671th entry
Day 0 (21 March):
Dad n mum took train with me to Changi Airport. I told them that i can go myself but they wan to explore by train. No choice but to bring them along. Need to travel 1 and half hour from my house to airport. It was raining at the evening and the temp is darn cold. Had to wear my pluto thick jacket which i bought from HK.
Reach airport ard 8.30pm. Had supper at Burger King. Mum is hungry. I better ate something before i depart as my flight is 22Mar 0030. Scared im darn hungry in plane.
Ated and took skytrain to T3. Crowded airport. Dunno what event it is. So many ppl. Saw many national teams at BK.
Waited 10.30pm and enter custom. Ask folk to go home fast or they will miss the transfer train at JE. Walked ard and saw WL and Jesse.
Waited and popped my pills and wait for my flight till 0030.
Didn't wrote abt dear as he is angry with me. =(
Day 1 (22 Mar):
On flight. Had a snack before sleep. =) I still hungry after eating BK. Watched Slumdog for 3 hours plus before going to sleep. Had omelete with ham. Added too much salt until it is not fit for comsumed. Didnt eat at all. Bread too hard. Salad not nice. Jus drink tea only. Hungry..
Reach Sydney at 9.30am (Aust time). Total flight time is 8 hours. Got many checks. Custom officer is very strict with me. Ask me to take off my passport cover before he process the documents. Jessa's custom officer is better. Help her to take out.
Waited outside Mac. Forget to buy water or food. Busy chatting with the group.
Weather is nice. Love the sky n clouds. Windy n cool temp. 25 i guess. Hopped into a bus. Everyone dozed to sleep except me. Need to travel 2 n 1/2 hr to newcastle. On the way, i saw the Sydney Bridge, Opera House and Hawkesbury River (during the Freeway F3 highway).
Me busy snapping photos... everyone still zzz... until we reach the pitstop.
The pitstop is quite big. Got gas station, Mac and other cafes. Went for toilet break and buy bottle of water. Darn ex over there. Got chopped. Two bottle of 600ml mineral water cost us AUD6. Singapore barely $1 each.
Continue travel. Got a short nap before reaching newcastle. Reach our hotel. Newcastle is more warmer than Sydney. Perhap it is late afternoon. The sun is sunny.
Unload our stuffs and went across Markettown. (opp our hotel). Dear dragged me into the supermarket before it close at 5pm. It was approx 4pm and most shops are closed. Buy some neccessities and have a long feet subway (promotion cost AUD7) and shared. =) Bread is abit hard. And tried wedges from Henny Penny. Nice!!
We walked ard newcastle. Seem like a ghost town. Every shops or building seem collasped. We walk an hour plus before we finalize our dinner. Domino which is located next building from our hotel. Pickup and ate in the room. Pizza are darn cheap. Offer @ AUD8 for a large pizza (pickup).
Order 3 n other stuffs and share with 7 ppls.
Sleep early as tmr need to wake up 6am for breakfast. Dear n rest will be pickup at 7am in lobby.
Day 2 (23 MaR):
Woke up by morning call @ 6am. It is 3 am in singapore time. Need to wake up for breakfast as Dear's bus is arriving at 7am in lobby to send them to school. Still in sleepy mode and also cant wear pj to downstair for breakfast. They have dress code at the cafe. Since im still in sleep mode, wore my pink jacket and zipped up, with my track pant. Passed the dress code. Haha..
Had American breakfast buffet. Ham with egg. Didnt try pancake. It has a pancake machine. Jus press ok and 2 serving of pancake is ready within few mins. Wow.. i love that machine.
Lucky we are early. Limited seat available. Let dear had a full breakfast before the person in charge ask them to aboard the bus at 6.55am. Run back to room to get dear water bottle. He forget abt it when packing last nite.
Waved him when the bus is off... Me and Jesse are left alone in hotel. Arranged to walk ard Newcastle by foot at 10am. Went back to sleep but unavailable. Bathed and watch cartoon for 30min before dozing off... Jesse came my room early. 9.30am as her room is housekeeping. Me still dressing up. =P
At ten, we went out. Ask a map from reception. The lady is nice to tell us abt the places we want to go. Planned to go Hunter Mall. She mentioned that it is barely few shops only. We went to Marketplace to walk ard as yesterday is mostly closed. There are 31 shops and we are eyeing for gifts. Passed the Post and planned to do some surprises. I bought a postcard and mail to dear's house. Stamps cost $1.40 and post card cost me $0.60. Bought a mini car plate with his name for him. =)
Mainly walk ard to see what to buy for gifts. My budget is simply too little to get anything much.
