MY AUSSIE ADVENTURE 2008!

Expect the Unexpected with me in Canberra!!!

Part 1

Saturday, 24^th May 2008

Waking up early to catch a 8 a.m. flight is definitely not a way to start your holiday...but hey, who says I’m going on a holiday?? Mark my words...its work I tell ya!So I got there early...Dad drove me to Penang International Airport bright and early on Saturday, 24^th May 2008 at about 7 a.m. Bumped into dad’s colleague (a huge HUGE man) from US and he just had his laptop carryon stolen while he was checking-in. I assure u, that’s crap shit to begin with. There was little he could do as the security CCTV camera was unfortunately not on him when it happened. All he could do was lodge a police report...and we ALL know how that’s going to turn out....yea...*nods*

Anyway, checked-in, got on board...and had a pretty uneventful flight...nope...no cute guys...boring.

Got to KLIA and headed for my terminal...whichever that was...had to take the train to the International departure terminal. Was a pretty full flight to Sydney. Didn’t manage to meet Mumtaj (journalist from The Star) who was supposed to be my travel-buddy, before boarding. She was seated some 10 rows away!

The inflight entertainment for my whole row was not working so I requested to change seats. I mean, how was I to endure a whole 7 hour flight staring at the back of someone’s head?

I’m sorry to say this but....MAS definitely (in my books) does NOT have the best cabin crew I’ve ever experienced, aside from the FACT that they greet Malaysian and foreigners DIFFERENTLY. I DARE anyone to DISAGREE with me PLEASE.

Example #1

When I told a stewardess (A) that the video wasn’t working, she said she’d reset it for me and not to touch anything (a WILD guess but I’m assuming the remote control buttons here *insert sarcasm*)....lo and behold....she NEVER got back to me on when I could start pressing some buttons!

Bear in mind, we’re a good ½ an hour into the flight already! Everyone else’s inflight entertainment was working fine and we all have been given our headsets!

So I flagged down a steward....note I HAD to flag him down as MY remote control wasn’t even working to press the call button. Yeah, reset that thing my... *toot*.

At this point, I noticed that a couple from the other side of the plane (on the same row as I was)

had requested to change seats....*bells*(?)

Even that Iraqi man beside me said his wasn’t working either. But he wasn’t bothered...he

planned to sleep or read anyway.

Example #2

After locating and flagging down the same steward who said he’d reset the damn programme the SECOND time....another stewardess (B, who is aware of the problem as she had relocated that

couple) came over to ask me whether I “wanted to watch a movie?”, somebody PLEASE hand her an AWARD!!!! Our very own Malaysian Sherlock Holmes!

But fine...apart from being condescending...i managed to change seats...lucky for them...heh..or I’d really kick up a bitch-fit!

Example #3

They handed out Arrival Cards for Australia...and because of the bad lighting on board and the f

aint print of the boxes...i’d ticked YES instead of the NO boxes I intended...i mean...hello...i don’t have AUD$10,000 with me....nor was I carrying any DEAD ANIMAL! So I asked the stewardess for another card....but she said they’ve run out as the flight was full.

Fine...i’ll get one when we land...

But after changing seats...i asked another stewardess (C) for the Arrival card.....

HOLY COW! I must be lucky today! Coz she brought me one...no questions asked!

Conclusion = No excuses needed, Stewardess A was LYING thru her TEETH and was just plain
LAZY!

Please do not allow me to assume it was because I am MALAYSIAN.

Hookay, so I got a call from Amanda of Tourism Australia saying that they’ll tapau dinner for Mumtaj & me...coz our flight was delayed and we wouldn’t be in time to join them (our crew) at the restaurant. (don’t worry, the call was before we took off from KLIA – I’m not gonna cause any plane crashes by turning on my mobile inflight – although I’ve known of certain pilot-friend who use his mobiles in the cockpit)

We arrived in Sydney at about 10 p.m. (local time). Hopped into a cab...and headed for our Hotel...which we eventually found after a lil bit of searching..as the cabby didn’t know where it was...he even had to look at a MAP!! Its on Darling harbour! How difficult is that??

