Tuesday, August 11 2009 8:27
In the Name of ALLAH, Most Gracious Most Merciful
Alhamdulillah, I’m safely back at home now, after a 10-day trip to the country downunder. And I must say, it is all about timing. All about timing. Two weeks before the trip, I was stressed out, ’stoned to death’, and very much needed to leave the life I had. I tried to leave, took almost two weeks discussing about it, but was not able to. And just then, I was leaving for this trip. And even better, I met up with a good friend at the early start of the trip. It is all about timing. And now, alhamdulillah, it’s a new fresh start.
Just feel like sharing.
Background story: My brother’s graduation was last week, so all of us (six altogether) packed up and went for a 10-day vacation in Australia.
Day 01: Fri, July 31
I slept really late last night, perhaps at 3 or 4 a.m. Had a lot of unfinished business I needed to take care of before leaving for the trip. Feels like I’m leaving for a very long time. Well, ten days is pretty long, for someone who works on a day-to-day schedule. Our flight with AirAsiaX was around 1p.m. so we had a light lunch at LCC Terminal, KLIA, at MarryBrown for a light lunch, and something, or perhaps someone interesting happened. Throughout our lunch, I noticed a few guys sitting just beside our table. Sekali pandang, teringat kat MISG. It was nothing unusual until we were getting ready to leave. My dad was teaching us how to wear the mask when one of the men asked, “Nak pergi mana ni sampai pakai mask?” My dad answered, “Melbourne,” They started chatting soon after and if you know my dad, you won’t be surprised if they continue to talk for hours. I was talking to my younger sister when my dad called and said, “Ni, dari WAMY,” while pointing to the man he was talking to. My dad knows that WAMY was one of our sponsors for the Summer Camp two weeks ago. And of course, now, we (he and I) were talking - about MISG, the camp, some of the people he knows in the US etc. Throughout the conversation, I was thinking, “WAMY? Seriously? Of all the people I could meet, I met the Director of WAMY?” What are the odds.
We arrived in Melbourne around 11p.m. Of course, after going out of the arrival doors, I saw my brother with his new videocamera. It has been quite a while since I last saw him, perhaps 2.5 or 3 years. We settled in at the hotel around 1a.m.
Day 2: Sat, Aug 1
First day at Melbourne. Yup, I was at Melbourne. After all this years dreaming about it, that day, I actually grasp the idea that I am at Melbourne, Australia. We first went to Victoria Market to look for souvenirs. You might think that people usually buy their souvenirs at the second half of their trip, but we bought it on our first days. Up next is the University of Melbourne - my dream university, my father’s university, my friend’s university - all the reasons to visit it. We went through the Medical buildings, my dad’s old place, and a few other nostalgic places he wished to visit. After walking around the campus area, I met up with my dear friend, Zaid, who’s currently studying there and took us all for lunch at a lebanese restaurant, Tiba’s, at Brunswick. I had a great time catching up with him. Well, after all those problems, issues and dilemmas two weeks before, nothing beats meeting up with a friend.
Time was very limited as we only have until around six before nightfall so we then head straight to St Kilda where we were to stay for the night, and later to Monash University - mom’s turn for a nostalgic walkthrough.
Background story: My father was studying at Uni of Melbourne while my mother went to Monash Uni when they met. The two unis are about 40 mins from each other - more or less like UMich, AA to MSU, Lansing. They got married, and had their first child there. After that, they left and never returned to the place for about 25 years. So you can imagine how much nostalgia they have created and would like to revisit.
Day 3: Sun, Aug 2
Today, we’re off to Adelaide. Going from Melbourne to Adelaide, we took the coastal route passing through the Great Ocean Road - and they don’t call that for nothing: there’s a road, beside the ocean, and yes, it’s great! The clear water of the ocean, the cold breeze at the beach, the vast blue sky up above, and there was a rainbow just across the sky going over the hills.. masyaAllah. Of course, the road was worse than going to Kuala Pilah, NS but it was all worth it. I can go and sit there for hours and still love it.
But we had to head straight on as we need to get to Mt Gambier before it’s too dark. At least it was a whole day time of looking at the beautiful scenery of the ocean and stopped a few times where there’s a lookout.
