Holidays

It's only been a week and two more to go and already I am bored. But being bored is a good thing because being bored forces you to go out of your way to 'satisfy' your boredom, eg. doing something you wouldn't do often: choosing to stay up into the wee hours of the morning to watch football matches  live on TV; spring-cleaning my room; going on an outing when it's raining and only 10 degrees; watching Dr. Phil --wait, what? -- and lotsa other random things. But one beneficial thing that I resumed doing is having my daily devotions.

I've been struggling a lot to keep it constant but somehow always fail. But I know God has been gently nudging me back to Him through the sermons I hear, through the books I read and the people around me. So I've started being constant and diligent in reading His word, meditating on it and praying with it. There's just nothing you can do on your own and succeed without relying on God's guidance.

There was this particular sermon (that I recommend to all) by Paul de Jong from New Zealand on Jesus as Lord (I've linked the podcast, go listen to it!) that really touched my heart and reminded me to view Jesus not just as a provider, but as Lord. He talked about a lot of other things which I can't really exactly recall - it's just better to hear him for yourself. But it helped me refocus my heart and 'internal' eyes back to Him. And as I prepare to face many challenges ahead, my prayer is that my life be pleasing in His eyes. Is yours?

Update Jan-June 2010 (part 2)

January 2010 ~continued~
3) Melbourne Zoo, Twelve Apostles, Thousand Steps, cherry picking and Sophia's

Bite him!

I think this is a pygmy hippo...not sure...

Rawrrrr!

I was a bit jealous that they got to go to the zoo :(
Missed out all the sights...

They also went to the Twelve Apostles. I think it was a 4 hour drive...but man, I really wish I'd seen the scenery! Clear blue sky! But I heard there were too many flies and big ones too...

Nice inlet...you can just see some of the rock formations...

 I only see...six?

This was a stop they made on the way to the Apostles. Awesome fountain...you can see the sheer size of it if you look at the photo on the right...can you make out tiny figures??

Anddd they also checked out the Thousand Steps! Melbourne's own 'Kokoda Track' 15mins drive from our house. Ever since the family went to this place mum started going religiously to exercise and she's lost 4kg!! She can even wear some of my pants now...crap...

Tough track up the steps...but when you reach the top, wah, the satisfaction :)

Cherry picking~

Bought so much home...so we spent the next few days just downing cherries. Yummy!

W

 Local winery. Uncle bought some back, so nice and sparkly and sweet :)

Random Victoria Market scene...me and Esther decided to arm wrestle...and...I lost miserably...

Dinner at Sophia's! We wanted to let our uncle and auntie eat Italian so we took them to Sophia's known for its HUGE portions...

See the dishes in front of us? Each dish is meant for ONE person, but being Asian we shared. Hey, cmon, who can finish one whole plate by themselves?

Uncle and auntie dearest left after 10 exciting days...boo...it was fun while it lasted...

4) Australia Day fishing trip (again)

Dad wanted to go fishing again (what is with men and fishing) so off we went with dad's friends/colleagues to a beach for some fish...I ended up baby-sitting the kids that tagged along with their parents... you can tell I really enjoyed it...

But! They were so cute~~

I helped bury him too! *tries to get credit for their work*

In the end we went home without any fish...oh well, next time.

January was a packed month: Lois came to visit from NZ and we went around the city and shopped a bit. Heard lotsa funny stories about NZ weather. It's crazy! No pictures though..cos we didn't take a lot...

Parents and I also got invited to a wedding dinner: had to dress formal. Formal = me wearing a dress *gasp*

Funny, I did remember taking photos of it...where has it disappeared to..? It was my first dress ever since I was old enough to decide what I wear!

Stole this from FB
Never again...in heels...pain...painnnn

Update Jan-June 2010

Hi all, back again after 6 long months! I've neglected this blog for too long so the least I can do is provide this update...bare with me...


January 2010- Our Aunt and Uncle came and visited us! We went to a LOT of places and did lots of tourist-y things like visit Phillip Island (penguin watching!), Twelve Apostles (only about ten now), cherry picking, wine tasting, China town, Victoria market, Eureka Tower, Melbourne Museum and Melbourne Zoo etc...