Had dinner in my room...cold nasi goreng...which I didn’t finish coz I wasn’t exactly hungry. Gave Alfred a call...and he so badly wanted to go PARTAY! I was tired...but I did promise him and did say I was gonna meet up with Amy (my cousin).

So arranged to meet her and friends at Bristol Arms.

Alfred and I took a nice long walk across the .... bridge to Sussex Street and got to the Retro club...which was something different for me. Ker Wei and Faye joined us after a while...some weird stuff happening in there...Borat look-alike, DJ’s in drag, a male blowup doll, the Village people, u get the drift...

Had a lil bit of fun nonetheless....meeting up with Amy again was Great! we got back to the hotel at about 2 am...and I had an 8.45am flight to Canberra, later...hah...die. Slept a little...

Day 1 – 25^th May 2008

Departing Sydney

Met the rest of the crew in the morning as we piled into the minibus to the airport. Had breakfast at the airport and boarded a tiny little Fokker to Canberra. Now, THAT was fun! Excuse the jakun-ness...but I’ve never been on one before, OKAY.

Oh, because it was a tiny itty bitty plane...one of the camera crew’s boxes was put on the next flight to Canberra! And some of us had to repack our luggage into smaller handcarry bags (They gave us the smaller version of those big plastic China boxy bags). No, I didn’t need to repack! My check-in luggage was less than 20kgs, thank you!

Arriving Canberra

Our ACT guide Donna Ciacca met us at the arrival hall and escorted us to a MASSIVE coach...chartered for just the 10 of us (?).

We were to stay at Quality Suites Clifton on Northbourne.

Located just 300 metres from Canberra’s CBD, the 4.5 star Quality Suites Clifton boasts over 150 modern, self-contained serviced apartments. The spacious suites
include FOXTEL and movies on demand, a fully equipped kitchen and laundry, in- slab bathroom floor heating, and a dining table & balcony perfect for entertaining. The hotel also has high-speed broadband internet, complimentary underground parking, a 25 metre outdoor pool, a la carte restaurant and five function rooms.

www.cliftonsuites.com.au

As we couldn’t check-into our hotel yet...we just left our luggage at the hotel and headed to Cream Cafe for lunch.

This very cool café attracts a mixed clientele of all ages, thanks in part to its good food and versatile design. With distinct bar, lounge and dining areas, an open kitchen and a fabulous art deco style ceiling design, the café serves good coffee and fresh creative dishes with Mediterranean and Asian influences.

Address: Corner Bunda & Genge Streets, Canberra City

Phone: (02) 6162 1448

Website: www.creamcafebar.com.au

Our first thought upon arriving at Cream Cafe (well, mine at least) was, is it a requirement that all the waiters had to be drool-worthy? Hahah! No seriously...we were wondering why there wasn’t a single female waitress around and that all the waiters had arms to die for!

Excuse me, I have this thing for muscular arms....

So someone had to ask...and it turned out that a waitress had a birthday party the night before and it was decided that all the male employees had to be on duty the next day! Talk about gender-equality!! Brilliant!

I had Mushroom Omelette...was okay...i wasn’t hungry.

Mushroom Omelette (g) 14
exotic mushrooms, basil and chorizo with a
spicy roast pepper sauce served with toast

Walked back to the hotel (its less than 1km away anyway) and check-into my room...changed and headed to the Australian War Memorial for my recce (reconnaissance – to get to know the place and for the cameracrew to plan the angles for filming).

Oh before that, we went up Capital Hill to shoot my introduction. Short n sweet! U’ll see!

After the War Memorial, Donna took us for a drive around Lake Burley Griffin at Commonwealth Place to shoot some of my ‘fillers’ (okay, I forgot what fillers are...)

Stopped at some of the locations that we would be visiting during the Ghost Tour with Tim the Yowie Man and headed to Canberra Glassworks.

