Below are some photos we took during our trip to Cairns and in Sydney. We went in the early part of July during my holidays. I enjoyed my cousins' and brother's company alot. It is nice to chat up with them after so long and to have so much fun together. Enjoy the photos!

Virgin Blue 

Armed with my trust-worthy backpack, I travelled first from Sydney to Brisbane and then transferred to Cairns. An air ticket direct from Sydney to Carins costs 100 bucks more.   

Queens Court 

Took a cab from Cairns Airport to Queens Court Hotel to meet my cousins and brother. They were not in coz they went shopping without me. The hotel is pretty alright. Clean, simple and full of old people. My cousins and brother kept commenting that the place looks and feels like an old folks home. One of my cousin from Perth mentioned that the bedsheets, curtains and setting of the hotel rooms are exactly like that of her hostel room. She was quite freaked out :) My cousin and I were sitting in the alfresco dining area chit-chatting when a man called upon us and started talking to us in Singlish. He told us to dial his room number if anything. Totally. When we ate at the hotel's restaurant 2 days later, we realised that he is the chef of the place. He gave my brother extra portions of food and was mighty nice to us.   

The Rainbow 

Can you see the rainbow? It is lovely to the naked eye. Yea, I am holding a pizza box. Bought Dominos Pizza to munch...yummy.....

The Sail 

My cousins, Wanyu on the left and Sherlin on the right.

The Jetty 

The next day, we walked from the hotel to the jetty for our full day scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. We were all pretty excited!

The 4 Seals 

We were given half suits to wear. When i went diving in Malaysia, we were given full suits and it felt cold after awhile. I can't imagine diving in half suits in aussie waters. Neither can they!

The Cruise 

There were 90+ people on board the cruise but quite a number of them were just relaxing on board and not planning on snorkelling or diving. The angmohs really love to tan alot. There were quite a number of nihonjins on board as well. As usual they look and seem kawaii. There were around 8 crew members and instructors. All of them were friendly and hyper active. They are very organised and welcoming. We were happy to pay them so much money coz they really deserve it.

My Cousins and Brother 

Pretty sight ehz...

Scuba Diving! 

Finally time to scuba dive. The instructor who gave the first talk to everyone was damn funny. It's like he will say a sentence and then suddenly shout out something. For example he will say "When you are underwater, you have to BREATHE!!!!!" And it is not just mere emphasising, his voice is ridiculously loud and irritating coz he has a german accent. But it was fun! He went through the basics of scuba diving like how to purge water from the mouthpiece, how to clear the mask, some hand signals, what we will happen underwater...... basically, he just made all of us beginners damn excited and nervous. Well, as you know, this is not my first time diving. Have half of a beginner's cert from PADI but my skills mentally and physically are as good as a first timer so what the heck. The cruise sailed for around an hour plus before stopping. The area where we dived is designated only for this company. I guess this is to protect the reefs and whatnot. Having chosen our wetsuits, flippers and masks, we then put on the weights belt and sat on a bench with the tanks behind us. Another instructor gave us some last briefing. We practised purging, clearing of masks and had to spit in the mask.

In a straight line, we walked down the steps and onto the platform. We had to do a straight dive into the water pressing the mask and mouthpiece to our face with one hand to prevent them from coming out due to the pressure. Once i dived and surfaced, i started to panic. Breathing with the mouthpiece really sucks if you don't do it often or are doing it for the first time. For me, I just have this fear of scuba diving. Not a serious fear but a fear good enough to make me panic. There were 4 instructors for 8 of us so 2 students to one instructor. They attached a rope from the platform to the other side of the cruise and we were supposed to hold on to the rope and face downwards to get use to breathing underwater. I was pretty freaked out actually but knowing me, i still went ahead with everything :) Sherlin and I were attached to the same instructor and Wanyu and bro were attached to another instructor. The reason why i was attached to my instructor is because i refused to let go of his hand the moment i was in the water. Hahahaha.... damn scared la.

