朽木百哉のブォグ

I spent most of my morning in the dormitory as I will have to reach the airport earlier for my flight home.

Had some breakfast and soon I was packing up.  I had to be at the airport rather early as I have to check in.  With a heavy heart, I departed from Bondi Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches, and Australia, one of the most beautiful countries I have seen.

After a long 8 hour flight, I'm finally home.

Today's trip is a little up to the North.  Ive got quite a considerable rest the day before but still managed to do some decent planning while having breakfast.

A pretty long journey passing by Hawsbury River, quite a sight to spice up the vegetation-dense surrounded journey.

The plan was to go on to Dungog but having seen the architecture at Wyong, I decided to stop by for lunch and have a look around the town.  From the painting marked on the local post office, this town has been around for more than a century.

Lunch was done at Jolly Pelican with a seafood platter.  As harmless as it looks, finishing them was more than meets the eye.  I had to take some lemonade to curb off the oily sensation as it had begun to cast a disgusting sensation of overeating seafood.  From the time taken, I must have spent at least 1/2 hour just to get all the seafood into me.  Potatoes were served generously - at least 3/4 filled on the plate.

Now I can continue my walking to help burn off some calories.

Behind the shop is a used goods store which is a little unusual - you name the price for what you want to buy.  Anything from walking sticks, children's seats  and racks.  What further caught my attention was the river just behind Wyong Hotel, pretty densely surrounded by vegetation and looking deep-bodied.

Lots of 19th century buildings fill this place.  Being up in the mountainous area, wind velocity is pretty strong here too.

The journey up here took longer than I expected due to track reworks. It was already quite late by the time I finished, so I  decided to make my way back instead of heading further North (especially with the delays from track reworks).  While on the way back, more Rail Officers could be seen boarding the same train, and later saw them again at Central station, where they nabbed someone who seemed to be a stowaway.

Did some planning for the next day, which is my final day for exploration.  With the expected train delays, I have to come up with a contingency plan to go somewhere which I can commute faster by other means.  Some of the national parks have very limited bus schedules so I couldnt go ahead with those plans.

A small and quiet town with some interesting architecture considering the age of the town.  Many which we don't see in Singapore.

The plan was to visit  Fitzroy Falls, but looks like the limited services is very limited indeed - serving only school hours.  1 bus there at 8+ am and another at 3+ pm.  I had arrived hours earlier.  The best bet is to have own transport if I want to visit there at my own time.

3 hours+ 1 way is one of the furthest trip I have made so far.

I have to make my way back now as the sun is already setting.

Had a very late lunch (SG time) or early dinner (Auz time) at Fish House.  Lots of potatoes and certainly very filling, and managed to catch the sunset sky along Bondi Beach which casted an unusual beam of light this evening.

Managed to get my phone back to the charging point here in my dorm at last.  The temperature at Southern Highlands is way too low and sapped the rest of the remaining juice from my phone, far colder that I can see my breath attempting to condense against the cold wind.

There's quite a limited number of power sockets, or mostly hidden from me as they're mounted by the side of the lower deck of beds, which has already been occupied, so I have to charge up stuff with my limited resources by tonight so I'm ready to go for tomorrow, full-powered.

I appeared in this place which seemingly was the Man Fatt Lam where my grandma's urn are kept. However, this time it resembled one of those huge villas which opens to various sections,door-to-door in an advancement manner.

The walls are solid stone with 2 traditional stone lions at the gate and a plague in Chinese wordings.

As I enter, I could feel a paranormal sensation and the doors behind me shut. It didn't appear I had this encounter for the 1st time so this time, I said loudly to my late granny 'ah ma, are you here?'. No response from her except the paranormal feeling that lingers around.

For a certain moment, I could feel that I was totally out of this world. It was after that I was awoken by Choon Hong, one of my men during the course of duty, that I got out of this 'trance' feeling. That was when I wondered why since this place is already vacant for so many years, why didn't the government seal it with the 'SLA management' emblem as that was their usual practice. I spoke to my mum and told her that I felt Granny's presence when I was there and she didn't have any explanation on this unusual occurrence.

