We went to Purlingbrook falls few weeks back, the day before we went to Warner Bros Movie World.
Before heading towards the National Park, we stopped by Mt Tambourine as Wayne was delevering chocolate to a lady doing bussiness there. After the delivering, he suggested to bring us to a smaller scale of water falls in Mt Tambourine, which is located at the Cedar Creek Section. It is a place suitable for picnicing and small outdoor gathering. We took a couple of photos and left after staying for half an hour.
On the way, we saw one group of locals were gathering and preparing for hang-gliding at this slope. We were so exciting. We decided to stop the car by the road side and went down to watch the activity.
Wayne asked one of those people there and learnt that they need to attend a short course before going for the real gliding. It looks so fun and I categorized this as must-try-once-in-a-live-time kind of activity. It's quite a rip off though. One jump cost $200++ excluded the courses. Expensiveeee sia!!!....May be I should have just gone for sky diving. Should have be much cheaper.
Springbrook plateau is nearby Lamington National Park, famed for its Purlingbrook Falls. We bush-walked for 90 minutes from the plateau to reach the fall at the bottom. It's not as tough as Mt Warning, much milder and relaxing. I like to go for bush walking as the natural scent from the flora and fauna, the chirping of birds, the transquility of the rainforest, the breath-taking scenery, made me feel so peaceful and relax.
The fall that we saw is quite huge in terms of the height but not as spectacular as Niagara falls in Canada. The special of this fall is that we could walk under the fall as there is man-made tracking leading to the middle of the fall. You should be able to visualise the landscape from the photos below. The place where we took photo was the walking track. We walked through the fall and were slight drenched by the streaming falls water.
I like ourdoor activities as it normally make me feel rejuvenating. May be after much perspiring and refreshing, the brain will excrete some sort of hormone to lift the mood up.
In Gold Coast, they have three major theme parks, namely Warner Bros Movie World, Dreamworld, Seaworld and two water theme parks. Amongst the three, Movie World is the most well known internationally. I've gone to Warner Bros Movie World, no regret and worth the money back. cool...
Last Sunday, we went to Dreamworld which is famed for its Big 5 thrilling rides, The claw, Giant Drop, Tower of terror, Wipeout and Cyclone. They are really well designed and thrilling especially Giant Drop and Tower of terror.
I would say Giant Drop is the mother of all rides. It's a square pole thing that reach 119 metres from the sea level and the sudden drop accelerating to 135 km/h. There are east and west seating which consist of 8-seat in a row. The scenery at east wing could see Surfers paradise and of course the Pacific Ocean whereas the west wing could only see the hinterland of Gold Coast. So fast and so terrifying. I haven't got time to scream for the sudden shocked it has already reached the ground. It's really toooo fast to make any response. The feeling is like your guts and everything are still hanging on top where you have already reached the bottom. I don't like the ride that much but went for it just for the sake of experiencing.
Tower of terror. It is another ride attached to the Giant Drop's pole on the other side. In other words, the pole consists of 2 sides of the Giant Drop and 1 side of the tower of terror. We sat on a car and it was accelerating very very fast, as fast as the superman escape in Movie world. The car was driven towards the pole following a curve rail and it was dangling at the pole for 5 sec before it dropped back to the starting point. (It could be illustrated clearer with the photo above.) What do you think?? Have you ever tried a ride that goes backwards?? I was so mentally unprepared at that moment cos it was our first ride of the day. My tears were just burst out synchronizing with the shock feelings...haha...it's not frightening but just not prepared. I still got a bit of guts...I like this ride the most.
The claw. The most fun ride. The ride looks like claw as can be seen from the name where the claw is the cycle seating and the pole attached to it is the hand. It swings to left and right in an increasing speed and height and the cycle seating is spinning concurrently. Huh...just dunno how to describe. Two words: awesome and Brilliant.