Walked to spotlight. It is jus a street away from our hotel. Weather is nice in the morning. Windy. No need to wear much but a shawl is jus nice. It is full building for spotlight. Selling similiar items in singapore. Similar prices.
Next we went to Scrapbook shop. It is having March Sale and is simple cheaper than Singapore. Jesse want to buy everything from the shop. Stay in the shop for nearly 3 hours. I bought some blank cards and some special scrapbook papers which i cant find in singapore. The salelady is nice to entertain us. I also bought one ribbon with heart. Jesse bought nearly AUD80+. She is darn happy as it is really cheaper than singapore. A rub on sticker is merely cost AUD1.79 after discount.
It is late and we are hungry. Went back marketplace for lunch. Opt Henny Penny for lunch. Choose snack attack range. A drumstick with fries n whipped sauce. Cost me AUD3.95, a very small portion for local but a big portion for Jeremin! Im a small eater.
Went back to hotel to wait for dear. It is nearly 3pm. Dear told me that his bus fetch them at 4pm.
Waited till 5pm. No news from them. Went to Jesse room to find her. Not in her room. Went downstair lobby to wait. Saw some of his classmates but no one know my dear is. Worried. Saw Jesse at lobby. SHe is using internet from the hotel for update. 20min for AUD2.
Im more worried as no sms or call from them. Jesse is cool. Ask me no need to worry for them. I know they need to pick up the car from the rental company at 5pm. I guess that they went directly to get the car instead of returning back hotel.
Waited till 6.30pm. Both of us walked to marketplace for snacks. Darn hungry. Dear is at WL room for discussion when we are back. They didnt get the car. Dear is super angry and pissed off with himself. They didnt managed to find the correct location to meet their superior. They got lost. They didnt get the car as they are late for 20min n the car company is closed. Despite they called the car company that they will be slightly late, the car company still closed on time. Can see dear is hungry and angry. They took public bus back to hotel. AUD3.50 for the trip back.
Went opp for MacD for dinner. I had quarter pound cheeseburger. Something that Sinagpore dun have. They have a big range for cheeseburger. Single cheeseburger, double cheese burger, triple cheeseburger!! Also have quarter pound, double pound n more... Their small size is our singapore kid size. Drink n fries are our singapore kid size. Med is our singapore small size. Haha... i miss my singapore LARGE size.. Dear had something like MacChicken but slightly different range. Different culture in Mac. Usually we order n wait till they served all items before we walk off. They are different. After we ordered, we will stand aside, waiting them to call yr order. There is why alot of ppl stand at near the counter. We tot they are going to order but waiting for their order. They dun not served us with tray but paperbags. Cos it allow us to throw all the rubbish into the bag n no need to do cleaning!
Finish our meal at 7.30pm. Agreed to get the car from the airport instead. Hailed a cab to Newcastle airport. Approx 30min drive n AUD50+. 4 of us went to get our car. Dear n Wl dun wan to mess up their tmr morning school trip. Ask the cab driver how to drive back from airport to our hotel. Quite easy to note down but is a long route. Also most roads dun have streetlamps and are dark.
Arrived airport within 22mins. Paid the cab with tips. Went to counter to get our car. Meanwhile Jesse and i were busy taking photos. I nvr see a domestic airport and we kept taking the photos. It is small and quiet. Not much ppl as the flight havent arrived. Only those cab driver who are waiting for passengers, were watching the football match. Barely less than ten people including us at the airport.
Waited 15min n got our car. Ford, 4 Litre car. Number plate is WET 513. Haha.. wet!! But we dun have GPS!! Need manual map reading. =(
Drove back to hotel easily with WL's guide. Had a long day n decided to have a good rest. Tmr no need to wake up early as they had car to school.
Day 3 (24 MaR):
Dear is having school at 10am. Had our breakfast on 8am. Had try the pancakes. yummy... will eat everyday..His friends wan to rent a car after seeing us having a car. They wan to go after breakfast. I wonder if they are in time to school. Afterall they dun have GPS. Need manual map reading. Also dear need to go rental company to check if there are GPS.