Day 4: Mon, Aug 3
Similar to yesterday, today’s activities involved a lot of sitting in the car, driving from Mt Gambier to Adelaide. But today’s scenery wasn’t as much of the ocean, it was more of farms, farm animals and wineries. There were horses, cows, sheep and goats. The wineries are simply left with branches and sticks of wood with no leaves or fruits as it is the winter. My younger sister and I kept yelling out the animal each time we see them: “Horses!” “Sheep!” “Cows!”
Later that evening, we arrived at Adelaide. The whole trip yesterday and today was almost 1000km! We went to Coles (a supermarket) to buy some groceries as we’ll be cooking for the next five or so days we’ll be in Adelaide. And we all had an early night in after the long hours of driving (and be driven, as for me).
Day 5: Tue, Aug 4
The adventure begins today as we went to explore Adelaide. First up, Adelaide Hills! Background story: Adelaide (the city) is located in a valley surrounded by many hills and there are many small towns around these hills - they aren’t mountains, just hills. We visited quite a numberincluding a visit to see the Rocking Horse, the Chocolate Factory, and the Cheese Factory. We went back to the city right after lunch as my brother needs to get ready for his ceremony taking place the day after. While he was checking out his gown and cap, I took a lil visit to their Islamic prayer room at the Uni of Adelaide. If you were blindfolded from Malaysia and arrive at the prayer room, you’ll think that you’re still in Malaysia. First was the structure - it’s really big, has a divider between gents and ladies, and separate areas for taking wudhu’, just like any other suraus. Second was the people - there was as many Malaysians in the room as you can ever imagine. Well, that’s partly my fault as I didn’t expect Malaysian Muslims in Australia to be that many. Compared to Ann Arbor, even our Islamic Center isn’t as ‘Malaysian’ as their prayer room, let alone our prayer rooms.
Then of course, we took a lil tour around the campus and nearby areas. Two things: One, Uni of South Australia is just next door, like seriously one step to the side. No wonder we (my family) can never remember which uni my brother actually went to - confused. Two, at the Uni of Adelaide, there’s a court names after our Ex-Sarawak MB, YB Taib Mahmud. We were pretty shocked when we first saw it at the map, then my brother explained that he is an alumni and has many significant contributions to the university. Wow, am I proud to be a Malaysian.
We visited Port Adelaide that evening just in time for sunset. For those who already knows, you can’t really see sunset during winter time. There just aren’t one. Oh well, a visit to the port was nice too.
Day 6: Wed, Aug 5
The climax of the trip - the graduation ceremony. My brother, particularly, woke up early that day to prepare for his big day. All cameras were charged, all shirts ironed, all eyes opened for D-day. We arrived at the hall around 10 mins before the ceremony started and got a seat half way to the back. I must say, it’s a pretty simply, short, and quick ceremony. Perhaps because it’s the winter graduation ceremony, or perhaps because it’s engineering (if you know what I mean). Although we were done early in the hall, we took a great deal of time outside - taking pictures, more and more pictures, formal and informal pictures, and lastly refreshments and solat. We let my brother savor the moments of this day as he only get that graduation gown for 2 (at most 3) hours.
That evening, we crossed the road from the campus to the biggest (and only) mall in the city area - Rundle Mall. Shopping has always been a challenge for me, but my sister and mom got themselves something. Later that evening, hurrying before the park closes, we head to Cleland Wildlife Park, Home of the Koalas. My younger sister who has a sudden craze for koalas insisted that we go to the park that day. We went in and head straight to the koala area. There were quite a number of koalas eating and sleeping at their resting area - they are huge! We then went to the place where you can touch, pet, hold and take pictures with them - and we did! My sister got to hold the koala and we all took a picture together. The whole time we were petting him, the koala named Jay, was eating eucalyptus… non stop. No wonder he weights 10 kilo!
That night, we had a dinner with my brother’s ‘mentor’ (I think!). He’s an engineer with his own lab near the university. He’s working on this project in getting Nobel Laurettes to come from Africa to Adelaide, then to Malaysia for us to gain something from them - a start to aim for a Nobel Laurette from Malaysia. He’s also working on a project about teaching electronics to kids at an early age that he’s luring my brother to get involved in. Interesting guy, very interesting.
Day 7 - Thu, Aug 6
Today, we head on south of Adelaide to Victor Harbor. At first we wanted to visit a Trout Farm in Goolwa but unfortunately, it’s closed. We then had lunch and head to Victor Harbor. There was an island at VH where you can see the penguins, esp during sunset - and we got to see some of ‘em. It was from afar, but we could see them. As we couldn’t do much at the harbor, we went to play mini-golf near the bridge to the island. It was quite fun, though none of us actually knows how to play golf. My younger sister got lucky with a hole in one (out of the almost-ten holes that we played)!.
