What? We're approaching end of August?
Since we came back from Australia, work has been very very busy and stressful. And now we're approaching month end again. This will mean work is going to be real busy and stressful. And my partner would be going on block leave and I got to work 200%. Oh man. I am so not looking forward to September. But then again, on a brighter note, I'm going Taiwan with my family in September. At least I have something to look forward to in September. =p Just got to work hard before I get to enjoy.
Last weekend, it was a busy weekend for Jianhui and me. I had my Shape Run while he had his triathlon. After completing my Shape Run, I took a cab to East Coast Park to support Jianhui.
It was great running with my sister after so long. We had a good chat while running. Oh well, we're not going for timing. Hehe. We have such good telepathy that we actually worn the same top and visor! Twin sister ya? This year, the water point is quite bad in the sense that there weren't enough cups and water at certain water points. ''>_< Lucky, it's only 10km if not I would be cursing like hell. Haha. After race, we even got to queue up to get finisher tee. My goodness. Luckily, the queue for XS and S is much shorter.
And so, after this, I went to Dobby Ghaut to take cab. Early in the morning, there weren't much cabs. I was on the brink of calling cab using my Taxi App until the cab came! The taxi driver dropped me quite a distance from the race area and so I ran to the transition area. I went to a good location to look for Jianhui. I waited quite long until I saw him! He was already on his 5th round.
Then I moved on to the ending point of the cycling route before I went over to the opposite side to see him starting his run. I met up with Natalia and we walked to the hawker there to support the guys for their run.
As per usual, Jianhui caught up with Jianyun at the run segment. =p Jianhui seems to be on form for his run.
After about 1hr+ of running, Jianhui completed his race! When Jianyun completed his race, we took photos and collected their stuff before we went to Hawker centre for lunch!
We had a quick lunch then we called cab to go home.
It was a happy Sunday with both of us completing our own races. On the Sunday in which we have races, we would always feel very tired (as we got to wake up early) but happy! An achievement!
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Angeline winks
at |12:25 PM|
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Aussie Trip in 2014 (Melbourne - Sydney) from 25 July to 31 July 2014
After waiting for so long, we finally had our long holiday to Australia! And this time round, we would be going to Melbourne! I have been wanting to watch the Penguin Parade, Koala and 12 Apostles! It would be a relaxing and scenic trip with our wonderful tour guide, Jianhui!
25 July 2014
We took the overnight flight via SQ so that we would reach Melbourne early in the morning. As usual, I couldn't really sleep on the plane and the food is just not to my liking. I wish they can serve food like McD's cheeseburger or even fried chicken wings? Haha.
The moment we touched down, we went to Thrifty office to rent our car! We were given Ford Focus which is relatively quite a new blue car! And so, it's the beginning of our road trip! Yeah! The weather in Melbourne was quite cooling and windy. Nice cooling weather.
We drove to our first (and super expensive) accommodation - Pegasus Apartment Hotel. It wasn't really near to the starting point, but I guess we had booked our accommodation too late. This is one of the few hotel which has vacancy.
It was still too early to check in and so we decided to go to race expo to collect our race pack first :)
Jianhui, looking ready and prepared for the half marathon
Posing at the finishing line first as we might not be able to take photos on race day.
Our race bibs!
After collecting our race pack (which is just our race bibs in an envelope only), we went back to hotel to check in.
And to our surprise, it was a beautiful studio apartment. It's so new, clean and nice! Though it would cost us AUD551 for 2 nights, I would say at least it's a great place to stay in! The sofa is so comfortable that we would just lie there to relax, while watching the Commonwealth games! And the heater works perfectly well!
It had been a long and tiring day for us. We rested a while in our comfortable apartment before we went out for dinner! It's a strange sight to see that in Melbourne City, there were actually more Asians that Aussie.
After walking for a while, we decided to eat at the Korean Restaurant as we want soup and rice!
Our Korean dinner in Australia! Haha.
After dinner, it's time to go back to our cosy apartment to take a rest.
26 July 2014
We woke up early in the morning to go for breakfast. We couldn't find anything interesting to eat and so we bought bread from Breadtop. The bread was not bad. We also bought a cup of coffee. I tend to drink coffee overseas (especially in cold countries). =p
Then it's time to set off for Phillip Island! It is about 140km away from Melboune City. I'm a happy passenger while Jianhui drove the car.
We bought the 3 passes to the Heritage Farm, Koala Conservation Park & Penguin Parade at the Visitor Information Centre. For the whole day, we ate the big loaf of coconut bread from Breadtop. Surprisingly, the bread was quite nice.
