Our 1st road trip: Philip Island
Having a friend (Darren) from Sydney come over, we decided to be good hosts and plan a road trip to Philip Island (the land of penguins) to fully utilise his GPS navigator (TOM TOM) and also fulfill our deepest desire to watch penguins! Having heard countless bragging about about TOM TOM, we decided to let it live out its prophecy. Armed with no map and just a desire to get to Philip Island, we embarked on our wonderful journey on a beautiful Saturday morning!

This is the organic brekkie we had along one of the pit stops we had prior to reaching Philip Island! Apparently, Aussies are big suckers for organic stuff. And they cost so much more expensive! But I can't taste any difference? But anyway, the brekkie rocks in Aust. It is one of the 'MUST DO' things when you come Aust!

A stroll is the best way to digestion! Upon brekkie, we took a slow walk to the jetty nearby to check out the scenery. Not exactly the best of jetties, but oh well, just got to make do. Looks like a super small Punggol Marina huh.

Ha, doesn't the background remind you of the Causeway? For a moment, I thought I was embarking on a journey to Malaysia to makan seafood! ;p

Hee, finally. I present to you, Philip Island! Clear blue skies, big vast sea and boundless greenery. What better way to embrace nature!

Apparently, Philip Island has a history of owners who bought it as a holiday island before it was sold off to the government. The island even has its own radio! One of the main attractions besides the penguins is the farmhouse which a family stayed on a couple of hundreds of years ago!

Always stop to look at the flowers. Hee, small but pretty, aint they? :)

Don't know what plant is this, but it sure looks cool!

There's a flea market happening everyday outside the farmhouse. Sells pretty much a huge variety from plants to food to desserts! Each stall holder drives a van and uses it as their stall! How cool!

Ha, yet another ORGANIC stuff. This is the back of a truck. Equipped with stoves and all, it looks all pro right? But you see, the owner seems more interested in chatting than tending his stall huh. How to earn $ like that!!

Look at that glee on her face! Yoghurt ice cream is healthy for me [or so she ALWAYS tries to convince herself]! Tsk Tsk.

Check it out people! THE BEST POPCORN IN THE WORLD! How can I resist?!?! I bought $10 worth of popcorn! ;D

Don't know about it being the best popcorn in the world, but it sure is not bad!

Look at how sad the auntie is. She has no more food left on her gigantic plate! Shouldn't she be concentrating on selling her stuff instead of gorging herself on food? -shake head-

Woohoo! Look at all these plants! The moment I saw them, I thought of Mr Low and his endless praise of how cool these plants are and how he wants to have a garden in future, yahda yahda. For a person who once killed a cactus despite best efforts to keep it alive, what do you think I should feel about having a garden? Haha.

This is the pathway to the farmhouse. Seems like one of the story books in fairytale huh. For a moment, I felt like Hansel and Gratel.

And the journey continues...

My "Virgin" footy game: St Kilda vs Western Bulldogs
Melbourne is one of the cities in Australia that is extremely passionate about sports. Being adventurous, my aim in my short 2 year stint in Melbourne is to try out whatever is popular or phenomenal in Melbourne. To put it in simple terms, to embrace the life of a Melbournian!

Here we are, at the Telstra Dome stadium, all ready to enter the gates to watch a footy game [DA game in winter in Melbourne is footy!]!

Ha, just look at how cheesy one of the team name is. Western Bulldogs. My goodness, do all their players look like bulldogs?

Darren and his 5 minute stardom experience. He was picked to be interviewed by a radio station from Perth. Why? Because the radio guy is desperate! No one wanted to be interviewed when there is a footy game around, everybody wanted to be in the stadium! But Darren, being attention seeking, was all game for being heard on national radio! ;p

Basically, footy is quite similar to rugby, except that the guys wear the shortest shorts and are less bulky. Look at the field, they are so tidy they look like ants!