Sent him off and make same arrangement with Jesse for later programs. Meet at ten again.
At ten, we went to scapebook as Jesse wan to get more complete series of papers. She was reading the free magz which the lady gave us yesterday. She saw alot of things which she didnt buy. Stayed there for nearly an hour plus before we left. We went for lunch at marketplace. This time we choose chinese food. AUD5 for extra small plate. 1 main course with 3 dishes. I chose fried rice with 1 meat and 2 vegs. Too much to finish it. =P
Walk ard marketplace as Jesse wan to buy for her friends. Then return hotel approx 1.30pm as Dear's meeting with superior shd be end 2pm. Pending them to return. =)
Waited for them till 2.30pm. They returned. Realised that their thursday meeting is cancelled! Huarray. Dear have two full days to enjoy himself instead of one.
We arranged to eat at Darby street since we have car. However his friends had to wait till 5pm to have their car (to save a day rental). They walked to Darby street while we drove.
Snap alot of pics. =)
Guys are kind of slow in making decision. They made a long time before we decided to have Jap food. It is nearly 3.30pm when we sat down. Love the place cos there are no taxes. All nett price. =) Dear and i ate Don. Total cost with a can of lemonade soda cost AUD21. We ate till it is nearly 4.30pm. Asking his friends to get their car and we return to our hotel to wait for them.
Meantime, i dragged dear to marketown to walk ard. Afterall, he only went to school and hotel. Jesse and Wl also tagged along. =) Dear bought me my kids Havaianas apple white slipper, costing AUD24.95. I had been looking for this slippers since Sean is returning from Perth. He cannot find my size. And here Newcastle have my size and design! Huarray... =) We walked ard at the Coles supermarket. Realise it open 24hrs for 7 days. Wow... no worries if we are hungry at night. Haha.. there is mac n pizza nearby also..
Returned back to hotel. Their friends got their car, KIA. Planned to go bench to take photos. Choose Nooby's beach as they had passed by during Mon bus ride. They drove and we followed. Stop at Wharf Rd cos they got lost. Haha.. jus go down the road and we will reach the beach. Im not driving but i know the road well in newcastle. Haha.. Snap a few before departing.
We arrived at the Nobby's beach but Kia car got lost. Dear and i keep snapping non stop. We are facing Tasman Sea. Strong waves and blue water. Many seagulls flying and nice sunset. Saw many ppl surfing using the parachutes. Got ppl playing soccer at the fine sands. Ppl jogging with dogs or kids. Wow.. nice. Wait n his Kia friends came. We walked to the lighthouse but is closed. However the path to the lighthouse is super windy. Super cold and lucky i wear my shawl. =) Still snapping non stop. haha..
It is nearly 7pm. Bench turn dark. We are looking for dinner. Dunno why the Kia drove to another beach but it is too dark to see its beauty. Then we drove back to Darby street for dinner. It is nearly 8pm. Chose a Thai restaurant. Haha.. dear called it a Black Shop. Cos a bowl of soup (AUD7) is as small as a small cup. 7 portion of rice cost us AUD21. Serving are relatively small and the bills cost us over hundred plus. The guys are still hungry n went to Henny Penny for supper. Haha.. they are too late. It is closed. Dear and i go Coles to buy cup mee n hot choc drinks to eat. Oh cup noodle are ex in australia. AUD 2 to 3 for a cup. We bought 4 cups at promotion price of AUD5. Taste is so-so only.. Choc drink is darn choc.. haha.. I miss milo..
Had a hot bath n supper before going to sleep.
Day 4 (25 MaR):
Had our breakfast at 7.25am. Eat my fav pancake and egg with hams. Breakfast menu seem same daily. No change at all.. But with my pancake. I dun mind!!!
The rest came late. Promise to depart hotel at 8am as we had a long day schedule. Waited them till 8.45am. We went to our rental car company for more details abt the route to Sydney n Blue mt. Cos i told them that there is E toll n no cash is allowed for payment. Also they ask for maps too. Using the maual maps, we drove down F3 highway. An hour plus and realised we are lost.
Drove our an exit and saw Australia Reptile Park signboard, Kia drove there for asking directions while we had our toilet break. Got a tourist shop. Some went to buy gifts. Managed to snap a few photos at the reptile park. Haha.. as if we came to visit like that.. only for toilet break..