Wipeout. The design of this ride is according to the current of waves. We were turned upside down, inside out on the 30-seater-in-a-row kind of car attached to the left and right motion poles. In other words, we were like in a simulation washing machine, man! But we laughed a lot for that ride. Those people who had heavy meal before the ride would be suffering for the ride so we played before lunch.
Cyclone is just a normal cyclone ride in a train running through two loops and slant rail. It's the mildest amongst all. It was fun as we rode under the rain on that day and we had twice.
The imperfectness of the day was it's raining and caused procrastinating in our journey. Otherwise, we would be able to have more fun. Other than that, the theme park has a lots of show as well such as Tiger presentation, farm show which has sheep shearing as one of the programmes and many more. But since we had already wasted a lot of times stuck in the rain, we din go for all the shows. It's alright...I think the main focus of this theme parks is the rides. I'm contented with that.
A few more rides that are also brilliant such as thunder Rapid ride which is the imatation of water rafting. Cool but we got drenched on the ride. The longest waiting time ride, Log river is the most not worth the waiting time, cos the ride exactly the same as the one in Genting. 4 persons in a boat and the boat will cruise to a slide and accelerate down to the flat surface and the water from the simulated river water will splash towards us. The main attraction of this ride is only for those people who eagerly seeking for complete drenched and wet. But still has the fun in it.
The day ended faster than usual whenever you are having fun. The park closes at 5pm and we went back exhaustively to prepare our quick dinner. The conclusion of the day was we had so much fun and laughter but utterly mental fatigue. At night when I was sitting in front of my desk, I could feel the giddiness as if i were still sitting on the ride, took me few moments to get back the balancing.
Heaps of back dated experiences to share but time is really precious here. Not much time to write. Will do it when I've a bit of spare time.
Today for the whole day I didn't do well. Made a few mistakes at work and bad feelings attacked me so badly. I'm soooo tired! Have been mentally torturing myself for the whole day, I need rest. At times, when we deal with those experienced workers, as a trainee, we really don't have the stand to do anything. They ignored our words.
No more you tube for me here. It was one of my most entertaining site. I miss you...
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Today wayne told me that he'll appreciate the coming six weeks so deadly cos after we leave he'll be alone in the lab for the whole afternoon. Will I have the post-leaving syndrome as well??
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Few days back, due to my clumsiness I caused a small accident at work. Before the accident happened, at the same position, I visualized the senarios in my mind and warned myself not to do it that way to prevent the occurence. But I take thing for granted and caused so much inconvenience.
I carried the 2 litres bottles into the lab for weight and temperature check. Then I returned them to the filling station after I'd done. When I standed beside the station and passed the bottles to the operator, my mind was visualising the senario. I misplaced the bottles and slamed on the startup button of the machine which just beside the place that I left my bottles. It caused double filling, the sauces spilled and the surronding became so messy. It was just in such a chaotic situation. I was in relief after I woke up from the mind wandering and walked back to the lab.
Half an hour later, when I did another weight check, may be I was too tired or not concentrating, the senario which was just in my mind half an hour ago happened in the reality. Everything was following exactly what I'd visualised. I'd no time to think and response at that time cos I was busying clean up the mess. Nobody really scolded me for being so clumsy but I felt so sorry and so bad. It ruined my mood of the day. And the cleaning task was horrible.
I was thinking, how could it be happened? Why was that in my mind before the occurent? Have you ever encountered this kind of situation where the whole process was playing in your mind before an incident???
I had similar situation happened in my childhood as well where I envisioned myself from jumping off the table and wounded myself on the knee. I'd even forseen the image of my wound. It's kind of terrifying experience and the whole situation still replaying in my mind vividly.
Years after, It happened again. I could not give myself a good reason to explain it. Can you???