We stopped for tea at Canberra Centre at around 3ish. I had Nacho’s with beef! (of course!) and it was a HUGE portion! Even with 3 people snacking on it..we could barely finish it. Oh yea, the massive caramel milkshake didn’t help either!

Got back to the hotel at around 4ish, totally knackered, from the night before! Took a little nap...got up, changed and met Donna & the rest at the lobby together with our other guide Shea Foster to head for dinner at Taj Agra, a northern Indian restaurant.

Ordered a little bit of everything....i refrained from ordering anything coz I wasn’t hungry...i don’t think I got a chance to even BE hungry for the entire trip actually!

I knew we’d over do it as everyone kept going... “And...”, “And...”, “And...”

And we did. The food was awesome tho...very yummy...dun ask me what we had...coz I can’t remember...its Indian...ooo...a man caused a scene at the cashier while paying his bill...wasn’t too pleased with something...and was practically shouting at the staff...fortunately, the cashier, young as he was, kept his cool and attended to that irate customer professionally. Good Job!

There was this Indian waitress who was hilarious! While that man was in the midst of his verbal diahorrea, the ambiance music went off...and no one noticed to turn it back on. So at some point...she was shouting an order to the kitchen staff and we all heard it....and when she came out...and all of us were looking at her...she was like “Whoops...did everyone hear what I just said?” we were like “yea...but its ok”.

We tapau-ed some leftovers (there was a LOT of leftover) for Daphne & Naz who decided to skip
dinner coz they had some work to do.

I was very very happy to see my bed again....don’t worry people...i did take a shower before. Oh my room was fabulous... MASSIVE !! Tot of having a PARTY in there...too bad I don’t know many people in Canberra.

The only downside was, the toilet was way across the other side of the apartment from the room. So getting ready to go out was a mini marathon.

Day 2 – Monday 26^th May 2008

We had breakfast at the hotel and it was FAB! I LOVED it!! YARMEE!! I had my bacon, scrambled eggs, beans, sausage, roasted tomato, hashbrowns, OJ and gulped down some coffee.

Departed the hotel at 8.10 a.m. for the Australian War Memorial for filming.

Australian War Memorial

See what makes us proud at the Australian War Memorial, which commemorates the commitment, camaraderie and sacrifice of Australians in war. Regarded as one of the finest
museums of its kind in the world, the Memorial uses film, sound, light and modern technology, to depict the Australian experience of war.

Featuring: The Commemorative Area, The Discovery Zone and Conflicts 1945 to Today.

www.awm.gov.au

Okay, I may not be the most patriotic of persons...but visiting the AWM touched me in a way because I could actually feel the sacrifices these Australian soldiers for their
country as well as other countries all over the world. You can actually see the difference they’ve made and the impact on mankind as a whole. It was a very interactive place and not dead as what I thought it would be. We got to play dress-up, crawl through tunnels & sit in a helicopter (I’d like to say it was an Apache, but I’m not too sure), amongst other things.

We did my interview outside the War Memorial building which was a beautiful background. Just my thoughts on what we just saw and how I felt about it.

Redbrow Garden

Since we were ahead of schedule (still a few hours before lunch) we decided to head to Redbrow Garden first. It was a little drive out of the city centre and about 10 minutes on a dirt road to get to Redbrow Garden. We pulled into this lovely Bed & Breakfast place which even had its own mini lake!

Yes, so we did go “Row, Row, Row a boat...” We got into a sampan (or a fishing boat, as they would like to call it) and Naz being the only male... ‘volunteered’ to row....they decided to shoot the promo with the 3 of us in the sampan...unfortunately for Naz...i think we did about 10 takes, as either one of us would ...as ‘someone’ would call it... “eff up”.

Besides the lake, the rooms were charming...built by the strong hands of the owners David & Elisabeth Judge.

The recreation room was very cozy with coffee & tea making facilities available throughout the day, homecooked meals, a pool table, a library, a wood fireplace and big comfy armchairs to sink
into with a steamy mug of hot chocolate, my doggies at my feet and a good book....mmm....oh hello!, sorry, got carried away.....

