Byron Bay (again!)

Not long ago, we went to Byron Bay, in New South Wales, Australia. A few days later, P and S rented a car and brought JY and me to Mount Coot-tha.

As we laid there looking into the night, freezing our butts off and looking at the nth shooting star, I made a suggestion.

Me: Since you only need to return the car tomorrow, why don't we drive to Byron Bay to see sunrise?

2 hours later, we found ourselves back in the car, with sandwiches in the boot, on Pacific Highway again. It was 12am and the ride at most, will take 3 hours. What time do you think the sun rises? Of course not at 3am. No worries, mate! Let's just hit the road.

We played my hurriedly burnt disc of songs for the trip. Some random selections with limited ballads and tons of beaty songs (hip hop, r&b, pop) to keep the driver awake. I think Wang Lee Hom's 唯一 was our theme song for the trip. There's something amazing about being the only car on the road, listening and slaugtering Lee Hom's song while staring at the stars in the cloudless sky. That feeling of being the tiniest being on earth because you can appreciate the vastness of the land.

It was pitch black when we reached Byron Bay lighthouse 1 hour and 40 minutes later.

Look ma! It's pacmoon!

Breathtakingly scary it was! All dark except for the lights from the lighthouse. You can hardly tell the difference between the sea and the sky. The moon was indeed very bright, as the stars twinkled beside it. Light from the moon reflected on the surface of the sea, making for an eery sight that is, at the same time, a reminder of the grandeur of nature. I wondered, morbidly, if anyone had ever fallen from the cliff and was instantly swallowed by the whipping seas. Must have hurt.

What do you see?

After hanging around the area for a while, we got back into the car. It was freezing cold. Imagine the wind howling in your face. Brrr... I feel cold thinking of it now. In the car, we somehow managed to convince ourselves to play the most excruciating aeroplane game. This time though, it was 3 Singaporeans vs a Malaysian! Muahahaha! But about 1 hour later, at 3.30am or so, driver said want to sleep. So we slept. Rather, they slept while I was on self-imposed sentry. I'm considerate like that.

The sky turned a little brighter. I hope it's not like that time at East Coast Park where we were waiting for the 'sunrise' and the sky just got brighter and brighter until we realised the sun was behind us. Ah well... You can see the lone star in the photo as well. Star, ah star! How do you feel, all alone in the sky?

The waves make a very nice pattern on the most easternly side of mainland Australia. If you want to see a clip showing the waves, drop me a line because it's 10mb and would be too much work to upload if no one is interested! +_+

The lighthouse. I like the sky, like the colour pencil combination: pink and blue.

The salted egg made its appearance.

It got bigger...

And brighter...

And brighter...

Bathing everyone in its glow...

What will we do without the sun?

If you die, this will still happen everyday.

Enjoy the sharp rays from the sun. You can see how fast it rises.

Enjoy the waves and beaches!

Take more photos!

I really was there!

Seeing the sunrise at a vast place like this is highly recommended for city kids. You know how insignificant you really are! Humbling experience.

The BBQ, Italian hot chocolate, and graduation

In Singapore, when we have a BBQ, what will be on the pit? Chicken wings, sambal stingray/prawns/sotong, hotdogs etc.

Here in Australia, it's teppanyaki galore.

We are making burgers! Lovely mushrooms!!!

Quite different from Singapore right? Oh, did I mention that public BBQ pits are FOC here and runs on electricity? That's saving approximately $25 from booking fee, charcoal, and grill! Woohoo!!!

The gang from Sydney trip got together for a cup of Italian hot chocolate with D, R, and S. What's Italian hot chocolate you ask?

Ta da!

It's a rich, creamy, thick chocolate drink that tastes heavenly (and is loaded up with calories, I'm sure). Not as sweet as it looks but heavenly nevertheless. Yum!

From our Sydney trip, we got a pack of keychains

and when our powers combine, we are

The boomerang girls! I'm sure the others will not take kindly to the name. x:

Also attended graduations. Not mine. Yet.

When will it be my turn?

Sometimes, I wonder why people attend graduation. Does it mean anything? From what I hear, it's just 2 hours of sitting and waiting for your name to be called and hoping that you won't trip over your gown and can manage a normal walk in your new heels.

Is it 'right'?

We were discussing a charity organisation recently. This organisation has more than one thousand children in urgent need of sponsorship.