Next scene showed me entering BO's house and it appeared to be in a traditional, English cottage-styled country living. Outside was a 'boutique' which I saw BO, wearing a new set of gown for the mannequin along with other merchandise displayed around. I talked to one of my colleagues and she told me that their place (should be a detached house) is 'fused' into this row of conserved buildings.

Another scene showed me talking to Guosen, one of my classmates during secondary school days, about basketball and he was challenging me on a game which he frequents every Satuday at 1030am. That challenge did not sound quite friendly somehow.

I was later awoken by the sound of alarm from one of the roommates' phone. 6am GMT +10.

Sent via Cyrus' BlackBerry

It was a pretty long journey which took me about an hour or so to reach Scaraborough station, which travelled along the  mountain range.

I've awoken a little later than planned so the bus journey to the railway station was pretty packed.  I still to go out to further areas which have their little attractions.

By the time I reached my destination, the sun was already setting and I couldn't stay long.  Wind velocity in the mountainous area was simply high, and to a certain extend, a much lower tempereature.

Houses there are separated pretty vastly that you can find a house nicely tucked in between some vegetation.  The only accomodation in sight was The Scaraborough Hotel which was also perched facing the sea, about a couple of minutes' walk from where I had visited.

Dinner time done at BurgerCrave which was nearby Bondi Juncition Railway - one of the few eateries that are open at that hour.

By the time I hit my room, it was already 11+l. Limited wifi access so I had to do my planning at the nearest eatery with free access so that I can plan my day tomorrow.

I have longed to see these adorable creatures which are the trademark animal for Australia.  In the cooling morning, I made my way to Pennant Hills and caught an intersecting bus which brought me to Koala Park.

Tucked away in a quiet part of this small town, I had arrived at a sanctuary where one can see many animals, including kangaroos, wallaroos, wallabies and other less than usual seen animals such as possums and dingos.

The koala bears were the greatest point of attention as there happened to be a group of Chinese tourist who were so mesermized by the animal.  I managed to get my shot with the help of the caretaker.

Feeding sessions of the mini penguins was nearby.  As there was a timed schedule for their feeding, more people were nearby to catch the interesting sight.

In the kangaroos' pen, one can walk in freely and touch the tame creatures who would hop close to you and sniff when someone gets close.  Such close encounters are hard to come by.

Lunched in the park before I moved out.

Set off earlier today as I have decided to make a trip to the west.

An hour or so journey brought me to The Blue Mountains, where I explored the National Park, right down to Glenwood Creek that requires some physical finesse to make your way up from a 30-degree incline path.

It certainly was worth the trip as one can dwell in the heart of nature of that depths for long hours. Along the way back, I visited The Blue Pool which was just down another gentle slope halfway up the road back to the top. There are no amenities near the park so I had packed the essentials ahead for this trip.

Next stop, Katoomba, 12 stations away. The temperature here is colder as compared to the earlier stop as this is higher up into the mountains. After some explorations around town, the sun has started to set and I have to make my way back.

Sent via Cyrus' BlackBerry

Today's trip is to Central Coast. I had set out abit later the earlier day must have been a little draining on my strength.

By the time I hit the streets, working classes are already seen commuting to work as it was already past 8am. Nevertheless, I still made my way to Koala Park Sanctuary. The Koalas sleep for 20 hours a day according to the zookeepers. I was in time to catch the feeding session of the mini penguins which was just nearby.

Next stop. Hornsby to find Lisgar Gardens.

Tucked in the quiet town, about 800m walk from the railway station, I found The Shire - a quiet hideaway that is adorned with beautiful fauna and landscaping. It closes a little early though, at 3:30pm daily. Lunch was done nearby before I headed for Hornsby Heights but after some hiking, I was not able to locate the nature reserve but a regional park instead. It's a rather deep place so I didn't wander further in as I wasn't adequately equipped for this journey.

Nevertheless, trip was still well done and I made my way back for dinner, and planning for tomorrow's trip.

Sent via Cyrus' BlackBerry

Finally arrived after a 7-hour flight which I almost fell asleep soon after takeoff.