Continue our route. Pass a toll but less than ten min, there is another toll. Realised that this route may had endless toll booth. Cos each toll cost nearly AUD3+. Then they start to change the route. Stop outside a neighbourhood estate. Cos we need to stop our car for discussion. We stopped outside a beautiful house. It had two rose trees. Wow.. rose petal is everywhere on the garden. I love it.. Dear will buy that house for me in future!! =P Btw, it is 12 noon. We still at area in outside Sydney. Still a long way to Blue mt.
Drove another hour or two to reach Kaboomta Town. Since it is the only route and town to Blue Mt. Dear is tired n hungry. He drove nearly 130km/h up the Blue Mt and dump his Kia friends.. Overtake many cars n trains. Realise hungry tired Dear is so dangerous yet safe... =P
With Wl ard, he told dear to take the nature view route. We can see some sceneries.. Beautiful. Arrived at echo pt, we parked our car n go photo taking. We are too excited to realised that we jus dump our car n ignored buying the car coupons. -__-"
Snap and snap non stop. A korean guy is kind to help me n dear to snap the Blue Mt - 3 Sister. I think he cannot stand me taking self taking using such a pro carmera. Haha.. -___-" His shots are pro n nice. Can see that he is a pro shooter via his body lang. Learn a tip from him. =)
Waited for his Kia friends and we went to shop at tourist shop. Got lost with WL n Jesse. Dear is so worried that we went everywhere to search for them. The nearby shopping centre, the tourist shop, the 3 sisters and the carpark. Realised that they went lower section to take photos without inform us. Seem that dear is pissed. Hungry man is an angry man. After all, dear alone drove 5 hours +. Surely hungry n tired =(
It is 3pm when we depart the Blue Mt. Went to Kaboomta town for lunch. Most cafes are closed at 3pm. Went to a chinese restaurant which is still open. Ate a plate of BBQ pork rice, costing me AUD7.50. The stall is called Three Sister Chinese Restuarant. -___-"
Nearly 4pm. Kia wan to go down Sydney to walk ard. Drove 2 hour plus down to Sydney. City is more complicated route. We jus need to right turn and each junction does not allow any right turn. Darn... drove down nearly opera house before we can turn. We got prob finding carpark lot, so WL suggest we parked at Intercontinential Hotel. Nvr expect that the parking after 6pm to 11pm cost AUD25!!! We barely park 4 hours only. Find the Kia. THey parked somewhere on the street. Walked 1 big round (nearly 20min) to find them. Walked down to Sydney bridge n opera house to take photos. Night scenes are hard to catch via camera. Many blurred images.
Then the lighting strike. Really big flash from the heaven. Nvr see such lighting before in my entire life.( P.S. next day weather broadcast mentioned that it is the biggest n worst lighting ever in march in SYD ) It is going to rain soon. We walked n walked to look for toilet. Ya.. the Kia friends wan to go toilet. Public toilet are closed. Walked back to Intercontinential Hotel for toilet. Another 23min walks. Darn tired. I recalled we walked 3 big round back to the Intercontinential Hotel. Im hungry n tired. It is raining... WL lose the parking ticket. -__-" Waited for him awhile. Since i walked pass 3 round and saw a restaurant. It seem packed with alot ppl. Mayb i guess the food shd be nice n good. Walked down the street to see the menue while the rest are waiting for WL. It is a jap ramen rest.
I suggested to eat there as it is raining n late. 8.30pm already as many cafes are closed or rest are very very expensive cafes. Agreed with the rest, i went to Q. It is called Wagamama. Most order ramen and dear order Katshu Curry rice. Portion is big n nice. Didnt order the rest due to expensive price. Dear and i ate AUD40 after tax n service charges (which i treated him). One ramen and 1 curry rice. Nice ambience n food. Seem they are hooked with Wagamama. (u will know later on).
It is 10pm in SYD. We drove back 2 and half hours back to newcastle. It is nearly 12.30pm when we arrived our hotel. I remember that dear is driving like a mad person but still very safe. heehee.. Driving up to 140 km/h. Poor WL had to rush for his report and assignment after we arrived at hotel. It is nearly 1am. Dear and I had a hot bath n dozed like a pig..
