Yumi's Life Stories

The next day after my sleep over at Syar's crib, I decided to follow Mai back home to upload some pics. Amy was about to leave to go to Habour town with her other housemates, so Mai & I conquered her laptop for awhile. While we were uploading, Amy's cuz, Adil, messaged her on msn. I innocently replied his message & told him that Amy has gone out. We chatted a little, and then later he casually came up with the subject of going for a road trip. He and some of his friends wanted to go to Eyre Peninsular, which was the other side of South Australia for a 4 day 3 nights trip, and he invited me to join them! I was shocked by the invitation as I only knew him barely a month, and joining and his friend could be risky. What shocked me even more was that he was willing to pay for my expenses first (I had some financial restriction at that time)! After lots of convincing & persuasion, I finally agreed to go, to this last-minute invitation. I was really excited, and I have an assignment due on the day we leave. So, for that entire weekend, I devoted my time to finish this assignment in order for me to go for this trip. (The things I put myself through! sighh..) I just hope that its all worth it..

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Day 1- April 11th

Monday morning..April 11th. I only slept 30 minutes the night before, and by the time Adil arrived with the rented car, my eyes were swollen, and I looked like a tired old lady! (Adil came late by the way due to some technical problems..) In the car, it was the first time I met Haz, a first year economics student who happened to be a close friend of Adil's. The other person, Ina, who happens to be Haz's housemate couldn't make it to the trip. So, there were 2 girls, 1 guy, and an unknown journey to the Eyre Peninsular.

We chatted in the car for the first 1 hour, then the next thing I know, I was laying at the back of the car, nicely wrapped up with my jacket. That was when Adil said "We're at Port Augusta, Meen.. You've slept for 2 hours straight." Wow, I didn't even realized that I felt asleep! Talked about tiredness! Anyway, we dropped by at the Information Centre, and then continued our journey to Whyalla. Since I was fresh & awake, I volunteered to drive next. Haz took her turn to sleep, while Adil accompanied me to drive.

At Whyalla, we stopped at this tourist spot where there was an old Ship (from the war times I reckon). Feeling really hungry (it was 4 plus), we stopped at Ada Ryan, a 'garden' overlooking the Spencer Gulf. We had my nasi goreng (which was cooked the night before =D). After our 'lunch+ tea' meal, we headed to the UniSA's Whyalla campus, which I happen to be proud of! I reckon it is the smallest campus among all the UniSA campuses. (mental note: now I have to go to UniSA's Mawson LakesCampus so that I could say "I have been to all of the UniSA campuses!") Finally in Whyalla, I insisted that we go the Flinders & Freycinet Lookout, which just happend to be statues of 2 skinny men who made history in SA. The statues were located on top of the hill, overlooking the upper Spencer Gulf, and we saw the beautiful sunset there. Next stop, Port Lincoln!

I continued driving all the way to Port Lincoln, which took about 4 hours of driving. It was a lonely & dark 2 way road, so it was quite dangerous at some point. But all of us talked & talked, and listened to CDs, so we were alright. At 9pm, we reached our not-so-exciting-looking hostel and after some planning for the next day, we dozed of by midnight.

The ship of Whyalla..

overlooking the Spencer Gulf

Welcome to UniSA Whyalla campus!

Meet Mr Flinders & Mr Freycinet ..

Sunset at Whyalla..

Crusing mode..meen style!

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Day 2- April 12th

After everyone has awakened & freshen up, we decide to take a walk to the Information centre at the town of Port Lincoln. It was such a peaceful & quiet town, nothing like our ordinary Adelaide. As we were walking along the road, we saw a play ground not very far from the Jetty. So, we all pretended to be 5-year-olds, playing with the swings & see-saw & such. (Not to mention the macho-pirates pose on the boat!) hehe..

It was such a beautiful day, with studio-blue cloudless sky. We drove right up to Winter's Hill, a very beautiful lookout of the entire Port Lincoln from the top. It was really windy as well, but the view was magnificent. Haz wanted to go to the Glenforest Wildlife Park, which was just nearby that area. A little kangaroo greeted us upon arrival, and her buddy dog was also excited to see us coming in. The wildlife park was really tiny compared to the many that I've been, but it was nice & cozy to walk around. We saw a couple of bunnies first, then we saw some koalas, yaks, pigs (really ugly ones!), chickens, ducks, goats.. and finally, we headed to the bird farm where we spent most time in. We bought some bird food, so I guess you could say that we feed the birds rather well!