But yes, it’s a perfect getaway from the city (although Canberra isn’t exactly a very busy stressful polluted city to start with!). If I could afford it...i’d love to spend a nice couple of days there!

Oh OHH!!!! They even had 2 Alpacas! One black and one white. They were SO BLARDEECUTE!! Shucks..what were their names?? Something Spanish....Amigo or something...Pedro....and those huge black eyes with their foot-long eyelashes staring back at u....

I got to carry a chicken...er....nice (?) yea, she was nice n FAT! Hahahah! Fried chicken anyone? Kiddingggg......

They have fresh free-range farm eggs every morning....mmm....now where r them cows?

David even gave us a fruit...green...taste like YUM (?)....can’t remember the name....sorry...but it was gooooddd....

Oh by the way...smarty here forgot to bring her camera down from the bus...and the driver was having a snooze...so didn’t get any pictures of the farm or the cute alpacas! Idiot!

Set in the midst of scenic undulating farmland and native forests, this colourful and productive 10 hectare garden and tranquil B&B is just 30 minutes from Canberra. Luxuriate in your private lake view room with double shower and be sure to enjoy a unique jacuzzi by the lake.

Redbrow Garden is the perfect place to escape the hustle and
bustle of the city.

Featuring: Lakeside room with outdoor jacuzzi, new garden guesthouse and farm
Contact: David and Elisabeth Judge
Address: 1143 Nanima Road, Murrumbateman, NSW, 2582
Phone: (02) 6226 8166
Website: www.redbrowgarden.com.au

Tosolini’s

After Redbrow Garden, we headed for lunch at Tosolini’s an Italian restaurant. I had their Mama’s Special Spaghetti with Meatballs. It was very very very very YUMMY! Portion was (again) huge...so I only manage to finish HALF of it....but Amanda and I shared a gelati for dessert! I mean, hello! Its staring you in the face and u’re in an Italian restaurant...and u’re NOT gonna have a gelati??? Excuse me, are u gay?

This cosy restaurant is about as close to an

Italian café as you can get, with superb coffee and housemade pasta and tiramisu. With outdoor dining in the warmer months and a roaring fire in winter, this is an inviting spot for a drink or a la carte meal. Dine on pizzas, bruschetta, pasta, risotto and mains.

Address: Bailey’s Arcade, Cnr London Circuit & East Row, Canberra City
Phone: (02) 6247 4317
Website: www.tosolinis.com.au

Some of us were talking about heading to Brand Depot for a quick retail therapy....since we were ahead of schedule. Everyone was in the mood for shopping....so they decided to shoot some of my fillers there, eventhough Brand Depot was not on the itinerary! Yea...had me walking in n out of shops...withdrawing money... yea the usual stuff u do when u shop ler...

I bought some body-creams; coconut (obviously!), Mango Tango, Lanolin, whipped SPA (thingie) I LOVE EM!, a red purse ($15.90) and a nice yummy brown sling bag for only $23.90!

Got back at about 6p.m. freshened up and met everyone at the lobby for dinner at Cream Café (again).

I had a kangaroo steak salad! Taste just like beef. No one else wanted to try it...cowards!

We were all geared up to meet Tim the Yowie Man for our Ghost Tour after dinner!

Weird Canberra Ghost and History Tour with Tim the Yowie Man

This is the history they don’t put in the guide books, this is a tour that shines a spotlight into the hidden underbelly of the nation’s capital. A unique, three hour experience visiting sites of crimes, hauntings and murder in Australia's national capital. Visit the darker side of Canberra's past.

Phone: (02) 9943 0167 0407 769 980 (Tim)
Website: www.destinytours.com.au/canberra.htm

Felt a lil tingly at the thought of actually having the opportunity of possibly seeing or feeling a ghost! But I’m up for any kind of excitement by that time!

We were met by Tim’s assistant (will insert name when i remember) at the pickup point (petrol station) before Tim arrived with the mini bus.

