Cairns, Port Douglas, and the Reef.

I'm feeling slightly ambivalent today. Rather reflective, midly morose, convincingly content. I've been home all day today, just because I felt like it, and also because I was just so darn lazy and refused to get out of bed.
So my Henry has been at work, doing his rounds, saving the world of journalism, while I've been vegetating in front of the television. For most of the time, E! was on, but I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on on the tv. I just kept looking outside at my beautiful garden, at the calm blue water and the green, green grass, and thought about how in three weeks time, all this will just be a distant memory. I will be starting a new life in Singapore - with a new room, new apartment, new area, and this will be like a prepossessing dream.
In a sentence, I will be making my way back to Singapore very shortly. Away from this comfort bubble back to where I came from. It's almost like I'm taking a step back, which is what is slightly disappointing about it. Here I am, exposed to a life of my own, a life that I've taken precedence over and one that I am accountable for. I've learnt to appreciate myself and those around me, as well as ensure that I take nothing for granted - manners, service, cleanliness, the goodness of nature...

(Hmmm, the doorbell just rang, and since I'm at home alone and since I've been spooking myself out with all that crimelibrary.com and crime investigation nonsense, I didn't answer it. Five minutes later Henry called and I said someone rang the doorbell and I didn't answer it because I was 'scared'. He said I should open the door and check if anything was there because it could be the postman. I opened the door (with Henry still on the phone 'just in case') and there was a bouquet of the sweetest smelling flowers! The card attached to it read 'Happy Friday Afternoon, I love you, Henry'. Awwww. :) See it's the thoughtful and charming things like these that really remind me why anyone wants to fall in love. A misconception that people have is that romance just... 'happens'. It doesn't. A relationship requires quite a lot of effort, and even more honesty. Henry and I celebrate our 'anniversary' every month just because I think with our very hectic lives, it's necessary for us to appreciate each other at least once a month, and do something extra special. It could be anything from a simple dinner, or in most cases, some flowers and treats. But I digress. These flowers are such an appealing distraction.)

So as I said in a previous entry, Henry and I try to make the best of our time here. Every weekend we try and see something that Australia has to offer. Last weekend, we went to Cairns! So here we are, on one of our many fulfilling and *romantic* adventures. :)


Day One began with boxed lunch (pasta and beef salad), three krispy kreme donuts, and a three hour flight to Cairns.


We landed at the airport and the first thing that I noticed was the weather. It was so invigorating - I'd almost forgotten what 'tropical' felt like! Just being able to wear shorts was almost liberating. The resort we stayed at had a van come and pick us up from the airport.


The ride there was mostly 'documented' by my videos. I took videos of almost everything in this trip. Very amateur videos, but... I now understand why videos tell a lot more than pictures. The entire area constituted of green vastness to the left and right with hilly mountains in the background. The place was just a whole carpet of grass and farmland - it was covered in a blanket of peace.


By the time we settled down, the sun had set, and dinner was calling. Not sure where to go, we ended up at this respectable looking restaurant with very dingy looking food. The menu and decor diidn't look so drab, but when we were served it was quite shocking. But the desperation of the situation turned to humour, and we chose to cherish the moment where we would pay $20 for a plate of slice bread. ... Hmm. Totally different world. On the table is a brochure for the Poseidon - a tour to the great barrier reef. After dinner, we booked a tour for the day after to do some snorkelling.


Day two started out after a buffet breakfast. We drove up to Port Douglas where the sun was shining, and did a bit of water appreciation. After doing some surf skiing (yes, you read right, SURF SKIING), we rented this huge tube and basically pranced around the water like 10 year old children. I'm not complaining, because I absolutely loved it. I don't think I've laughed so much for a long time, or let myself go so far. It was the relaxation that I deserved. Yes, I deserved it. But most of all, it was a very special moment for Henry and myself because we were allowed to... just... forget everything and concentrate on each other, and most importantly ourselves.


Tired but content, we then returned to the car and drove out to the village to get some fish, calamari and chips for late lunch. But that was after I made sure we got a picture of the car (and me. heh).


