THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

"Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen." Benjamin Disraeli

I've been back for almost 3 weeks now, and have been doing a bit of reflecting. These four months of traveling have been great, and I do not regret my decision at all for taking time off to go off on this adventure, before I buckled down into the 9 to 5 routine. I loved traveling, but more than anything, it made me realize how much I really miss home and my family and friends. I guess you can say that I had to go to the other end of the world just to realize how much I miss home.


Things I've missed:
*family
*friends
*mom's cooking
*not having to use a squatting toilet
*not having to bring toilet paper to the bathroom
*my own bed
*fresh air
*all-u-can-eat sushi buffet
*not having to live out of a suitcase
*not having to sanitize my hands 10 times a day, minimum
*drinking water out of the tap
*my hockey
*playing volleyball


Things that have changed while I was away:
* the tax is suddenly 13%
* Family Day (stat holiday) have been added in February
* massive amount of snow fall (2nd worst in history?)
* the interest incurring on my OSAP loan =(
* Brampton Civic Hospital getting negative publicity =(


Rather than being shortened, this trip just made my "Places to visit" list longer. Future trips (shorter trips, of course):

* East and west coast (Canada)
* the States (NYC, California, Florida)
* Japan
* Korea
* Taiwan
* Bali
* Australia (Tasmania, Great Barrier Reef, & New Zealand although it's not in Australia)
* Europe
* Egypt
* Mauritius
* Tibet
* Peru

But it'll probably be a while till I embark on another adventure. But that's alright. I'm content with being home. In the words of Dorothy, "There's no place like home".

Backpacking across the Golden Arrow

Late entry for Feb 22nd-27th


The Golden Triangle (formed by Delhi, Agra and Jaipur) is a very popular destination for many tourists heading to India. So naturally, I was interested in checking these places out. My sister Margaret, who was also in India in December, suggested checking out Udaipur, which is south of the triangle. I decided to call this trip, The Golden Arrow (although, it doesn't really look like an arrow. love the photoshop skills, huh?).

After spending the first two weeks in Calcutta for Chinese New Years, where it was busy and bustling, I was surprised at how quiet things got after the Holidays. A lot of visitors had already started heading home, and my cousins were all busy with exams, so I had a hard time finding a travel companion. Fortunately, my grand aunt or So Pho, volunteered to venture off to the Golden Arrow with me. It was all very last minute. We booked a train ticket to and from Delhi, and headed out the next day, after my Birthday. I bought a "Lonely Planet's India" guide, as suggested by Mags, and packed a backpack for the trip. We hadn't planned the trip out yet... I just knew that I wanted to visit all four cities, but had no idea how to do so in 6 days.

Just to give you a background, I've been to the Golden Traingle, with my So Pho who helped raised me, twenty years ago. So it was really nice to re-visit these cities again, years later, with her, although I don't remember much about the trip from when I was a child. Thank god for the Lonely Planet, or else we would have been so lost.

Delhi

After an 18hr ride on a sleeper train, we reached Delhi around noon (7,200 Rs. for return trip to and from Calcutta for two people). (Our train arrived late, which is not uncommon). We decided to drive down to Agra since it was only 5 hours away, and check out the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort first. So we jumped on an unmarked Taxi and bargained with the driver to take us to Agra and visit these two sites for 2,500 Rupees (again, 40 rupees = 1 USD). Oh yea, I forgot to mention that I don't know much Hindi, but my So Pho is quite fluent in both Hindi and Bengali. The driver wanted a 1,000 rupees deposit, supposedly for gas, but we refused, and gave him 500 instead. By the time we reached Agra Fort, our first stop, we were pretty tired. I barely slept during the drive since I was worried that we haven't been able to get in touch with anyone to let them know that we've reached Delhi, and that we're heading off to Agra in an unmarked taxi. Our cell phones were pretty useless outside of Calcutta. Now, that I look back on the whole trip, we were really lucky we didn't get mugged or kidnapped.

Agra Fort was our first stop. It was pretty big, and red. What I remember most about this place was how there was so many little small bugs that were EVERYWHERE. It was hard to enjoy this place, while you waved your hands frantically infront of your face to prevent eating or sniffing one of these bugs. I put my scarf from Gaya to good use around my face, but by the time we left Agra Fort, it was covered with souvenir bugs. I remember thinking to myself when I left that place, "I hope the Taj Mahal is insect free".

F.Y.I. Agra Fort is also known as the Red Fort of Agra and is one of the most important forts in India.

Taj Mahal

"Arguably the most perfect building on Earth, the Taj Mahal is an Indian ruler's timeless memorial to his lost, lamented love. This white marble pearl of architecture was once described by poet Rabindranath Tagore as 'a teardrop on the cheek of eternity.' Like love and tears, it cannot be captured in mere words" - How Stuff Works. How romantic, huh?

Our driver took us to Taj Mahal next, where, I'm happy to say, was bug free. Unfortunately, The Taj Mahal has changed over the years. Because of the air polluiton, the marble is no longer white, but rather yellow. A ban on driving near the Taj Mahal has been placed to try to preserve this monument. In addition, they built two new red buildings on each side of the monument (red is really popular in India, for some reason). We took a rick shaw to reach the Taj Mahal. I'll add my two cents about rickshaws later.

When we arrived, we had a little difficulties at the entrance. F.Y.I. Only water in transparent bottles, small video cameras, still cameras, mobile phones and small ladies purse are allowed inside the Taj Mahal. In India, most tourist places have different entrance fees- one for Indian citizens and another for foreigners (way inflated!!!). Just to demonstrate how inflated, at the Taj Mahal, the Indian rate is 20 Rs. while its 970 Rs. for foreigners (check this article out, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7098370.stm)! Just to put it in more perspective for you, it cost us 500 Rs./night to stay at a hotel! I anticipated this price inflation, so I got my So Pho to bring her Indian I.D. (although she's Swedish), and I borrowed my 17 year old cousin's school ID. It has a photo of her from 5 years ago, which clearly did not look like me at all. So naturally, when we went to buy the tickets, my aunt was questioned about her Indian status (although she was born and lived in India for a good chunk of her life and can speak Hindi fluently). The ticket attendant apologized for the misunderstanding after my aunt showed off her Indian citizen document, and allowed us to purchase our 'Indian' tickets. We had more difficulty at the entrance though. Although we had Indian tickets, the guard wanted to see our ID's again. This guy was a bit more brighter, and argued that the student ID wasn't mine. My So Pho is someone who u didn't wanna mess with. U should have heard her go on and on about how the photo was obviously taken when "I" was younger, and how I've changed over the years. (We had a good laugh after). The guard didn't buy the story, but he let us in anyways. I was quite happy to have the extra 950 rupees in my pocket.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the Taj Mahal. I found it way too touristy and crowded. Again, we had to face another long line up just to get inside to have a peak. It's pretty dark in there by the way and shoes are not allowed to be worn inside. So you can either leave your shoes outside or opt to buy a pair of booties which you could wear over your shoes for 5 rupees. I did the ultimate touristy thing, and got a photo taken, holding the Taj Mahal; which we were really proud of by the way, as it took us three tries to get it right.