My instructor is damn nice and reassuring. He dived between the 2 of us, not letting go of our hands at all for the whole time. He reminded us to clear our ears, kept asking if we were ok with the ok sign and made sure we were alright. He made us touch all the corals, anemone, fishes and WE FOUND NEMO AND HIS DAD! They were dodging around the anemone just like in the show. Heh! I was surprised that they allowed us to touch everything. I was given the idea that direct contact would harm the plants and animals but i guess in order to make the trip more enjoyable, they willingly sacrifice the environment. The dive was great once we got over the inital jitters. Just being underwater increased the sensitivity of all our senses. I am beginning to enjoy scuba diving. My first experience wasn't that good. We didn't get to swim around. We just stood at one place and did our skills for the instructor to see. But we have a packet of bread with us so all the fishes swam over. But this dive is much better. I feel more like a diver :)

After 30 minutes, we surfaced and went on board and shivered like mad. The 4 of us seem to be the only ones who are cold and not the others. Haiz tropical landers. After lunch, we were offered a second chance to dive for 40 bucks. I was the first to say yes. My cousins were not so keen but they signed up for it eventually. The 4 of us were assigned to shers and my instructor for the second dive. Before the 2nd dive, we talked to him a little and he is just cool. I asked him if he was talking underwater coz i kept hearing someone mumbling for the first dive but coz i was too engrossed with my surroundings, i didn't take much notice of it. After we surfaced, Shers asked me if I heard talking I was like YAH! But my instructor denies it....yah right!

The second dive happened at shallower waters. The water was damn freaking cold and i freaked out again. Panic panic! But this time round, my cousins had more problems. Wanyu hyperventilated out of nervousness and shers had to surface to cough. And so the instructor took care of them as in held their hands and dived with them. My brother and I had to dive on our own, as in dive behind them alone. After 5 minutes, I was feeling damn tired already. It is really tiring to dive on your own. With the instructor, he basically pulled us along so we didnt have to put in much strength. I was left behind coz i couldnt catch up with the instructor, my cousins and my brother. I thought of just surfacing and waiting for them to notice my absence. I was that tired and panicky. But i know it is not safe to do so so i held on. Finally they stopped to look at something and i caught up with them. I held my bro's hand. Hahaha..... After awhile, we let go again. And i was left struggling. Just at the point of desperation, another instructor swam up and asked if i was ok. He was swimming behind us all the time. CHEY he should have showed his presence earlier then i would not have to struggle so much.

I held his hand and swam with him. The most exciting thing we saw was this huge stingray hiding in the cave with 4 huge fishes. They are humongous i tell you. Awesome to be so close to them. At this point, my dear brother swung his hand around and threw my mouthpiece of my mouth. Luckily i had some experience with this in my first diving experience and didn't panic too much. When we surfaced, my brother said that my eyes opened damn big and i looked very shock. Of course lah! Nah Nah...... Hahaha... but the 4 of us had a very good time scuba diving and on this cruise. It is worth the price. Actually i have my scuba diving photos but they are in print so i havent scan them in.  

Rafting! 

The next day, we went white water rafting. I did it in NZ b4 and though it was a good experience, it wasn't as fun as people made it up to be. I didn't expect too much from this trip as well. We took a coach from the rafting centre to the river top. Took an hour+. Half of the people on the coach were nihonjins again. They even have a japanese tour guide (who is an instructor as well) explaining what the angmoh tour guide was explaining to the rest of us. The 4 of us were assigned to group 12, the last group. Our instructor is from NZ and he juz came to aussie 2 weeks ago. As the day passed and we stopped for a break after 2 hours of rafting, we realised that the instructor is quite an outcast in the company. It's like the other instructors don't talk to him, more of like ignore him most of the time. I must say that our instructor is quite a weird guy. He is enthu yet quiet. His communication skills isn't that good and he doesnt like to talk much. But we all felt for him. We were determined to have as much fun as we can with him. We suspect that the person who allocated the 4 of us to him didn't like us as well coz we are Singaporeans. On the coach on the way to the river top, we were sitting in the middle of the coach but the guy skipped us and put us in the last group. He probably knew that our instructor was in the last group. Before this, when he asked us where we were from and we said Singapore, he said "Ah crazy Singaporeans". I didn't think much of this until the end of the trip. What the hell is wrong with him. Anyways, the rafting was pretty fun actually. Our instructor did most of the work and he was very professional. Maybe he wanted to prove his worth to the other people. Fuck the others really.

