Never ending fun down under!

This is a repost of some sort cos I realise I got all my trips blogged out so well and pretty.. so I really can't sit down and let one of my most beautiful trip go un-noticed!

And if you enjoyed this " visual-tour" remember to PRAISE ME!!!! Arrgghh.. out of courtesy at least! Boooo~~~

So yeah, this trip officially begins on the 14 of April.. but due to lecture committments etc.. I had to start off a day later then the rest of my gang. But still, I will never short change myself when it comes to having fun!

So I spent my official day 1 travelling up to Sydney and went over to the Paddington Market for a morning of shopping fun.

Food place at Paddington Market in Sydney, selling some asian crusines like our Char Kueh Teow! Woo.. Smells good! I said ----->Smell good not taste good!

We got a car and started roaming around streets of Sydney and then headed off to Hunter Valley! Weeee..

And this is our accomodation for 2 nites! YHA Hunter Valley!

Gosh I must admit this is my first time sleeping in this sort of hostel. And darn, its really great fun! And seriously, this is such a great place. You wake up to a beautiful vine-yard and a whole great bunch of friendly folks.

And the first stop of the day was the Visitor Centre at Hunter Valley to recharge abit. Then its off to the Hunter Valley Garden where I finally get to display my talents..

I mean my hiden talent is that I look very professional with instruments.. but hey! Its a form of performing art! The Art of Pretending!

Then we continued on our journey to look for easter eggs.. but really had no luck.. nevertheless.. we still came across a Huge egg.. known as Humpty Dumpty (or watever its being spelled)

Oh my! Thats a huge fallin egg! Thats alot of protein and cholestoral over there! Heehe

Anyway, I really had to rush off for my tea party...

This is sure my cup of tea!

Remember how your mummy will always warn you about running too fast? You tend to fall?

Ahh.. but you will never find kids like me who always smile even when I crack my knee of bump my forehead??? Heehehe

Ahh.. Hidden within the tranquil.. Here lies my perfect Wedding venue.

Remember when I was a kid, I always dreamed of getting married in a beautiful church.. But these days, I seemed to be having second thots.. Well, my image of church has never changed.. rather, its my image of guys that changed. From bad to worst. Geez.

After the garden, we spent the rest of the day visiting numerous Vineyard, big or small, tasting wine after wine.

Needless to say.. you tend to feel alittle happy after a few glasses. Sometimes, you even blush, don't you? Heehe

Still not over my "getting-married" mood.. I found my perfect venue for a fantastic Outdoor wedding... In this lovely vineyard

The best wedding gift you can give me? How about bringing me a guy willing to marry me! Bugger off.. Grrrr..

Ok.. after a whole day of drinking, the gang retired to the hostel with a car full of wine! Guess whats the best part? We were given another half a bottle of wine for free! Wahhaaha, that sort of took care of our "alcohol-needs" for that night.

The next morning, we woke up wee early to freshen up and pack up for our next journey down south! We are heading off to Bundanoon.. We took a scenic drive down the Great Dividing where we stop by this little kiosk.. and I got something special for my mummy.. its a little metalic box with an angel on it.. very intricated design.. Ahh, bet you can't find it elsewhere! When it comes to getting her a gift, it has always got to be the most special one.

Anyway, we sort of spent the whole day on car.. kept having rest stops here and there.. until we finally arrived in the little town of Bundanoon..


Bundanoon is a little cosy town where there really isn't many people there. It was already nitefall when we settled down. So we decided to do a night trail at a national park nearby.... We tracked for almost an hour before we reach our destination which is the Glow Worm Glen. Its a ptiy that I can't snap any pictures while I was there.. Still, it was a good hike, tiring but fun.. We were told that if we ever get unlucky, we might come across small animals in our path.. or worst still.. humans.. Just imaging what can be more scary than lone humans roaming in the middle of some national parks? Its my first time doing hiking in complete darkness except for a few rays of moonlight.

Our accomodation for the nite?

YHA Bundanoon!

Ahh.. maybe thats not all.. how about a dose of beer at a Scotish Pub nearby?


Anyway, let me do abit of advertisement over here first.. you have got to try this pie..

I don't earn commission here.. but still, do try it out!

The beauty of this little town lies in its location which is stratagically located by the side of Morton National Park..

And being an avid fan of doing crazy and nutty stuff, how can I miss the chance of visiting the park and do something silly there?

Like meditating on some protruding rock out of nowhere..!