On our way out from the Taj Mahal, we were swarmed by individuals selling souvenirs, ready to rip us off. My favourite was this one young guy, who approached me while we're walking, trying to convince me to buy 3 Taj Mahal water globed keychains for 300 rupees. I replied to him, in the very little Hindi that I knew, 10 rupees. He then offered it to me for 10 dollars (USD), which I clearly refused, especially since I wasn't that interested in the item in the first place. Frustrated that he wasn't going to get any USD out of me, he settled to selling me one for 10 rupees. This just goes to show you how they really try to rip you off. I know I should put it in perspective that when you convert it to Canadian dollars, it's not that much, but it bothers me how they try to take advantage of tourists, especially poor students such as myself. I can proudly say that I've refined my bargaining skills over the past four months.

It was quite dark by the time we finished Taj Mahal, so we didn't end up checking out Fatehpur Sikri , another popular tourist attraction, which is just outside of Agra. Our driver tried to convince us to stay at this dingy hotel, where he was clearly going to make a nice commision off of us, but I refused. He was getting a bit impatient at this point, and refused to drive us to Hotel Sakura (recommended by my trusty bible, Lonely Planet), where I wanted to stay. So I told him (my so pho translated, of course) we'd find our own way there, and to get us our bags. He lifted the trunk, and when my So Pho went to get her bag, he didn't hold the trunk open, and it fell and hit her on her forehead, and then her nose. She was bleeding at this point, and I was scared that she was going to lose consciousness or go blind or something. Boy, did she tell that driver off! She later translated to me that she told him, "So just because I don't wanna go to the hotel you recommend, you wanna kill me?" The guy felt so bad, he just took his money and took off. My so pho was fine by the way...nope, she did not black out or anything, just ended up with a black eye instead as the days progressed. U can sorta see the progression in photos.

We jumped on an auto rickshaw and found Hotel Sakura, but it was full (with tons of other foreigners, all with their own copy of L.P.). Luckily, there was vacancy at the hotel next door, Hotel Bawa Palace (cheap - 550 Rs., but did not have hot water) so we stayed there for the night before heading out to Jaipur early the next morning (8:30am) on an RSTC bus (350 Rs, for two tickets). The bus ride was long (5.5 hrs) and extremely uncomfortable. I remember my left foot going numb half way through the trip. Another F.Y.I. go with government operated buses. they're a lot safer and reliable.

Jaipur

We reached the bus station at Jaipur late in the afternoon, left our bags there, and bought a sleeper bus ticket to Udaipur for later that evening. We jumped on another auto-rickshaw (cheaper then a taxi -400 Rs. for the day) and were on our way to check out the attractions in this "Pink city". Attractions included the City Palace, Nahargarh Fort, and Amber Palace/Amber Fort. I wanted to go for an elephant ride up to Amber Palace, but our auto rickshaw driver informed us, it was too late in the evenings for that. We ended up getting suckered into riding a Jeep up to Amber Palace for 200 Rs. This was a rip off, as you could walk up to the palace in 10 mins. I would recommend getting a tour guide for Amber Palace though, as this place is like a maze, and its very hard to find your way out. We had dinner at Natraj Restaurant (also recommended by L.P.) and the dosas here were delicious (only 60 Rs.).

After dinner, we caught a rickshaw, and headed back to the bus station to catch our deluxe sleeper bus for Udaipur.

Rickshaws: "are a mode of human-powered transport: a runner draws a two-wheeled cart which seats one or two persons" - Wikipedia. I've read City of Joy (how appropriate huh), during my stay in Calcutta, and became empathetic towards rickshaw drivers. I remember the book describing them as human horses, and all the harships they had to endure. Aside from having to endure the heat and pollution that is so common in India, they make very little money for the amount of work they have to do. Our rickshaw driver was a really old man, who was so skinny, I had no idea how he managed to pull us both. A part of me felt guilty for sitting on that rickshaw, while the other felt good for atleast giving him business. We made it a habit of tipping rickshaw drivers, especially older ones. As for auto-rickshaw drivers, some of them own nicer cell phones than me.

Udaipur

Udaipur, also known as the "City of Lakes" or the "Venice of the East", was influenced by the Mohguls, and has a very relaxed atmosphere to it. According to my sister, the famous Mahrana who built the Taj Mahal came from this place too.

This was my favourite city in India despite the horrible sleeper bus ride here. I would definitely advise taking a train or a plane here instead, as the bus ride was very bumpy and windy.

We were so tired, and sleep deprived from all the travelling, that when we reached Udaipur early the next morning, the first thing we did was check into a hotel and took a nap. We stayed at a small hotel called, Hotel Sakura for 500 Rs. only and the owner was very helpful. He advised us to relax during the morning, while he arranged us an auto-rickshaw that will take us around for the day (350 Rs.), as well as a sleeper train ticket back to Delhi (626 Rs.) for later that evening.

Our auto-rickshaw driver was great... very informative, nice, and didn't waste our time by taking us to antique stores where drivers make a hefty commision off tourists. We managed to squeeze in Pichola Lake, City Palace, Jagdish Temple, the zoo, Fateh Sagar, and Nehru Garden. I got to ride a camel for 50 Rs., and I went on a couple of boat rides, one to check out Nehru Garden (40 Rs.), another boat ride to see some of the 5 and 7 star hotels (they had two. 100 Rs.).

We had lunch at this restaurant (I forget the name) where all they serve is veggie thali. It was pretty much an all u can eat veggie thali joint. I liked it a lot here. After a full day of sight seeing, we jumped on our sleeper train and headed for Delhi, our last stop.

Tip: when taking the train, always go for the more expensive class, as they are more comfortable, have better climate control, and are a lot cleaner, quieter and less smellier than the cheaper ones.

Delhi

We reached Delhi early in the morning, and spent a good two hours, trying to find a relative that lived there. After wandering around on a rickshaw with no luck of finding their place, we gave up and decided to find a hotel instead. We stayed at Hotel UK (590 Rs.) where I learned that if you're an Indian citizen, they wave the 10% service charge that most hotels charge. The owner of the hotel didn't buy my Indian ID neither, and even quizzed me on how old I was. This was the first hotel where we had warm water (not hot, but definitely better than the cold showers we've been taking).

