Day 5: 10th October 2006, Tuesday.

ROAD TRIP - DAY 1.

Sunny, warm and cloudless. Perfect for our roadtrip.

I finally got up at about 8 and packed. We were off at 10.15a.m.

Stop 1 - Yarragon. Wanted to get something there but the shops were closed due to the electricity company changing the power lines, or something like that. On the road again after taking some photos.

Do you see the right hand side of the photo? There they were changing the power lines. So different from the ones at home, where all power and telecommunications lines are beneath the ground.

Stop 2 - Toilet stop. Another town further down where we stopped to use the toilet at a McDonald's outlet. Went walking around the area before heading back to the car.

Stop 3 - Some wildlife "sanctuary(???)" which is famous for their live giant earthworms. Did not enter their exhibit but took photos of their painted walls and bought something from their gift shop.

Oh! As you can see it here for yourselves, I could not help not taking a photo of the natives themselves, all in a line, hard at work mowing the lawn. LOL!!!

Stop 4 - San Remo. Had bread and ham for lunch there before crossing the bridge into Phillip Island for a spin.

The bridge is called Fish Freeway. Rather, it is the entire stretch leading in and out of Phillip Is.

Stop 5 - Phillip Is. Did not watch the penguin parade as the tickets were quite expensive. Instead, we went to look at seals. Unfortunately, the sun was setting in the backdrop and we could not spot a single seal. Check out the photos.

Entrance to the Penguin Parade at dusk, where the penguins will come walking onto the beach from the sea after a hard day's work of fishing. And people actually pay money to watch those flightless birds walking in together. !!!

Yup. Seal viewing. With another native standing on top of the board (left-hand corner).












With the setting of the sun in the background, how on earth was I supposed to spot the seals???

Stop 6 - San Remo (again). We had the freshest fish and chips for dinner, while standing up, at a fish shop. The place sells fish by day and take-away food by night. That was why we were standing up; there were not many chairs around and it was freakinglly cold outside.

Stop 7 - Motel room, somewhere in Kilcunda. We are all now sitting infront of the telly in a motel and warming ourselves at the same time with the provided heater, after having our very refreshing baths. Right then. I had best turn in. Night! By the way, the price for the room (2 queen-size beds and attached bathroom) after bargaining, is AUD80. Boy, am I glad to sleep on a bed again. :) Haha!

Photo of the motel's sign taken the next morning before we continued with our roadtrip.

Stay tuned for the second installment of my Victoria State ROADTRIP.

Day 4: 9th October 2006, Monday.

(con't from previous post)

Cold. Lousy weather.

We spent the morning doing the laundry. After we had hung out the first lot of clothing, it drizzled! Had to quickly rush out and bring them in. The rain went away quite soon, and the sun was out to play. Ridiculous weather... All the clothes were out in the sun till the time we were about to go out. So, left them infront of the heater. We had bread and ham for lunch before going out to visit another of Mum's friend, Nina, Mrs. P's daughter. Had tea there in her big house with her husband. The view of the mountains from her living room was amazig. She also have some amazing flowers. After that, we stopped by the supermarket to get some things to take home, like canned clams for clam chowder!!! :)

We had a short stopover for dinner at Aunt Kathy's place (we had bread again, but with omelette this time round) before making two more visits. The first one was to our hostess' cousin's place as Aunt Kathy wanted to tell her personally that she would be heading out of town the next day. The next one was a long "journey" to the next town of Traralgon to visit another of Mum's friend, Nina's sister, Lou. We nearly got ourselves lost on the way there. The residential estate was huge and all the houses there were big, with big lawns. The street Lou lived on was without any street sign, thus we were very nearly lost, but thank God Aunt Kathy remembered how to get there since her first/last trip. There, we met Lou's daughter, Jessica, who is my age. The adults had a ball sitting there reminising and laughing. I laughed along as the stories told were really funny. Finally got back at about 11pm and went to sleep at 12.20am.

Day 3: 8th October 2006, Sunday.

(con't from previous travelogue)

17 deg celcius. Church.



Woke up at 8++a.m. and was ready by 9:15a.m. While waiting, took photos of the house and plants. Aunt Kathy drove us three to the church. Met another of Mum's old friend there, Mrs. P, who came from Malta with her husband and 6 kids years ago. Attended Mass together without our hostess who wanted to visit some art gallery.





Homily was about divorce in St. Mark's gospel. "What God has unite, men must not divide." This applies not only to marital divorces but also to almost anything that is going in the world now, anything that has to do with conflicts, like wars. The altar was decorated with such gorgeous blooms, mostly local ones, considering that it is spring. Only 1 altar girl was present next to the priest.

Aunt Kathy was waiting for us at the porch after Mass. Apparantly, she did attend Mass. Something/someone changed her mind and she sat at the back of the church, while we were in the front. All of us, including Mrs. P, packed ourselves into Aunt Kathy's car, before heading off to Mrs. P's house. But before going there, we stopped by the supermarket for a short while to get some bread and ham. And yes, we did have ham-sandwiches for lunch, washing all those down with cups of tea and some cakes that Mrs. P had left in her larder.