Going back to the rafting. We reached this 3 metres high rock towards the end of the rafting trip. The instructor said we could jump off from the top with our life vest on. I was the first to say yes as usual. My cousins and 3 other angmohs on the same raft didn't want to. My brother, hell as crazy as me, decided to just do it! The instructor said that he wouldnt encourage it blah blah blah but how can i resist such temptation. The both of us climbed up and i wanted to give up. Hahaha.... It is damn high can. My brother went first. He didnt a straight dive in and his nose bled. My turn. The rock is protruding at the bottom so i asked another instructor if i would hit it and he said yes, of course not. Thanx. I did a front sommersault into the waters. Very smart. i landed right smack on my face coz i did one and a half turns. I nearly drowned. I am not kidding. I lost orientation and kept struggling coz i couldnt reach the surface. After 5 counts as my cousin told me, i decided to just give up and black out and wait for someone to rescue me. And just when i relaxed, i breathed air. I was like hey! The japanese intructor came over and asked if i was alright and i was like Bloody hell no! I almost drowned??? The instructor at the top of the rock called me and gave me a hell yea baby sign and i was pleased. My cousins said my sommersault was subarashi (fantastic) but i landed damn loudly into the water. They said that i was actually floating already but coz i lost orientation, i didnt know which way to lift my head to breathe. I asked them why no one came to save me and they said coz they didnt know what i was doing and everyone was just stunned with my stunt. Hahaha..... My instructor asked if i was mad. What can i say? Madness is but a form of sanity. I love this!

Cable Ride 

The next day was a relaxing day. The plan was to take the longest cable car up this scenic area and then take the train which passes through mountain down. I think we look kind of tired Haha.....

Train 

This is the train which we took down. It is rather old and very long.

Reflected Sky 

The clouds reflected on the stream as we passed by via cable car.

My "Old" Brother 

Our Car 

Chinatown 

Wanyu says that Sydney looks and feels like UK. When we reached Sydney, it rained everyday for 4 days straight. Quite a record. When Shers went back to Sin, it stopped raining. Haha... we were practically in the rain for the 4 days coz we didnt bring umbrella and we wanted to go out. As can be seen, the 3 of us bought many many many stuff. It was fun!

COOL 

Harbour Bridge 

Shers and the Habour bridge

Poster Girl 

Coz i was wearing a Adidas top, they made me pose with Ian Thorpe and some women for the Adidas ad. Heez....

Opera House 

Wanyu and the Opera house

Romeo & Juliet 
 
I am mesmerised by the song Kissing You by Des'ree in the R&J soundtrack. Her voice, the melody, the lyrics and the storyline of R&J combined together never fails to transport me to a different space whenever i hear the song. So surreal, heart-wrenching, producing a wine glass falling and shattering on the floor in an empty silent room kind of dramatic effect. 

Let's raise a toast to all the star cross lovers in the world. May true love be true and precious.  

The young "me" 

This is the photo i was talking about in my last entry. What do you think? Those who saw me grow up or saw my kiddo photos before. Does she look like me when i was young??? Ah well... can't be too wrong if my family members think so ehz? Hope this babe grows up fine and healthy :)

I miss CY. She went back to Shanghai today for the holidays. We both had our final exams yesterday. Met up in the city and watched Harry Potter 3. Walked around aimlessly and in search of good food. Decided on Darling Harbour coz she hasn't seen the night life there yet. Hand in hand, we slow walked past the bridge and enjoyed the cool weather and bright lights of the city. The restaurants all look good but the prices look better. Settled on the japanese restaurant to bring them some "ren qi" (human energy?) since the restaurant was empty. Ordered my favourite Sakae! The waitress asked if i was from Japan just becoz i asked for Sakae without looking at the menu. Oh Pls! The food was alrite, not worth the price and not as good as other restaurants there but oh well, the company was good, the view excellent and the atmosphere romantic. Heh, i know, i sound like a les now but heck.