Ha, of course, when you are watching a footy game, you can't walk in without a cuppa beer! It's DA tradition! Realised that the cups are plastic? That's to protect the shorty shorts kiddos from being assaulted when they play like crap! Lucky for them!

See how attention seeking Aussie blokes are! This guy totally ruined the picture!

More boost time! Cheers mate!

Now, doesn't this picture look much better without any Aussie eyesore around? Tsk tsk..

The game ended with Western Bulldogs suffering a shameful defeat. Come on, how far do they think they will go with that kind of team name? Haha, so this is the train station where everybody awaits their train to get home after the game. Trust me, the crowd is like that of the Malaysia cup final. But only on a weekly basis. That's how passionate Melbournians are about sports. Crazy man.

My fulfilled desires!
I have always been a caffeine enthusiast. A few years ago when I backpacked in Aussie, I felt totally in love with the coffee! Everywhere and anywhere you go, as long as there's shops, there is coffee. Mind you, the coffee taste great!

So after being in Melbourne for about 2 months, and spending lots of $ on lattes and mochas, I decided that perhaps I should get my very own espresso machine! There was a great bargain so here it is, my very 1st espresso kit!

Woohoo! To more happier caffeine induced happiness I come! ;D

Now, I have always wanted to have a scooter like this. So being in a foreign land where I can very much do whatever I want, I bought myself another mode of transport! Check this out man! Don't I look cool?!

In case you are wondering, of course I didn't buy that! Tsk tsk, it was in the carpark and it was so beautiful. How can I not sit on it and take a picture right? Keke...

Our 1st house visit!

Just a couple of weeks ago, we went to my housemate's [Lynn] friend house for a potluck party. Guess what, they conveniently invited themselves over to our place for a house warming potluck without my knowledge?!?! Haha, but as long as there's food, I am cool! So here we are!

Look at the 4 beauties. Of cos you would have realised 1 person is missing. Now, you should know why, yes? Hahaha...


Now, I am definitely sure my camera is screwed! How can I look so fat?! NO WAY! My face can't be that round! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

People, look at that feast our guest made us! Woohoo! Life in Aussie is all about food and drink! Looks good, eh? Zoom in on the zip lock bag! What do you see? YES people, it's DA famous donut, Krispy Kreme [KK]!

One of our guest, Diana, had a box at home, courtesy of her friend. So being a nice person, she brought us some KK donuts!

Just to let you guys have some general knowledge on DA donut. The 1st bite into the original glazed donut always feels like Burger King! Awesome man! So in future, should you ever see a box like below, hold your breath people!

Haha, looks good right? Wait till you try them man. They look harmless but they are very super duper addictive! Heard that they just opened a new store in the city! I'm so doomed! :(

Boxhill - The land of Asians!

About a month ago, my housemate, Yishan, had the good fortune of enjoying herself at a KTV gathering our friends from PwC organised. Due to the 'hectic' working lifestyle I have in Melbourne, and the sort of marvellous luck I always managed to possess somehow or another, I found myself having to say no to the attractive KTV gathering because I had to work!

My first real client engagement and I was involved in a quality review! ARGH! How lucky can I get?!?! For those fortunate ones who ain't involved in audit, a quality review is basically having a team of regulators inspect your documentation and work performed and conclude if your work is up to a quality benchmark set.

What does it mean? It meant having to do everything the RIGHT way, the QUALITY way. Which means heaps of time spent on finetuning work, which is why I can't go to the KTV! :'(

Anyway, I digress. Boxhill is DA place when you are looking for some value-for-money KTV or shopping or just basically, it is DA place if you want to feel at home. You might ask why. You might even wonder if it is DA place where people go to a hill and box their frustrations away. Haha, well, it is ALL of the above, plus the fact that it is FULL of asians! Everywhere you walk, you hardly see any angmoh. How cool huh. Hmm, now, does that mean only asians have a fiery temper? tsk tsk.