What we felt was odd was how it allowed sponsors to choose the gender, age, and country of origin of the child. After you make your 'choice', they will 'assign' a child to you, showing you their photographs, hobbies, age, gender, and country of origin.

We wondered what will happen to those children with less than likeable faces. Isn't your 'choice' about doing something for one of these children, regardless of who they are?

The fucked up bus driver

The fucked up bus driver is back. When I first arrived in Australia, I met a few. There are really, really nice bus drivers too, but there are black sheeps among them. Today I took a bus using a concession 10-trip saver ticket, which is something like our EZ-Link card for students. The bus driver stopped and asked me where I was going. After I told him my destination, this was what happened:

The fucker: $2.20
Me (showed him my card): I'm using this.
The fucker (pointed to a sign that said you had to show the driver your concession pass): Can you read that?
I read it and proceeded to take out my concession card
The fucker: No, no, no! $2.20.

It was amazing. Usually bus drivers do not check your concession pass. Under the conditions for travelling on the bus, they do have the right. But in practice, they seldom check, and if they do, they would let you take it out and show it to them after which they would be ok. This fucker however, insisted that I paid him the adult fare for travelling. Fucker right?

In case you thought I was biased, a local spoke to me on the bus.

Her: That was nasty! I have never met a bus driver like that! Usually, you show your pass to them when they ask for it!
Me: Yeah, I know! Terrible!!!

I paid $2.20 and for what? For a fucker who jammed the brakes even though you could see it was red light from 100m away; for a fucker who sped down the road and jammed the brakes again at the bus stop. How lovely. If I wasn't so shocked at his amazing service, I would have alighted from the bus right at the start, without paying him his miserable $2.20. "Can you read that?" What do you think? Do you stop and read microscopic words when you board the bus, holding everyone back? Efficiency is a word lost on him.

Before the lady alighted from the bus, she spoke to me again.

Her: I think we have a crazy bus driver.

Indeed.

Currumbin 2006 - Day 3 (150706)

It had come to the end of our stay at Hanging Rock. Too fast! We took our time getting ready to leave because it was not likely that we would return here, the four of us together. JY was going to Adelaide to continue her studies, R would be flying home in a week's time or so. D will still be sticking around, perhaps a little more forlorn without someone... x:

If the owners of Hanging Rock are reading this, I apologise for not leaving earlier because I had thought that the check out time was 12.30pm, which is dumb really. Who would let you check out that late? Hahaha.. That was the check in time; we were supposed to check out at 10am. Opps!

Nevertheless, we enjoyed a nice beautiful breakfast at the dining area. It's a very lovely place. I would love to go back there if someone can drive. *HINT HINT*

We realised we had not eaten our tomatoes and lettuce. It was too troublesome to prepare them for our picnic yesterday. So there was going to be a salad! I came up with my own dressing from watching hours and hours of cooking show. Just add lemon to the mayo! Pinch of salt and pepper and tada! You get lemon-added-to-mayo dressing. Interesting taste.

I was frying cheese omelette and ham when Roxy came!

You want some ham don't you? Aww...

Look at her! Your heart can melt can! When I went nearer, she started whining a bit, not in an annoying way though. She can do no wrong! But we had to harden our hearts and not feed her because she's rather chunky already and salt and dogs' fur don't match.

She's so smart! She threw us pitiful looks!

After a while, I opened the door and she started licking me. What a sweet dog! She tried to come into the house, but we kept her out. She sat on the deck, with her head on her front paws, looking dejected. When she realised she wasn't going to get food from us, she shook herself and walked off. ):

I got to show you more photos of the beautiful chalet! I realise I write mainly about myself nowadays but I don't care! Muahahahaha!!!

Check out the view yo!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Yet another rainy day! PAH!

The dining area. It's all green. Green chalet, remember?

Down, and down the spiral stairs... *woozyyyyyy*

Stop for a little photo session! :D:D:D

Down the stairs, into the bed!

Watch out for this sign when you go there!

After breakfast, we headed outside because it's simply too beautiful to resist. Can you imagine paying $300 for 4 people for 2 nights? To die for! We went out and did what we do best!

R is understandably absent. Good on you, mate!

My skills are power! Everyone evenly in the pic!

Pirates of the Currumbin!

Sadly, the time had come to leave. The lady owner, Agnes, came over to remind us that she had guests coming at 12pm and needed time to clean up the chalet. Opps! We really got the time wrong. Roxy came with her. When she saw me, she was thumping and wagging her tail. What a gorgeous dog! I like!!!

