Australia trip - 2002

While my memory could still afford to recall, I'm going to pen them down & capture some shots here on my very first oversea vacation to Australia back in Y2002. Though i had been to Haadyai & Singapore before (on land of course), my travel to Aust was somewhat meaningful as it was also my first flight experience.....how 'jakun'/naive hor !!

Anyway, thank to my dearest of course.... as it was actually a "tag-along his business trip" to his HQ in Adelaide back then when he was still 'slaving' in the corporate sector. As we just got married in Dec then & this trip happened to be in March, my air fare was actually 'sponsored', though not the entire vacation, it was already good enough. It was also 'considered' our honeymoon trip.

Anyway, as i was then NOT a blogger, i'm sure there were many many little stuffs that i'd overlooked and failed to keep memory of as compared to the 'now' me. A classic example is I can't even locate a single photo of FOOD here.........ooh gosh.........not even a single shot of the BEST'est vietnamese noodles that i have ever had !!!

Many of the places & happenings around would have been forgotten too and i am now relying on the poor old memory of my dear huby as he has been making a living at least 7 years in Adelaide during his high school & uni years. He had travelled to most of the popular spots in Aust too. But then as my huby is not a detail person, i can't expect much elaboration from him. So in any part if any of you find that i have gotten wrong with the name of the places or etc......you are welcome to notify me & i shall make good......

You know what......as much as i recalled much happy memories when i browsed thru the photos, i couldn't deny the fact that i was very much heartbroken to see how much i have aged, how much i had put on weight & how much i had got 'uglier' as compared to those days!!! sob...sob...sob
Don't let me strike the lottery one day.....sure i'm going to indulge myself in a total makeover & surgery.......hahaha

Much of a REVELATION on me......friends.............jeng jeng jeng.........lets begin:

ADELAIDE

We boarded the MAS plane & the journey was approx.ly 8 hours. Of course i can't sleep during the journey, how can i when my whole body was exploring the seat and its' surrounding which were so strange to a first timer, me ??

During huby's official working days, we stayed at Hilton hotel. But can't remember for how many days/nights. From the photo below, i recall that i ordered a room service for breakfast when huby left for meeting. As you can see the big serve of the pancake, 3 slice of toasts, 2 yummy hotdogs & a glass of milk......arghhh.......that's healthy, no?? I vaguely remembered that i can't finished the breakfast.

I remembered huby only had 2 full days meeting. During his working hours, I was lucky to have huby's uncle Peter to send her wife (really sorry i can't remember her name now....*updated, it's aunt Bee Ting*) over to the hotel & babysit me around Adelaide. Unc Peter & aunt B-Ting married not long ago. Aunt B-Teng was still adjusting herself with life in Adelaide. She came from Penang & was a headmistress. As we both were Malaysian & the fact that she discovered i could speak a little Mandarin (thou broken), naturally we could instantly clicked !! She walked with me around the city, we went shopping together, we ate at some food court & we even travelled on the local tram & bus. That was a nice hospitality!!

After huby finally finished with his official duties, we shifted to uncle Peter's home & stayed over at his grown up children's room. Below was the backyard of the house and for the first time i saw apple & pear trees.....i was so thrilled !!!

Huby toured me around the German Village (Handorf) and i remembered i had a good time picking up souvenirs, sipping coffee & savouring cakes while sitting by the road side cafe!!

It was summer time. And though it looked hot, but when the wind blows, it could be very cooling !!!

As i was partly working for Telstra (Aust telecom), i got excited when i bumped into their phone booth.......hahaha & so i took a photo of myself there !!

That night, huby had specifically requested his uncle to make a booking for a meal in a Vietnamese restaurant that he claimed to serve foods with very superior taste at KILKENNY !! And of course his good uncle obliged & the whole family went together. And it indeed didn't disappoint any of us!! Even now i could still vividly remembered how tasty was the chicken & beef bbq stick, some fragrant clay pot rice & many other Vietnamese dishes......too bad no photo to show.........Now i acknowledge the importance of photo as remembrance!!!

After the dinner, huby brought me together with his uncle & aunty to a bar/cafe which he claimed to be unique, called Elephant Walk........the setting up of the cafe was somewhat resemble his dream cafe........yes, my huby has a dream to open up his own cafe........and that still remain a dream today !! So we had a good time drinking & catching up with each other as we retired the day !!

The next day, we sent uncle Peter off to his office & he borrowed us his car for a day tour. Our first stop was at Glenelg beach where we had a very breezing breakfast. It was the best omelet that i had ever eaten. You realise the name GLENELG can be read backward & it's still the same???

