Archive for October 2016

Tasmania - 2nd July to 5th July 2016

Tasmaniaaaaaaaa. I had zero expectation of Tasmania as the reviews I have received back then was 'it is boring'. But nevertheless, the lower your expectation, the better it gets. But our main objective of the trip was to catch some southern lights and sea sparkles.

So bun and I decided to flew in to Tassie very early and start our day early and by the end of day, bun just drop dead on the bed. He was the driver for the entire trip.

Day 1, 2nd July 2016.

We flew a plane from Melb to Launceston for about 2 hours, and of course, he suffered in the plane. It was small and uncomfy. Well, the car was pretty good. I think we had fully utilised the car. After we pick up the car, we drove down to Freycinet National Park and took a look at the wineglass bay. So, at that point in time before we started our hike up for wineglass bay, I decided that the weather is pretty similar to melb and it wasn't that cold. So I started removing the heat tech off before hiking. It was a short hike but with lots of rocky stairs. Bun tried being a monkey climbing here and there.

So while we were climbing down, my butter feet decides to give way and I injured my knee. So our next stop was to look for a pharmacy instead of following with the plan.

So, very fortunately on the way to Richmond, my eagle eyes spotted a pharmacy. We went in and thank goodness the shop was still open although the shop was supposedly closed. The very very very nice pharmacist. Probably the best I have met so far, help me out with the bandage of my wound and only charge me for the cost of the plaster. Was really thankful and grateful to her.

So the pain wear off after the bacteria were all killed. :D So we continue our journey to Richmond for the famous scallop pies that Bun's dad has been talking about. Luckily it was on the way to Hobart or I will have been pretty upset. The pie wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be. Like I mention earlier, the lower your expectation, the better things are. So, I over-estimated and regretted.

We book our little cabin at Judith's through Airbnb. It is by far, the best Airbnb place/room/apartment I have ever stayed in. It has everything you need, you can literally stay inside the whole day and do nothing. (which was what we did for one day; that was how good the room was). Well, pictures and words cannot describe how awesome it was. If I am ever back in Tasmania, I will def go for this again.

Day 2

After a tiring day, we set off to the Tasman Peninsula. We wanted to do a hike. But due to the season, the night falls pretty early and hence, we decided to just go to places like the devil's kitchen to take a look. Will def do a hike next time if I get to go to Tasmania again.

Day 3

We took a break from the road trip and decided to just stay indoors to walk shows as the weather was really bad. It rained the whole day. We then decided to head to mures deck for dinner.

Day 4

Tahune Airwalk, it was quite a drive to the airwalk but pretty fun to be walking on the structure with no support at the bottom. So it was pretty shaky while we were walking. But as the weather was bad, my shoes got muddy as well.. As usual. We took a short walk as well over two hanging bridges before decided to head back to Hobart.

In my honest opinion, I think Tasmania is really nice to go to if you like driving/ road trips. But do take note of the many road kills and the dark road at night. But I will not recommend to go in winter. The weather isn't at its best and it's drizzling/ raining most of the days we were there. Gotta pick a better season.

Have uploaded a video on the trip to Melb-Tas in another post. Think pictures/video speak better than words.

Till next time to melb and New Zealand (South Island) next ! :)

Melbourne - 23June/15July 2016

Ok! Finally, time for this. Haven't gotten the chance to really sit down and go 'ok its time to write about tasmania/ melbourne' until 4 months later.

But this is basically to note down how the trip was like in every teeny weeny bit possible as far as I can remember.

So I flew off to Melbourne on 23 June 2016 to meet Bun again. It was this experience at the Tullamarine custom that turned me off sooooo much. I am not sure why I was targeted but maybe I was too blur at that moment to know about anything or recall what I should do at the airport clearing customs. Having to be sleeping almost the entire ride from Singapore to Melbourne, I woke up a little cranky as well.

So what went down that day was still fresh till this day in my head. There was a female custom officer who stopped me, and asked for my blue ticket and being clueless and lost, I just followed what she said before going to collect my luggage and of course answer her question as to why I am here in Melb. Then came the normal inspection for illegal items into the countries.

So the same officer who seems to have been waiting for me, took me to one of those metal counter and started questioning me. Not sure if its normal or if its overboard, but she asked me quite a fair bit of questions that I have never encountered in any other country. Such as,

1. why are you here visiting (again). and I have to clarify myself again
2. how did you meet your boyfriend
3. do you have a picture of you and him (I deleted everything in my phone to make space for new pictures as I have 16GB on my iphone only)
4. after speaking to me in proper english for more than 10 min, she asked me if I understand everything on the declaration form twice.
5. after asking me if I understand, she asked me more than twice if I know my address and I was reciting the address to her by then.

I was almost of the verge of calling over to bun and get him to explain to her. Was so stupid. She then ask if I bring any items that are prohibited which I declined and I was quite irritated that I wanted to open up my luggage without her saying. Not a good start yeah. tsk.

Then, cleared custom after all the plane and custom delays and went out to look for bun. Was unhappy the whole time until the car stopped right before a full rainbow. Then tada, my day was made. All good now.

Significant events in Melbourne (after I cleared my jet lag) -

Marysville, Lake mountain - We drove down for some snow as I haven't really experience snow since when I was in Harbin in 2012. The drive to Marysville was so amazing that I had to snap some pictures.

So, after a few hours drive from his place with the amazing drive, we arrived and started gearing up for the snow.

Me being me and watching shows since young, I always wanted to build a snowman of my own, and so we started, and ended up with an asian snowman with a lump.

We slide down snow slopes as well in our waterproof pants with our fat butts. Then after we got bored of it all, we started walking towards a path that was the most mad hike for me thus far. But because it was steep but because my shoes were soaking wet, and the thick snow isn't really helping. I kept complaining but luckily bun didn't get annoyed with me.

So, the view after the hike is pretty worth it yeah. We took quite while to climb it cause of my weak stamina, constantly taking breaks and also avoiding the wet puddles.

Sound of Music musical @ Regent theatre- One of the most amazing musical that I have watched thus far. Thanks for the awesome birthday present ! :)

We even went to watch the entire movie once more to refresh our memories before watching the musical. Got reminded of my time in Salzburg, Austria while watching. So much memories.

Futsal - Oh, was my first time watching bun at futsal. For both times that I went there with him, was the amount of time I got hit by the ball. I felt like I was playing dodge ball by myself while sitting at the benches. I did not even dare to use my phone for fear that the ball will hit me. But it was fun watching the boys play futsal.

East Warburton, Redwood - This place was so filled with nature that my shoes was filled with so much nature as well. I never understood why my shoes are always muddy and bun's shoes are always clean. It gets to me sometimes. Maybe I was too much like an elephant for the mud to hit my shoes.

Other than that, that place was really nice and fresh. The air was so fresh, and because of the forest, it was much more chillier than expected compared to the other places that we have visited. But it was all worth it once the walk began and all the healing starts for the eyes.

So, conclusion from this post, I think I am a super big fan of Jurassic Park. (if you are tell from the pictures). Every picture I took, reminds me of dinosaurs. Well, of course not the one in snow.

Will write about Tassie after. :)

Travel Diary - Sherry

Tasmania - 2nd July to 5th July 2016

Melbourne - 23June/15July 2016