Day 5 (26 MaR):
Woke up 6am by morning call but didn't bother to pick up. Continue to sleep like pig.. haha.. Had our pancake cum american breakfast at 8am.
Today we planned to go Hunter Valley which is an hour drive from Newcastle. We drove and i am very excited to go there. Cos it is famous for wine vineyards. =)
Drove half hour but we are lost. Hunter Valley is a darn big place and the drivers from Kia pick the wrong route since they are the leading car. U-turn and drove another hour plus and i saw greenery of fields. Got horse and cows.. wow.. Kia stopped at the road side to take photos and we did the same. Afterall we are living in city and nvr went to country side before.. Haha.. sound like we are country bum.
Drove passed a very local gas store for top up gas and direction asking. It is very simple and old. The shelves dun have any price tags on it. They jus pick and paid. I went to ask how much the cashew nuts are. AUD8 for 200gm. Relatively cheaper abit. Bought it and the cashier is very friendly. He will always start to say "Darling". Dear topped up gas for the car and he forget to get a receipt. He kindly write our a receipt by writing. Wow.. really country side.
Continue our ride and we saw cessnock town. Stopped at an old general store for directions. Saw something special. Outside the door were notices. Notices such as sell cow, chicken and horse poos. Also sell baby cattles at AUD250 each. Also sell new born puppies too. Wow..
Dear seem tired and keep sleeping in the car during break. Bough him two packet of chips at discount prices as they are going to expired soon.
Drove another twenty mins and we cannot find one of the winery which the guys wan to go. So we went to Tempus two instead. Wow.. it is really a big vineyard. Compare with others, it is more bigger and more modern looks. A big grey modern building with wide roads and vineyard. Saw grapes at the side of the field. Wow..
We went into the Tempus Two building. Approach by one of the saleperson who look like bartendars. They are standing behind the bars and ask what type of wine we wish to taste. We told her that each person preference and she will do the flow of the wine type. Drink some dry red wine. Dear dun like. Me still ok. Then we tried their moscato. Wow.. love it immediately. =)
Then we tried their dessert wines, which is my fav type of wine. Tried their two types. Rocher and Tempus Two. Rocher is nice, not very sweet but it had an after-taste. Dear dun like the after-taste. Im quite like the level of sweetness. Not very sweet but pleasant. I dun mind the after-taste. Then tried Tempus Two. It is very very sweet and i find it oversweet. This dun have any aftertaste. Im quite like both wine. Dilema with both. Until at the very last point during payment, i decided to pick Tempus two for its bottle. Beautiful bottle which can be a vase of one rose in future.
Sidetrack abit..
I saw the cost of the same dessert wine at supermarket is selling SGD40. And i bought at AUD20. Save half the cost. =) Also Dear and i bought my fav brown brother desert wine (750ml) at AUD17 and drank at nite. Singapore only sell 375ml version at SGD22. Wahh... =(
Then we moved on to chocolate factory. We tot that it is big factory but it only allow customer to go to store for purchase their product. Cannot view the factory. =(
Moved on.. One of the guys wan to see Kola bear. So we drove to nearby local zoo to see feeding time. AUD15 per person. Dear got cheaper by few bucks due to his student card.
It is a very small zoo but dear find it very ideal. He mention that big zoo have big crowds and hard to a contact with the kola bear. True indeed. We 7 persons with another 4 tourists (one old couple and two indians). Got the chance to take pics with contact. Not hugging it but patting it. Got 3 Kola in that zoo. Only one big fat kola is picked. It is busy eating its foods.. we want to take a clear pic without the leaves (his food) blocking. So we pull the branch abit away and take a snap. The kola push the leaves back. Scared we took away its food. Haha...
Also saw other animals such as different species of kangroos, white peacook, monkeys, reptiles, wolve dogs and snakes. Dear mentioned that he saw wild kola and kangroo free in the park during his stay in perth. A baby kola.. and tons of wild kangroo hopping ard.. Wow..
