Christmas Party at Puffing Billy

Despite living for decades in this city, I have never ridden the Puffing Billy. So great to finally have a ride and shoot it too!

I couldn't decide if I wanted to see more of the greens or the track. Hey, digital is cheap right? So I took both. :) You can decide which one you prefer.

I wish I am Elastic Man and able to stretch out my arm much further than I could; or Neo and just fly off and get an aero view. :D

No, it wasn't India and no Indian train. I couldn't help but fear that they are going to cage the carriages so people can't hang out of the windows sometime into the future. God forbids that we takes all the joy out of life because of fear and legal liabilities or law-suits.

4WD at Marysville

Several colleagues, friends and I went up to Marysville just after Christmas for a 4WD day trip and fishing. It was a fantastic warm day.

Marysville is well known being a beautiful place with amazing greens and tall trees. I am afraid I never actually went up there until now, until after much of the trees are burnt by the huge bush fire, better know as the Black Saturday, on the 7th February, 2009 (between 7th Feb and 14th March, 2009).

It is a very memorable time for me personally because that was the time my late father was in hospital before he passed away. It was a very hot summer and we followed news about the bush fire happening on TV in the hospital.





Almost two years has passed since the Black Saturday, rebuild activities are still happening. Moss looking plants are growing on some trees and there is a fair bit of ground cover, helped by the very significant amount of rainfall in recent months. Still, the trees have not grown back. In fact, the ground cover is not bush but a lot of small trees. The tall trees are still standing there, completely black, charcoal... Many have fallen. There are few signs of wildlife also.. no birds singing.. One can not help but give respect to the awesome forces of nature.

I wish I took a picture of the rocks there, I was really puzzled when I saw big rocks and boulders there, they are flaking! They really look like sheets of metal. Only later I found out that this phenomenon is caused by intense heat causing rock to split and flake off...




Hope these two pictures give you an idea just how tall the trees are. Imagine once they were all green with lots of leaves. What devastation!




OK, here is the fleet, first is a series 75 Toyota Land Cruiser Carrier, a very rugged, basic hence easy to keep it going, with great ground clearance and looks awesome. The second (black) is a series 80 40th Anniversary edition Toyota Land Cruiser, it is so well equipped it is amazing. Third is a Nissan Path Finder (red), a very 'willing' vehicle, doing jumps all day! Last but definitely not the least is the Mitsubishi Pajero (blue), a very formidable performer on and off road.

Remember the victims of the Black Saturday at Marysville. Remember also the flood victims of the recent Brisbane and Victoria floods. Lend a hand and help them get back on their feet. For more information about Queensland flood, please refer to this and this for Victorian flood information.

Fishing at Patterson Lakes

Actually this is not quite true, we just started off from Carrum and the boat went about 16km out to sea. So I guess it was really Port Melbourne. ;)

It was a very early morning for me - had to get up at 3:30am to get ready because the boat leaves on the dot at 5am. However, what made it worst was that I decided to try my new alarm clock - my mobile phone. That was very stupid of me, I should have stayed with what I am familiar with. After all, there is nothing wrong with my trusty old alarm clock!

Because of my foolishness, I woke up at 12 mid-night, then again at 1am and then at 2am and then at 3am as well. I have learnt my lesson!

Anyway, at least I got to the pier on time. Imagine how I would be fuming if I ended up late and missed the trip!

Our skipper was a funny bloke, he would shout at us when we make mistakes. Well, for one, I have no idea what I am doing because I never fished before... But I am so glad that he actually helps to collect the fish at the end of the line and unhooks the fish which was quite an operation at least once...

Last year's catch was horrible I was told, only one fish was caught, so my expectation was very well adjusted not to get disappointed. After all, I was more keen on snapping some pics than catching a big snapper. We actually did pretty well and caught six red snappers. And I thought they were pretty big, over two feet long each. Apparently they are only babies (about 3 years old) and they grow to 30 to 40 years. Amazing, they grow to 57 years according to this web site!

Took these two pics below and the one above just to see how the camera will handle low light. Result: Pretty happy. :)



Look carefully, actually you don't even have to look that hard and you would find some specks of dust in the photos. Yes, pretty crazy changing lens in that environment. Strong gusty wind, rocking vessel, salty water...




This is our skipper and the shark we caught. Yep, a shark! It was released after this photo. I think it is a bullhead shark.