Physically exhausted, we then went back to our hotel room where we had a little rest before heading back out to a thai restaurant for a very relaxed dinner. We had an early night in preperation, because the next day was Reef Day.


We were up at 6am for a day of exploration pleasure. We had our hearty buffet breakfast (as usual), and the Poseidon van came and picked us up from our hotel. We were taken to Port Douglas where the boat was, and then this picture was taken by their cameraman. Even though it's not entirely flattering, it is the perfect tourist picture. Just imagine the words 'Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef' on top.


We waited on board for awhile before heading off to the reef. Now. As a typical... tourist, I have never been to the great barrier reef, nor do I know much about it apart from what I've seen in the pictures. If you notice, the pictures usually tend to show an island nearby, or something. So I figured... well, we'll get on the boat and then we'll travel for about 10 minutes and reach this island where the great barrier reef is. Wrong. This wonder of the world is located right smack in the middle of the ocean. No, seriously, it is.


The Great Barrier Reef is this big plot of area, and there are multiple sites where people can dive and snorkel around to marvel at sea creatures in the crystal clear (and blue) water. In total, we went to three different reef sites to snorkel, and they were all amazing.


Our first encounter with snorkelling was at Shelly beach about two weekends ago, which is just outside the city. That experience taught us a little about snorkelling, so this time we donned our wetsuits, flippers and masks, and that was it. We were in the ocean. I started to panic very quickly because this is so different from a beach - you are literally surrounded by gallons and gallons of water. Even though the water is so clear, you can only see so far, and once I looked underwater, I could feel my shortened breaths and my tensed muscles. It didn't really help that I'd never used flippers in my life, so it took a very long time to just calm down and move my legs right. Of course, science will tell you that if you panic under water then you automatically sink - and I was really sinking. But! Some time after, I gained some composure and confidence, and went about my swim.


Henry and I had a underwater camera but haven't developed the pictures yet, so this is just one shot of us holding a sea cucumber that was on the sea bed. I can't believe we eat these things.


I took a video of Henry as he attempted to dive without equipment. He mentioned the pressure was too high (who would've thought, huh?) and after two attempts was pleased with whatever progress he made, and came back onto the boat. Hmmm. You can see he's got his diving shoes on, because he was wearing a much more hardcore flipper.


Three dives, a seafood buffet-type lunch and an overly tight mask later, we were marked. If you look at our faces you can see the snorkel mask's mark on us. That eventually did fade away, thank goodness. I was so tired, and fell asleep on the journey back to shore.


On the way back, Henry and I had a little ice cream, and once we reached our hotel room, took a very nice warm shower and Henry fell asleep. Shortly after, he woke up and we had a little self-pampering session.


Face masks! Can't go for a holiday and then not treat yourself with face masks, right? Besides, we were going to go on a 'nice' dinner (that's not to say the other dinners aren't nice, this one was supposed to be extra nice) that evening, so this was just like a prelude to what our evening had in store for us.


Wearing matching colours (I know, isn't it one of those extremely annoying thing that couples do...), we went to this amazing restaurant for dinner. Unlike the first night, this place had realllly good food. It did cost twice as much, but it was such a special way to end our day. We had homemade cheesecake for desert, and I don't think I've ever tasted anything as good. I was a bit apprehensive about finding a decent place at first, but I'm happy to say that this restaurant didn't let me down. A long island ice tea and two beers later, we were satisfied and that night I had such a good night's rest. The motion of the waves earlier that day did help.


The next morning, breakfast called. Here Henry is with round two of his mega breakfast, while I'm finishing up with my honey and pomegranate. It was like this for all our breakfasts - buffet breakfasts are a good incentive to get up early in the morning, even while on holiday.


After breakfast called, the wallabies did. Well, we went wallaby-spotting. Apparently there were some wallabies near where we were, so we took a little walk to try and find them. First a picture outside our resort room. Our room was on the second level, so in this picture it's actually just above my head.



This is a picture of the view just outside our room! First the view from our balcony, and then of me while we were there on the way to the wallabies. We stopped by to take a video of some tiny frogs - they were the size of my fingernail!