Before we came to Currumbin, we checked the Internet and found out that there was a rock pool nearby. But the directory did not show it, so we just had to go and search around. Today, we wanted to go to Dreamworld too. Not much time! By the way, my throat got better but not my injured spirit at how they trashed me at the aeroplane game yesterday. :(:(:(

We drove downhill and explored a bit for the rock pool. It proved to be elusive. Where the hell is it? We turned into a small road but it appeared to be heading towards a farm. When we turned back out to where we came from, we saw the sign. Tada! Blind my friends, blind we are! :x

Tiny, tiny pool. Not amazingly spectacular, but Singapore don't have! Die, die must see!

In true tourist style, die die must take photo! We've been there! Yay~

Now that you have seen the pool, you will understand why I was so amused when I saw this sign.

If you are so stupid to dive in such a rocky pool, you really deserve to die. It's not called a 'rock pool' for nothing.

When we walked up the stairs, a huge, huge, huge unRoxy dog stood there barking at us. I did not see it; the others did. Apparently it was a guard dog from the nearby farm. The kind can rip your arms off kind? Scary! We went up the stairs from another way. By the way, you can BBQ there. There's a public toilet as well.

Onwards to Gold Coast, exit 54! Dreamworld!!!

Over a decade ago, I went to Dreamworld. I was looking forward to visiting it again because in my memory, the place was a scream. Literally. Unfortunately, I expected too much. I took the more extreme rides but did not get much kick out of it. Nevertheless, it was great to rediscover the place and realise that I do not remember much of it at all!

First ride of the day, Wipeout. STUPID RAIN!!! Got us wet even before the ride started! BAH!

I can't remember what we took next. However, I do remember the Claw. Not because it was scary, mind.

As it goes up and down, ala Viking, it turns.

I remember it because I chose the wrong time to blurp. I blurped just when the force was pushing me back into the seat. The pressure compressing on your stomach is not a good feeling at all. Not good, no, no... :(

"Wa neng nan, zjui ding ya tio zi gi shio hor shua..." Shoo bee doo~~~

I had thought that because I was older, I would be more afraid of the rides. Not true. I'm only afraid of rides that turn and turn and turn because they inspire nausea without an ounce of fear. BAH!!!

Perhaps the scariest ride in the theme park, the one I was most excited about, was the Giant Drop. The free-fall ride goes up the 39-storeys high and drop you without any notice. See the video below to check out the speed. Not very scary. Bah! It would be a good ride though, if you want to check out the view and get breezy~

Compliments of R.

The log ride was quite fun because you worry tons about getting wet. I was already quite wet from the wet seats on the rides and from the drizzle that followed us throughout the trip. GET LOST!

Looks gross and obscene. EEEK!

"Hello friends! We were quite dry. Comparatively!" :D:D:D

While waiting for our turn to take the ride, we saw a group of tweenies: girls about 11-12 years old. They were dressed like adults with their lace camisoles and capri pants. I found that sad. You only get away with wearing lots of bows and ribbons when you are young. Why be in a hurry to get old? I suspect if I have my own child, he/she will be the most fashionly-backwards child, at the butt of ridicule in school. Muahahahaha!!! "Wear this patent Mary Janes, girl!" "Hook up your suspenders, boy!"

Another thing I remember about Dreamworld was its hotdog bread. About a decade ago, they had one of those boards thingy with things drawn on it then you insert your head in the hole to take photo. You would be the hotdog in the bread. I took a photo with that but it was no longer around. Bummer!

Looks good right? It's soft enough but the poor service was a big minus. All the other employees in the park, however, were excellent. I remember the cheese being melted. Hmmm...

You need a big mouth to eat the dog. Yum!

Years ago, there was this, and now it's still around. Some things don't change. And I'm glad.

Cool, eh?