The hotel arranged a taxi tour for us (700 Rs.) and we spent the day traveling. Highlights include India Gate, Qutab Minar, the Bahai Lotus Temple, and the Indira Gandhi Memorial. We didn't get a chance to check out the Red Fort though. We were pretty tired from all the traveling by this point in the trip, so we decided to take it easy on our last day in Delhi instead, and spent the day shopping at Connaught Place, Delhi's commercial hub. I picked up some pretty nice souvenirs from the bazaars they had there. I remember being sick of eating dosas and veggie thali's also at this point and was so relieved to find a McDonald's. I had a paneer wrap there (I wanted to be adventurous), but my stomach didn't take it too well.

We were exhausted by the time we got back to Calcutta. It was so good to be home finally! You become very appreciative of the little things you take for granted, such as seated toilets, toilet paper, a hot shower, and a clean, comfortable bed.

If I got a chance to do it all over again, I would fly to each places instead, spend more time in each city, and stay at nice 5 star hotels.













































































Random Thoughts:


Camera Fees - most tourist attractions have a separate camera fee on top of the entrance fee. Don't get the extra camera ticket. No one ever checks.

Street Dentists - I stumbled upon a box on the street, with all these dental instruments such as forceps, mouth mirrors, tweezers and even chisels, all sprawled out on top of it. It is apparently quite common to find street dentists who can pull out an aching tooth or fit your denture in for you, at a very cheap price. It really puts into perspective how lucky we are to live in a country where you don't have to worry about getting an infection from unsanitary conditions. I regret not taking a photo of this, but I found a pretty good website that captures it so well. http://fungeeks.blogspot.com/2008/03/street-dentist-in-india.html

Made In India

After a 7 hour stopover in Bangkok, I finally reached Calcutta, exhausted from the long day of travelling. It didn't kick in that I was finally home, until I set foot on the tarmack at the old Calcutta airport. After clearing through customs without any difficulty, I was greeted by my So Pho and So Kung (grand aunt & grand uncle) who was sweet enough to wait around so late in the night for my arrival (my flight reached Calcutta at 1:oo am in the morning). The roads were quite empty that late in the night, nevertheless, I quickly became accustomed to the Calcutta driving where honking your horn, and high beaming is quite the norm. Furthermore, you're in luck, if you're able to find seatbelts that actually function in the back seat. It's quite ironic that Calcuttans do not wear seat belts at all, considering the chaotic driving I've witnessed over the past month. When our driver brought me to my old home where I spent the first 8 years of my life, I did not recognize it initially. It took me a few minutes to remember, but slowly, I was able to recall where our kitchen was, where my parent's room used to be as well as locate our "baby room" where my sisters and I all slept every night with our Ayah (nanny). Our home has changed quite a bit since we've left it 17 years ago, and stepping foot in it again, immediately made me feel nostalgic. I have many fond memories of growing up in this house, during my childhood. My siblings and I grew up with many of our cousins who lived just next door and we used to get into a lot of mischief together. We were all very close, and I really missed them over the years, but didn't realize how much, until I came back home. Many of my cousins have moved away also, just like my family, but there were traces of our past that still remains throughout my neighbourhood. Our favourite holiday while growing up in Tangra, Calcutta was Chinese New Years. Despite the excitement and anticipation for all the festivities that will take place over the next few days, the only thing I kept thinking to myself was, "oh how I wish my siblings and parents were there to share it with me". I spent the next few days trying to live it all up, soaking in all the lion dancing and delicious food, meanwhile trying to document it all on camera so I could share it with my siblings. My hope is that the next time I'm back, it'll be with my whole family. Will blog ?soon? hopefully about the rest of my trip in India, including: Chinese New Year, Pilgrimage to Gaya, and visiting the Golden Arrow. Internet is really hard to come by these days and time sure flies!



Here are photos I managed to dig up of our childhood here in Tangra with my extended family.

When we were young...

Kung Hei Fat Choi / Gong Xi Fa Cai / Happy Chinese New Year!

I spent my first day in Calcutta with my cousins, Janet, Selena, Stephanie, James, and my So Pho (grand aunt) shopping at South City Mall, which is one of the biggest mall in Eastern India. It wasn't really spectacular, as most of the stores were still being built, and the prices were waaaay marked up, compared to North America. I definitely did not find my dirt cheap bargains at that mall. We had lunch at Haldiram, an Indian fastfood chain, that serves a lot cleaner snacks than the ones I was craving for on the street. My favourite dishes have to be the Masala Dosa and the Raj Kachori (an Indian chaat with yoghurt and potatoes ---mmmmm...delicious!).

Later that night, we all went to Pei Moi Chinese school (my old elementary school) for the Lion Dancing show. They had a stage set up, and different groups of lion dancers were supposed to perform one after another on stage. I was so excited to see the lion dancing, as I haven't seen any in Canada, except for the ones on TV. Yup, it's pretty sad. My family never bother to go to Pacific Mall, where it's over crowded, more than usual, on Chinese New Years. Lion dancing was my favourite part of Chinese New Years while growing up. We used to have our own paper mache'd lion head and we used to take turns being the lion head, and ass, as well as playing the drums, cymbals and gong, making all the racket in our neighbourhood. So naturally, I was all ready with my camera and three 2 GB SD cards to document it all for my siblings. Of course, I forgot to bring my extra battery, and I ended up missing recording the end which is called "tsai chang", where the lion dancers arrange themselves into pyramids to try to grab some lettuce and red packets which are filled with Indian Rupees. Doh! Pei Moi was packed with tons of people, and aside from Mei Xian, I haven't seen so many Hakka people all located in one spot, for a long time. The lion dancing show lasted a good 2 hours, and I thought it was over, but my cousin Janet informed me how it was only the beginning. And boy, was she right.

The next day was Chinese New Years Eve (CNY), also known as "Nian Sam Soep" in Hakka. During the morning, many families worship the spring gods in anticipation for the upcoming new year. There was a strike in Calcutta (which is quite common, I am told) and we were restricted from entering the city, as we feared possible riots. Nevertheless, this didn't prevent us from enjoying the CNY. In the evening, we all went to the market for some more fire crackers, and lion dancing. The market was PACKED with many spectators and even some reporters. At one point, we were surrounded all over by photographers, and we were quite a bit camera shy, and tried to hide from them. Despite our efforts, according to my parents, apparently, our faces ended up on the news in Toronto! We managed to get back home right before midnight for "chap sen" which is a tradition where we light incense to receive the fortune gods and light fire crackers to scare the evil spirits away. It surely scared the hibby jibbys out of me! Then we patiently waited for the lion dance groups to start arriving. Groups of enthusiasts, young and old, would form different lion dancing clubs or groups, and will visit all homes in Tangra (our community). These groups would approach each house beating on drums, gongs and cymbals, and they would light fire crackers outside the front door, before the lion dancers enter the house and bless the home by circling the table with offerings, and bowing down three times. In exchange for the blessings, each house would give them lucky red packets or "fung pao" filled with Indian Rupees. My cousin Janet, James and I was fortunate enough to manage to find some Fitness Club T-shirts, which allowed us to join their group as they paraded around the town. This was so much fun!!! It was quite an experience following this group around, visiting strangers homes. It reminded me a bit of Halloween back at home, but no cavities involved. I think I might have gone from slightly hearing impaired to hard of hearing that evening. We ended up coming home a little before 3 am, but we were told that many stayed up till 7 in the morning. Kudos to them! My feet were killing by the time I got home. Thank god I brought some Advil from back home.