Finally, after climbing rocks and leaping over streams, we spotted a wild wallaby. A real one! The only other kangeroo we saw was... dead, as a result of roadkill (not by us of course) when we drove to kangeroo valley. If you look at this picture closely you'll see it in between the two tree trunks.


Happy that we'd seen a real life wallaby, we got ready to head to the beach. We brought along our bat and ball and had a few rounds of competition. I won, obviously (haha) but unfortunately don't have any pictures of us playing because I only took videos for that. We had some yoghurt and chips on the beach, and the walked back to our resort barefooted. The road was burning under my feet but it was fun - hopping from one shaded spot to the other. :)


It goes without saying that you can't pay money and stay at a resort without utilizing its facilities. Henry and I went to the pool at the last hour, and had lots of child-like fun doing somersaults and attempting to stand on each other. I know, we amuse ourselves very easily.


Like I said, it was the last hour. And so after that, we had to go back to the hotel and pack our bags to head to the airport. Here's a picture of our room (look mum, two beds!) and luggage and... stuff.


We took a long van ride back to the airport, and as tired as we were, were very glad that we got this chance to come to Cairns. It's a beautiful tropical part of the country and I'm so grateful that Henry and I managed to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and truly spend some quality time alone, and just remind ourselves why we love each other.

So that was it. Cairns, Queensland. A breathtaking weekend and a treasured memory. We snorkelled in the Great Barrier Reef, played ball, surf-skiied, had good dinners, not so good dinners, and most substantial breakfasts. Most of all, we fell in love with nature, and each other, all over again.

x

Noise: My Fair Lady on TV

Foo Fighters.

The last time I went on a real holiday, was last Christmas, when Henry and I went to England, so after a year, my memory of what it's like to really relax is very fuzzy. Last weekend, Henry and I flew to Cairns and spend 4 days and 3 nights just enjoying each other's company and the luxury of the beach and a hearty buffet breakfast every morning. I will detail our trip more once I get the pictures up (hopefully soon, but we all know how I am with my updates), but in a nutshell, it was such a well deserved break. We were so blessed to be able to just soak in the peace and not have to think about anything else - school report, jobs, my leaving etc -.

Apart from our holiday, I have also been trying to see if there's a way that I can stay in Australia for awhile longer, just because one of the magazines that I'm working for, Outdoor Australia, is going through a major relaunch that I would love to be a part of. I've written to the school to find out if they could offer me some advice on how I should approach this predicament I'm in (school starts on 23 Oct, and this relaunch happens over the next two months) but the advice I was given wasn't entirely helpful. I've since written another email to another lecturer and am just waiting to see what my options are.

This time in Australia has really taught me how to stand up for what I want, and that there is always some way around the impossible. I've also learnt how to take control of my life, and really be confident about approaching others. There is nothing to be afraid of, and I've discovered that it's better to ask and get a no, than to simply assume that the answer is a no. Just because, there is always a chance that the answer will be a yes. I feel so much more responsible and accountable for my life now - I finally have managed to manage my finances (ok, maybe not as well as I'd like to but.... it's a start) and even though I still cannot clean the house or do my laundry to save my life, I have kind of tried. Because of this new found confidence in me, I've decided to pursue what's best for me. Hence my emails to the school, to try and do something different. I've observed that the ones who are successful are the ones who dare to be different. Easier said than done, and more often than not, an overused cliché, but truly it's that drive in a person that reeks success. And if you notice, the ones who are successful and confident (and more importantly, content and happy) are the ones who don't worry at all. I don't worry at all. These seven months have cemented that. I really do not worry at all. I may not be rich, or perfect, but I have no reason to worry. Which is why I can send that email, and approach those superior to me with the right amount of tenacity and sureness.