Labels: mood
很久没有用华文写字了，似乎变得有点生疏。
在澳洲的日子很逍遥。
虽然再好的东西也会有不足的一面，可是对我来说这已经很足够了。
这将会是一辈子的回忆呢！
我会好好珍惜的。
我这个人呢，很会钻牛角尖，又很情绪化，冲动鲁莽，庆幸的是我还算理智。
不然我很可能早就已经被数之不尽的后悔和遗憾溺毙了。
离乡背井了三年，以为自个儿已经习惯了一个人在外面的生活。
回头一看，我还是我， 一个极需心灵依靠的丫头。
谢谢你一直陪在我身边，无时无刻的给予适当的提点与忠告。
想念朋友也想家，可是前途作祟，无法许可任何任性的举动。
为了梦想，唯独咬紧牙根，与现实拼个你死我活，边可找寻属于自己的世界。
这已经是我在这里的第十一个礼拜。
距离拜别的日子越来越近，心里日益的焦虑起来，矛盾的心情也越来越显著。
只好抱着天下无不散之宴席的心理过日子，希望可以安抚不安的心灵。
不舍怎么会有得呢？
Labels: mood
Brisbane
Wayne had a badminton tournament in Brisbane today and we tagged along to support him. It was just a medium-scale competition where everything from knock out to the final completed in one day. Wayne won the open grade final. He is good in badminton, no doubts and his partner in the men’s double not bad too.
We watched two games and then he sent us to the nearest bus stop before the next game started. From there we hopped on the bus and headed to china town in Brisbane city. It was already 4pm. All the shops were started closing and we realized it was not a right time to wandering around China Town at this late time. The China Town there did not impress me much. In fact, I don’t feel like visiting for the second time other than getting cheap Asian groceries. The place is not clean and feels slightly unsafe as the hooligans are all active and loitering at the city after the sun set.
We walked around China Town for about one hour for some grocery shopping at the major Asian food stores. We then moved to Brisbane CBD by train. We stopped at the central and went to the famous shopping area, which are Queen Street and Adelaide Street. Most of the posh fashion boutiques are located at these two streets. At one of the souvenir shops, there was one guy greeting to me, I think he is a Korean tourist. Most importantly, he is handsome!! (Don’t feel jealous BIE!)
The pubs lying at the city area were overwhelmed and packed, then only we realized today was St Patrick’s Day. It is some sort of Irish celebration. They do body painting, drink green beer and wear green. This celebration denotes lucky beginning, hence the clover leaves play a main role as well. Due to celebration atmosphere, the people outside the pubs and surroundings became a bit aggressive. They acted weird and it nearly scared us away. Some of them even asked us to join the party and some greeted us strangely. We loitering around the streets and had subway for dinner before heading back home.
The train frequency for gold coast express is low. May be it was Sunday. We waited for 35 minutes at the train station to catch the train back to Helensvale and it took 75 minutes to reach. The whole journey was so uncomfortable and I really need to comment about the train. The seats are not high enough to rest our head. We tried to take a short nap in the train but there was no way that we could rest well because our head were swaying around without any support. It was just horrible. When the train reached our destination, we alighted with that woozy mood as if still having the nap. Worst still, we need to walk back home in that tired condition because no one could pick us from the station. At one point of time, we nearly wanted to take cab home but we don’t dare to risk our pocket. So …walk lo!
This walked was shorter than the movie world one, only took 50 minutes. The funniest part was Wayne reached home 5 minutes after us, what a joke! Sigh….but I guess it was a good exercise for me as I missed the badminton session on Thursday. And walking through all the roads that we normally passed through by car, could actually give different sensations. It was slower in pace, allowed more times to enjoy the night scenery, and caught few star gazing moments. I’m always wanted to figure out which stars represent the southern cross constellation since it could only be seen at the southern hemisphere. I must see them before I go!
The day ended in a neutral mood. If the journey back was not that tired, it might sound better. Congratulation Wayne!! for winning the match and became Queensland number one.
Labels: Excursion
I'm easy going but I do think that every single of us live life differently. Living together as housemate or whatsoever is not an easy task and i knew the fact so well since I was still a kid . Years back in the childhood time, my family used to share a house with my relatives due to their house was gone in a fire. Even we are pretty close relatives, quarrels and misunderstanding did happen under the same roof. It was a sad memory for me but luckily things changed when they moved and the relatioship went back to the normal.