Water is the most calming element out of the four - Earth, Wind, Fire, Water. And for me who needed (and still needs) a lot of calmness and tranquility at that time was very grateful to encounter with a lot of the element - the beach, the ocean, the harbor. A lot of things were messed up and I see no way out except to stay in the tangle of mess, but with some help from the element, at least the mess won’t look too bad.
Day 8 - Fri, Aug 7
Friday was the last day we were to stay at Adelaide. Tomorrow, we’ll start our journey back to Melbourne. My older sister had her own agenda - South Australian Living Artist (SALA) Festival. It’s a festival throughout the whole city, and the whole of South Australia, where artists showcase their work both to show and to sell. Being that her ambition is to become an artist, she went around the city looking for inspirations from those artists. We (the others) went elsewhere. First, we took a trip to Central Market, in search of some last minute souvenirs, as well as some produce for our last night. Then, we head to Westfield Shopping Center as my mom wanted some Corelle. My brother and younger sister went for bowling while I went window shopping.
That evening, we had dinner with my brother’s silat teacher (a Malay Singaporean) and another Malay Singaporean couple who had just immigrated to Adelaide. Many stories were shared about the hardship of a Malay Singaporean that I find very interesting - they sound like the Chinese Malaysians, more or less. Being a minority, many of ‘em has immigrated to Australia as it’s not too far while the standard of living is waaay better (I would prefer the US but any developed country would do). You think that Singapore is more developed than Malaysia? Think again. It’s like all of Selangor crammed in a small island, my guess. The education system, financial or economic system, or even the standard of living are nowhere better than Malaysia - except perhaps their currency is a lil higher, but that doesn’t proof anything.
Day 9 - Sat, Aug 8
The vacation is nearing to an end. We left Adelaide that day and head to Melbourne. Again, most of them time were spent on the road and nothing else. This time, we took the shortest route to Melbourne which is about 700km. The scenery this time was more or less farm animals and wineries as well. We stopped by Horsham to look at some White Kangaroos, and slept at Stawell for the night. Nearing to Horsham and Stawell, the Grampians were in sight - the mountains. And they are far bigger, greater (in size) compared to the hills in Adelaide. At first my dad wanted to attempt to go towards the mountain, but none of us were in favor as there’s a 90 percent chance that someone will start throwing up half way.
Day 10 - Sun, Aug 9
And we’re heading to Melbourne. From Stawell, it’s not that far back to Melbourne anymore. We stopped at Ballarat, hoping to visit Sovereign Hill where the gold-mining area were recreated. Unfortunately, the entrance fees were too expensive (AU$39 per adult) that we decided to forgo it. Instead, we went to this market called “Trash and Trivia”. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Although none of us found any treasure there, I actually find the idea very interesting. I know in the US there’s a lot of garage sale or yard sale, but to organize a large combined yard sale would be way better. I’d put this up for UMiMSA’s ideas for activities already.
Later that evening, we arrived at Melbourne. First, we went to St Kilda as there’s a Sunday Art Market near the Art Center where they sell many kinds of arts and crafts. My sister was after the arts, but my brother saw something else - a Turkish snack called Gozleme that he missed very much. We then walked over to the city and had a glimpse of Melbourne city. I got hold of my dear friend Kelly who’s studying at the Uni of Melbourne (that I couldn’t get hold of earlier) but she was a bit busy with studying that I couldn’t catch her.
We wanted to eat something good, but was to lazy to search. Funny story - we actually went back to the lebanese restaurant that we went early, the one Zaid brought us. We ordered something a lil different this time, but it was funny that we actually went back to the same restaurant (this time without Zaid, of course). We had an early night in that night as we have an early start the next day.
Day 11 - Mon, Aug 10
My brother’s flight was at 8.30am so we all left the hotel at around seven in the morning - very early for everyone. After sending him, and our rental car, we head to the Tullamarine Airport for our flight back to KL. At around 10am, we said our goodbyes to Melbourne and left for Malaysia. We safely arrived at around 4p.m. and got home just in time before Maghrib.
Alhamdulillah, each and everyone of us had a great time during the trip and have safely arrived home.
To a fresh new start.
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