It is 3.30pm and we didnt have lunch yet. We need to return our cars by 5pm at Newcastle. We need to drive an hour plus back. Therefore we had to skip our lunch. =( Lucky we had chips n drinks in our cars. Ate it all during our way back. I told dear to drive thru those fastfood outlet to buy something to eat. But the rest dun wan.. =(
When we return our hotel, it is 5pm as there is traffic jam. Lucky we didnt go to SYD today as there is a massive jam at the highway. We scared that if we went to city, we cannot return the cars on time. Good decision we had. =)
They wan fastfood for dinner. I dun wish to eat fried food as im sick. I order a pizza next building at cost of AUD8 with 2 dollars for extra toppings. Waited ten mins and bought wedges from Henny Penny which dear love it very much. Opened our Brown brother dessert wine also in our room with the food. Simply love the pizza. At least it is not fried. =) Let dear eat all the wedges as singapore dun have nice delicous wedges..
Packed our bags es as tmr need to check out 9am and pick up by a bus to SYD in 2 and half hours. A nite stay in SYD. =)
Day 6 (27 MaR):
No more morning call.. nearly overslept. Lucky dear had set alarm clock. =)
Had our pancake n american breakfast. The rest dun wan to eat that liao. They went to opp to have Mac instead.
Went back room to get our bags and check out. Realise the weather is extremely cooling. 20~22 deg only. I guess SYD will be warmer.
Waited till 9am and ppl are lated. =( Some dunno that there is change in the check out. Had to wait for them to return car before depart. Claimed that they dun recieved any sms or notice abt it. Dear show them the sms he received from PIC.
The bus driver is a very nice person. Knowing that we are first time in australia, he volunteer to give us a free short tour at SYD. Also he mentioned that newcastle had a biggest salt water lake and he will purposely drive that direction to pass by it. Jus to show us the saltwater lake. =)
Passby the lake. Wow.. very big. Usually we can see the bank or land at the opp side of the lake in singapore. Here we cannot see any. All is saltwater. Nice scenery. =)
Drove two n half hours. He stopped at park at north SYD before the sydney bridge. We can see close up view of the mega structure of the bridge. Also its left side is the opera house and the CBD city view. I thought he jus passed by only but he ask us to alight!
Wahh.. the weather is super nice. Lucky i wear my thick pluto jacket. Keep me warm from the strong wind. =)
We keep snapping non stop.. Suddenly i cannot see the WL and Jesse n Kia. Realised they walked down the slope to have a better view.. Wow.. Run down the slope to take more better pics. =)
After 20min, we left the park. Passed by the E toll.. Haha.. dear n WL want to take a snap of it.. The rest (esp KIA) all took out their cams n keep snapping. It is a very significant icon to us. It is because it is E toll and cannot pay by cash. On last wed, our drive to blue Mt, we tried to avoid this toll as we dun have the electron card to pay. Due to this toll, we need to travel more routes n spent 5hrs to avoid this. Haha..
The bus driver drove passed some historical buildings and statues. Due to my block muffy ears, sometime i cannot heard properly. I kept asking what is this... The guys keep saying that "jus snap will do.. dun care what it is..." So being clueless what it is, dear and i keep snapping... haha..
Then he drove into the royal botanic garden, passby a museum. Actually he wan to drive us another sight to see the SYD bridge n the opera house at the same direction. It allow us to take both famous landmark within a same view. Wow.. we keep snapping non stop.. it is very beautiful angle. Cos last wed nite at opera house, i tried to take a pic to have two landmarks. It is impossible due to the camera len. Here it is possible.
There are many pro cameramen. Keep taking tourists photo and asked them to buy at price of AUD15. No one dare to approach me n dear as i had latest pro cam which bro lent me. =)
Then we left the park and drove us to our SYD hotel. Since we are early, we cannot able to check in yet. So we left our bags and went walking.
Walked ard for lunch.. Went to a fastfood to settle our meal. Forget its name. It is a very special fastfood as it has spicy chilli burger. I ordered one.. and it is super hot.. In australia, it is hard to find chilli!! Even mac dun have chilli. Only tomato.. Other type of sauces need to purchase.. =(
And then we keep walking ard. The Kia wan to go darling habour.. but it is 2pm which we can check in already. They continue want to go first since we are half way already.
I walked till very tired and cough non stop. Very uncomfortable. No one noticed that im unwell. =( Hoping to find a pharmacy to get some med.
After walking 30min, we reached Daring Habour. =) It is very beautiful. We kept snap with our cams. And they wan to go do some shopping for gifts. Finally i saw a mall. Hoping to get some med. However dear n i too engrossed with getting gift for family and get lost with the rest.
