.p.rae.lu.dium.

so here is it. the long awaited australia trip, after much obstacles overcomed, was accomplished! indeed, to blog about the whole thing is rather daunting, hence allow me to briefly account them chronologically with the pictures.

- 0306 -

depart from KL. we flew airasia. the one and only advice from me, if you have the choice, NEVER fly airasia for long distance route. as some of you may know, the seats were unadjustable, the max it can cater you is to recline forward for say maybe an inch. YES! an inch! that's all. then for the next 8 hours, my backbone remained stagnant at 90 degrees prior to our arrival. for people who practises meditation, give airasia X flights a thought. you'll definitely reach the highest level within your flying hours.



we had foodcourt meal as dinner that night. i exclaimed OMG when i saw the price. 10.99AUD for a plate of mix rice. that's equivalent to RM30 for a foodcourt standard meal. *puke blood* eating out in brisbane is THAT expensive everywhere. sad case isn't it.

after some small shopping at coles supermarket, we headed to Freestyle Tout at Ann's Street for dessert. sun set at 5pm over here in brisbane, after about half an hour, the sky gets dark like 8pm in malaysia. so it was considered a supper for us at the dessert place since we had them at about 9pm (australian time). all thanks to my future cousin-brother-in-law, eugene, who drove us around throughout our visit in brisbane.


a little bit of queensland -macadamia white chocolate slice, with caramel and white chocolate sauce, caramel, macadamia ice cream


- 0406-0506 -

set off to byron bay which is located at news south wales. the two and half hour journey was an eye-opener. along the two sides of highway, lush green lands laid upon us and we noticed that cows were segregated according to their colours. black on the left side of the road while brown on the right. we spotted a double rainbow too, sounds magnificent ain't it. you hardly see rainbow in KL, what more a double one.


byron bay

we reached there at the right time, just as the sun is about to set in an hour's time. what next? photoshooting time of course! the sight of sunset from the top of the hill is simply overwhelming!! totally out of words! grab your camera and just snap any view, you'll definitely get a worth to shout about image easily because of the spectacular beauty of mother nature.


on the way up to the light house - what more can one ask for a sight like that?


byron bay lighthouse




quarters at the foothill - information centres of byron bay, it says that you can see humpback whales between the months of june to november.



overlooking pacific ocean from the lighthouse



courtyard marriott - hotel we spent a night at gold coast


- 0606 -

waking up to a bright sunny morning, the cool breeze encircling your body, i walked out to the balcony, greeted gold coast city. soon i realised that the skin on my face is peeling perpetually. so i hurried to the bathroom...

OH DEAR!! my skin really is peeling awfully.

blames the weather. humidity 52% only (malaysia 90+%), no wonder lah. desperately put on infinite daps of moisturizer.


gold coast city


surfers paradise beach





- 0706 -

even before i land on queensland, my heart has been yearning for a trip to the vineyard. i'd even envisioned the various images of bunches of grapes that will be featured under my lens. lots of them.

a trip to the vineyard is a must then. after all, my cousin sis hasn't been to any of the vineyards in queensland, why not? after some quick research from the net, sirromet turned to be one of the most famous and most established vineyards in queensland.

sirromet vineyard


some of the finest wines from around the world


the cold room - after fermentation under cold stabilizing process, precipatates (wine crystals) are removed for better wine quality


moment for some wine tasting which i dislike despite the high reviews from everyone.. just a sip, i wanna puke.


grape leaves..


down the hill slopes is where you'll discover the vineyard. too bad we were there at the wrong timing, ain't the harvest months.


- 0806 -

next must-do event on my itenary is none other than a trip to the zoo. unfortunately, the australian zoo is located at a not so convenient distance from brisbane city, hence we resorted to loan pine koala sanctuary. entrance fees for adults is 28AUD. there were two japanese ladies lining in front of us, and we noticed that they has this privillege of paying the entrance fees with 15% discounts, but we didn't. so we came to a conclusion that australians do give priorities to the japanese for some god know reasons.
in australia, maps were imprinted not only in english, but japanese seemed to be an important lingua franca. hello! are you trying to hint that only japanese people could afford to spend in your country? :S



koalas performing at centre stage - way too adorable



it appears that kangaroos do make good friends with pigeons. they even shared food from roo-feedings. friend-friend share lah.









here's where you'll find 鸳鸯戏水-ing


- 0906 -


there's this incident which i must storify. it was a rather amusing one. bus drivers here switch buses that they were initially driving. so everytime they switch, they have to scan their driver's ID on a scanner before they could access the cashier.
subsequently, this driver who had came up to the bus that we were on tried several times scanning his ID, but his efforts came to no avail. i came up to him asking about the fares to the city. he just asked me to grab a seat. so i thought perhaps we'll have to pay when arriving. firmly grasping the odd sizes australian coins (2AUD is smaller in size than 1AUD, 50cents looked like a 八卦to me) , i took my seat and jovialy enjoyed the short journey to the city. upon arrival at king's george square, again, i came up to the driver to pay the fares, surprisingly, he said "Don't worry about it. It's alright." @_@
was extremely stunned by his words. WHAT?! you mean we just took a free ride?!?!?! FREE?!?!



city botanical garden - so so only..



famous pancake cafe in a church at charlotte's street - didn't try it out coz the menu looked as though there's no need of sugar consumption for a month after a meal over there.


ironically, this buckingham palace look-aliked building is a casino


beautiful dusk setting

lining up for city cat (ferry catering services along brisbane river)

just as we board the bus earlier during the day, we prepared some coins for the ferry ride too. as we stepped on the ferry, there was an attendant ushering passengers into the ferry. but we didn't see anyone paying fares. so we thought maybe it's a custom to pay when one arrives at jetty. my mom and i quickly rush to the front of the ferry to catch the final glimpse of brisbane's sunset. as much as we've enjoyed the ride, photos are a must.

upon arrival at regatta jetty, everyone got down the ferry, so did we. i came up to the attendant to (again) enquire about the fares, and he was bewildered by my question.

i told him, i did not pay earlier while boarding, he just gave me a friendly smile and said "it's OK"

HAR?!?!?!?!?!?!?! OK AGAIN?!?!?!

ANOTHER FREE RIDE?!?!?! WHY ARE AUSTRALIANS SO CINCAI?!?!

- 1006 -

my feeling on our final day at brisbane doesn't seem as heavy hearted as i imagined it would be. to be truthful, i was rather delighted that i can finally leave, for i couldn't really adapt to the cold weather which caused my skin to peel continuosly. really hated it.

having said that, the one week memoirs were all too splendid to forget. it had left me an unerasable mark on my life journal that i think i will still be reminiscing till my hair turns grey. the most memorable point i will tell my granchildrens would be the FREE RIDES. hahhaha..

never will i forget the friendly faces, the cool breeze, and of course the beauty of mother nature on this side of the world.


brisbane international airport


arriving at singapore


ok, i knew i've promised some of you a souvenir. so here they are!!


CHOCOLATEZZZ for y'all - got heart leh! :P