Last year, I was pissing mad that I did not get to see the hail. Usually, I sleep around 2am but on that blasted day, I went to bed a wee bit earlier, wondering why it was so cold despite the coming of summer. Next day, I learnt the truth. Hail.
This year, I cursed when I saw that hail had hit Gold Coast but not Brisbane. Interestingly, despite the damages, many welcomed the hail. That's how dry it is here. Remember your moisturisers kids!
So continuing on our post-exam activities. Shortly, after we boarded the bus to the city, it rained sideways. Remember watching Forrest Gump where they were describing the rain they had in Vietnam? Yeah. Sideways it was. Wondered if the ferry can still operate in that kind of weather.
Dear K was so nice to call us and told us to be careful. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS RAINING HAIL!!!
Woooooo!!! A few weeks before I'm heading back, I get to witness hail! From a safe shelter of course. Do not underestimate the devastation of hail. It can dent your car.
The hail we saw was tiny, like those chipped ice cubes you get in your drinks. Small. See the clip for yourself.
The white bits on the road are hailstones. More like pebbles to me.
With such heavy rain that went sideways, we decided to seek shelter at a nearby cafe. Having explored most of Sydney and Adelaide city, I am ashamed to admit that I haven't seen much of Brisbane city, saved for the area where the malls are. The cafe looked quaint and hidden. It was almost full.
Number 12!
The iced coffee was so-so only. But we got out of the rain, so I'm not complaining. We hopped onto a bus to Chermside. Why Chermside? Because there is supposed to be a big mall there. The bus driver told us that the bus indeed would go to Chermside, though there's a shorter route. Hmm... Should have heeded the advice I think. Haha... But nice to look at the architecture of local buildings anyway. Not that many "jiak-hong-chu" in Singapore.
Chermside is a Westfield mall, meaning the things are pretty much the same. Just like in Singapore where you will find the same Giordarno, U2, G2000 in all shopping centers. Here, you will find Sportsgirl, Temt, Valley Girl, Cue, Portmans, etc. One word: boring! But Chermside is pretty. I think it's quite new. Good place to go if you want a change of environment. :D
Cannot forget to eat Aburi Salmon sushi at Sushi Train! I think this outlet has the best Aburi. Yum! Our high tea turned out to be quite a meal. Nice!
We walked around somemore but couldn't find things to buy. Never mind! Going Melbourne soon! We can score there!
We have been talking about this particular course offered by QUT called creative advertising. Advertising here is more interesting than in Singapore. Granted, some humour elements are lost on us, but generally, Australian advertisements offer a lot more creativity than those in Singapore. I suspect there are more regulations in Singapore. For example, we noticed that Australian ads like portray inanimate objects in violent acts. Like a personified corn running on a conveyor belt and eventually gets smashed by a huge piling machine to turn into cereal. Or one of my personal faves, the Cadbury ad.
See the chocolatey people?
Cadbury has a series of ad. Ad no. 1 showed the family going to a maze that was made of chocolate. When they got lost, they just ate their way out. Ad no. 2 saw them going to the movies where they were blocked by this man with a giant chocolate afro, which they just ate as well. And ad no. 3 was the postman coming to delivered a mail and the dog began to bark nonstop. So what did he do? He bit off its chocolatey tail. Haha!!!
We headed back for home at 5pm. When all the mall closes. Maybe I will get culture shock in Singapore when the shopping centers are still open at 9pm.
The view of Brisbane city from Southbank.
Southbank is a nice place to go, especially if you are one half of a couple. During evening, the ambience there is very romantic wor. Ah... Southbank is also home to salsa dancing on Fri nights. Looks very fun!
Southbank is also where I act cute. :P
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