Since we got lost, dear n i busy find them. Wanna to look for pharmacy.. but doggie pulled me away.. =( Finally found them at the end of the shopping mall. Then they continued to walk... Im super tired n exhausted. Meanwhile dear saw a pharmacy at the side of the traffic junction, he pulled me in quickly. Got two meds for cough n throat. Costing me AUD20. Expensive!!
We walked to an very old building which had convert into high end shops. I can found all kind of famous brands such as coach and YSL. The building is 3 storey high with a basement. Wow.. it seem like those old govt office building but renovate into a classy area. There is a clock at the middle of the ceiling.. very artist n classy. Im too sickly to walk. Some wish to walk and some dun wan. I only wish to find a seat to sit down n rest. Agreed to meet up 20min. Found a bench and sat down. Ate the cough med. Yuck.. =(
After eating, i walked ard for 5min. It is really a nice historial building. Even toilet cubic door is the old fashion door which the gap (between the door and the floor) is super high at the bottom. Like those doors in the 1930s. took a few snaps and left the place.
Finally we went back to hotel. I wan to have a good nap as im totally unwell. Keep coughing n vomitting.. totally uncomfortable. Had an hour plus sleep and went for dinner.
Im totally weak. Dun wish to go anywhere far. Went to nearby mall (five streets away from hotel) and many restaurants were closed. =( Since im ill, i wish to eat something soupy n warm. Found Ajisan Ramen is opened. Went and tried. (Cos i tried in HK before n see if there is any diff or not).
Ask for indoor seats as it is cold outside. The table is special. It had a bell to intercom for staffs to serve u. Despite it is a very small indoor shop but it has another bigger open area at the other side. I think such a device is useful to help to intercom staff at indoor. It has a couple meal. 2 ramens, 2 side dish with 2 drink and 2 dessert cost AUD50. Wow.. all customer except one are asians.
Order 2 ramen and fried tofu. The tofu is super bigger than singapore. The portion is slightly bigger. I got more meats compare to singapore. No cabbage (i like it), no beansport and no seaweed. Most ingredients are different from singapore. I think australia love purple onions in their ramen. Wagamama also has purple onions!
Happy to eat something hot n soupy. Full and bloated. =)
Went passed the mall. Dear went to get some last min gifts. Im too weak to move. I asked him to go into the shop n buy while i sat outside the bench. meanwhile, i saw many ppl bought many cartons of beers. I think either it is having sale to stock up or they are going for party. Since i sat outside a supermarket and an Asian grocery shop. Saw many asians ard. I guess that is why there are many asians restuaurant ard.
After 30min, dear came out. We walked back the long and dark streets. Passby some pubs which im scared off. Got a bad incident at newcastle.
**Sidetrack abit.. At Newcastle, i went out to mac with jesse where a pub is nearby. The drinkers are eyeing and talking abt on us. Dunno whether if they have any bad motive on us. Glad that we bumped into Dear and WL at the junction who are walking back from campus. We are safe. Then accompany Jesse went to buy some snack from Domino which is a corner away from the pub. Lucky we are waiting inside the shop. Saw a gang of drinkers who are drunk, standing outside. Body is full of tabtoos. I start to scared. Wonder how am i going to get out from the shop without bumping into them. The drunkers walked into the shop, shouted and scream some long sentences... I dun catch what they are saying.. Only hear the staff shouted them to leave the shop as no drinking is allowed here. Then they left the shop but hanging ard outside. After awhile, they walked back to the pubs. WL told me that it is not safe for gals to be outside. Even he got attack once due to racism. Lucky Jesse and i are ok. *wipe sweat* Once get our food, we quickly walked back.**
When i reach hotel, im too exhaust to pack my bag. Ask dear to jus dump my stuff into my luggage and locked them up. I went for a hot bath and had my med before went to sleep. However i kept waking up to go toilet to vomit. I think i also disturb dear to sleep well. =(
Day 7 (28 MaR):
Wake up at 7am n feel abit better. Need to check out at 8.30am. So went 6 streets away to have Hungry Jack. Only fastfood is open at 6am. I ate pancake while dear ate kebah. Nice nice.. saw a bird flew inside the fastfood. Dun wan to get out. No wonder.. cos dear mentioned that those bird hunters are hunting for those crows and birds.. (btw crow in australia are super noisy.. they cried like a kid is calling "ahhh" I always mistaken some ppl is shouting "Ahhh" but it is the crows..)
