19th July 2009 - Last day in Brisbane

Our last day in Brisbane... I brought everyone to the place I went almost every Saturday morning for market shopping - West End Market! We drove there and walked around the place and they bought lots of bottles of honey and honey comb. My mum was so excited because she loves to eat honey. Sad to say, she did not get to bring the honey back because we forgot to check-in the honey with our luggage! An over-look on our part and what a waste... Luckily, I got my Aussie friends to help me take them back so at least our money did not go into the wastebin.



A photo with the serviced apartment we stayed for the past few days. The furniture was quite comfy and the apartment spacious. However, we found bed-bugs! Yucks!!!




Mum and the rest taking photos outside while I was doing the checking-out inside.



At the airport... I think that's a flying cow. Haha...

They came to see me off and attempted to make me cry by singing 爱我别走. Un-surprisingly, I did not cry... I'm not without emotions. It's just that I simply could not cry in public. Maybe it's due to the fact that I look really ugly when crying. Haha...

All of them shared a farewell present for me - a digital photo frame! They knew I've always wanted one and it's quite expensive... Love them! Xiaoying and Bernard also gave me a card and a Disney Princess photoframe with a photo of the three of us, taken on the day of Graduation. So sweet...

The above two pictures were our dinner during the flight home.

After some alcohol shopping at the DFS, I eagerly stepped out of the gates and into my waiting grandma's arms... Home Sweet Home... My grandma, godpa, godma, Uncle Hwa, Uncle Mike, Aunt Jasmine, cutest Adeline, Lawrence and girlfriend, Bryan and Eunice were at the airport waiting for my family and me. We went back to my house in three fully loaded cars.

I'm glad there's no weird feeling at all when I saw my dear relatives. However, the weird feeling came upon me on the way home. Somehow, the roads seemed foreign... The best thing was, there's a new elder-care centre opened at the void deck of my flat. I totally didn't remember my mum telling me about it during our numerous phone and web-cam marathons. Imagine the shock I got when my uncle pulled into the unloading bay!

I was partly disappointed when I stepped out of the gates though. My SG guy friends had told me they will be there to welcome me back (with a big banner, they said). However, not one of them turned up (ok, Jeffrey had already told me he had to attend company's D&D so he couldn't make it). There was not even a 'welcome back' sms from them! Thanks guys (in case you don't know, that was meant in a sarcastic way)... I know you all went to celebrate Allen's birthday but still... To think I even bought extra Krispy Kreme doughnuts with you guys in mind... Hmmph!

At least Adeline benefitted from your absence because she got to have the extra doughnuts. Haha...

18th July 2009 - Fordsdale Farm & Brisbane City

Early in the morning, the owner of Fordsdale farm, Sue, arrived at the house to show us around the farm. She brought us to a neighbour's dairy farm to watch the milking of cows. Sue rears cows too. However, her own cows did not give birth to any calves recently so there's no milk. The cows in this dairy farm are milked mechanically.


The really fresh milk...


Didn't know I'm so popular...

My mum claims she's scared of dogs... Dear mummy, you can stop trying to bluff me. I know you are not scared of dogs... I promise I wouldn't anyhow bring a puppy home.

Feeding time! This is one of Sue's calves, can't remember how old it is though. I only remember it's a very greedy calf which keep drinking and drinking.

The calf kept walking away when Alan was near so he had a hard time trying to take a photo with it. Look at his expression! Haha...

This calf is around the same age as the other one but it refused to drink milk. Sue had no choice but to feed it grass mixed with the vitamins it required for growing. Ivy and Sindy feeding this calf which was born prematurely so maybe that explained its weird behaviour.

Next, to see the chicks... I think that was the first time I held a real one in my hands.

And I believe that was my brother's first time too. Maybe that explains why he looked so awkward, like he's about to drop the chicken anytime. Haha...

This dog kept pestering my dad to play with it. Sue said that this was a city dog, given to her by someone and it is still not used to living on a farm. Poor thing...

Chicks! No doggy, that's not your dinner! Hahaha...

Finally, time for horse riding! Before the ride, we had to feed the horses first.

Somehow, I think my mum and dad look like they were 'pa-tor-ing' (dating) throughout the trip.

Queueing up for helmet fitting...

Geared up and ready to go!

Finally up on a horse! Frankly speaking, I was terrified when I first got up. However, I read somewhere that horses can sense when you are scared and they will get unsettled too. So, I kept trying to calm myself in order not to spook the horse. I think I did a very bad job because Sindy commented that I looked scared. As long as the horse didn't know, that's ok. Haha... My horse did give me a scare though. While waiting for the rest to be saddled up, it decided to take me for a short walk... Luckily, one of the assistants saw that and guided my horse back to the rest.