So I was told that a K lunch equivalent cost only A$15, accompanied by a set lunch & drink with 3-4 hours of sing time. Songs selection were decent too. I wanna go too!

So anyway, after 2 months in Melbourne, I finally had the chance to go Boxhill! All thanks to my Daihatsu Charade! :D

Doesn't it look like a pleasant suburb?

Everywhere looks empty and relaxed. That's Aust for you, people.

This was the MAIN reason why I went Boxhill! It is supposed to be very nice! Though I ain't a fan of Korean cuisine, everything's worth a try when you are in a foreign land! ;)

Look at the satisfied look from my housemates. The food was not bad, though not out of the world. But I thought the tea was special. It's some malt tea that tasted like rice tea. Now you wonder why there ain't any picture of me. These 2 are my housemates, Yishan is the one on the left. See how her face has blossomed in the short 2 months she has been in Melbourne? Haha, now you know why I am not in the picture...Keke

My very own Daihatsu Charade!!!
After weeks of obsession over what car to buy, furious surfing over car sales websites and constant pestering of people with questions over cars, I have finally made my most hefty purchase in my entire life! Check it out, mates! The stylo milo Daihatsu Charade!

It looks aqua green, but it's actually dark sky blue! 1992 Charade TS, 3 door hatch back, auto thief-lock [the passenger door lock is not working so we can only open the door from the inside], good mileage and fuel consumption alongside free crash course of basic car maintenance. All for the price of A$3,000 [After slashing A$500 off the starting price, of course].

Everyone, I proudly present you, the car of DA century! ;p

Wedding Song to a Friend

2 weeks ago, my colleague was wedded to her boyfren. I wasn't able to attend their wedding as my convocation ceremony fell on the same day so I wrote them a poem.

Journey

As you embark on this journey,
As you set up a new family:

May your days be filled with joy,
May you find pleasure in all your toil.

May you walk bilithely through life's valleys,
May your doves fly ever free.

May you treasure life's precious moments,
Made ever more beautiful,
by vows between man and woman.

Our home, finally!

We had to find an apartment before our temporary accommodation at Pacific International Apartments ends. So on a faithful Saturday, we went house hunting! Hot babe and I wanted somewhere near office so we can dash there when we wake up late. With our budget and conditions, there was only 1 apartment available for us to view. We were quite sian when we knew that but little did we expect it to be a pleasant surprise!

When I first stepped into the apartment, I felt, 'Wah'. This was something I really did not expect. The living room was spacious man. The carpet was new.

The kitchen had an oven and stove ventilator.

The room wasn't big but just big enough?

The wardrobe was dirty, but the cleaning up wasn't completed yet.

The bathroom actually looked decent!

Plus it has a dryer to dry our clothes!

What more, we got a freaking huge balcony! Can organise BBQs and hang our clothes! Plus the colour theme of the house is white! I like!

Hot babe wasn't that impressed cause the house wasn't as clean as she would like it to be. By the way, she is a super cleanliness freak! ;)

And it was only until she saw the tennis court and swimming pool before she began to like this place better. Haha, she doesn't even use them. Keke.

So we discussed, we explored and we decided! This will be the place we live for the next 2 years! :D

We still got lots of things to settle. Like our TV, repairs to the house [windows, sink, etc], furniture to buy and packing up to complete before it actually looks like a house. But things are cool. We finally got a place. I feel so much more settled. :D

Ha, life in Australia is super domestic. A typical weekday comprises making your own lunchbox before heading to work, cooking dinner after you get back from work, cleaning up after that and doing your laundry. Weekends are for chilling out, eating out, ironing and doing marketing. So here we are, on a Sunday evening, cooking dinner before the new week starts!

Hee, this is me preparing dinner. Mapo tofu and ginger chicken it will be! Woohoo!

This is our professional domestic dishwasher! Up till today, she HAS NOT cooked a single meal for us. Her reason is that she always come home from work late and we always hog the kitchen! Haha, LIAR i say!