It was a busy week! Get ready for the photo-spam ;D (not in chronological order cos..I can't remember...)
1) Phillip Island~

Uncle and Auntie dearest and us!

Just the girls :)

<

Some farm ducks>>

I got to milk a cow :D The cow pooped and wee-weed everywhere- eugh...

We saw this peacock and it had it's feathers out for a loong loong time twirling around in circles. I think it likes all the attention, haha.

This is an cannon. Pretty cool.

So is this huge tree!

and this huge koala. We visited a koala sanctuary

They're quite small IRL. It was quite hard spotting them around the bushland but we managed, hehe.

and then we strolled around the sanctuary keeping an eye out (many eyes out) for wildlife! AND saw THIS! A wallaby! Dad managed to creep up REAL close (less than 1m away) to take this photo and it didn't even flinch! Brave...wallabies are really really tiny...

and then evening came and we explored around the tip of the island called the Nobbies where there was some beautiful scenery. It was really cold too! We even saw penguins under the decks! The very penguins we were there to watch - the Little Penguins (they sure do live up to their name...)

We had a quick dinner then headed up to the Penguin Parade place where we waited for TWO hours for the sun to set as the Little penguins would only swim back to shore to their nests when it's dark. So we sat on the beach, cold, tired and cold...and then at around 9-ish we started to see tiny specks moving in the sea and several minutes later we see groups of 6-10 penguins scuttling around the beach (avoiding the seagulls who were twice their size) trying to reach their nest a several hundreds of meters up the shore. As we watched and later followed the little animals -- with their tiny bodies -- waddling along so far I can't help but feel a sense of awe at their bravery and determination in getting back home...and no, we weren't allowed to touch them, shame :(

I really enjoyed the trip to Phillip Island, explored nature and all its gifts (from God, of course), had the freshest fish and chips (oily though) and had fun with the family.

2) Exploring Melbourne City - Eureka Tower, Melbourne Museum and Dae Jang Geum

Ah, Melbourne city, so many sights, sounds and just plan weird stuff. Saw this street performer who actually asked a volunteer (in this case a kid) to throw parangs up to him whilst balancing on top of 4 buckets O_O

Amazing chalk drawings! I asked the artist how long it took for him to produce one piece - around 4-5 weeks! Amazing.

We then went to the Melbourne Museum. Australia's Coat of Arms containing national icons: the kangaroo and the emu and the shield with six badges representing the six states. Can you guess which is Victoria's badge?

 

There was some Aboriginal art on display and I took a few sneeky shots. Cos we weren't allowed to photograph anything in there :X
Beautiful, no?

It was nearing lunchtime so we took left the museum and walked around this park (very very very nice day) and decided to fool around (well, only me and Esther) around this fountain. I could've sat on that grass the whole day if you let me, it was so comfy! Don't mum and dad look so cute like that?! Haha.

LOL. Just, LOL. I don't know why we did this...don't ask.

Ready, set--

--JUMP!!

Charlie's  Uncle's Angels (minus one)

Lunch at Melbourne's Dae Jang Geum! Korean BBQ FTW!

Lovely lovely food. And yes, that is a piece of cheese they put on top of the noodles. Gave the soup a more jazz. You should go try it sometime with Korean instant mee. Seriously. It's awesome.

Eureka Tower¬¬ I think it's the tallest skyscraper now? Not too sure. But if you go up to level 88, you get to see the whole Melbourne city. Definitely worth a look. Awesome 360 view all around! For archi-buffs, this building was designed to resemble an architect's ruler.

Just one part of the city, forgot which direction. But I see the Arts Center building (that pointy white thing in the middle)

There are more photos but there's too many so I chose a few that represents what we did that day. These two days are the only days I spent with my uncle and auntie cos I had work, boo. BUT there's more photos (not too much cos someone *coughEsthercough* didn't clean the camera lens so it came out all blurry) to come, just that there won't be a lot of info on them because I wasn't there, sorry.

Well, it's getting late. More posts to come!