Finally, we get to go for a walk around Sue's estate, which is very very big. As Sue had limited 'gentle' horses, we had to go horse riding in batches. My family and I went first.

Now came their turn. What cute helmets they had... Hahaha...

All ready to go...

After the horse ride, Sue gave us a lift back to the house on her tractor. That's my brother and Sindy on the front wheels, Ivy and Yi Ling on the back wheels.


That's Alan on the front wheels, Cerina and I on the back wheels. The tractor ride was almost as fun as the horse ride!

Sue and I took a photo together before we left. She's a very nice and capable lady. I strongly recommend her farm to anyone who's thinking of going for farm stay in Brisbane.

After a few hours drive, we got back to the city and went for some shopping. As it was Friday, the shops tend to close later (9pm instead of the usual 5-6pm) in the city.

Something very funny happened outside this shop. While we were in a shop, busy buying souvenirs, my dad went outside alone to smoke. I have no idea why but he just dropped the ashes into the plastic bag of the rubbish bin and guess what? It caught on fire! The staff from this shop immediately rushed out to extinguish the fire. My dear dad actually stood to one side, looking innocent so I think no one knew that he was the culprit. Yi Ling actually saw the action (people trying to put out the fire) but she had no idea my dad was behind it. I'm so glad my dad was not caught and charged for arson although he did not mean to do that.

Taken from the Southbanks... Our last dinner in Brisbane was eaten in a restaurant, finally. I feel quite bad because my family was subjected to instant noodles and home-cooked pasta throughout the trip.

This whole trip turned out to be so different from what I had imagined. There were things I wanted to do but did not. There were places I wanted to bring them to but had no time to. There were even promises I made but did not fulfill.

Oh well, it's over anyway. No use lamenting on it...

17th July 2008 - Chinatown, Mount Coo-tha & Fordsdale Farmstay

Early in the morning, we checked out of our serviced apartment and we went to Chinatown first. Aussie is a very big place so every state has its own Chinatown. Brisbane's Chinatown is in Brunswick Street.


My parents were very interested in the Chinese Zodiac signs drawn. My dad found his...

So did my brother... My mum was the only one who couldn't find her Chinese Zodiac sign there. Haha...


Burlington supermarket, the place I went frequently for Asian foodstuff. They even sell mahjong set and mahjong table there! One mahjong table cost about AUD90+, which is ridiculously high!

The parking rates for Chinatown... After seeing this, you guys can stop complaining about the parking rates in town. My friends usually park at a free but isolated parking area. However. our cars were filled with our belongings so I don't want to risk parking there.

After Chinatown, we went to the tourist lookout at Mount Coo-tha. You can see almost the whole of Brisbane city from there.

Sindy just taught my brother how to 自拍and I think this was his first attempt, hence, the funny expression. Haha...

ME and mummy with the tourist sign...

Our last stop for the day, which was also the highlight of our trip - farmstay! We drove a couple of hours from Brisbane to Gatton and we even past by UQ's Gatton campus. That was interesting... Anyway, when we reached Fordsdale farm (which cannot be located using GPS), we were warmly greeted by this beautiful Golden Retriever. Or rather, my dad was warmly welcomed by it. This dog just happily trotted past all of us and went straight to my dad for a rub (please refer to above photo). We deduced that the dog likes smokers. Haha...

Photo of the farmhouse we stayed in, taken by Alan. This farmhouse is a 4-bedroom self-contained cottage and cost only AUD198 per night. We had to pay an extra AUD20 because we did not bring our own bedsheets so the owner had to charge us laundry cost. That's understandable as water is very precious in Aussie due to the drought.

View from the farmhouse...

The very clean and modern kitchen of the farmhouse.

There were some board games available and we started to play the Star Wars edition Monopoly, my favourite board game.

Helping to peel prawns for dinner...

This is also the farm owner's dog. It's very friendly too and kept wanting to play with us.

Our dinner - macaroni soup, cooked by mummy dearest.

Sitting down for dinner, with Yi Ling as photographer.

All seated for dinner...

It was freaking cold up in the farm! All of us couldn't bear to leave the heater and there's only one heater left because my parents and brother took the other one into their room. Actually we only knew they took it in the next morning when they told us. Those sneaky fellows... Haha... Anyway, the rest of us couldn't decide who gets to keep the heater so, to be fair, we left it out in the living room and slept in the freezing cold.

This was the most relaxing and memorable night throughout our entire trip. This was also the night when we fully realised what a scaredy-cat Sindy is! I'm not sure she'll appreciate me sharing her story publicly so, too bad... I'm sure most of you already knew what happened though...