Okok.. time to move on, we are spending far too much time in Bundanoon..
Oh, a word of advice, never send your photos around cos you never know there might be weirdos who are so good with adobe photoshop that they start playing around with your photos till it turns freaky like this..

So its another day of driving and more driving.. passing by Southern Highlands and heading all the way towards Snowy Mts.

We had to stop by this Caravan Park called Khancoban for the nite. Ahh.. thats where we were fed a very authentic Chinese Teochew Porridge

Yummilicious!

Time to retreat! Ahhh.. and after a good nite sleep, we had a great day at Snowy Wilderness.. where I almost broke a limb cos I almost flew off my Quad bike.

Here's the bike that scared the shit outta me!


And here comes the bikers!

Quad bike riding is fun afterall! Ahhh.. Like I always say.. anything that doesn't kill will only make you stronger.

Next thing up! Horse Riding anyone?

Its really hard to get up the horse.. and if you accidentally annoyed the horse, beware, it might just sneeze on you.. like what this horse did to me! Grrrr...

During our lunch break, the owner of the place, Ross, gave us a nice piece on his double bass.. this rich fella is actually a millionaire cum musician cum businessman cum etc and etc.. ahhh.. just a rich fella with all the time and money in the world.

Cheers mate!

After lunch, its a ride on a 4WD around Ross's estate! Gosh, we had never finish touring the place.. its just too huge.

After the ride, we went fly fishing! Ah haa! Something new! Its not normal fishing.. the way to cast the rod is very much different.. and the baits are all hand made! Interesting..

But really, I'm more interested in the catch! Ahh.. a rainbow trout for dinner! Looks yummy!

After the fun and "misadventure" at Snowy Wilderness, we headed for Snowline Caravan Park located right beside the beautiful Lake Jyndabine.

By this time, coldness is filling the air as you begin to feel a little more "snowy" than usual...

Next morning was filled with excitement as we are all gonna conquere the highest peak in Aussie! Mt Kozzy!(I'm too lazy to check up the correct spelling of its name) Anyway, this mountain is recorded at 2228m high, thats about 1/3 of Mt Everest!

Here is the peak!

Did you see snow? How about this?

Brrrr.. Do I really have to make it so obvious that those white looking stuff is snow?

Wow, when we were decending from the peak, we took a chairlift from the halfway point.. but.. those people decided to turn off the chairlift system halfway while we were up there.. stranded.

Guess it might be becos of my weird actions infront of their camera that prompted those attendance to switch on the system again to let me down.

The next day while heading down the mountain... it started snowing! Gosh! We were really lucky to see snow in Autumn,


How about a snowman?
Melts in your mouth, not in your hand! Guess I need a better slogan.


Your eyes aren't playing tricks! This is for real! Snow shower!

Time to move back to my coastline... hours and hours of driving led us to Bateman's Bay where we stayed for a nite in some nice suite

Can you feel that kind of luxury I was enjoying? Ahhh..

That nite, we decided to treat ourselves to a good dinner at a Thai restuarant there..


Ah.. after so much fun.. our tour has finally come to the last bit.. the drive back to Wollongong.

Nevertheless, it was still fun as we stopped by some nice place like Jervis

Ahh sweet... I just love this photo!

And to refill our empty tummy, we stop by Berry for an afternoon of great pies and shopping!

At the famous Pie shop! Berry Bakery! Ahhh, the pie is really worth dying for! Gosh!

And of cos, my daily dose of ice-cream...

At Ice-Creamery

Ending off the day with a visit to Kiama before heading back to Wollongon..

Kiama Lighthouse!

Beautiful sunset isn't it!

Well, all good things come to an end. I'm glad this good one left me with beautiful memories.

Farm Fun-tastic

Good day!
Ahh.. this is another post that is long overdue.. its actually my Mowbury farm trip..
Finally found time and alittle inspiration to blog it out today..

Doing a farm trip has always been on my "To-Do-List" ever since I step into Australia. Things like milking the cow and feeding those farm animals.. Ahh, its just so wonderful. And the best part? I got to do it on my 22nd birthday(10-11)! What a memoriable day for me. :)

Our day started with horse riding. This is really a very thrilling experience for me. Thank god the horse wasn't galloping away.. its just a slow walk.. with occassional short stretches of road for the horse to gallop abit. Overall a pretty smoothe journey.. thanks to my Zoro


Here is me and my trusty Zoro


And the whole group of "experienced" riders

This farm sure have a very interesting way of transporting its guests...

Using a tractor.. and its really fun and bumpy! I'm sure everyone had a good time squeezing together.