I think i'm still way too conservative in everything. I keep telling myself I need to meet more new people and explore the world. However, right now, at this moment, I reckon I'm still a very dependent person, on friends and family. And I still cant think out of the box. And I feel not contented without new knowledge. I seriously need some motivation to boast up my confidence and start all over a new me.
It's autumn now and i could feel the changed in weather. The breeze is cooling and I need a jumper to keep me warm!
Labels: mood
The most impressed ride was the superman escape where the train accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in just 2 sec at the very beginning part. What a terrifying fast speed and rumor said the speed is comparable to a rocket. Wow! Besides, the train was riding in a inverted U shape and is vertical. There was one moment where I could not feel myself and my heart as if still hanging on top. That was the scariest ride that I’ve ever had. I think it would be 10 times scarier than the superman ride in Genting. Seriuosly! For those interested in thrilling ride, i think It would be a good challenge.
superman escape: The queen of all rides
Above: Taking photo with superhero-Batman, Felicia and I...Cool! We actually cut the queue to take photo with this guy. sounds a bit rude but there was limited shot for this guys therefore I was forced by the circumstances. hehe..
We met this hero looking man somewhere in the theme park and curious on the overwhelming crowd who wanted to take photo with this handsome!
Lethal Weapon Ride. Ranking top 2 of the thrillingness. Damn our legs were dangling in the air and we were up side down for 3 times. After the ride, we felt giddy and off balance.
Above: In looney Tunes Village, memorable moment cos we were born in that era. I love to watch all these cartons years back, bugs bunny, tweety bird, sylvester and many more.
Batwing: Space shot. Slightly scary. The car is cool!
Wild west: Water boat ride. We were drenched after the ride. It's a good cooling session though.
Above: Shrek 4D adventure show. It was freaking cool where you can feel the sensation from the movie such as the touch of spiders, water from sneezing and the light effect.
Labels: Excursion
I'm still not good enough in so many things and I realised I have not much time left before my graduation which equivalence to the starting point of my future career. I feel so unprepared. In everything.
At this point of time, I feel myself so low in self-esteem and upset over my unsatisfaction but when the time comes still need to back to the reality and continue with my works. I don't have high IQ but at least my EQ is still not too bad. Will be recovering soon for sure.
Labels: mood
This hiking was a different one, the path was the same but there was one part of the mountain, we need to rely on the chain to climb up the rocks. It’s real steep and rocky and I’ve never been this unconfidence before, at least I think I’m doing well in outdoor activities, my legs are short and I could not grip on the man-made hole to support my body. Oh my goodness! I lost my balance for twice and luckily Darrel was behind me and gave me a helping hand. After the rocky part, we reached the peak of the mountain and the scenery up there was spectacular. This mountain has another name called cloud catcher whereby the mountain is located in between a few mountains and the cloud is being caught there. It was foggy and cooling on top of that mountain. After a short resting and enjoying time, we headed back to the starting point. The way back was much easier and better but the rocky part was still very scary, we were like abseiling down the rocks which has 70 degree of the steepness (my estimation). I knew that my calf muscle would be sore like hell though it was still a nice hiking trip. I enjoyed it so much. In fact, outdoor activities as such would be better than sitting at home for movies, dramas or lappie. Healthier and cost saving…haha…But only can be done occasionally. High energy consumption!
Cloud catcher, Peak of Mt Warning
On the way to our accommodation at Byron, we passed through a place called Nimbin where heaps of hippies are staying there and we expected to see a lot of funky stuffs. It was not though. May be I was in my unconscious condition after the hiking and could not really see what’s happening at that time, it’s quite disappointed. Throughout the journey towards Byron Bay, I was drifting in and out of my consciousness but I still managed to get down the car to buy Macadamia nuts nearby the Macadamia plantation. Raw nuts sold in a small ‘kaya’ container cost AusD$2. It’s quite a good price compared to the commercial one which will be around 20 bucks per kg. The nuts with intact hull are only 3 bucks per kg, so cheap!! But we don’t have the nut cracker. Sian…!
