Day4 - Philip Island

Have you ever been to a place for holiday and they tell you the tourist spots and you feel you have to go see each and every place mentioned in the tourist pamphlet, even if you knew if was not fun or something you want to see? I don't know what it is. Pure morbid curiosity or the guilt of not getting your money's worth or the fact that it will be fun and people will be laughing at you for year? There are not many forces that powerful as this urge.

The visit to Philip Island was one such place though I have to admit that the trip there and spending lunch at the seaside town of San Remo and also visiting a chocolate factory was the highlight. Philip Island also had a spectacular view of the ocean and is the famous home of the Little Penguins. They are the smallest penguins in the animal kingdom and they come home every night to the nest on Philip Island and this tourist attraction is called the Penguin Parade.



You can buy tickets where you will sit on a grand stand right in front of the ocean waiting for these little guys to come out of the freezing ocean and we were told not to make any noise. There was a couple of teenagers sitting in front of us that kept shushing the kids and I. I of course as a responsible parent got together with my kids and kept irritating them by making giggly and farty noises.

The chocolate factory (not "the" chocolate factory as in Willy Wonka's but just "a" factory) was a visit well worth AUD12. We had free chocolate to clog up the arteries of 10 rhinoceroses and we got to design our own chocolate. There was this contraption that collected chocolate liquid and then let is flow like a chocolate curtain in it's brown glory. I had dreams that I was under the flow with my mouth open and my entire internal systems shutting down voluntarily. What a way to go. There was a train model with the town done entirely in chocolate and a full choclate stature of David by Michaelangelo as well as machineries and other chocolate ingredients to show you how it's done.









There was also a koala's sanctuary but I have seen enough koala's from our last trip and the wild koalas on the Grampiens to care. Australia would not be complete without a visit to the farm to see how sheep dogs hustle sheeps, how "cowboys" "round up" sheep and calves and of course how to make billy tea. The put some tea leaves in a rusty can, add boiling water and ask you to swing the can 360 degrees with your arms straight. I doubt that's how it's done in the outbacks and this is just to see how stupid us tourist are (answer: pretty darn).







The penguins' show ended pretty late and in the end the parade was quite worth it. Just don't get the skybox or grandstand or whatever additional tickets they ask you to get. In the end, we are all mixed around anyway regardless of ticket price. Also we didn't take any photos of the penguins as we were told it would hurt their eyes or even scare them. Thousands of giant watching you go home, no problem. Flash! Oh my gawd!! Run for lives! We are so scared!!!!




So ends Day4 and Day5 is about shopping in the city....THANK GOD!

Back to Melbourne

After travelling for 3 days, we are back in Melbourne where we will spend the rest of our holidays. No more packing and no more "nomading". It was a welcome sight of the city and our apartment was really cozy and comfortable. We stayed at Darling Towers at South Yarra which we were told was a very posh affluent community. We just wanted to rest. Take a look.

More pics from Day 3

Some more on the scenery and waterfall.

Oz- Day 3

We took a break of giving you a commentary of our last holiday. We now move into Day 3. We left you when we just got into Grampiens National Park. This is a great place with really breathtaking rock formations, plateau and just extraordinary scenery.

It's all about the scenery and the wild kangaroos. We visited a Aboriginal Center which showed us how the lived and the history of their culture. Basically they were there first and the white man (which were British prisoners) arrived here to be serve their prison sentence and took the Aborigines' land away. HAHAHAHA! Those Caucasians, you gotta love them. Well I am not going to comment on what happen centuries ago which did not concern today's generation.

Below are some pictures of the chalet we stayed as well as the surrounding view.




The Aboriginal Center.


Some of the sceneries that we took from the various lookouts. There was a waterfall that needed us to climb down a very steep staircase. It was ok since we have seen better here at home but during the climb up, Melissa has shortness of breath and was fainting. So we had to sit down while she caught her breath and the stars stopped dancing in front of her eyes. Gave me a bit of a scare. There were some bragging points since she always made fun of my weight but I was the fitter one. But thank God she didn't fall or worse.

How to Train your Dragon???

This is one of those questions that you will never ask in real life. Another one is "Should I trim my nose hair with a pair of pliers?". (Hint: NEVER). For one thing, dragons don't exist and for another, no matter how heart warming this show may be, you should not be going near dragons like how you shouldn't be going near toxic waste or a sexual predator or the president of MCA. Not necessarily in that order.

This really was excellent show with very witty dialog. The script was well written and the story flow was of good quality. It starts out as a very cliche story of a Viking boy (named Hiccup) that doesn't belong to the stereotyped Viking persona. He is weak, scrawny, no inclination to fighting and to make things worse, he is the chief's son. So he is an embarrassment to his dad. To complete the cliche he is trying very hard to impress the village and his father AND he is in love with his generation hottest chick.