New Years Day or "tse yit"!!! We woke up early and went to the Buddhist temple to worship the gods, asking for good fortune for the new year. According to traditions, we weren't allowed to eat any meat that day. The food was still yummy! If it wasn't for all the energy I expended, following around Fitness Club with the Lion Dancing, I would have gained a few kgs over this holiday. All we did was eat eat eat! Our mouths were not the only thing that was being filled, our pockets were expanding also from all the red packets we would receive from all our relatives. Nothing like receiving a few thousand rupee notes...sounds so much bigger than hundred of dollars! *1 dollar = 40 rupees

"Tse Nye" or the Second day after CNY. Can you guess what we did this day? Yup, you guessed it! I thought Lion Dancing was all finished, but apparently on this day, all the different clubs visited the houses again for "tsai chang". Again, we followed Fitness Club, but this time it was waaaay longer. I think we were with them from 10:30am to 7pm. By this time, I was a pro at knowing when to run for cover in anticipation for the fire crackers. I also learned that I lack any rhythm, as I struggled with the cymbal. Luckily, the club was so nice and encouraging and they let me practice, and eventually I managed to figure out how to play that instrument. It was interesting how we managed to get around from one house to another. The children would jump on the carts that carried the lion heads and the drums (I felt bad for the poor fella who had to steer and pedal all that load), while everyone else would jump on scooters/motorcycles. I swear, there were 12 year olds who were riding scooters with 2 other kids hanging off the vehicle. I don't know how they managed not to tip the scooter over despite all the pot holes. I had so much fun being a part of the lion dancing group. No one was too young or too old to participate in this event. I felt like an 8 year old all over again! I made a lot of new friends that day. By the end of the evening, I was exhausted. Luckily, the next day was going to be more low key.

"Tse Sam" the Third day after CNY. Over the past few years, the South Tangra Chinese Youth Club woudl organize a fair/carnival or "fete" in the Pei Moi Chinese School on the 3rd and 4th day after CNY. Everyone would go to the fete to enjoy all the different food stalls, the carnival games and the entertainment, which included Karaoke, of course, and MORE lion dancing!!!! Yup, it never ends. I think I was all lion danced out by the end of this fete. We planned on going to the fete this evening after a CNY dinner at a neighbour's place but we didn't quite make it, as I was unaware that dinner started at "India Time", which was 2 hours later than I expected.

"Tse See" the Fourth day after CNY. My grandparents threw a huge lunch for all our relatives and friends. I got to meet some more cousins and even my new neice. We ate so much that day. My favourite has to be the fish "chap" (cakes). I ended up spending some time with my Aunty Sandy, Uncle Ben, my cousin Allan and his wife, and their daughter, Ayin that afternoon. She IS SO ADORABLE!!!! My cousin Allan is a rock star in Calcutta, and Ayin grew up listening to him play. She loves to dance! I've never met a 1.5 year old who knows how to head bang! All my family ended up going to the Fete that evening and I finally got a chance to eat my Puchka/pani puri (an Indian street snack which consists of a round, hollow "puri", fried crisp and its filled with potatoes, cucumbers, onions and spices, and drizzled with tamirind water). D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! My cousin Janet and I were invited to attend a party at Fusion, thrown by the Fitness Club. It was at the Golden Park hotel, and they served an Indian buffet followed by dancing at the club. Let's just say, I've never seen so many Chinese people dancing to bhangra (punjabi dance music). Half way through the night, I was already all "bhangra-ed out". All in all, it was good times.

The Chinese New Year celebration actually lasts for 15 days, but in Tangra, this was pretty much it, except most families went to "Thong Yan Pak Kung" the following Sunday (which of course, included more lion dancing, as well as visits to the temple).

Many families also went on pilgrimages to Gaya, the city where Buddha found enlightenment. When I get a chance, I'll blog next about this pilgrimage as well as my trip to the "Golden Arrow".

C'est la vie!

This top sums it all up..."Life is short, travel"!

I finally booked my domestic flight and headed from Melbourne to Sydney to meet my cousins, Theresa & Stanley, at the airport. I've never met Stanley before, and have only seen Theresa once, when I was 8 years old, so I was quite excited to finally see them both. They live in Gosford which is an hour and 15 mins train ride from Sydney. They were both on summer holidays and were kind enough to show me around.

Gosford is best known for its beaches. We asimmediately hit up Avoca Beach on my first day there, and I started working on my tan. The weather was just perfect...clear blue sky. I find that the sun is much hotter in Australia compared to Canada, which is probably one of the reason why I actually got a REAL tan for the first time in my life! This was one of the cleanest and most beautiful beach I've ever stepped foot on. The beach was very long and the sand was very nice and hot. The best part about this beach was the walking trail around these massive rocks that created the bluff. There were quite a lot of people fishing here, and tents were pitched up here and there too (on the sand, of course).

We also checked out The Entrance which is the Pelican capital of Australia. Everyday, at 3:30 pm, the pelicans are fed at The Entrance Waterfront.

"The attraction started over 20 years ago when the staff of a local fish & chips shop fed scraps to the birds on a daily basis. The pelicans began demanding their food from the staff and the feeding was taken over by Jimbo's Quality Seafoods." These pelicans were pretty massive and they eat a lot! I managed to catch the end of the feeding, as we were running a bit late, and snapped a few photos.

I also had my first Cold Rock icecream experience there also. If you didn't know already, I LOVE HEART ICECREAM! Maybe even more than fudge and chocolate! My friend Lisa have told me about a place in London, Ontario where people (mostly students from Western) line up around the block for icecream. She described how there's tons of different flavours of icecream, and toppings (such as real baked apple pie & cookie dough), and you get to pick both and they mash them together in a marble slate to create your own icecream flavour. I never got a chance to go back to London to check this out, but was so excited when I heard about Cold Rock here. I've had their icecream a handful of times already and my favourite combination has to be Ferrero Rocher icecream with caramel fudge squares. Mmmmm...