However, the moment we reached the farm, it started to rain. We took a short walk then we decided to go back to the car.
Posing with the horses before we left the farm.
Then, it's time to see Koalas! My favourite! Hehe. It wasn't easy to find the Koalas on the trees. Do you know Koala sleeps 20 hours a day, 1-3 hours feeding time and 1-3 hours grooming! What a good life they have! If I were to reincarnate as an animal, I would love to be Koala! Haha.
A sleeping Koala. Somehow, it kept on sleeping even when a lot of tourists were taking photos of it.
It was a pity that I couldn't hug Koala though. =(
And for the finale, we went to watch the Penguin Parade. We were very early and so we relaxed at the cafe with a cup of coffee (again) with free WFI. Haha.
The moment the gate opened, we walked to the stand to wait for the penguins. The penguins would only come back home after sun set. It was windy and cold out there waiting for the penguins.
Around 6pm+, then we started to see the penguins marching out of the
sea. It was so cute! I regretted not bringing binoculars as I didn't
know they are so SMALL. I thought they would be as tall as Happy Feet in
the cartoon?
While leaving the place, we also got to be close to the penguins as they made their way back home. The way they walked was really funny and cute. Haha.
And it's time to go back! Another 140km back to Pegasus! We had a quick dinner at Red Rooster before we went back to our apartment. It's time to get ready for the race the next day.
By now, I was feeling nervous about the race. It was going to be my first overseas race alone so I was a bit gan jiong. Though I have run several 10km races, I just feel so nervous about it. Knowing that the Australians can really run, I was worried I would be the last few also. And I was scared that I would be feeling too cold to run. Oh well, I would just got to see how it goes tomorrow.
27 July 2014
As Jianhui's race starting at 7am, we woke up at 5.45am+. It was really early. We walked to the starting point. It was quite cold in the morning.
Once we reached, it was about time for Jianhui to start his race. I saw him at the starting line and the route below the bridge and one final time, just opposite the train station. Jianhui told me that there were going to be quite a lot of upslope at the starting part of the route. It was not very encouraging for me to hear such "warnings".
While waiting for it, I was feeling really cold that I think I wouldn't be able to run. I walked around the expo until it was about 8.30am. I went to the starting point. Many people were already doing warming up. At 9.15am, the race started. I was so cold that my feet were numb that I couldn't feel them. Haha.
Luckily, I got warmed up and I started to feel warm wearing my Adidas Jacket. True enough, there were many upslopes! And all of the participants were running very fast. There was live bands along the route which was very encouraging and nice feeling.
I completed the race in 1hour 4minutes! It was a great achievement for me!
I couldn't find Jianhui at the Finishing line and so I went to train station at 10.45am. As I was waiting for me, I became worried that he might have injured himself since he didn't come to our meeting point at agreed time of 10.45am. I waited until I went to First Aid tentage to check if he could be there. haha.
Thankfully, while crossing the road back to the train station, I finally saw Jianhui! I was really happy to see him. And he had managed to achieve PB of sub 2 hour for his half marathon! Yeah.
By then, it was very already very late and so we needed to rush back to our apartment to check out at 12pm. Basically, we only had 15 minutes to wash up and pack.
Somehow, we managed to do it. Haha. So, we checked out and put our stuff in the car before we went for lunch.
We went to Victoria Market which was really near to Pegasus. We couldn't find anything to eat, except Spanish Fried rice and so we ate it. It wasn't anything fantastic but we were too hungry to complain.
I also ate my favourite fried potato! Yummy!
We walked around Victoria Market before we went back to Pegasus to get our car. We were heading to The Great Ocean Road!!!
We were going to Apollo Bay to stay over for a night at Comfort Inn before the finale at 12 Apostles. It was about 180km to Apollo Bay from city. So far! Thankfully, I have a skilful and good driver as husband! Hehe.
After driving for don't know how long, we've finally reached this Great Ocean Road signboard!
It really requires a lot of skills to drive on Great Ocean Road - many sharp and narrow turns which I probably will be road hogging if I were to drive. Haha.
At around 5pm+, we finally reach Comfort Inn! Too happy to check in and have a short break.
There wasn't anything much to eat except the Fish & Chips restaurant and so we settled our dinner there before turning in early to rest.
28 July 2014
We had to check out at 10am, and so the moment we woke up, we had a short walk around Apollo Bay. For today, we only ate biscuits as breakfast.
So relaxing to be here for holidays!
The beach
At 10am, then we checked out and on our way to see 12 Apostles. It was about 80-90km from Apollo Bay.