The next thing we did was watching a STRIPTEASE.. Nope, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you. Yup, its a Striptease we have watched. And introducing our 2 main character in this show..

Aww... I wanted to help the poor lamb.. but what can I do, gosh, that fella is holding a shaver man!

There was abit of commotion and struggle. I mean.. can you guys be more understanding.. stripping infront of a huge crowd requires a certain amount of guts you know. Gosh, that lamb is surely traumatised after the show.

Still stripping..

The poor naked lamb spare no extra seconds and dashed straight to the backstage area. And this is what is being left on the crime scene..

Thats a huge piece of Wool!

After this, we had a sheep dog demostration..


This sure reminds me of those days when I used to get chased by these dogs.. I don't know why, but dogs seemed to be always attracted to me.. Grrrr.. I do recall one of the most horrible experience was the time I was being chased by a Sausage Dog. ARrrrhhhgggg.

After we had lunch, it was time to let our animal friends have their well-deserved lunch.

Ever heard about this joke about counting the teeth in an animal's mouth?
It was said that you should never put your hand into their mouth to count the number of teeth they have, cos they will close their mouth and use their teeth to count how manay fingers you have.

Here's a big group of rabbits..


Ah.. and me carrying a lamb-chop..

Lamb Chop Lamb Chop Lamb Chop!

And look at this! I'm milking a cow! Weeee!

She sure has got lots of milk! Enough for everyone.
Milking cow is sure fun! But please be gentle, and mind where you are touching! Hee

After all the milking fun, its time to have tea.. Definitely, we will have to try out damper making and have a cup of Billy Tea.

So thats grilling the first damper of the day and the tins of water for our Billy Tea

After refreshing our tummy with nice dampers with golden syrup and a cup of tea, we continue the fun with Whip Cracking...

And of cos.. I'm really good with whips.. ah.. you should know why..

Poor Maggie had to be my model of the day

Ending of the trip, we had a boomerang throwing session..

Hey, I am pretty good at it..
So don't mess with me, else I'll crack your head with a boomerang.

Thats all for now..

I'm so good that sometimes I even scare myself

Mantra of the East

(Thai words used here might not be spelled correctly, but its the way it should be pronounced)

Sa-Wad-Dee Kar (Hello)
Pai-Tee-Nee Thailand!! (I wanna go to Thailand)

About 10 to 11 years ago, I first step onto this "Land of Thousand Smiles". Now they call themselves the "Mantra of the East". Indeed, time changes everything, Thailand has really changed a fair bit since I last went there.

For the better of cos.

Reaching Thailand at midnite is somehow the best way to escape the horrendous traffic jams. Heehe. So all my fun starts on Day 2 of my trip where I found myself floating on the famous Chao Phraya River.



And here is a nice photo of my sister and me.. Ahem.. when I say nice.. I'm really referring to myself. Hehehe



Then we got to see a few landmarks by the river which include this super steep temple which is now no longer open to tourist cos there are cases where they got stuck up at the top..



Its no joke man! I would have peed in my pants if I got stuck up there!

And if you hold a coin from Thailand, try flipping it over and you will get to see this temple on one of the side.


I hope some of you might still recall this famous Thai movie.. "Nang Nak". I simply love this movie man! Anyway, from what the guide told me, this is a true story that took place in Thailand long long time ago.. and in the story, the monk who caught Nang Nak is none other than.....



And the temple he hails from is none other than...



The next stop is a visit to the Golden Buddha. This Golden Buddha was being discovered so accidentally actually. But anyway, if only i can have a bit of the gold, I would just sell it off and continue with another 6 months tour of South East Asia.


Thats a hefty 5 and a half tonnes of pure gold! Geez.
Jokes aside, I really need some cash to travel.. anyone interested to contribute to the "Cheerene Loves the World Fund"?

Back to my trip..

The next thing we get to see is some pigs feeding tiger.

Such a weird combination.. but anyway, introducing the mama pig and the baby piggies and tigger from the Tiger Zoo.


Then its a Tiger Show!! WooHoo! Its kind of boring really, cos I really didn't enjoy seeing animals being beaten etc..

The next thing up was a Croc show! It was pretty alright, these guys dun really hit the tough crocs that much like what they did to the tigers.

Anyway, see this guy in red? He was wearing a Calvin Klein Undie that day.. hehe, and I'm not gonna tell you how I saw it! **Giggles..**


Ah ha! Racing "ba gua", erm.. I mean Racing pigs! Thats the last show before we head off..