Next, we passed by a cafe along Darling Harbour which sells so many different types of cheesecake. We kind of have a mini cheesecake cum coffee trend here in aus with our group of friends. We love to hang out in a cosy cafe chitchatting and eating yummy cheesecake. CY and i decided to share a cheesecake albeit just finishing dinner. Talk about being fat! We had strawberry cheesecake and coffee for me and milkshake for her. We were the only ones inside the cafe. The other people sat outside. How romantic! Hahaha... The boss came out, saw us and gave a funny look to his employee while talking to him. I bet he was saying something about us coz the next thing i knew, he dimmed the lights in the cafe and gave me a big smile. Totally CY and i are there to date. But the feeling was so good. Stress-free, relaxing, peaceful and beautiful. I just felt like sleeping there and then. It's so soothing.

Decided to give CY her vigin experience, entering the casino that is. She hasn't quite been in one so we decided to go take a look. I enjoy watching people gamble. Very engrossing. Watching their expressions or lack of expressions, watching them lose few hundred dollars at once, watching them get so excited over their winnings, wondering when the bankers' fingers will cramp up from excessive usage, feeling the pinch when so much money is lost on the table in one bet and thinking about what the gamblers are thinking when they place their bets. There are many HongKong people in the casino, young, old, men, women. Some say that the Chinese Asians are the most hardcore gamblers in the world, i won't be quick to deny it. We met some uni friends in the casino. What a coincidence! They are from Malaysia and came in a big group. Chat for quite awhile since we have nothing much better to do.

I forgot about the timing and called my mum when i saw 3 miss calls on my mobile which were most likely hers. It was already 1+am aussie timing which is 11+pm Sin time. Tio Gan ah! She was like "Where are you? I am so worried!" I was like "oh emm i am in the casino and didn't hear the phone ringing." Heez... she asked how we gona get home, whether i was gambling, is it safe and told me to be a good girl. Oh well, i am not interested in gambling so nothing much to worry about there. Sky diving and bungee jumping excite me. Gambling doesn't. It is too aimless and useless. The gamblers, place few hundred dollars of bets on the table, win twice that amount, place all the winnings on the next bet, and lose all the money on the table. It becomes like a routine. Win, lose, win, lose. For me, that is totally brainless. I mean, at least if you get something out of it, it is ok. But to go round in a circle and end up with nothing is just :p Enlighten me pls.

We took a cab back to our respective homes but the night hasn't ended yet. After taking a bath, i went over her place to watch "Xing Shi Zhen Ji Dang An", that HongKong police drama series. CY has the series in her comp so i often pop by to watch. She packed her luggage while i watched a few episodes of the show. At around 7am, we laid on her bed and started chitchatting again. She is supposed to leave home at 830am. At 750am, we crawled under the covers coz it's so cold. My eyes were struggling to keep awake but we continued talking. The next thing we knew, Ah Ma (the person who rents the place to her and stays in the same place as her is an old lady) knocked on the door and came in. We both feel asleep!!! I was like die die what is the time already. Luckily, before this, we told Ah Ma we were leaving home at 830am so she came in to check on us. We could have easily slept till god knows when and CY would have missed her flight for sure! Damn heng really. Had a good laugh and carried her big and small luggage out to wait for cab. I was dressed in my PJ so it's damn embarrassing to walk in the streets. A cab finally came and we hugged each other goodbye.

Hope she is safe back at home now. Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks time! Come back safe and funkier than ever yea!