It was really beautiful and magnificent! After hearing about it for so long, I'm finally here! It's windy over here but I'm well-prepared. Haha.
I really love the 12 Apostles! But it was a pity that one of them had collapsed. Hope the curents and waves can show mercy on them and let them stay as long as possible.
After that, we drove a bit further to Loch & Gorge. We went to the lookout then it's time to drive back to Apollo Bay for lunch before going to Geelong!
It was totally a great scenic trip today. Happy me!
Then we drove to Apollo Bay for lunch! We ordered pizza and it was quite good! Finally, a decent meal after so many days! Haha.
After our lunch, we drove about 100km to Geelong. By the time, we reached Geelong, it was already 5pm and it was getting dark. We checked in to Bay View Hotel before we drove around to look for food.
There wasn't any food, and so we had to settle our dinner at Black Salt Restaurant in our hotel.
We ordered lamb shank and onion rings. The lamb shank is really small! Luckily, we had a full lunch at Apollo Bay if not we would be starved to death. Haha.
29 July 2014
We're heading to Sydney and we got to check out at 6am+ to drive to the domestic airport. We topped up the petrol and returned our favourite blue car.
There was a super long queue to check in our luggage at Jetstar counter. Luckily, we were early and so we even had time to enjoy breakfast at Hungry Jack. It's a short 1 hour plus to Sydney. But, we had to waste whole of our morning to take the flight to Sydney.
We landed at Sydney about 12plus. Immediately, we went to get our car from Thrifty. This time round, we were give Tokyota Camry - quite a big car I would say.
It a short 8km drive to Alfred Park. We stayed at the same place in 2009 when we came to Australia together for the first time. Haha. Nostalgic ya?
We rested a while before we went out for lunch. It was already 2pm and most of the restaurants were closed. So, we ate at a Korean Restuarant again! Haha. The fried chicken looks damn good but we didn't order it as the portion seems to be too large for us to finish. We ordered soup and pancake. The seafood pancake is not too bad.
After lunch, we walked around Sydney.
By 6pm, it was getting dark and we decided to walk back to our room. We were feeling quite full from lunch and so we bought bread as dinner. The croissants were surprisingly good! Haha.
30 July 2014
We were heading to Port Stephens today! It's about 210km away from Sydney! After breakfast, we set off immediately!
We managed to drive past McD's and of course, we got to settle our lunch here! After lunch, then we go energy to have fun.
At around 12plus, we finally reached Port Stephens! It's sunny and quite hot. So hot that I don't really have to wear my jacket. Haha.
We walked around before Jianhui drove me to Toboggan Hill Park to drive Toboggan. It was fun if you don't pull the lever backwards to slow down!
Then, we went to Anna Beach for sandboarding! Sandboarding is fun! However, it's damn shag to climb up each time you got to slide down. Though, we paid AUD20 for unlimited times of sandboarding, you probably would be too tired to do it many times. We did about 4-5 times and we were tired and going to be sunburnt.
I'm a sandboarder! Haha.
We went back to the beach area. We enjoyed coffee and tea at the cafe before we began our long journey back to Sydney.
We reach city about 6pm. The traffic was really bad like Singapore that we nearly couldn't find our way back to Alfred Park.
It had been a long and tiring day that we decided to eat maggie mee for dinner. Maggie Mee always tastes wonderful in cold countries, especially in Western Countries.
31 July 2014
We're going home today, sadly. Our flight is at 6,40am, and so we checked out at 3.35am to head to the airport.
It's early in the morning and the airport is very empty and quiet. After checking in our luggage, we went in for breakfast at McD's. The good thing about such early flight was, we would reach Singapore at 12.30pm (Singapore time) which means that we have plenty of time to unpack, relax and get ready for work the next day.
All in all, it was really a great holiday. We had completed another overseas race, travelled to many new places (for me) and tried new sports like Sandboarding. I would like to thank Jianhui for being such a wonderful guide who had planned the whole trip, booked the accommodation & air tickets and took really good care of me throughout the whole trip. Most importantly, he's such a good driver who had drove for about 1400km for the whole trip! *Applause*
By the way, for this trip, we had "downgraded" ourselves from the most atas hotel (Pegasus) to backpackers hostel (Alfred Park). Even our checking out time had shifted from 12pm to as early as 3.35am. Haha. This is interesting, isn't it? haha.
Life is good when you get to travel.
For now, it's back to reality. Back to work.
Work to travel. =p
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Angeline winks
at |12:45 PM|
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