After breakfast, it is 8am. Rush to supermarket to get ah min's last min notice med. Lucky it opened from 6am or otherwise it is gone case... Quickly run back to hotel to check out..
As usual, ppl are late.. =( But this round is not that bad. The same driver pick us up. =) Load our luggage into the small trailers and drove off...
Arrived in airport within 30mins... Saw the AUD4 trolley.. use it at AUD4 n return it with 20cents. Wahh AUD3.80 rental cost.. =(
We went for check-in.. it is a super long queue.. And then the gang didnt eat breakfast. It is already 11am. They saw Wagamama and dashed in... =) they got hooked with my Wagamama suggestion at the SYD nite dinner. Haha...
Accompany them to eat.. Order dumpling and shared with dear.
Then went to departure area in SYD. Got many custom checks. i got many checks as i dunno that i pass the senor with my belt n jacket.. The custom officer is teasing me abt my soft toy and shouting that he got a new toy. He wan to confised it but end up he is kidding with me.. They got check my bag n my softtoy... Realised that dear dump my cough med without any ziplock bag. Re-scan everything again... =( After i tot it is totally over.. Dear was asked to go into an enclosed room to further checks. One officer said that i dun not need to check but i told them that im with him. Asking if i can stand and wait for dear. The male office allow me to stand at the door but dun let me step into the inner room. They request him to do what-ever chemical test.. They said that there are passenger who hide chemcial in their sleeve or pants.. also dear is carrying a super duper big hiking bag with my camera bag n his laptop. I guess affected by me as i got checked a bottle of cough med inside my bag. He passed the test and ask to proceed. During the test, the female office is chatting with me. Seeing me holding my soft toy and said that it is not a crime or offence to hug a soft toy to travel.. It is not a big deal afterall.. I think she heard that officer tease me abt my toy. =S
Finally we passed that tests n check. Walking to the entrance of the departure hall, we are stopped by another officer!!! Asking to do a test again.. Dear was stunned that he had done so many check and tests. Asking if it is that wat-ever chemcial test, the officer said yes. We told him that he had done the test in that room already and he finally let us out of the custom area.
Dear tease me that he will nvr want to go thr the custom with me together again. Causing him to get so many checks n tests! He nvr bump into such before during his many trips to australia.. -__-"
I think we spent 30min for the customs.
Saw the rest are shopping inside the duty free shops.. Buy like it is free... perhap they didnt do much shopping on the last day. They buy wines and chocolates. Im totally broke n didnt buy anything.
Waited outside the gate for our plane. Dunno izzit because we all arrived at the boarding gates before the boarding time. I saw my watch when i got seat on plane. It is the boarding time! Also surprised to see the total flight hours on the screen. It is 7hour only. I vaguely remember that our flight is abt 8hrs back.
After an hour on plane, the whole kris-flyer system got hang n re-booted for 30mins. Waited 4hrs and announced that the system is totally unable to start. Lucky dear got laptop and we can entertained ourselves by viewing photos and movies. =)
My ear is totally muffy...
Perhap due to early boarding, we realised our plane arrived earlier. Folks told us that we arrived immediately they had arrived. Lucky they came early. =) Saw ah min n colleen at the arrival lounge.
Got taxed for having too much bottle of wine.. =( lucky we only exceed by very little and being taxed very little amt.
That's the end of my holiday trip to Australia (NSW) with dear. It is a very eye opening trip for me. We tried driving ard ourselves, went to places which we nvr went before, tried wine tasting in vineyard, visit a countryside zoo, visit the famous landmarks.. Also my own experience without dear with me in australia.
It let me appreciate my own homeland more.. the easy availabity of fresh & cheap items in supermarkets, having meals at non lunch or dinner hours and our safe singapore. Of cos I do miss their big cloudy blue sky, the nature parks, the friendly ppls, their large variety of Mac cheezeburger and the cheap pizzas..
I didnt get anything except a cheap t-shirt for myself Also dear gave me a early anniversary present, my fav design Hanvana flip-flop. Plus the countless memories i had with dear...
Also thanks for those who encourage me to go for the trip and those little help who had provided..
P.S We lost some of the photos.. at least the photos we wants are recovered. =)
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