Daytrip to SYDNEY

The three of us also headed down to Sydney, which was also known as "the city", for a day. We started off our morning quite early and caught a train around 9. We reached the city and had breakfast in Chinatown before heading off to Darling Harbour. There were tons of tourists attractions including museums, exhibition centres, and even a Chinese Garden. I opted out of this since I already visited a Tea Garden in China. We ended up checking out the Sydney Aquarium instead. Highlights from this were the massive shark tank where you could walk under and look up at all types of stingrays and sharks, and the seal feeding. We even saw a couple of seals kissing. We spent a good 2-3 hrs here before jumping on the Monorail, a sky train, since we were too tired to walk.

Our next stop was Circular Quay where you can find the famous, Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. After slapping on massive amounts of sunscreen (we all got sunburned from the beach a few days before), we walked around and checked out one of the many buskers performing in the area. We watched a contortionist, who was quite hilarious, twist herself into different shapes and somehow manage to fit into this small glass box. This box is quite small and I was surprised she was able to do it. I wonder how people like her realize they have a gift/talent to do these unique things. I took a video and will try to tackle my next challenge of posting up a video. We snapped a few shots here and I went a bit crazy with my camera and made a few flip book photo films. The Sydney Opera House was better than what I expected. I've seen many photos of it, or sometimes had a glimpse of it on Tv as a backdrop (ie. fireworks), but I didn't appreciate the architecture of this building until I got there. I wish we had more time there, as it would have been nice to check out a tour and learn more about it. We concluded our day by heading to Market City and Paddy's Market for a bit of shopping before heading back to Gosford. I didn't get anything as most of the stuff was similar to the markets I've already visited in Thailand or Melbourne, or were marked up in price.

Stanley sneaking up on me.

"No Worries" in BRISBY (Brisbane)

After much debate over where to go to in Queensland, I finally booked our flight to Brisbane. I was a bit worried about the whole trip there as I had a poor knowledge of the proximity of each place, finding a place to stay (it's summer holiday and most places are booked up), how to get from each place to the other, and most of all - the weather. Rain was forecasted for the whole entire week! Iwey was really generous and let the three of us (my cousins came with me) crash at her place. I was a bit worried too b/c Iwey was supposed to be preparing for teaching and I didn't want to intrude. She reassured me on the phone not to worry, and that we'll figure things out when we get there. It didn't hit me that I was finally going to see her, until I saw her at the airport.

To test my stress levels (they haven't been elevated this much since my National exam), my first challenge was not to freak out when I realized that I've left my purse on the plane! Thank god Iwey was there to remind me to just chill, as a dozen different thoughts including "I can't believe I've left my passport and new camera in there", ran in my head. After waiting and bickering with the airline staff, I recovered my "camera bag" from them (there was miscommunication as they thought that my purse was a camera bag). The rest of the trip was smooth sailing after that. It was great spending time with Iwey, especially since I haven't seen her for a year and a half. I was hoping that by the end of the trip her "no worries" attitude would rub off on me.

Everything just fell in place. We spent a total of 7 days in Queensland & New South Whales, and I thought it would be challenging trying to coordinate all our different itinerary together (the kiddies wanted to check out all the theme parks and zoos, and we wanted to check out the beaches instead). We ended up renting a car for the last 3 days as it was a lot easier than taking public transport.

It rained, as forecasted, on our first full day there. So we took the bus to the city to Queen Street and spent the day shopping and checking out a museum there. The shopping in Brisbane was pretty nice. The highlight of it all is probably bumping into Dean Geyer and Lisa from The Veronicas, who were quite popular celebs in Oz. I had no idea who they were, nor did I realize how popular they were until I saw their photos in a magazine while I was getting my hair cut later on. Dean was very cute and extremely friendly. I can see how millions of girls would go goo goo gaa gaa over him. We ended up meeting up with Rich later on for dinner and went for a walk looking out for bats in the neighbourhood. There are LOTS of bats and Ibis (ugly looking birds) in Brisby. The bats are pretty massive also.

The kiddies went to the Australia Zoo, while Iwey, Rich and I took it easy in the city the next day. It was so nice to just sit and catch up on things. Rich tried to teach me the basics about cricket, but it's still a bit too complicated and I prefer my hockey. Iwey and I hit the beach the day after, and drove down to Burleigh Beach and Surfers Paradise. Both had pretty good waves and there were a lot of people learning how to surf. I wish I knew how to swim, so I could learn also. We spent most of the day tanning and checking out a few of the little shops, and eating icecream. Lowlights from this trip has to be being pooped on by a seagull while tanning (see 3rd photo below). It was quite unexpected and pretty nasty too. Iwey had a good laugh at my expense. I did however, end up finding some coins on the beach though (someone once told me it's good luck when you get shat on - they were clearly lying). I should have played the lottery that night.

bird poop on my stomach. yuck!

We stopped at Byron Bay the next day, which Iwey had informed me, is more of a "Hippie" kind of town. I've already noticed a few people walking barefoot in public before, while I was in Gosford, and found this sort of awkward, but apparently it's quite common in Australia, especially in Byron Bay. Byron Bay is in New South Whales and is the eastern most point on the eastern seaboard. There are markets also that sell all sorts of neat stuff, but we didn't really check that out, and spent the day on the beach enjoying the water and the sand. The biggest difference I notice on this beach was a few topless girls. It's not a nude beach, but apparently it's common for girls to go topless in many of the beaches. I guess they really don't want any tan lines. At first, I thought they were only topless while they were sunbathing, but I was wrong, they run around on the beach topless too. I wonder if Stanley (he's only 9) noticed it much. Maybe he's used to it, since he lives here. I'm definetly a lot more relaxed and starting to adopt this "no worries" sort of culture, but I definetly won't be going topless anytime soon.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT.

I think we went out the night before Byron Bay to a few of the clubs/bars/pubs in the city. We checked out a few places - The Victory Hotel, Down Under, & ?The Exchange Hotel. The music was a bit different to what I'm used to back at home. They played a lot of house/dance/techno (I'm not really good at telling the difference) and some other random stuff, I don't even know how to categorize. I definetly expanded my Ipod collection, that's for sure. People are pretty friendly and easy going. Guys are actually polite, and they tend to ask first, rather than dance up on girls. My favourite spot has to be Down Under where only Backpackers, or students are allowed in. We met some pretty cool Europeans & Canadians fellow travellers there.