Unfortunately for him, a hot Viking chick doesn't shop, do her nails or have a facial. She can kick any boy her age group and she is fighting to be an elite dragon slayer. You see, the problem with Hiccup's village is that it keeps getting raided by dragons. So as the story title goes, good ol' Hiccup adds to his long list of Viking imperfections by finding a lost dragon, befriends it and actually trains it.

That's when things starts to get funny and exciting and it starts going a little off the norm. The story line still follows a very cliched route but with little twists here and there. Also as mentioned, the script is really funny. Only thing was, I found Hiccup voice to be too whiny and wheezy. I really don't see that attracting the hottest chick in your village.



While it's really for kids, I highly recommend it for adults with a good sense of fun, humour and wanting-to-get-out-of-the-damn-house as your kids are just driving you up the wall and with your dog just peeing everywhere. So go check it out and hopefully you get some tips in training your pet or your spouse.

White Noise in a band

A blast from the past....Couple of days ago, I got some old photos from my days in college from one of my friends. It was a photo of a time when we performed in a band!! That's rite the ol aerodynamic one performed in a band. If you haven't performed in a band and in public, let me just say that it is one of the most memorable events you would ever do. I believe everyone should at least have a go but if will be a heck lot more memorable if you were good. Also nothing beats performing on stage and in public. But only if no one is throwing beer bottles at you!

Check these photos for days of yore. Just one question....one the heck is "yore"??

Our band was named "White Noise". We made some noise initially but we managed to get ourselves opening for Zainal Abidin. That's right...the "Hijau" guy. We met Sheila Majid and we sang "La Bamba" on stage. How cool is that!!! It's also the day I first met my wife. It was love at first sight.

The second year, we sang "Winds of Change" by Scorpion, "Walk of Life" by Dire Straits, "Wonderful Tonight" Eric Clapton, "Bad Moon Rising" by CCR and "Manis" by Zainal Abidin. It was SOOOOO Cool!!! I a lot of phone numbers that night (just my luck that I met my wife too...DAMN!).



Oh, we did do a banggara as well. Got costumes and all and it was really cool! You know what is even more cool? WHEN YOUR SARONG IS NOT FALLING DOWN!!!!

When you're young and in love

My first born, Michael turned 13 last Monday and hence he is officially a teenager. That makes me feel extremely proud, wary and more importantly.....old! One of the benefits of having your kids early is that you get to hang around people your age and hear of them doing things that you already did with their 9 year olds or 10 year olds. You get to tell them, "Hey I already did that!".

We threw him a Lok-Lok party last Sunday with his friends from primary school and also his new secondary school. For those behind the times, Lok-Lok is prepared by skewering uncooked fishballs, beancurd skins, prawns, bacon, sausages and anything you can think of. You then put them into pots of boiling water to cook them and then eat them with sauces. That's called steamboat if it's in a restaurant but if it's mobile and you eat behind a van, it's called Lok-Lok. Lok it up...HAHAHA!

On Sunday morning, they hung out at the mall, watched a movie, played video games, ate junk food and read comics until it was time for the party. Melissa and I sent them to the mall and then like good parents, we tried to be invisible. Of course being a dad, I can be cool around my son so I had to literally drag Melissa away from peeking at them and allowed them their freedom.

After dragging her away with a forklift, we went our way to prepare for the party. I picked them up later and they have bought stuff, had more junk food on them and were just going on about the movie the watched. The party was a hit as we had our XBox which was always a teenage boy magnet.

This year though, we bought Mikey a pool table which was SUPER COOL! It was almost tournament size and was very solid. The kids....on excuse me...the boys had a wonderful time. Only drawback was that my kitchen was that big to make shots from all angles but we made do.

Being a teenager means you outgrow certain things. One of them was a fancy cake. Last year we had the cake with Iron Man on it. This year, he just wanted a plain chocolate cake. Signs of being cool! As a teen, he has also noticed the opposite sex and he told me that he had this crush on one of his old class mates. But as with all teenage boys, they will show that affection by totally ignoring the girl.

I remember my first crush. I was 12 and she was a Chindian from another school. We were in the same school bus and her name was Linda Teh. She was gorgeous and I had the biggest crush on her. Being me though, I showered her with a lot attention and made her laugh a lot. We were great friends but I didn't think of keeping in touch and email or mobile phones were not invented yet. Sad to say I have not seen her since we were 12. I doubt I would even recognize her.

Ahhh....to be young and in...err...crush?! Anyway, like all things when you are young, they will pass and new and better experiences take their places. I will ensure he enjoys his childhood and his teen years. And I will make sure he enjoys going out, having fun with good friends and not be too attached to home. That's because I want him out my house when he goes to college so that I don't have to kick his butt out!!