Hmm. Ramble ramble. Been long since I last rambled. But! All that aside, tonight we are going to watch the Foo Fighters perform an acoustic set at the Sydney Opera House!!! Hurrahh! They're playing songs from the In Your Honor album, which is the only reason why I'm going to watch them. Personally I am not a fan of paying hundreds of dollars to see a bunch of musicians play just because the world sees them as 'popular', but the Foo Fighters are an exception because their In Your Honour album has sentimental value for Henry and I because we played that when we drove up to Palm Beach and then to the Blue Mountains. So it's a memory of Sydney and our time here and to watch them play an acoustic set live will just complete our time down under. I'm sad to leave but this will be a great way to leave. :)

In other news, yesterday was part two of my 'anniversary present' when Henry and I went for a haircut! It had to be a gift because there is just no way on earth that I can afford (or want to fork out) $100 for a haircut. ... Insane. But! Since it makes Henry happy, we both went down to Zenith last night for a good trim. I'm keeping my hair length even though I did consider going shorter, only because I really miss my long hair and do think it compliments me better. One day I will have a fringe, go bob, but that's only when I don't really need to depend on my looks for some extra income. When I go back to Singapore I've got to continue with my modelling part time just because I'm going to need some extra moneyyy. That's why I need to grow my hair back. Hmm.
It's a bit annoying how sometimes we just must do something in order to get something else. That's the way the world goes, I guess. But then, freedom of choice reminds us that there is always a way around the impossible, if you want it that way.

x

Noise: Might To Save, Hillsong.

Taronga, and more.

So many things happen here. We try to go out and explore Australia every weekend, just because of our limited time here. Australia has much to offer, and we have a short while to enjoy it. That, and because of work, is why my updates are so sparse. But! Better to update later, than not at all. I feel at least.

Before we went on our other adventure, we celebrated Henry's birthday. I surprised him with a cake, and he was... surprised. Mmm. Just thinking about it makes my heart go all wobbly. Just because I did it out of lurrve. ;)

We went to the Taronga Zoo one morning. Took Mara's car and drove there even though we could have taken a ferry. Before we went, I asked around to find out what the zoo was like. Most people raved about it, so we expected quite a lot. In a simple sense, it was quite a let down. But! As always, we had tonnes of fun. There was a cable car ride that takes you above the zoo so you can see all the animals from there, and that was probably the highlight of the trip. So here are the pictures. It's timeless, since the taronga zoo will always be there! Oh, and we bought a little wombat soft toy as souvenir, and named him Taronga, of course. ;)

I'm updating because tomorrow Henry and I are going to Cairns for a four day three night holiday. Initially we planned to go to Fiji thinking it would make more financial sense, but after some calculations, it turns out it would cost the same no matter where we are in the world. But still wanting a tropical blue-water type holiday, Henry decided on Cairns. Last weekend we went snorkelling with our neighbour, JT, to Shelly Beach. It was the first time I'd tried snorkelling (in sub-zero temperatures, no less) and because Henry and I got so excited, he booked a trip to the great barrier reef on Saturday so that we can go and snorkel! :) The last time we managed to spot a stingray, a sea urchin and lots of other fishes. JT seems to know all their names but I... don't. JT took some pictures with his camera so that will be up in another entry. Hopefully we'll see some other wildlife in the great barrier reef! I'm really excited. It's likely that Henry and I won't be in the same country for our second year anniversary so this is the celebration, brought forward. He bought me a gorgeous turqoise dress for this month's anniversary, so we'll be using that at our nice dinner by the beach. :) Ooh... very excited!

But this entry is about Taronga Zoo.

So, here are the pictures. :)

Our first picture of the trip was Henry and his brief encounter with a just-as-curious duck. Say cheese!


Can't come to an Australia Zoo and not pay your respects to them kangeroos, can ya? I did a little better and got upclose and personal.


Our guide for the trip. Not a very good one at that... He was trying to find 'Wild Australia'.


Stopped by this little... chinese garden-esque thing in the middle of zoo. Don't ask me what it was doing there, but we always welcome a reason for a picture.


Took a little ice cream break and had a little fun with it.


We watched the seal show. Very different from the one in Singapore, but entertaining nonetheless.


Saw some gorillas...


And some lazy lions...


Spotted a nice photo opportunity (there's peacock in the background, I'm sure you can see it).