This is even more crazy, extending my arm as far as possible on the side of the boat to snap a pic while we are cruising. :)


We have three boats, here is one of the other two.


And lastly, there you have it, this is the catch from my boat! Snappers! The bigger ones are at well over 70cm long.

Hot Air Balloon over Melbourne City

Just had the pleasure of flying over Melbourne in a hot air balloon, on a cold winter morning.

It was meant to happen in a warmer month, in April, but the weather did not allow it on the day. Given the colder, wetter winter months, I thought this second attempt was likely to be canceled also. Indeed, it was a bit of a touch-and-go. Had to call the night before between 6:30pm and 7pm to confirm and then again at 5am to be sure it is going ahead.

One thing I did really like though is that we actually started much later than I anticipated giving me a couple more hours to sleep. Should have gone to bed much earlier the night before but I wasn't disciplined enough or perhaps too excited or worried about how to bring my photography gear without a backpack... :P

Thought it would be really cold up there. After all, it was a 6 degrees (celcius) morning after all. I was well rugged-up, perhaps too well.. It was actually pretty warm up there. We don't fly high enough to make a big difference in temperature in the air compared with the ground level.

In fact, I would say it is much warmer up there given how close we are to the burner, which is right over our heads. I thought of wearing a cap but settled for a beanie instead thinking the cap might fly off and beanie would be warmer. Anyway, I took the beanie in the end and wore neither.

There were actually 3 balloons that went up that morning which was fantastic! Won't like not being able to see another balloon in the air. Imagine just taking aero-shot of the city without a balloon in sight... Thank God, we didn't get just one other balloon but two balloons! :)


Oh yes, there is one other thing I really appreciated flying in the winter month - the morning sky in a cold winter day. Love the colour of the sky and warmth it creates on the ground. Love this picture. Thought it looks like a water-colour painting. Look at those smoke / steam coming out of the factory chimneys. Thank God there are not that many of them...

If you pay carefully attention to the picture, you will also find some dust spots. We are warned that the burners may drip and dirty our clothes. I didn't get dirty but I think it is somewhat dusty up there. And it is tricky changing lens in a tinny basket with ten other occupants on-board plus two pilots.

Hope you like this last pic. Very pretty I thought. No, it is not a scene from Les Miserables nor were we fighting to escape some alien contraption. We were helping to get hot air out of the balloon and folding it up after the flight. Obviously, I didn't do my share very well.. Sorry! :P

Loving family on a journey

What does this picture communicate to you?

1. Lovely family bonding?
   
2. OMG! Where the hell are the kids' helmets?
   
3. Honda rules! (it is a Honda C70)

Zipping through the streets of Penang in the back of my mum's Toyota Avensis is quite an experience. Not sure why they bother to paint lines on the road. No one pay any attention to them anyway. People REALLY share the road over there! There are lots of motorbikes, motor vehicles of all types, tricycles and trishaws on the road not to mention pedestrians trying to cross the road. I am not sure if I would dare to get onto one of those tricycle or trishaw, aimed for tourist, as the mode of transport for sightseeing around that little island... Looks incredibly dangerous. What about the fumes from the truck in front?

I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw this - four people riding a motorbike together. A family affair, the old and the young. The young sandwiched between the old.

It was in the news in Japan that helmets are really important for kids especially because their skull are still soft needing much more protection than would an adult. Yet, they don't wear helmets.. The bike was a Honda C70, may be 25 years old (C70 was manufactured between 1970 and 1984), with a mere 72cc engine and top speed of 80km/h.

Love the flowing hair of the little kid in front, with his cute yellow shoes in the basket, and both hands on the handle bars. Most of the time, you won't see the passengers holding on to the driver / rider or any handles that might be available. They would sway to the left or to the right along with the bike. I thought that is pretty amazing and dangerous. You can tell I never rode on a motorbike. :P Boy, I wonder why the best rally drivers in the world are not from Malaysia!

What do you think this post should be titled? Send me a comment to suggest. You decide!

[2009-06-26] Thank you to all who voted on the subject of this post. The winning vote is "Loving family on a journey". You are sooo kind. Thanks!

No photos? Too hot!

