Australia!
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Hello everyone again, I'm back from Australia! Was back since Monday actually....but lazy to blog about it till now HEE HEE.
Wasn't too bad a trip, but the worst thing was that on the way there the camera managed to get spoilt and smashed, so had to rely on my 1.3 MP camera on my handphone. Still managed to take alot of shots though and I'd like to put them on this post so you all can see, but I'm kinda lazy to go find out how though lol. If anyone wants to see nice cute Aussie animals and funni places and nice scenes of the sea, come tell mi! I'll mms it to you, and you can PAY MI BACK!!!
OK, I can't remember everything we did in chronological order, but I do remember everywhere we went. If i'm not wrong, the first place we went to see was Mount Dandenong, where we went to feed the birds. Now that was really fun, when we hopped off the bus the driver called out to us to come grab some birdseed from a tin he had placed on a table, and we all went to get a handful. And instantly 3 types of parrots flew over to us, landing on our heads, shoulders and hands and pecking at the seed right out of our hands. It's really quite fun, considering the fact I'm not terrified of birds as some people are (a woman ran screeching when a cockatoo landed on her head) and it's very cute to see the birds eating out of your hand. The only problem came when this big white cockatoo landed to feed on my birdseed, and after awhile it stared at my finger and bit straight into it. Now you need to know one thing about parrots, and that's most of them have a curved beak with a rather vicious hook at the end, for cracking nuts. And this bird sank that hook directly into my finger and slashed a sizably long cut in it. Now I was very tempted to throw the bird off and give it one heck of a reverse kick and I had to really remind myself that it probably didn't know what it was doing. There was another much cuter type of bird there called the crimson rosella and it was much gentler. Those were much more of a joy to feed....somehow I wish I could have stayed there forever and just feed birds. Very tranquil setting.
The next place we ended up in was the Puffing Billy I think. Nothing really big about it, it's just an old steam train. Take note, this is a REAL authentic choo choo train. Nothing like those lousy replicas you find in theme parks that run on electricity, Puffing Billy really runs on steam and goes choo choo. Instead of describing the train ride, I'll liken it to this -- take MRT, minus the aircon and add the sound "choo choo", and imagine yourself riding through Bukit Timah hill with the windows wide open. That's a Puffing Billy train ride. Took a shot of the engine of the train and it was cool, and because it has mi in it, if you want it I'll mms it to you at HALF PRICE!!!
The next stop was probably Philip Island and this was a nice place, because we got to see lots of wildlife, most prominently koala bears (cute), wallabees (cuter) and little penguins (cute also). Now the penguins were really very adorable, the way they waddle across the shore to their homes. When I was looking down at one through the fencing it really looked as if i could just reach down and hold it up with one hand. The way they walk on land is really funni, shaking themselves side to side, but once they enter water they switch to instant torpedo mode.
Where sightseeing is concerned, it ends there. Those 3 places were the main "attractions" we saw. One thing that struck mi about Melbourne (that was the part of Australia we went to) was the similarity to Singapore with respect to the cuisine. Melbourne is a real food hub. There's all sorts of cuisine there from Hong Kong to Greek food. You can even find Nasi Lemak and Bak Chor Mee. Across the street to my hotel was even a restaurant called Singapore Chomp Chomp. No shortage of Asians there, one in two people you see on the Melbourne street is an Asian, mostly Hong Kongers and Singaporeans and Malaysians. Amazing huh? If you think Singapore is cosmopolitan, you should really come see Melbourne. In the week there I ate Australian (scrambled eggs and bacon), Hong Kong (Sum Lor Hor Fun), Japanese (Tempura and Sushi bento), Korean (Bi Bim Bap), Italian (Fettucine and Tortellini), Russian (Borsch), Indian (Curry samosas) and of course, Singaporean food. And the incredible thing is each of these restaurants have owners that are from the native country of the cuisine. I walked into the japanese retaurant and the chefs and cashier were all speaking in japanese. I walked into the Indian restaurant and everyone behind the counter was distinctly Indian. For a fairly small place, Melbourne city sure is crowded.
I'm tired. Will blog more about the city next time.
10:35 PM
Y Y Y