We watched a bird show (which was situated very nicely with the bridge for a backdrop), and I managed to get this shot of the sunlight and this massive eagle. It doesn't look so massive in this picture, but it really was a huge and pretty amazing creature.


Another pretty amazing creature is the one Henry is trying to emulate here. Awww. :)


Took the cable car, and this was the view from it. The next picture is the harbour, which was that backdrop of the bird show. I love Sydney for this reason. The warm sun, the blue waters... There's always time to appreciate.



My love and the harbour.


And a little bit of education on what bears eat, to end this animall journey off. :)


Well well well, and there you have it. This weekend we see animals of a different kind, in the wild, in the water. I'm really getting used to this appreciation of wildlife and nature. Kind of puts the world into perspective and shows you that it's not all about the money, the fashion or the concrete, although that is always inviting.

Noise: UKTV

x

Cont'd

So this server stopped me from continuing my post previously. Here's where I left off.

Whaling.
Just yesterday, we wanted to go to NorthHead again in another attempt to spot the migrating humpbacks. Unfortunately, because we didn't and weren't going to spot any of them, plus the fact that there was this eternal traffic jam, we ended up at Bradley Head. But this is not about yesterday, this is about the previous whaling incident.
We drove the Ford Hatchback out to North Head. We've had so many cars this few months but haven't managed to take pictures of all those cars sadly so... we're trying to now!

Henry with the Ford


Endangered Bandicoots! I've never heard of bandicoots...


We also managed to admire this beautiful rainbow that covered the city. It was such an experience for me, just standing there staring into the vastness of the ocean on one side, and on the other, the harbour bridge and the city that is the Sydney I now live in.



After the non-existent whale spotting, we spotted some pelicans and decided to 'feed the birds' ala Mary Poppins. I've never seen such huge birds before! It all started out when Henry spotted the pelicans on the lamps along the road and I insisted we drive back to take a closer look. That eventuated into us parking the car and feeding them our sandwiches that Henry had made for our lunch. The poor boy woke up at 6 in the morning just to make it and it was gone in 5 minutes - to the hungry ducks and pelicans, no less.


He then ran to a shop nearby and bought a loaf of bread. That too was gone in record speed.


Till finally, there was nothing left.


That weekend, it was supposed to be Henry's birthday. We went to spot the whales on Saturday, and on Sunday, Henry started developing a very acute pain. To cut the long story short, I took Monday off work to look after him, and to take him to the doctors because he couldn't stand up or walk or... do anything really. Went to the doctors, got sent to emergency at the hospital, and this is how it ended up.




Keyhole surgery and some oxygen insertion into his nose later, Henry's appendix was out. He spent two nights at the hospital and ever since, has developed a lasting relationship with the joys of a bed.

Well, that sums up that weekend. He didn't go to work that week, and we later found out that our neighbour, Phillipa, had also undergone keyhole surgery to remove her appendix.
Needless to say, it was quite a meaningful birthday. There Henry was, on the monday of his birthday, in a hospital bed (the number of his age, actually). It was funny because he was born at 4pm, and at 4pm on his birthday, he was told he would have to undergo surgery (which he has never done before). Australia has quite the sense of humour to give him surgery as a birthday gift.

Noise: BBC World.

Hail.

Two days ago, I witnessed hail for the first time.
It all began quite simply - the morning was particularly warm. I had two tops on and already felt so suffocated. Then in the afternoon, the sky darkened and a few wind howls later, it sounded like little pebbles were being thrown onto the glass windows of my office. Everyone gathered around to watch it fall - from where we were, we could see other curious onlookers from the buildings across us. It's hard to describe what it was like; the best I can do is... little ice balls? So here are some pictures for other hail virgins. I've only seen snow once, when I was in NY in Jan. Even then, I just saw the snow on the ground so this was so exciting for me - to actually be able to see it fall from the sky. It's similar to snow, but a lot bigger and more solid. Oh, and it really hurts when it falls on your head.

The initial downpour.


The surrounding area.


The Aftermath.