Sorry, I didn't take many pics at all in Penang. That includes all the wonderful food that we consumed. My excuse is that it was soooo very hot while we were there it didn't take much time to zap all our energy away. -_- zzzZZZ Well, I must be fair and say thank God for this His amazing grace for giving us great sunny weather. Aparently, it was raining the whole month just prior our arrival. But when we were there, it was sunny (and hot), for all 6 days we were there. Just as we take off from Penang, it started raining and mum told us it rained heavily after we left. Thank you Jesus!


Even the monkeys would not come out because it was sooo hot. We went to the Penang Botanical Gardens that supposed to have a large population of monkeys. Well, it is nicknamed Monkey park after all... However, we saw very few of them. We bought peanuts and we even bought bananas. Still that wasn't enough to entice them to come out and meet their cousins! Rubbish, I don't believe we are related... ;]

However, we found this really amazing looking tree with flowers so amazing that I don't know how to describe it apart from calling it Exotic with the capital E! Its colours so rich and almost looks like a wallet and at the opening of the "wallet" are little arms with yellow petals at the end. Can you believe that it is actually called the "Canon-ball" tree.. You can see why.

Well, we did bump into some monkeys that day, a couple of them in a big cage (that's the only reason why we saw them because they couldn't run away... :P).

In case your parents or teachers have never educated you. They are wild animals, don't get too close because they can carry disease. They can also get aggressive (or too passionate) and grab you. One tourist tried to stand right next to the cage to take a pic with the monkeys. Both monkeys launched at the tourist grabbing his shirt and arm. Luckily their claws were not sharp.

Penang Foods

Thank you mum and Linda for taking us around to sooo many places to spoil our taste buds.

All the hawker food Penang has to offer - char koay teow, nasi lamak, laksa, rojak, hokkien mee, popiah (actually I prefer the Singaporean version), chicken rice, loh bak, chu cheung fun, curry mee, nyonya dishes and many others I can't remember how to call them... Memory is a wonderful thing. I can "taste" them just trying to recall them in my mind.. :P

What about deserts, drinks, durian and mangosteen (photographed below)... Oh, desert?! What about desert?! I felt cheated by the desert. Don't laugh Linda. What they dished out looked nothing like the picture in the menu... Compare this pink soup with the picture immmediately next to it on its left.

Photographs are supposed to convey truth. People believe it when they see it in a photo.

That said, this is my only whinge out of many dozens of great food we had. It is kind of like the train that was late in one of our legs to Mt Fuji. Our short memory meant we have forgotten how not punctual or un-punctual the train system can be back home (in Melbourne), we have become accustomed to the 100% punctual trains in Japan. But on this cold morning, waiting outside at this train platform. This train was late by 3 minutes, all of us were cold (perhaps except James who was armed with his Canadian water...) and not very happy that the train was late. That said, Japan has the most amazing train system still just like Penang food are still excellent (and cheap)! :)

Oh yes, before I forget, we had Japanese, Western as well as German food also, the last of which was really good. We had lamb shanks and it was great, at a very cheap price also! It is called Ingolf’s Kneipe German Bar and Restaurant. It is situated at Jalan Sungai Kelian, off the main Jalan Tanjong Bungah. For more information and pics, check this out! I don't get no commission for this.

Japan Trains

How foolish of me to think that there is only one type of bullet train - the one that looks just like a bullet with a pointy first cart like this photo. No, there are many types!

One thing common with all of them is that they are virtually always punctual. They are always clean including their toilets. There is no train vandalism (no graffiti on the walls, inside and outside and no scratched windows). But there are some graffiti along the track on walls. The seats are very comfortable and reclines quite a lot (much more (comfortable) than seats on some budget airlines..).





On top of that, the ride is so smooth and very quick, always go with allocated seats if you can. Lots of room for baggage. We even saw this crew who had an instrument to measure how stable the train is. Never seen that before. Completely impressed with their quality control and demand for quality. BTW, the train crew's uniform is pretty cool too. Pay attention to big stamps like this at the train stations and tourist locations.

Luckily I didn't experience packed train like this.

Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑)

Apart from Sakura, there are plenty of other attractions at Shinjuku Gyoen (新宿御苑) - Carp fish or Koi fish, beautiful Japanese gardens, stone lantens, bridges and ponds and of course people. In fact, lots of people, out on picnic under the Sakura trees to enjoy the beauty and shade offered by the Sakura trees or just to soak up the warm spring sun. It was truly a beautiful picture.

This lady looks like she is wiping her tears away... Please let me assure you that there is nothing further from the truth. She is just putting some cream on, possibly sun screen. :)