It was a lovely house Mrs. P has, albeit the largeness of it for only one elderly lady. By the time we left, it was almost 2p.m. Not that we were chased out by her but because she was going out to a social club with friends, who were coming to pick her up. After her place, we went to Mid Valley to shop some more! Bought some wrapping materials; crepe paper and ribbons, and a box of Christmas cards. They were so cute! Also a 'Thank You' card for Aunt Kathy. And yes, I finally got my hands on that t-shirt I was eyeing since yesterday. Thought the shop had it cleared out when I could not find it on the rack! Turns out it was on another rack. Haha! Happy! :) So, we all walked around till the shops closed. FYI, the shops Down Under close earlier than back home, the same goes for the UK and NZ.

So, I am now waiting for dinner to be ready. It's pasta! Yipee! Heard that we will be going out again later to visit another old friend of Mum's.
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Finally reached back here past midnight. Stayed at the Morwell Club for more than two hours. Very lively reunion for Mum and her friend, Tony, who works at the club. We three at a cup of hot cocoa each while Aunt Kathy had a glass of weak latte. They made me on the only available piano there which was really old. Very, very old... Guess I had to work for my own cup of hot choc! LOL.




The keyboard was really nice to play/ touch. Easy/soft, in fact. It had a bouncy kind of feeling to it. Makes playing D. Scarlatti's sonata easy. But it was horribly off-tune! The keys were yellow and there were a few that were already replaced!!! Played the Australian national anthem as requested. Thank goodness there were only a few people around or else I would had died of embaressment.


It is a cold night. Reminds me of the time when I was in England at the start of winter...

Nothing more, but my tears.

Here is a poem I wrote after watching The Phantom of the Opera on the telly on sunday evening which I personally find is more suited as lyrics to a song. Here it goes... But first, please remember that this poem is MINE. No copying/plagerism even though this is a public place.

Night has fallen, completely

I have come to this place as promised.

The silence here overwhelms me

Here in such a desolate place...

The clouds above are passing by

The stars come out from their darkest cloaks.

The moon shines her bright glory

Glory which is never yours...

Come out, come out from where you hide

I know you are here behind that rock.

That hole of yours you had chose

Where the sun cannot reach...

The world keeps spinning

Life moves on.

Empty your heart of hate and anger

Make room for hope on the bright new morn.

Farewell my friend, I leave you here

No words of mine you will hear.

My body tires, my spirit wanes

Nothing more, but my tears.

*M.A Chia 19 March 2007 A.D*

Black and white pictures

Just some black and white pictures I had done before using Paint. All pictures are done by me, Marie. No stealing.

Intermission:Haiku

Yes, yes, yes. I know what you will say and I admit that I have been lazy updating this blog. And so, I shall do my utmost to update those travel entries, but for now, just sit back and enjoy some Haikus my classmates and I had written during a short class break.

Char wrote:
Luheng is crazy
Don't know what is he thinking
I can't imagine.

Enx wrote:
Julia and Luheng
Two lovely spoil marketers
Who scares us away.

This blogger wrote:
The boy sits alone
Sleeping and doing nothing
He is all alone.

3 of us wrote:
Luheng the small kid
Who has a mature low voice
Rumbling all throughout.

Day 2. 7th October Saturday

Warm and cloudless. It was going to be a beautiful day. Nice. Woke up at 9:15a.m. Got ready to go out to the Oktoberfest. Had toast, jam and tea for breakfast. Aunt Kathy's friend, Teresa, had to pick us up as our hostess had to leave early in order to set up her costume jewellery stall at the festival early. We arrived at the fair and saw many other stalls already up and going, selling their wares, costume jewellery and cute handicrafts.
Shared a meal of Pork-knuckle and Hotdog with Mum and Godma. Helped to man Aunt Kathy's stall while she had her lunch. (You see, I was the first to finish my lunch, thus I was free.) Aunt Kathy gave me a beaded bracelet! :)






Watched a traditional German dance where the dancers were dressed in their traditional clothes. It was very interesting yet amusing.






We 3 left for the local shopping centre, Mid Valley, after that. Aunt Kathy's cousin, Jane, offered to send us there as Teresa's car was very much caught in between a tree and another car. And so, her car was stuck. Mid Valley is a middle-size shopping centre that happen to have 2 supermarkets and 2 departmental store. We spent 3 hours there, walking around and looking at things. I did not spend any money but will do so tomorrow. Got to buy birthday presents for 4 guys, and a kangaroo among others for another boy and souvenirs for 3 girls. Must start thinking about Christmas.

I am now sitting here on the bed, waiting for dinner to be ready. Clam chowder and potato salad. Yummy. Mum bought some chocs while Godma bought alot. Not surprised.