budgeting problems. We've also held off too late deciding on a definate NZ and Melb trip, so even on budget airlines, we're getting the more expensive fares.

But.... we've coughed up the money for the first part of the trip to NZ, and I'm just hoping that I was realistic enough in my budgeting. Heavens forbid that I run out of cash midway.

Pictures galore!

The title says it all!!!

Hm, I think this one is all about the blue mountains and jenolan caves trip that I took recently with June. It was all foggy that day, so June didn't manage to have a look at the Three sisters, but we got a chance to do a small trek through the forest and I managed to go on the steepest railway for the 2nd time, and on the scenic cablecar for the first time. The jenolan caves are extremely spectacular, but I won't be going back there in a hurry. I personally think the guided tours are too large, and it's a lot more fun if you just go exploring the other caves by yourself.

This collage is all about the last night June spent in Sydney before she returned to Singapore the next day without her roomies. We opened the bottle of traminer we got in Hunter Valley after 1/2 an hrs hard work of digging out the cork (we're all first time wine bottle openers!) and celebrated her 'last' night in Sydney, before the start of the next semester anyway. I think this collage also shows us drinking 'Dr Jurd's Jungle Juice', which is a special product of Wollombi. We tried mixing it with Coke, but I didn't much like it. As usual, I got teased for being a non-drinker, and of trying to mix too much Coke with too little alcohol, but at least I didn't puke this time round. :DThis one's all about me n June visiting the town of Wollombi (the first few photos with the metal rhinos in them), followed by the chapel in the town of Roche in Hunter Valley, and a few random photos at the back showing us at the Australian Reptile Park, at Brighton (I think I got the spelling wrong...) Sand Dunes. (The folk in rural australia definately have a sense of humour, I mean, just look at what they do in their free time! Building metal rhinos... hahahaha. )

The picture on the left is the entrance to Haymarket, where the roomies do their weekly shopping, and the picture on the right is of Kura Japanese resturant, whom Fiona introduced all of us to. It serves fantastic value for money Japanese food at all times of the day. A definate must- try if you come to Haymarket in Sydney.

This collage is all about our brekkie outing to Divine Monkey Lounge at the start of Glebe Point Road. It's the cafe with a fantastic view of the purple tree (when it's blooming), we were supposed to eat here overlooking the view, unfortunately, by the time our exams were over, the tree was no longer blooming. The food's alright here, the service good, and the coffee always a great perk- me- up in the morning. Me n June had pancakes, while Fi had the eggs benedict with salmon. This was, I believe, the first leisurely breakfast after our exams.

We visited the Australian reptile Park in the north of Sydney on our way to Port Stephens. I've seen these animals and such in Featherdale Wildlife Park on the other tour I took with Jane, Serene and Choy, so I wasn't too awed. But, I'll say this Park is worth a visit, because the settings are all wonderfully and naturally done, in comparison to the rest of the parks I've seen. It's akin to Singapore zoo, except for its size and the fact that our zoo doesn't have freely hopping roos.
Port Stephens and the sand dunes at Anna Bay. We managed to see quite a few small bottlenose dolphines who reside within the Bay, and captured some amazing views on the search. The sand dunes were absolutely fantastic, and it's a lot a lot of fun. June managed to lose her handphone and then find it again with some help, but let's say that after that day, she's now a legend in the tour group and the guys who run the whole sandboarding adventure thing. :D

These ones are dated quite far back, before the exams, during the week's inter-sem break. We went to Coogee beach where Jane was staying for a while with her Aunt. The whole gang visited the beach, but Serene and Choy left early to go back to the city, while the rest of us stayed for a delicious thai dinner at the Coogee resturant. I remember that it was a really windy day with the sand blowing in all directions. None of us could do any tanning successfully because of the flying sand, but the gals got a dip in the ocean for the first time.
I don't know if I've posted these photos up before, but I was just studying late one night, and I noticed that the moon was really beautiful from my window. It was bright and round on that night, and absolutely alluring. I think I woke Fi up accidentally while digging in my drawer for the camera, but it's worth it, from my point of view anyway. :D

And these pictures are of the lovely herbs we bought and reared. Dill and Basil are now growing well, with all the sun and water that we've been giving them. I don't know if they stop insects from flying into our window, but they are certainly nice to have around. More recently, we also bought a venus fly trap. I have a photo of it courtesy of Fi, but I won't be posting it here since I forgot to add it into the collage.... The lady said the plant will grow larger so that it'll be able to catch fairly large cockroaches, which convinced both June and myself that we've got to get one for the summer months. We got the venus fly trap from the Annual Glebe Point Road fair. I have one or 2 photos of it from my place, but I can't find it atm.
Pictures of the campus at Lidecombe. It's really old and run- down, and it can get very noisy and crowded during semester times, but on Fridays, when nobody has classes, it gets quiet and very meditative. M block is where the RG and RT classes are mostly held.
On the last day of exams, we took a picture with Sook/ Samantha, and went out to strathfield DFO for some shopping. But before that, we had lunch at a authentic Korean resturant where the waitress and cook doesn't speak a word of English. I couldn't believe that such places might exist in Australia in this day and age, but there you go, even in Australia, there are authentic Korean places to eat ok.