Three Quarters- Almost There But Not Quite..

Mrs. Wong and I headed towards North-West of Victoria, to the direction of Dimboola- population 1700. We went with the Houlihans (Paul, Sonya and my favourite man, Finn) on the 24th November, also the Election Day. We had brunch in Ararat, while Sonya and Paul ducked out to vote. We then stopped by Gum San Musuem, which commemorates the first Chinese settlers who founded Ararat when they found gold. We arrived at Dimboola 2 hours later, passing by Horsham, known to me only because Ros comes from there. Dimboola reminds me of our Malaysian small town, and Sonya's parents home reminds me of our own small town houses- big yard, big roomy rooms, lots of homegrown plants, lots of family heirlooms, furnishing thats been around for years and an outside dunny! But like all small town home, you don't hear traffic, but instead you hear the cricket chirping, and the sound of silence. We went for a walk to the Ebenezer's Mission and then to Wimeera River during sunset. Ebenezer's M...

We did a big road trip up to Sydney (distance= 900 kms, total driving time = 10 hours, total toilet stops = 5, total hours of sleep = 3 hrs, Number of McD's meals consumed = 2). It was a trip in which we drove past towns such as: Wagawaga, Yackadandah, Wanggaratta, Yass and Albury (er, nothing special about the last one except the service station which we stopped at in Albury, was supposedly the Best Service Station On the Northern Border region- or sumthin' like dat- which I thought deserves a mention. It was a very nice service station). And towns in New South Wales such as Punchbowl. In Sydney, Mrs. Wong was very pleased to see the Opera House. These series of pictures I like: in which Mrs. Wong tried to make like a thief by running away with my newly purchased jeans. We also went to the Blue Mountain, on an incredibly hot day, accompanied by an incredible amount of flies, and tourists- no difference really, both of which elicited the same level of irritation in our good se...

Mrs. Wong on her first (windy) Sunday in St. Kilda, with Gerald and Ginger (GG's). Mrs. Wong's first weekend in Melbourne- getting acquainted to Melbournian lifestyle with a cocktail in the afternoon! Mrs. Wong on the Great Ocean Road- she didn't like the cold wind (which was pretty frightful for Spring, but she thinks it was quite exciting). This trip involved a lot of very cold tiny Asian people scurrying from the People Mover (the car) to the spot of interest, peering out of their hoods/ scarves/ jackets for 30 seconds and mumbling through frozen lips "Ah, very nice" and back again to the comfort of the car. In the background is the 7 and 1/2 Apostles (formerly known as 12 Apostles). Said Mrs. Wong on her first winery tour around the Mornington Peninsula. Despite the rather chilly morning, she still couldn't resist Gelati. Sometimes I wonder who the kid is... (picture taken at Sunny Ridge Strawberry Farm, where us being Asians, proceeded to almost wiping ou...

During Mum's recent visit to Australia, we did a fair bit of traveling. In her 5 weeks stay here, I think we did more than 5000 km around Victoria and New South Wales. A graphical representation of the places we went to: I know the map above can be customized with Google map, but I don't know how, dammit! Techonolgy, sigh... Some of our highlights: 1. Saw most of Victoria's attractions. 2. Went from oh, total driving mileage in Melbourne = 5 km to scoring a massive 900 kms during our drive up to Sydney. It was fantastic because I've never done it before, we've pushed ourselves to drive overnight after a day of work and there's just something magical being on the road in a tiny 2-door Ford at 3 am. 3. Went to Dimboola, which is a small small country town, (population: 1700) from which Sonya hails from. Mom and I had such a wonderful time, I'm in love with her parents and it's just such a different experience! 4. Took a lot of photographs. Will post them w...

Ebenezer's Mission- Dimboola, 24th Nov 2007 Testing Testing..