On our second last day, Iwey, Rich & I decided to sign up with the Dolphin Wild's Moreton Island Day Tour. We arrived in Redcliffe a bit early and grabbed some "breaky" (breakfast pronounced as breck-e) before jumping on the rocky ferry. I, thankfully, took my Gravol ahead of time as I have gotten seasick way too many times already to risk it. Our tour started off with boom netting. This was another first for me. It's pretty simple. They hang a net off the back of the ferry, and you basically try to hang on and try to enjoy the ride. It was definetly a lot of work hanging on to that rope. I ended up with these red lines all across my elbows from clenching on too tight. I pretty much had my eyes closed the whole entire time b/c the water/bubbles from the turbulence was covering my face. I lost a hair clip. One girl actually fell off. Good times. Good times. This was followed by a guided tour where we learned about how Moreton Island is the world's second largest sand island, and how 5 of the six species of sea turtles can be found in Australia. We didn't see any dolphins, but we spotted a sea turtle. Then, we snorkeled around the ship wrecks. The water was a bit murky, but we could still see a few fishes and some corals too. I liked the snorkelling in Ko Tao a bit more, but this one was cool too b/c we got to see a wobbegong shark. I definetly love snorkelling and can't wait to hopefully check out the Great Barrier Reef one day. We were pretty tired after all this activity, and thankfully, got the rest of the afternoon to chill out on the beach. This tour was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. We spent the rest of the evening out in the city. We met up w/ the kiddies and checked out South Bank and Little Stanley Street. South Bank was pretty neat. There's a man made beach in the middle of the city. How cool is that? There was a sandcastle sculpturer buskering there, and he built this mermaid couple sitting in a middle of a pool. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant and had dessert at Cold Rock, of course! It was a great way to end the trip, as we started and ended our trip with a visit to the city. I definitely miss Iwey already, and she's only an hour plane ride away, at the moment.

Good ol' Gosford

The kiddies and I headed back to Gosford, and I spent my last few days shopping and checking out Terrigal Beach. Terrigal is one of the most popular beaches in Gosford. It pretty much rained the whole morning, but we still went there when the rain let up. I'm glad we did. What sets Terrigal Beach apart from the rest is this lookout on top of a hill of the whole beach. The climb was a bit tiring but definetly worth it. We also managed to squeeze in the Waterfront in Gosford also before I left. Very picturistic with lots of boats.

Aside from the beaches, what I remember most about Gosford is the food. My Aunty Sophia is a very good cook and she was so sweet to find out about all my favourite dishes and made sure I had them all before I left. She'd stock up her fridge with mangoes, lychees and OJ and insists that I eat them all. I must have gained about a good 2 kg's within a few days. My favourite dishes of hers have to be her fried calamari, salted fish, and the raw oysters. I must have ate a good 14 pieces of oysters in addition to all the other food she made that meal.

"Marvelous" Mebourne

I'm back in Melbourne and these last days have zipped by quickly. Aunty Alex, Almeta, Jaclyn and I jumped on the Metlink and went to the city the other day and I finally went to the Eureka Tower. It is 88 storey high and have a skydeck, which is a glass cube that projects out of the building and the windows and floors go from being opaque to completely clear. The whole experience was a bit cheezy as they try to make it more exciting and scary by adding all these light and sound effects of glass shattering and thunder/lightening while the cube is slowly projected out from the building. It was a bit too much. It wasn't anything spectacular, especially for an extra $10. You end up with a Livestrong-like bracelet that says, "I survived the Edge" in the end. But the view of Melbourne city was definitely worth it. We spent earlier that morning shopping at DFO which are outlet malls found in most major cities in Australia. I've checked out 2 so far, and they both have stores like Country Road, Jeans West, Giordano, Guess, FCUK, Supre & Nine West. The shopping was pretty good as there was a lot of sales post christmas. I just couldn't get over how marked up a lot of the products are here. I did pick up some very cute dresses and high-waisted skirts. Shopping was followed by a train ride on the Metlink back to Flinder Street Station where we took tons of photos in front of some bridge (I don't know the name of that bridge). Flinder Street station is a very famous yellow railway station that has a huge clock on it. It's been filmed in many movies (I'm not sure which ones, but I was informed that it was so).

Me inside the Skydeck glass cube. They don't allow cameras inside the cube, and they make you wear these blue hospital booties over your shoes so you don't scuff up the glass floor.










Flinder Street Station is the yellow building behind me and the bridge.

The girls have just started school a few days ago. It was Almeta's first day of school, so everyone was a bit nervous for her. The schools here are very different from the ones back home. All students, whether they're in public or private schools, have to wear uniform. Parents are sent a long list of supplies and uniforms that are required for school. I went shopping with Aunty Jenny for some of these supplies, and it was a bit crazy. They tell you exactly how many pens, markers, sheet protectors, notebooks, laminators, and even boxes of tissues that are required. All children have to wear the school uniform hat as well as backpacks, that have their school names clearly labelled on them. Iwey told me how it's mandatory that children wear their hats during recess, and if they've forgotten it, they can't play outdoors with the other kids. The backpacks are quite massive too and it was quite funny watching Almeta attempt to lift her heavy pack filled with all these supplies on her back that morning. Apparently they need a separate bag for library books also. They also split kids up into different groups or house teams too. When Iwey told me about this, it reminded me of Harry Potter immediately. Boy, I'm glad things weren't this complicated when I went to elementary school. Maybe uniforms aren't such a bad idea, as kids are less likely to be singled out if they're not wearing the latest fashion trends.

Randoms

There are water restrictions in every city I've been to so far. I find it very interesting considering that Australia is a continent surrounded by amples of water. They don't recycle the water here, and it's so hot here, there's usually a drought, hence a shortage of water supply. And at different times of the year, there are various stages of water restrictions that are implemented. Pretty much in all the cities I've visited, people are not allowed to water their lawns or wash their cars and are discouraged from taking bubble baths, and soaking in their pools. If you have really crappy neighbours, they can report you and you'll be fined. I also found it fascinating visiting all these touristy places with waterfountains with no water in them. I finally found this one at Chadstone mall which had a sign explaining exactly why there isn't any water in a waterfountain.

Boomerangs were created back in the day by the Aboriginal people for fishing and hunting. "It is believed that the shape and elliptical flight path of the returning boomerang makes it useful for hunting. Noise generated by the movement of the boomerang through the air, and, by a skilled thrower, lightly clipping leaves of a tree whose branches house birds, would help scare the birds towards the thrower. This was used to frighten flocks or groups of birds into nets that were usually strung up between trees or thrown by hidden hunters." -Wikipedia.

Vegemite is commonly considered as a national food by many Australians. According to Wikipedia, vegemite "is a dark brown savoury food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuits, as well as a filling of pastries like Cheesymite scroll, in Australia and New Zealand." I finally tried it while I was in Brisbane, and umm...I'm not a fan. It's very salty and weird.

A female kangaroo is called a doe or a flyer, while a male is called a buck or boomer.

NEXT ADVENTURE

After 6 weeks in Australia, I'm leaving Melbourne and heading back to my motherland, India, this Sunday. I'll be there for Chinese New Years and will be staying for a month. Not sure which cities I'll be visiting but I'll definetly be in Calcutta and Gaya for sure. Just to give you a background, I was born in Calcutta and haven't been back in over 17 years. I have tons of family there still, many that I have never met or haven't seen for over 17 years. I'm very excited about this part of the trip and hope 1) my malaria pills work, 2) that I can adjust to the change in air quality, and 3) that I also won't end up with diarrhea at any point of this trip. India...here I come!