Finally, dinner time, people! Ha, our professional dishwasher bought a bottle of wine to celebrate eating in. It was surprisingly, not bad. Oh, the gal in red is Lynn. She is hot babe's friend and will be living with us for half a year before she graduates! I think without her, we won't even have the discipline to cook a proper meal. So people, if ever I put on weight when I come back, you know who to blame! :D

The famous KoKo Black

Melbourne is a place full of culture, food and entertainment. It is similar to Singapore in the sense that there is ALWAYS food around. A great variety, in fact. Just that the prices are not as affordable as back home. An average meal here cost like A$7? When I first came, I felt like such a spendthrift whenever I look at the price menu. It affected me so much I didn't get to enjoy my food as much as I should have.

But as the saying goes, 'In Rome, do what the Romans do". I can't possibly indulge in bread and peanut butter and miss out on all the nice cuisines out there waving at me right? So I thought to myself, $ can always be earned back, but I cannot say the same for experiences!

So here I am, upon the recommendation of a departing secondee who is bound to return to PwC Singapore to slog his bond out, Daryl Wang, and my famous housemate, Hot Babe, we headed down to this sinful dessert hangout, KoKo Black. Apparently, I should not even mention that I have been to Melbourne if I have not been here, or so they say.

This is the famous hot chocolate. Look at that nice decoration! Ha, how can you bear to drink it? But who cares? I will smash its beauty and glup it down in seconds! :D

Awww, and this dessert...Ha, it's nice, but too sweet for my liking. The ambience is nice though it is a tad too small. Apparently, there was like a long queue outside waiting to get in when we were leaving. And mind you, it was a weekday night. Apparently, not everything closes after 530pm in Melbourne. At least the restaurants and cafes don't. And I guess, perhaps it is good enough?

Hmmm, when I was there, my only thought was, if only Mr Low can take chocolate and not get migraine, how nice if I can bring him here. Haha, but nevermind, I will ask him to try it out and suffer migraine! Keke, after all, you only live once! ;D

PwC Melbourne Tour
So, we finally started work on 3 July 2006. I only knew I didn't want to be late for work and that I was excited about getting my laptop because I heard it is new and I can go online with the wireless card that will be provided to us! Life without internet sucks big time, especially if you have nothing to do at night, which is how Australia is!

Ha, I was honestly surprised at the efficiency of PwC Melbourne. We actually got our passes done within afew hours! Though it is not as nice as the one in Singapore [Not talking about the photo, of course], it was still a pleasant surprise, considering that we had to wait for 2 weeks to get ours back in Singapore. Hmm, I am beginning to think that Melbourne is not that inefficient after all.

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Ha, check out the pantry area man! Apparently, Aussies love to eat lunch in. This is like a small corner where they have tables, microwaves, fridge, toaster, jars of cookies, boxes of fruits alongside teabags, coffee and hot chocolate for grabs. They even have vending machines selling tidbits and soft drinks! Once again, with a pantry like this, I am sure no one will agree with me that PwC Singapore's better.

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Ha, this system is just too cool man. Apparently, you check in to office to get yourself a desk. Then they will link your personal phone line to that seat so there are no random calls. Which means Bala and Indira's jobs are redundant in Aussie! You can even reserve a seat for yourself, or locate the seat you have reserved. It is just awesome!

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Look at that! A wardrobe for people to put their clothes in!

And each of us are allocated a locker each of this size. Man, what else can I say?

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The work desks are spacious and new! The chairs are super comfy too! Woohoo! You have a great city view too, for the windows are full body length all around the firm!

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Alas! Now to the laptop, it sucks big time. I got a T42! The Microsoft version is like 2003 and they gave us a backpack for our laptop that looks so kuku I don't even dare to take a picture of. But finally, something that Singapore win hands down. Technology man people, it is all about Technology. And guess what, we got to wait for our wireless cards! Which means, I still can't go online! BOOHOO! :'(

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