By the time we reached the apartment, it was already late noon. They hopped into the pool for cooling and I read my traveling brochure by the pool side. I wish I could in the pool too but I was not well prepared for it. No choice then! We then had our dinner at Byron Bay town centre. The 3rd time of my fish and chips in Gold Coast. Hmmm…not quite enjoy though. I’m not a fan of deep fried food. It makes me feel so uncomfortable and forceful to consume those 'heaty' and oily food into my stomach. However, traveling with other people we could not have a lot of freedom on choosing food. Need lots of compromise. They actually browsed through all the restaurants there to compare the price before making any decision. The first choice was fully booked and neither the second one available. So sad we need to get fish and chips. I was expecting something better than that but tagging along with others we didn’t really have the saying right.
Not long after the dinner, Talesia, the Norman's toddle, was screaming for tiredness so we moved back to the apartment to rest. Felicia and me shared a room and we both went to the bed at 9pm. Haha…we could not stand the exhaustion that we had throughout the day from Mt Warning to the journey towards Byron Bay and walking around browsing through the makan places. It’s indeed enough for the day and yet we need to wake up early in the morning the next day for Byron Bay market.
Sunday morning, we woke up pretty early but the rest was still sleeping. We went to the market slightly late than the schedule but it’s quite on time cuz the people here quite laid back, some of them still setting up the stall when we reached at 830am. I was baking under the sun of this sunny and hot day. I guess it would probably 37 degree. The market is big but it’s only one fifth of Chatucak in Bangkok, that’s what Fel said. For me all the markets in here are about the same, just that Byron Bay one could be more stalls and more things to look-see. I did capture a few funny and funky one but usually the good one will be more expensive.
We checked out at 1030am and straight away made our way to Byron Bay light house. It was such a painful journey because we need to climb heaps of stairs to reach the light house in our worst condition of sore calf muscle and worst still frying under the hot sun. What a mad journey! But it was worthy, the view from the light house was fascinating and we could see dolphins swimming in the sea from far. I took quite a number of photos on the fantastic view and also captured the most easterly point of Australia mainland,Cape Byron. I reckon myself love to take photo since I started to travel by myself; to add every single photo into my own memory log, especially those precious moment in life.
We didn’t manage to stay longer cuz the kids were tired after such a long journey. On the way back, we stopped by Byron Bay town centre for lunch. It’s not a proper one, we had cake and expensive sushi but Fel and I didn’t really eat sushi. I ordered miso soup which I had been craving for long time. On the way back, we stopped at Fingal Head beach and coincidentally there were surfing competition holding at the same time but I could not see anything from far. The surfers actually need to wait for a good wave to show off their skill; seemingly it’s all about luck, luck to wait for a really good and beautiful wave.
All of us were really exhausted after the mount climbing and sun baking excursion but we didn’t go back home straight away, Wayne brought us along to the Norman’s for a swim. At that moment I wish I could have my own transport to fly back home. We were so stink, sticky and sweaty yet we stuck somewhere and could not have our shower for the day. It’s the down side of traveling with others where you have no choice but to follow their decision. Anyway, the trip was great. We didn’t make so much noises and no complaining on all the imperfectness. If we were not tagging along with them, it would be quite difficult for us to reach that place unless we pay more to follow a day tour!! So ‘mai hiam bei pai la’!!
Labels: Excursion
Let's mourn for it and give myself a condolence. How sad I lost all the photos I edited last night for my Byron Bay trip and need to redo again. Well I'll learn to be smarter next time. Anyway anyone know how to retrieve data from a 90 degree bent thumb drive. Please inform me.
Labels: mood