It's Christmas!


The bigger hail stones. Imagine that falling from the sky and landing on your head! Weight + Gravity = Bruises.


To end it off, I got to add an action sport shot. Just because I'm now some sort of activity junkie. :/


Oh so magical.
x
Noise: Settinig Sun by Howling Bells.

The Update... It's here. Sort of.

FINALLY!
I have found something in me that has decided to post an entry.
It's not going to have many words, just pictures.
So... here goes.

Major events that have taken place since the last major event goes on as such.

My story in Elle was published, everything went fine and dandy. I'll post pictures of that another time. :)

I went to Brisbane:
Met Nat and had dinner at a realllly nice and cosy place called three monkeys or something. Brisbane is like Sydney, just with a lot more space less people. It was so nice to catch up with Nat though. It's times like that that you really appreciate all the effort you put into a friendshp because no matter how little you see of each other, you'll know that when you do it'll be like there was no distance in the first place.



It was my birthday:
Henry bought me this hugeee bouquet of Australian native flowers. The flower in the picture hadn't bloomed, but when it did it was so beautiful. He wrapped all my gifts and here we have the birthday flower, kind of like the Christmas tree. So all my presents were by the flower. Gifts included cosmetics (lots of it), Annie, King and I, Sound of music DVD (I'd been searching for them for agesss), a really gorgeous canvas print of us and little treats like manicure stuff and a toffee apple. :) My birthday cake consisted of a few small cakes, which was ideal - there was even a durian one!

Delish.


Birthday Area.


Art Attempt.


I cut my hair:
The next major event that took place was when I chopped most of my hair off. Ok, I didn't chop it. Henry paid $90 to some... stranger to do that. It was actually $130, but those lovely ladies who were gushing over Henry decided to give me a discount, albeit reluctantly - it was just because it wouldn't seem right if only Henry got the discount, right? So here are some examples of how I look now. Obviously that was some time ago so now my hair is slightly longer. It is true, your hair grows faster when you trim it. I haven't had short hair since I was in sec 2 (5 years ago) so this was quite a feat for me. But I figured, I'm in Sydney, life is good, so... why not? It's just hair.


Ooh.


Catching the Sunlight.


Ice Cream on my day out.


I attended the Hillsong Conference:
It was, in a single word, AMAZING. Maybe 20,000 people? When the people jumped to the songs, the floor vibrated. Literally. It was SO good. That final night was just awe-inspiring. It was particularly special for me because I've loved Hillsong's music for so long now. I started learning the guitar to their songs, I memorized the words... and their music and lyrics really had an impact. Here's a shot from the opening. There's more but... maybe later.

Look at all the people.


We bought our lorikeets some treats:
Some pretty lorikeets have been visiting our patio/garden area for awhile now, so after feeding them some bread, Henry and I decided to head to Woolworths to get them a lolly treat. Here's some pictures of the birds as well as us as we set up for our friendly visitors!



That's our porch/patio/garden/view.


Feed the Birds.


Friendly.


Fixing Up.


Final Touches.


We met Rachel Kum:
Friend from Singapore, and student in Perth. She and her mom came over to Sydney for a week's holiday and shopping and we met up with them for a quick hot chocolate and bagel. Check out my outfit - clad in snowboarding gear. I know, this action sports thing is really starting to affect me.


Oxford Street.


We went whale spotting:
Or at least we tried. The humpback whales and... this other kind of whale, well they're migrating and were passing by Sydney so Henry and I drove up to call them to come to the surface. Unfortunately... they didn't want to come out and play. :( But! We saw a lovely rainbow that arched over the city of Sydney and admired it from a distance, enjoyed the expanse of the tasmanian sea and had lots of fun making some new pelican friends (lorikeets and pelicans... Henry and I have a lovely social life).

Me - whale-spotting. Or not.


Yeah, we know, the whales are in the ocean. But the greenery was enticing too!


--- ---

Time out:
Something is up with my internet, it keeps saying that I can't upload anymore pictures. Hmm. Picture overload. Tomorrow, then. Or... next month. :)

x