Land of Oz.

Things here in Melbourne have been non stop since I arrived a little over two weeks ago. Since our trip to the Great Ocean Road, things haven't slowed one bit. Aunty Jenny and Aunty Alex took us to the Queen Victoria Market in the city to get some souvenirs. I managed to find a Melbourne t-shirt and some little knick knacks. The Market is pretty big, but it was a lot of the same stuff repeated stalls after stalls. The most interesting part would have to be the "meat market" part which sold fresh meat and seafood. It reminded me of St. Lawrence Market back at home except it was louder. There were store merchants walking up and down in front of their products yelling on top of one another's voice about their specials and what fresh meat they're selling, and how it's on sale for the next 15 mins or so. I've never heard anything like that before. Closest thing would be in Chinatown back in Toronto, but that doesn't even compare. I took a few videos but I'm not quite sure I captured the whole experience on video. We grabbed some breakfast there also, and then met back with the rest of the gang to have lunch. I finally got my haircut that day also, after wanting to do so since Hong Kong. My uncle Steve even commented on how I look like a China lady with my long hair (definetly not a compliment). It was so nice to finally chop it all off...especially since it's so hot in Melbourne, and I was getting tired of putting it up in a ponytail.

We finally managed to visit Healesville, Yarra Valley the next day and checked out a winery called, Boat O'Craigo. Despite the abundance number of wineries back in Niagra Falls, I have never checked one out until now. All their wines were dry (not sweet) and I'm not a huge fan of wine, but I tried a few different whites, while Alex stuck to reds. They were probably good, but since I'm not a huge fan of wine, I wouldn't know the difference. Alex picked up a couple bottles of red that the guy suggested would go well with our New Years Eve BBQ later that night. The drive to Healesville was really gorgeous. Very scenic. No ocean, but lots of trees. The roads were one lane only and there was a great contrast b/w some short palm-like trees and some massive tall ones. We did a whole loop drive around Yarra Valley and stopped at a couple of scenic lookouts. We didn't really find a lookout of the city Melbourne, but it was still a really nice drive. We stopped at another small restaurant and grabbed a quick bite. I opted on a light salad and some home made strawberry banana milkshake, since I knew we had to save some room for the big dinner. Aunty Jenny was going to prepare some crab, lobster and oyster that we picked up from Queen Victoria Market the previous day, and the neighbours were going to be prepping some other dishes as well.


We managed to get back around 5:30 and headed to Rosi and Shawn's place for New Years Eve celebration. There were tons of people there and we met a lot of friendly neighbours and friends and spent the night eating, drinking, karaoke-ing on the Sing Star and shooting some pool. We rang in the new year with sparklers, and ran outside looking for fireworks, but didn't have much luck w/ that. Ended up watching the Sydney fireworks on TV. I was pretty tired b/c of the long day of driving and end up crashing into bed quite early at 1.


I'm having a hard time trying to remember the rest, as it is all blurred together. I belive we went out for dim sum for lunch on New Years Day and it was an excruitiatingly hot day (40 degrees). I don't believe the air con (not con air) was working in that restaurant neither. Highlights from lunch would be chicken feet and blood pudding. Kudo's to Alex, Almeta and Jaclyn who were more adventurous and were willing to try something different. I stuck to my beef balls.
We came back home and chilled out for a bit before heading to Bombay by Night for some Indian food with some neighbours. It's great how my Aunts are so tight with their neighbours. It's pretty rare to find neighbours like these. I really liked this restaurant. It's not your typical Indian restaurant with statues of Gods displayed on mantles and bangra music playing in the background. Their decor was quite westernized and simple with displays of awards and magazine/newspaper clippings boasting about the restaurant instead. The food was really good. I was a bit sceptic about having Indian food again at first, but it wasn't oily w/ ghee and the quantity and quality was just right. I'd definetly eat there again. We ended up going to the Crown casino later that night to check out the "disco", as I haven't gone clubbing for quite a while. It was quite different. It wasn't that packed in there, and the cover was pretty cheap ($5) compared to Toronto, but the drinks were around $8. The crowd was a bit mixed with different ages ranging from those in their 18's to a few cougars/perverts. The music was a mix of Hip Hop and lots of Dance. The biggest contrast was they had a cover band w/ a name something along the lines of "Four guys and a guy" who played everything from Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer to Justin Timberlake's Sexy back. They weren't that bad. Just not what I expected. But it was good times.

It was Alex's last day of his "2 weekation" the next day, and Uncle Joe, Almeta, Jaclyn, Alex and I hopped in the van for a final drive to Mount Dandenong. It's roughly around a half an hour drive from home and was definetly worth the drive.
"Mount Dandenong is nestled between the tourist towns of Olinda and Kalorama in Melbourne's bushy and scenic Dandenong Ranges. The premier tourist attraction in the area is the Mount Dandenong Observatory. At 633 metres above sea-level, it is the highest point in the surrounding ranges."

We stopped at the Sky High Mount Dandenong and grabbed some icecream there, and checked out the "Amaze-ing" maze with the kiddies and took some photos of the view of Melbourne also. They had this massive Giant chair also which we all managed to fit in to take some photos. We came back home not too long after, and took it easy before heading off for the big night.

Aunty Jenny took us all out to eat at the Melba Restaurant. This is hands down, my favourite meal out of my entire trip overseas. This restaurant is located in the beautiful Langham Hotel in the city and had an international buffet. Their buffet included every type of seafood you can imagine, from oysters and sashimi to cray fish and crab. They had "diverse culinary themes including a Tandoori Oven, Turbo Wok section, Rotisserie, Seafood Ice Blocks and Floating Desserts." Thank god I wore a dress, or else I would have exploded out of my pants. We must have ate roughly around 200 oysters at least b/w the 6 of us. We almost finished the whole bottle of tabasco sauce, and left a comment on the comment card, to "have more onions for the oysters". The desserts were also another favourite part of mine. We made a few trips back to the dessert table trying to snatch some more of the creme caramel and creme brulee. The view from the restaurant was really nice too. It's very close to the Crown Casino, so we ended up stopping there to catch the light show before dropping Alex off at the airport. We caught a bit of the light show, which was really big and hot (I was afraid my eyebrows were gonna fall off) but missed the Crown’s Christmas Spectacular circus carnival. It was still a nice night and we got lost a bit, trying to find the entrance to the freeway, but Alex managed to make his flight on time.