Next we proceeded to the National Park, Cleland. Though i wasn't the type that would like a visit to the zoo.......but this was definitely different as unlike in our local zoo, there were many animals that we could get closely in touch with (like the kangaroo & koala bear). I think we could hardly even see these animals in our zoo, rite?

Then it was a farm tour experience. Had a close watch over the berries & grapes. Got some jams & wain too.

One thing i like about Aust (be it Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney), their fruit stalls are easily seen around the street & it just feels nice to be able to pick up a 'sweet & juicy' peach/plum anytime, anywhere at an extremely cheap price lor.....!!! I ate the most plums/peaches/etc in my life there !!!

From the photos, that was about all in Adelaide that i could recalled. We then searched around for a bus ride to our next stop, Melbourne. I remember starting the journey at night & it was a midnight journey clocking for a long 10 hours ++.....it recorded the longest bus ride i had in my entire life !!! It was torturing needless to say. So our initial plan of taking a bus back to Adelaide was changed to a flight instead, hahaha

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MELBOURNE

We had earlier on arranged to meet up with Mic (my 3rd sis who is an air-stewardess) who happened to stop over at Melbourne !!! We had even shared her bedroom to save cost ma.... haha......and i forgot & wondered how she tolerate hub's snoring then, hahaha

That night itself, we walked to a nearby restaurant for a pasta dinner & had some good red wain. Then as it was already late, we just had a brief walked & looked around the city!

Early next morning, we headed on with our biggest plan for Melbourne i.e. to the Twelve Apotles. We rent a car & huby took us on the Great Ocean Road. The country scenery's were very calming & beautiful though the journey was a bit too long. But there wasn't any regret with the long journey as the place was very very magnificent......scenic.....exquisite !!!

With sis Mic...

What a pleasure viewing......

SIMPLY MARVELOUS !!!

Other places we'd been to but my huby aren't sure where they are?

*updated: Victorian Parliament House*

Besides the 12 Apostles, another classic remembrance we had on Melbourne was, of all the few places we had the Vietnamese noodles, i have to say they were all very very tasty (wasn't sure if it was due to the lousy Malaysian version here)!! For a non-beef eater me, i had walloped the most beef in my life!!

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SYDNEY

We booked online flight via Virgin Blue to Sydney. Stayed at a 3-4 star hotel in the city centre which was within walking distance to Harbour bridge. I must say that among these 3 places i visited in Aust., Sydney was my last preference after Melb & Adelaide. It was just another busy & hectic city with lots of people & cars around !!!

We went to the Chinatown for shopping as well as for the Chinese cuisine. Apparently, there were many Chinese & Hongkee operated the F&B business in the Chinatown. The food wasn't bad except that it was a little pricey !!

And I do enjoyed the tour around the Harbour bridge, Opera House & a few other mega malls!

*updated: Queen Victoria Mall*

As i was not a very adventurous person, do u believe i actually gave up the chance to visit the Sydney aquarium!! Reason simply being huby has been to it before & to spend that high rocket price (again for him) is just not my preference.... i wasn't that eager to see fish anyway, hahaha!

So i told huby, i just took a photo outside for remembrance will do.......

Next stop was the Bondi beach, which we took a bus to. It was just an ordinary beach.....which has very fine & clean sand. Ooh ya....there were lots of BOOBsssss to be seen too, free show man..... hehehe.

Frankly speaking, on top of the above, i didn't really have much memories of Sydney except that i went and bought an LV clutch bag in Sydney! I suppose the price wasn't cheap at all & guess what?? I was suppose to claim back the tax at the airport but i 'accidently' went & kept it in my checked-in luggage !!! U say die or not? As the authority needed to view the item together with the receipt, we failed to claim back the tax which amounted to about RM300+/- i think. So u can imagine how burnt was my huby's face.......hahaha
Anyway, i hardly use it now as it was just too small .....

Here is the other souvenir i got from this trip which i am still keeping well i.e the opal. Unfortunately i don't really know how to appreciate opal so i have not been putting it on for a long long time......guess, i love diamond more, hahaha

Back to Adelaide & uncle Peter picked us up from the airport. We caught up with huby's vietnamese friend whom he befriended during his part-time work in the chinese rest.

Some memories at uncle Peter's home.

That's the end of my 'virgin' overseas trip!!

Long post ehh.....if u finish it, i like to thank you but if i'd bored u, sorry ya....

And the good news was i conceived my twins during these happier times .....hahaha, so people said 'honeymoon' is "the time", got to believe it?