Tim was such a character, I must say! Hugely entertaining, vastly knowledgeable and a very captivating ghost story teller!

We visited a church...which used to be a train station at Sydney’s Rookwood Necropolis (City of the Dead). The train station was taken down brick by brick and transported to Canberra just by a 100 pounds bid by the parish.

The original building started as the First Mortuary station in Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, as noted on a plaque on the church:

"The Stonework of this church was originally used

to build the first mortuary station on the branch railway

to the necropolis rookwood near Sydney. This plaque was presented by the Australian Railway Historical Society to commemorate the old station which was in use from 1868 to 1948." [1]

Its has quite an interesting history...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints_Church,_Canberra

We actually stood in front of Blundell’s cottage (a Historical site) along Lake Burley Griffin where it legend goes that a girl Florie saved her siblings from a fire in that very cottage but later died of her burns.

Wanna hear something creepy? Well...aside from the scare we got when Tim’s assistant jumped out from a bush in a zombie outfit when we were leaving the cottage and nearly made Naz wet his pants!

Amanda took a picture (the ONLY one she would take for the night! She said before!) and guess what we saw in that picture? A purple light...not just an orb...a human-like figure with what looked like an outline of a face and skeleton!! How cool is that?!?!

I will definitely put the pic up when she sends it out!

He also told us about a visitor to the AWM (yes, we were there this morning!) who was feeling a lil faint and a soldier in full WW2 uniform came to his aid...sat him down on a chair...and disappeared.

Oh and guess who’s the lucky one who got to wear the Anti-Alien Abduction Helmet which costs USD$5000! Yes...moi. Yay! ...*groan* its NOT a pretty headgear I tell ya! U’ll see it on TV. Oh brill!

It was a very spooky, dark, wet ride up to the Air Disaster Memorial. The ADM is actually locked up because too many weird and dangerous events had taken place in there.

Some of us badly needed to answer nature’s call and had to make do with er....some patches of grass...near some bushes...I didn’t mind...heh...i can pee anywhere!

The Canberra air disaster of 1940 was a plane crash that took place near Canberra, the capital of Australia, on 13 August 1940, during World War II. The six passengers, which included three members of the Australian Cabinet and the Chief of the General Staff, and the four crew were all killed. The deaths of the three cabinet ministers severely weakened the United Australia Party government of Robert Menzies and contributed to its fall in 1941.

The woods where the ADM was in was also the place where Tim had seen a Yowie! Bigfoot? Yea...him.

No, we didn’t see any Yowies. Some people heard whisperings tho.....oOooOoo...

Before the officials decided to keep the ADM locked...a lot of new drivers who just received their licences would drive up to the ADM and guess what? Their car’s would break down....engines die and the lot. No surprise, the AA companies would receive the most calls from the ADM. A woman was even believed to have been raped and murdered at the ADM. You can sometimes hear her screams! We didn’t hear any...so they made me scream instead....

We also stood in the dark in a room at Hotel Kurrajong where former (16^th) Prime Minister of Australia Ben Chifley used to practically run the country from! He was said to have passed away in that very room...and people would actually specifically book that room just to stay in the same room as the former Prime Minister and get a chance to see his....ghost (?). People have claimed to have seen his ghost by the window.

So Tim left us there...in the dark.....it was pretty spooky...coz we tot we’d actually SEE something...or something might jump out at us from the cupboard....but nothing happened....phew!

Had light refreshments at Hotel Kurrajong ... HOT CHOCOLATE.....mmm.....

After that...we drove around a bit more...and Tim showed us some more buildings and sites where hauntings have been spoken of...and showed us a UFO! Imagine that! Canberra’s very own UFO! Interesting isn’t it?

Anyway, we got back quite late that night and went straight to bed....no more interviews....please...i can barely even think....

Oh...fyi...i didn’t feel anything strange, creepy or funny back in my room....nothing followed me home...i think...of course my mind wanted so badly to play tricks on me...but as much as I’d have liked to at least feel spooked out...i didn’t...Bah!...better luck next time....