The weather here is much cooler - far more than what I had expected but still tolerable.
Nearest station to where I lived is Museum station which still bears the flavour of the earlier century's architecture but nothing falling apart. It's actually about 6mins' walk from the station which I had arrived only at 4pm local time after seeking help from a pretty receptionist at a Chinese restaurant in the CBD area. It took me awhile to find myself my hostel which happened that the road was unmarked on the map I got from the airport.

This CBD area is quiet like a ghost town as it was Sunday when I arrived.

For the rest of the places, shops had already closed when I discovered them, but without the crowd, it allowed me to appreciate the architecture and get some clean shots.

Down Pitt Road, rows of Korean and Indian restaurants lined the street and it was like a little Korea as many Koreans tend to hang around that area.

Even when shops are closed, one can still see buskers and beggars at street junctions trying to get the attention of kind souls.

Further down George Street (a pretty long road), I hit Chinatown and the places that business were still on were the eateries, which locals and many Asians could be found. This was one part of Sydney City where one can see much more life in, apart from the bars and pubs scattered all over but nothing too far a walk.

Today's furthest distance was Chinatown.

I have to switch my bag tomorrow so that I won't be bogged down with weight unbalancedly should I need to get some supplies for daily living.

Sent via Cyrus' BlackBerry

I got this call on a Sunday evening...a strong feeling that this is a call from some spam syndicate.

This place reminded me of the food court and lift area in Bugis Junction where one can see through the lift with a white-themed background.

There was this bench which was placed at the edge of the food court, perched on a platform which a signboard reads that it was made deliberately for a lazing and gazing.  As I approached it, I saw more - about 3 instead of one, which some people were laying on it and some sitting on it.  For myself, I just simply sat on one, gazing at the diners in the food court and soon, I was teleported to another location.

2nd place: I appeared now in my old flat in Bedok North which had 2 big living rooms, perched on the 19th floor.  Mum was cooking and asked if I was on leave tomorrow which I told her briefly that I had to clear some leave before the busy season picks up.  I then saw Nicolle, an old friend, but she had seemingly aged tremendously and commented that I had not aged at all.  On her countenance, I could see some spots and wrinkles - it looked as if time was 50 years from now.  It was a simple dinner session held in our old home along with dearie and a few more friends and family members.

The next scene showed me in a shopping mall, holding a walkie-talkie; I'm now a security patrol who had to ensure that things around the mall are in order; so there I went, passing through shops and occasionally depressing the PTT button on my walkie-talkie as I pass through places where there are nice music.  I saw myself later attaching  USB device - a Y-shaped device which auto-alignes when placed near.  After a moment of fiddling the TV-shaped display (the device I was holding was like the Apple remote which could control more advanced features in this "Mac), I saw LOBO and their very good assistant Rayson.  They were showing their guests their family photos which could be found at the bottom cabinet on the display platform.

Moving on, I now saw this Transformers battle where Megatron had summoned his jet-accomplices and Audiobots.  Both groups had a different element of attack - Fire and Ice.  As Megatron was overheated, he quickly summoned Soundwave, who could attack and cool down his systems simultaenously.

One of our alliances (resembling Gandalf in the LOTR movie), saw the "D8" crest on Starscream's arm and tactically removed it from his arm without being realised.  While on the bike (some of the Decepticon bots rode futuristic models of super sports bikes), a manequinn was brought, with its head removed and while riding, using the mask of a destroyed minion,  quickly merged with our rider and he now appeared to be like one of the enemies in disguise.

The next strategy was to issue them "fake" cameras for enemy surveillance which we had informed them of these when issuing them.  Some unusual models like a modified D90 was known as "D9" were given to them.  The actual fact were that these cameras were our surveillance visuals when they plant it in their base.

Final scene showed with dearie in a car, stopping at a part of the battle edge.  We had to move in to some area of ops where I had a female monk (like Diablo 3) following me.  She did not have the usual armor except for a white robe worn over her orange suit. All of us moved in quickly to the entrance of the enemy's base.

Eyes opened - it was already almost 8am.