Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 1-3 in Tasmania

The overnight flight to Melbourne was quite a torture. Got requested to change seats by an elderly looking lady and was sandwiched between her quite vertically challenged daughter and a pretty stoned looking middle aged man! The plane was connecting through from London you see...

By the time arrived in Hobart, Tasmania about 10am, I was mighty stoned out. Had BORAT to entertain me along the way while I endeavoured to sleep as much as possible. My bunk over at Central City Backpackers. It was AUD$22 a night for a dorm room for 8 people (the most budget)and overall, a decent place.

Check out the empty streets in the morning...

Day 1 was spent strolling around senselessly, going back to hostel to concuss for 4 hours, and having a drink with a new French Friend, Stephane who was surprise surprise...working in Australia while touring around! One of MANY whom came in and out of the dorm doing the same thing.

Day 2 was spend mainly in the library, reading books on my "Gap Year" and just chilling out. Temperatures were in the 13C region, quite chilly really and I booked my 3 days "extravaganza" Smash & Grab tour with Bottombits through the hostel.

Day 3, start of the tour to Freycinet National Park, Wineglass Bay (One of the top beaches in the world) and Kate Berry's farm

Some pics!

The famous Tasman Bridge - it was sliced into 2 sometime in 1976 when a huge ship collided into the bridge. 13 died and cars literally plunged down into the river sending the occupants to a watery grave...














The famous WineGlass Bay, not very glam with my head sticking in, I know..













Video Clip on the actual bay itself

It was actually a pretty tiring climb up to the peak to take a photo of WineGlass Bay from above, and an equally tiring trek down and up again from the beach itself! So..be prepared!
Some "crazy" hikers decided to do the same! with such huge packs! amazing!














Finally, the farm...some nice turkeys and shop front....

Monday, June 11, 2007

My next adventure..Down Under!

Next up, Tasmania and Melbourne specifically.
I booked Quantas special promotion which allowed me to stopover at Hobart (Capital of Tasmania) enroute to Melbourne. Total cost was about $1,200. A cheaper alternative would be just to fly to Melbourne direct. Buy a budget airline ticket from Melbourne to Tasmania, only AUD$100-200 round trip!

Some quick and quirky interesting facts about Tasmania & Melbourne and Australia and general. Warning: Heard from tourguides, man sitting beside me on the plane and reading Bill Bryson's book - In a Sunburned Country. Belief with care!

1)On 17th December 1967, Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia, went for a swim on Cheviot Beach near his holiday home at Portsea in Victoria. He disappeared beneath the waves and was never seen again. His companions raised the alarm, and what ensued was one of the largest search and rescue operations Australia has ever witnessed. Holt’s body was never found, fuelling many theories regarding his disappearance, ranging from suicide to abduction by a Chinese submarine.

2) The sea between Tasmania and mainland Australia is really quite shallow, some parts just 50m or so! Tasmania and Australia are actually connected, but when the polar caps melted some 10,000-12,000 years ago, the lowlands between them was completely flooded!

3) Australians are generalists by nature. At home, they know abit of electrical work, wood work, cement work etc.

4) Australians believe very much in the 80-20 rule. Spend 20% of their time achieving 80% of their results. So the 80% of their time, they enjoy life!

5) Australians averagely change careers (total change) 7 times in their lifetime.

And the most amazing one of all:

a) At 11:03 PM local time on May 28, 1993, a large-scale seismic disturbance, elsewhere reported as measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale, was detected near the Banjawarn sheep station in remote western Australia. The few observers in the area reported seeing a flash in the sky and hearing an explosion.

b) The blast was 170 times more powerful than the biggest mining explosion ever recorded in the region and was consistent with a meteorite strike, but no crater could be found.

c) In 1995, after the Aum Shinrikyo in Japan had released nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system and killed 12 people, it was revealed that the cult owned a 500,000-acre property in western Australia near the site of the mysterious boom.

d)The cult has two former Soviet nuclear engineers in its ranks, hopes eventually to destroy the world, and maybe wanted a bit of practice, eh?

e)In 1997, scientists finally got around to investigating this disquieting possibility. "You take my point," Bryson writes. "This is a country . . . so vast and empty that a band of amateur enthusiasts could conceivably set off the world's first nongovernmental atomic bomb on its mainland and almost four years would pass before anyone noticed."


WOO HOO! Australia really ROCKS! :)

Friday, June 8, 2007

Day 10 - 11 in Bali

No happening photos or videos unfortunately. It was a long night, fever..diarrhoea...survived to tell the tale and back in S'pore in one piece. Ubud was a fantastic place to just walk around. The art, culture and spirituality in this area was amazing.

Quotes of the trip:

We do not Discover, We Uncover Ourselves

In Order to be Destroyer of Obstacles, Become Full of All Powers

Confused? nevermind...interpret it your way!

Camera of the Year for Me:
My beloved Olympus Stylus 725 SW
Waterproof till 5m, Shockproof from falls up to 1.5m, what more could I ask for! 7.1 Megapixels, huge LCD Screen behind...I'm loving it!!

Last 3 photos of Bali!
A nice scenic lane (ex the electrical wire above) which led me to my final massage session at Eve Spa

One of numerous offerings left on the street...

The Carp swimming by my feet at the Bed&Breakfast place...







Bali has been an invigorating and incredible experience and I will be back! Surfing, Scuba Diving, Meditating, Yoga and more! oh...not to forget the japanese babes..haha

Next Up: My Tasmania & Melbourne journey!

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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Day 9 in Bali

Got up bright and early, headed for BaliSpirit Barn to for a QiGong Class but was disappointed that no one turned up. So, went for spa therapy instead at Zen Bali Spa!