Things are a bit quieter and less on the go now, since Alex have left. We managed to do a lot in a short amount of time while he was here. I think we covered most of the big attractions in Melbourne. Since Aunty Jenny, Uncle Joe, Uncle Steve and Aunty Alex have finally had some time off from work, we've been spending lots of quality time together. We've been eating out a lot and doing a bit of shopping here and there and watching lots of movies together. I've finally tried Kangaroo too! It's quite ironic. We went to Healesville Sanctuary and saw some kangaroos right after we stopped at this small restaurant that serves authentic Australian food. Kangaroo tastes a lot like beef. Not my favourite, but it wasn't that bad. It's really chillaxing here, a huge contrast to back at home where I had to worry about Exams and assignments for quite a while. I'm enjoying staying up late at night, playing with the kiddies during the day, and sleeping in in the morning. It's a luxury I know that I won't get to experience for a long time after and I intend on making the most of it.

What's Next:

I've booked my ticket for Sydney for Jan 10th. I'll be meeting up with Aunty Sophia and family and will be staying w/ them in Gosford until the 22nd. While I'm there, I'm hoping to do the Gold Coast with my cousin Teresa, and meet up w/ Iwey in Brisbane. Will blog more when I get a chance later. I've posted TONS of photos on facebook, so I can clear my SD card on my camera to make room for new photos. Happy New Year everyone! Cheers! xoxo.

Road Trippin the Great Ocean Road

Two days, one car, one full tank of gas, a driver (Alex) and a navigator (me) ---> trip of a lifetime!

"The Great Ocean Road region hugs the contours of Victoria's rugged south west coast and offers visitors one of Australia's greatest and most spectacular coastal drives."

We headed off for the Great Ocean Road early in the morning on the 27th and started our road trip to the South west coast which is supposed to be a very scenic drive. Alex have driven on the Australian roads (steering wheel is on the right, and you're supposed to drive on the left) only a few times and I had no idea what to expect from this trip. We borrowed a GPS from my uncle Norman and had multiple different maps just incase. Thank god we brought those maps, b/c the GPS stopped working not so long into our trip.

Our first stop was to Ballarat. An hour and half of driving, we reached our first destination The Ballarat Wildlife Park, where we got to check off 'seeing Kangaroos and Koalas' off our list. Alex have wanted to find kangaroo ever since he stepped off the plane. Since we had no luck with finding any kangaroos in the city during our first few days, we were both so excited that we could not only see some kangaroos but feed them too!

They were definetly a lot more friendlier than I thought they would be. The kangaroos weren't caged so they were sprawled everywhere throughout the park. We even saw a kangaroo visiting other animals behind their cages. My favourite part of the park was definetly feeding the kangaroo and petting the baby koala.

We got really lucky with the koala b/c we happened to be at the right spot at the right time. The zoo keeper was holding the baby koala and couldn't get the gate open. We helped her and she was nice enough to talk to us a bit about the koala and allowed us to pet it and take some photos with it before she took off with it. It was so soft and cute! After finishing the park, we grabbed a quick bite before heading off to Sovereign Hills.

According to the lady at the information centre, if you told other Aussies that you went to Ballarat but didn't stop at Sovereign Hill, they would laugh at you. So we had to stop by this historic site. Ballarat is famous for its gold mining back in the days. We spent our afternoon checking out the family performance in the theatre, the gold pouring demo, the gold mine tour, and the 5 minute horse and carriage ride around Sovereign Hill. We opt out of gold panning though. This place was pretty cool, and we left w/ some gold plated souvenir and headed off to Breamlea to visit Uncle Norman, Aunty Mary and Nicole.

After an hour and 15 min drive, w/ our GPS dying halfway, we reached the Baker's holiday home. It's a very cozy and beautiful home w/ a gorgeous beach only a few steps away. We had dinner at their place w/ some other guests, and decided to stay overnight and wake up early in the morning to check out the beach, before heading off for the Great Ocean Road. The beach is really stunning. It's a hidden jem. Not a lot of people know about it, nor is it open to the public. We were the only ones there early in the morning, and it was so peaceful and quiet. I managed to get a small tan after sun tanning for only 1.5 hrs. It's pretty amazing considering that I pretty much spent most of my summer in Toronto at the beach playing volleyball and didn't even get a shade darker! We left Breamlea at 11am and headed off for the Great Ocean Road.

Our first stop was Lorne. The drive to this place was amazing. I don't think I can compare it to anything else. It was so beautiful and there were tons and tons of beaches on the coast on the way and we were so tempted to stop to have a look. We had lunch in a little restaurant and I finally had my BLT sandwich (I was craving this in Thailand). After lunch, we drove to Erskine Falls and did a bit of walking and stair climbing to stretch out our legs. I was not a huge fan of the stairs as it reminded me more of how out of shape I am.

Then more driving, as we headed to Apollo Bay. We managed to find a sign of an airplane tour of the Twelve Apostles. We decided to give driving a break, and took the hour long scenic tour. I got to sit in the front of the small plane. I was a bit worried about the plane ride and popped a Gravol right before we took off on the plane. The aerial view was spectacular. It was definetly a first for both Alex and I, since we've only flown on commercial airplanes. Another first was driving the airplane. The pilot was pretty cool and let me drive the airplane. I got to get my hands behind the wheel for a good 10 mins. It was a lot easier than standard driving. I think I did pretty ok, but I'm not sure if Alex would agree though. =) The twelve apostles were originally called, 'Sow and Piglets'. "They are giant rock stacks that rise majestically from the Southern Ocean and are the central feature of the rugged Port Campbell National Park. They were formed by erosion of the original coastline. The constant action of the sea on the limestone slowly wore down the rocky cliff, gradually leaving individual rocks." The pilot, however, informed us that there is less than 12 now, due to recent storms. After the airplane tour, we decided to keep driving on the great ocean road and take a grounds view of the 12 Apostles. We stopped at the Port Campbell National Park to have a look at this . I'm glad we did this b/c it looks completely different from the aerial view. There were tons and tons of flies at this park though. Quite a few of them even ended up on our photos. I was pretty much waving my hands frantically attempting to swat the flies away throughout the whole time.

Our last stop was at Port Campbell itself, and we found a nice restaurant right near the pier. I had oysters (yummy) and Alex tried their steak. We wanted to try Kangaroo but it wasn't on their menu. It's still on our list of things to do which includes see penguins, and throw a boomerang! After dinner, we headed to the pier to try to catch the sunset before we head back on our long drive back home to Melbourne. The sun set just before 9 and it was really breath taking. My camera decided to die right before it set, so I had to steal some of Alex's photo. The ride home was 4.5hrs in the dark, with the help of a red bull for Alex, a flashlight and a map for me, and some music to keep us awake for the long drive.

This trip is definetly one of the highlights of Australia, and it's going to be hard to top it. I'm glad I booked 6 weeks here, b/c I love it here.

What's to come:

Philip Island (to see some ferry penguins)

Yarra Valley (some wineries and more nature)

Sydney

Brisbane