You think it's easy to pose for these pics? Think again! People looking at you when they walked past! Tee hee hee... x:

With a previous few minutes left to closing time (they close at 5pm), I ran into the ice-cream palour to grab a double. How can you not eat junk at theme parks? I got boysenberry and macadamia. Heaven and earth man! The former tasted like medicine (yuks!!!) while the latyer was amazing! JY said it's the best macadamia ice-cream she has ever tasted. It wasn't very expensive too (by Australian standards). Too bad she tasted it after we left the shop, because by the time she headed back, the girl came out to close the door. Muahahahahaha!!! D and R also wanted to grab one. Sorry, mates! I have ice-cream~ You have no ice-cream~~~ :P

We got lost on our way back because we could not find the dim sum place at Logan. Ended up at Rosalie eating pasta and pizza. I have been lusting for spicy pasta since JY ate hers yesterday when I had a sore throat. ):

JY's was better. ):):):

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip in Currumbin and the getting lost sessions along the way. I only wish we had time to enjoy the chalet because it's not the hotely kind of accommodation. It's a crime to just go there and eat and sleep. Taking some time to admire the surroundings and the chalet itself would be heavenly.... The mad dash for groceries on Day 1 was hilarious (on hindsight ONLY); the extremely loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong hours on Day 2 was a lesson in relativism, and Day 3 just taught me how memories can be faulty and that it's a good idea to remove earrings when taking rides if you don't want your earrings to pierce the soft back part of your ear. That's a 12th piercing I don't want! Brrr...

Currumbin 2006 - Day 2 (140706)

At 2.45am, I had barely slept. A noise was ringing in my ears. It was JY's alarm clock. Since I knew I couldn't get back to sleep, I decided to follow JY up the spiral stairs to wait for my turn to shower. I made myself useful and turned on the television to check the weather. 5 minutes later, I could recite the weather forecast for major cities in the world (England was going to be a cool 24 degrees, in SUMMER!), but I didn't know what Byron Bay was going to be like. Windy in Melbourne, but sunny in Sydney. Just go with the better weather! Not very useful after all.

Gathered the stuff to use for later's 'picnic' in an unknown location. Shower first thing in the morning is definitely a great thing! Wakes you up, perk you up! :D But sadly, our eyes still very beady.

Guess what we were doing!

We made tiny holes of butter on our extrasoft bread because the damn fat refused to melt. Tuna was mixed with sweet mayo (why are low-fat products nearly always higher in calories?), onions, and our favourite black pepper fresh from the grinder. Eggs were boiled for mixing with more mayo, ham were taken out, water bottles were refilled, coffee and tea were made, snacks were laid nicely in the grocery bags, and with my great foresight, a packet of wet tissue was brought along.

Byron Bay! Here we come!

Why Byron Bay leh? Because it is supposed to be the part of Australia that sees the sun first. It's a small town about 1.5hr drive from Currumbin (In normal traffic. I went back a few days later on a night trip where we started out at 12am. Guess how long we took?). It's one of those places with a flat horizon so I think the sunrise should be spectacular!

Pui lah! The weather sucked ass. It was windy as we ran towards the toilets. Luckily, I have been there before so we did not need to hesitate and pee in our pants. It drizzled all the way and there was no egg yolk to be seen.

How black the sky was!

The other side of the lighthouse not much better...

If you walk further down, you will get to the most easternly side of Mainland Australia.

This, my friends, is the sunrise.

Do you like sunrise or sunset? I like sunsets because the night is nice. I find myself most *ahem* contemplative at night. Like today for instance. I took the bus for my evening class and really enjoyed the short 10min ride, because it was dark and I could see the lights from the suburbs. If you get some great music playing in your earphones, it would complete the experience. One of the things I love best about Australia! Sometimes the lack of humans is very calming.

DIY photography! See the lighthouse in the background? Mostly covered by us? My hair is like a siao charbor. I dyed it purple; everyone said it's red. Gah! By the way, I have more than one jacket, but this is the one with hood and is relatively waterproof. Not like I get to wear this back in Singapore. Ice-skating anyone?

The weather was terrible. We couldn't see much and as we descended the stairs down to the most easternly side of Mainland Australia, it began to POUR. Our role-play as paparazzi was washed away with the rain. Zzzzzzzz...

One good thing came out of the trip though. We saw dolphins/sharks! Now, now. We were quite far from the sea and could only make out a school of swimming things. Because it's the whale migration season and because dolphins swim with whales, we assumed that they were dolphins.

Try to spot it? It's blackish.

After the pouring weather, there was no point sticking around. I think many residents of Byron Bay are very healthy. They climb to the top of the lighthouse, which was located on a hill, walk all the way down to the most easternly side, usually only dressed in shorts and tees. Look at what we wore! It was freezing! I applaude you brave and healthy souls!

Bundled up in the car for Rainbow Bay where we would have our 'picnic' at Point Danger. All the while, when we see interesting road names, we wondered why they were named as such. Why Piggabeen (pig has been here?), why Point Danger (what's so dangerous about the place?), why Gordon falls (Gordon fell down there?)? Mind-boggling really. I was told there was a great pie shop along the highway when driving from Byron Bay to Gold Coast. With such a lovely sign, how can you miss it?