That nite, after abit of shopping and checking into Ceasar Palace Hotel, I had a go at some exotic yummies.. like a whole frog.. its crispy n tasty! Yummlicious till max!

(I know some of you folks would be really disgusted by that.. well, I do feel abit disgusted, but guess the taste would make up for it)

All of us went for a bite at this humble food house..

All my folks!

The food was really "so-so" but the price tag was surely impressive! From this, I do learn my lesson.. afterall, I'm still a "road-side hawker stall" folk..

Next morning, we woke up bright and early, all geared in T-shirts n shorts getting ready for a morning on the beach!

All the Beach Bums heading for para-gliding (don't know if this might be the correct term for this sea sport)

I was going up the sky as well so I had to leave my beloved camera with my mum.. and so the next couple of shots turned out really interesting.. like this for example.. a shot of my sister and I geared in the harness...


Anyway, you can't blame her for it, rather, you should blame me for not exposing her to technology more frequently.

Still.. after that gliding fun.. We headed for the Golden Sand Beach where I tried the Banana Boat for the first time in my whole fat life.

After a couple of falls in the sea, I was really WET. Geez, I didn't realise the towel would go so well with my Astro-Boy T-Shirt!. I love Pink!

And a new addition to my leg...


Moving on.. we headed back for a quick shower and lunch then headed off to the Nong Nooch Village where we were treated to a Thai Cultural Show at the Thai Cultural Show House


And did a couple of silly things like making my cousin do a silly face..


and having a sharp pair of eyes is such a blessing as I always spot interesting stuff like..


Sometimes, your eyes just doesn't lie to you.

Up next is the Elephant show where Elephants either big or small comes out and dance, do silly tricks just to earn a couple of bananas and a few dollars.

It really hurts to see them being "trained" this way just to entertain the crowd. Just think of the pain inflicted on them during the training process. They might look tough.. but remember, what looks tough, is always soft on the inside.

Heading back to Bangkok on Day 4 morning, we stop by the Dream World for a day of fun and fun and more fun.


Spot anything interesting?

Awww...

And a couple of ghastly shots..

Lets name this.. "Romance by the Pond"


And this is.. "PDA" (Its not "Personal Digital Assistant".. but "Public Display of Affection")


"Poker for all ages, dead or alive"


Finally... "Keep the Head Rollin"
(Not edited by photoshop, I promise!)


How can the day be complete without heaps of roller coaster rides! Its really rolling good fun! And the best part... you see people barfing like hell after the ride. I bet thats the best part! Heehee


After a day of maddness in the park.. sometimes, adults do get abit weirder than normal, and they start behaving irrationally.. like popping out from a jar?

And recently the Thai government had passed a new law about gambling in the City.. they said that all poker card must be printed like this...


Usage of all other design of poker cards violates the law.
Always remember. Look for the Original!

The brainy me always have to catch up with local news with the locals.

Looks like Something interesting has caught my attention again.

Leaving DreamWorld, let me treat you to a glimpse of the roads of Bangkok.

Time for Party! Its the New Year heading our way again!

To do business, you really got to be a "local" yourself..

And of cos, Uncle Ronald does believe in this fact too.

Next morning, we were being brought to a Snake farm where they were showing a couple of boring snake..

And the interesting fact I found about about snakes... they have 2 penis! It was said that touching the penis of snakes will guarantee good luck when you gamble.



We then headed for the Safari World where we were being watched by animals.. rather than we watching them...

We had to be kept inside the bus cos the animals are allowed to roam freely.. you really don't want to go onto their lunch menu...


And here is an interesting picture.. A Rhino with 5 legs?


Guess if you are an avid fan of my humble blog.. you might be pretty bored of seeing animals already.. so how about a pool of animal poo.

The next half of the day? It has got to end off with a half day shopping spree at MBK. By now, MBK would have become a landmark for Singaporeans.

On the returning morning, I woke up early to join the crowd at the Bobae Market area where they sell things cheap like dirt.. cos they all do wholesale! And thats where I learn the phrase..

"Ma-dem.. very cheapp.. wholesale price.. no discount, ma-dem, cheap cheap" (you got to have that thai slang before this phrase sounds nice!)

You won't believe it... its so cheap, even cheaper than MBK. But before I head off for shopping.. I caught the day break of Bangkok on my camera...


Heading off back home then! Till next time! :)

Wow guys, this is a really long posting.. glad you guys are still following thru.. good work!
Kob-Kun-Karr (Thank you)


Ahh haha.. I've been there and done all that!


I'm so good that sometimes I even scare myself