The set up was definitely cleaner than Milano and overall a good session. They gave me 3 huge skewers of honeydew and ginger tea after that too! All for less than $20 for 1 hr massage.

Got my transport settled for my "excursion" to John Hardy's Jewellery Making Factory as I had been to the website before and really wanted to visit them myself. I was definitely not disappointed.


This was the showroom - very posh...very class and I bought something for my mum..:)
Warning: prices are not cheap..


The inside of the show room

However, I also saw the way the sales process ran, to make the buyer feel how "value for money" he/she has just spent on. Firstly, I was given a small complimentary brooch which the sales manager pinned on my T-shirt, just a small token of appreciation, but feels good, ain't it? Next, I was immediately passed a Birthday Club form, in which the company would send me a gift every year on my birthday! wow! talk about service!

Straight after, it was lunch time...no, not a food court or something in the middle of nowhere, but lunch on a long table with about 40-50 of the management staff of John Hardy! In fact, John Hardy himself (the CEO) was just 2 seats away from me! John had a microphone hooked up and addressed everyone. I shan't elaborate here, but needless to say, i was blown away by the spirit and care/concern he had for the people within his organisation.

Food was good and I checked out the Kitchen which cooks for 700 staff everyday! AWESOME!

The bamboo refrigerator


And the clay oven!

I then went on a tour of the producution line, where over 400 people worked everyday. (Sorry, no pictures allowed!) I was thoroughly impressed indeed, and would happily recommend all of you to come visit his factory, have lunch and experience something we don't normally get at home! Like I said, prices are not cheap, so buy if you want, but if not, feel free to walk away! There are other more affordable options and your drivers will be more than happy to bring u there! (like i did!)

I was very fortunate to meet with John Ellis, the Environmental Manager and that inspired me even more to explore opportunities within Environmental Conservation / Consultancy etc.

After getting his card, i headed back to Ubud and went for my Yoga Classes with Linda Madani. Just 3 of us, and the session was great! 2 hours of solid work over at the Ibah Villas.

Rushed back to BaliSpirit where Brenda Fereira was hosting a workshop on the Law of Attraction. Brenda has been a licensed spiritual practitioner with The Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles. Reverend Michael Beckwith, one of the featured teachers in The Secret, and the Founder of Agape, has been her mentor for 20 years. Thats probably the main reason why I went, coz I absolutely dig Dr Michael Beckwith, so cool!

It was an interesting session (I shan't bore you with details) and I met pretty interesting people too. However, I started to feel a fever coming up and headed back to rest ASAP...

Day 8 in Bali




Arised before dawn in preparation for the dolphin trip out...The sunrise was heavenly as i went on a crazy photography spree....
Some video clips to share



The ride out...


And the ride in...:)

My little canoe rigger...pretty cute!

And a pic with me in it! haha
As you noticed, there are no pictures of dolphin, so basically it was not my day

Anyway, got back, checked out and proceeded on to drive out to see the Buddhist Temple and Air Panas Banjar (Hot Spring) Really no big deal to me...water was luke warm and weather was so hot! Final stop was Ulun Duna for the Lake Bratan Temple




Buddhist Stupas


The ordinary Air Panas Bath...







The pagoda in the lake..

Finally, after lunch by the favourite Padi fields, I arrived at Ubud and checked into Jati Homestay along Jalan Hanoman Street. Quiet place, relatively clean, and cheap! Only 70,000Rp per night + b/f (quite small tho, just toast with eggs and fruits)

I headed for a facial at Milano Spa to cleanse my oily face in this humidity (my first one in a long long while!) Pretty basic set up, not posh, but did the job and for only $10, i'm not complaining!

Of course, had to visit Cafe Wayan since it was highly recommended by Pea especially the Risfatel. Not bad indeed..very full after that!

Day 7 in Bali

My last 2 days in paradise, worked up to do a Yoga session with the inhouse Yoga teacher, pretty intense!

After the lovely breakfast, it was time for a little touristy stuff to do in Tejakula, just a small little town.

Visited a publich bath area, saw the unique blacksand cement which gave the architecture alittle bit more "gothic" feel i guess..

Also went to see some traditional weaving by the locals and au natural dying...pretty cool! Totally natural stuff!
















The owner of this business used to be in the hotel industry and set up a school for underprivileged kids. He gladly brought me there to take a look and I was impressed by his efforts and committment to the town. He of course had very kind sponsors from Netherlands who assisted in cash and kind. He welcomed me to come and help out at the school, teach English, IT or anything anytime I wanted to and I would like to come back one day soon..

Next up was to check out their local "delicacy"..arak or fermented palm juice. I was driven into the forest (like some hidden illegal site) and a group of locals were just chilling out and drinking their arak and basically distilling their own fruit, small business they have there :)


All in all, pretty decadent and I took a sip to give face to the locals..power stuff!
Got back in time for lunch and met 2 new friends. Basically, Anna (Austrian) and Yen (Malaysian). Yen used to be in the rat race, loving her job, working really hard and making lots of $, but not having the time for herself really. She decided to do something quite different and spent a number of years in the Kalimantan Forests, dealing in anti-logging activities, replanting of trees etc. She is now at Gaia to do a feasibilitystudy for an environment project for Gaia. It was really cool talking to her, and she ended of by telling me..."Follow Where Your Heart Sings!" How true isn't it? Most people follow our brains, like what our skills are etc..Well, I guess its a fine balance of both!
I went for my massage, borrowed a couple of books (all very awesome!) and enjoyed my last night...