I love the name: Humble Pie!

I had ONLY one pie because we still have our picnic ahead. I wish we could have brought the frozen pies back because they were really yummy. My weakness is pastries!!! YUM!!! But we have a full day ahead and tomorrow was going to be another long day out too. So no frozen pies.

R's apple strudel. Looks yummy! Australia is supposed to be where apple strudels originated from but I haven't had one here yet. Lol...

At Point Danger, we saw lots of whales near the shores!

How many whales were there?!

Boo! Not whales but surfers! Muahahahahahaha!!! It was very cold and a lot of these surfers were barely in their teens! Amazing! We did see whales though they were quite far away. There was no questioning that they were whales because they were flapping their fins and water was spraying out from their blowholes (?). I like!

Click to enlarge and spot the whales!

Coffee, coffee you saved me!

Cold and wet, we drove to Gold Coast where all the touristy beaches are. First stop was the Conrad Jupiter Casino. There's a casino in Brisbane, which I think is much, much nicer. The culture here is really different. In Singapore, I think when the IRs are ready, the security guards would be super serious. Here, the security guards (at the doors) actually monkey around when you are taking photos outside the casino, and make interesting conversations like how his surname is the same as yours and so he must be your cousin. Let's see what will happen in Singapore.

When we were inside, I didn't really want to play. I suppose this is a good thing because I don't like the feeling of losing money for nothing. JY was into Pokies (or Jackpot as some of us call it), so I sat beside her while she tried her luck. After a while, I realised I had nothing much to do. I dropped a dollar into the machine beside hers and won 20 free games! I sat there watching my credits go up while JY's went down. Muahahahahahaha! Won $8 in all. I think it's really scary when you see the expert pokiers playing. Most of them are elderly people and they spend in the hundreds I think. When they see that your machine is winning a bit, they will move next to you, using their body language to urge you to leave. I think that is why many people want to guard their machines because if you feed it enough, it will vomit things back out. I hope no one I know in Singapore will be addicted to gambling when the IRs open. Scary!

Casino was near Pacific Fair. Since it was not like we had our day packed (besides, what can we do when it was drizzling one second and sunny the next?), we went for a spot of shopping. I hopped into Ninewest again because sales was still on! The bag I had been eyeing was on discount and I used the voucher my dear friend, S, sent me for my birthday to make the purchase! Woohoo! Shopping, shopping!

Even after shopping, I was still feeling blah. We were wondering how come it was only 1pm. Zzzzz... We have been up almost for 12 hours already! We wasted more time at Surfer's Paradise. I tried the mobile public toilet! Very fun! You go in, a voice will come out to tell you to remember to lock your door and to remind you that you only have 10 minutes in the loo. It's free and it's an experience! Try it! Though it's not the most fragrant of toilets! Hahahahaha...

We wasted more time at the shops. It was sad when we saw a group of married men going into a sex shop (selling the toys, not the human services) while their wives stood outside shouting for them to come out because they refused to step into the shop. The shop is somewhat like the one at Lucky Plaza I think.

Did I mention that I was sick? I had a bloody sorethroat and stupid Strepsils cost $6! Can puke blood!!! I rather buy Fisherman's Friend although it didn't help much. Zzzz...

Dinner was at Seafood Mania. I wanted so much to eat those shellfish and spicy pasta but shit the throat! Cannot eat. Only settled for salmon, which according to my friends, was delicious. By then, I couldn't even taste much. BAH BAH BAH!

I die die wanted to buy green tea frappe from Starbucks because the throat was irritating me. I want something cold, dammit! Guess what happened later?

More bloody rain in the car!

We missed roads once or twice and finally got back to the chalet at 8pm? After a nice, hot shower, I was still feeling miserable. I drank herbal tea, and ate tonnes of strawberries! We played an excruciating game of aeroplane chess. Remember that game? Looks something like this:

Source. I want a huge ass aeroplane chess set like this!!! I want, I want, I want!!!

While I was painstakingly trying to find Currumbin Rock Pool in the directory, those three Malaysians ganged up against me and kicked my aeroplanes back to the starting point. As if I wasn't sick enough! They wanted to do me in! BAH!!!

I sadly dragged myself into bed after D forced two Vitamin C down my throat. I am so *unfortunate*. *sobs*