Next stop was Elliston, where we took lots of pics at their Great Ocean View (something like Melbourne's Great Ocean Road concept, smaller scale version). We could see some surfers doing their thing from where we were, wishing that we could surf the ocean as well. Venus Bay was our next destination, and we were there for just for awhile (we liked the name, so we just wanted to stop there for awhile). Final stop for the day was Streaky Bay, where we again had our 'lunch-tea' meal at around 4 plus. Before that, we went to Stewarts Shell Roadhouse to see the display of the world's largest white pointer shark caught on road & reel by Dion Gilmore in 1990 using only a 50 pound line over 5 hours to land. The shark was 5 meters long, and weighs 1520 kg! How freaky was that! As for the name 'streaky bay', I reckon that it was named after the streaks of sun light during sunset, which was absolutely beautiful. We then drove all the way to Ceduna & reached our Backpackers hotel at around 8 plus. The owner of the hostel was really nice, and we got the entire place to ourselves! (it wasn't a peak season, so there were no other visitors) So, we lepak-ed at the lounge area, played UNO cards, listened to good music & just chilling all night long.

at the Jetty of Port Lincoln

We are came, we saw, we conquere...Pirates Ahoy!!

swing..swing..like a little child..

overlooking Port Lincoln from the peak of Winter's Hill

We're on top of the world!

our baby bunnies!

2 birds on one hand..

feeding the birds..

the beautiful scenary of Elliston

the shadow masters..

the Great Oceon View..

Man are from Mars, and we are on Venus Bay...

cruising together..

the 5 meter long Shark!

sunset at Streaky Bay..

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Day 3- 13th April

Looking at the map, we saw this place called 'Denial Bay'. Wanting to go there, I packed breakfast & we drove to the bay. Apparently, it was named 'Denial Bay' due to some person who denies the declaration of the island, or something like that. Who cares, it's such a cool name for a bay! Hehe.. Today was a quite cloudy, but we had breakfast on the jetty anyway. We then headed to Ceduna town centre, where there were so many Aboriginal people around. We saw some crossroad signs at a round-a-bout, and Ceduna is 781km from Adelaide. Perth was 1964km from Ceduna, so we are considering our next roadtrip to Perth one day! We wanted to go to the boarder of Western Australia (WA) & South Australia (SA), which was only 487km from Ceduna. But, due to money & time constrain, we had to forgo the idea. Next time then, I hope!

Instead of going downwards to Port Lincoln, we drove across the map heading towards Port Augusta. It was mainly deserts and dry land, so it wasn't much of a view. If I could describe this road trip in colours, it would be Brown, Red & a little Green, because that the scenery that we often see while on the road. It started to pour a little, so Adil had to slow down on his driving.

We reached Kimba, a little town with a population of 600 people. (Such a tiny town!) We headed for the lookout, which was a little different from our usual ocean view. It was mainly land & trees, again the brown & green colours came in mind. We also saw the Big Galah, a huge bird as a landmark of the town. By then, it really started to pour, so we had to continue our journey back on the road. Adil & I felt a little tired, and decided to sleep while Haz drove. About 1 hour plus later, she woke us up as we have arrived Port Augusta, in advance that is! She drove 200km/h on the road while both of us were soundly asleep! Oh well, at least we reached there safe & sound.. and, for the 3rd day in a row, we had our 'lunch-tea' meal, but this time it was nearing sunset, at the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Gardens in Port Augusta. Since we were already 300km to Adelaide, we decided to go to my crash at my place for the night. I drove back to Adelaide this time, and we dropped by at Dairy Bell located at North Adelaide and had yummy ice-cream at 9pm! Then by around 10.30pm, we were back in Magill.. Home sweet home!

breakfast at Denial Bay's jetty

we're all in denial!

Next trip, Perth?

the place where we stayed, Ceduna Greenacres Backpackers..

Thank you, come again..

my trademark burger folder on the road..

the league of extraordinary people =)

a reflection of me..

hail the statue of Meen the Great..

the scenaric view of Kimba

the three stooges

the Big Galah..

we're here again at Port Augusta...

nasib si Do-Re-MeeN..

lunch/dinner at the Botanic Garden

at the entrance of Botanic Gardens

the yummy delicious Dairy Bell ice-creams!

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Day 4- 14th April

Since we were back from the trip a day earlier, we decided to make full use of the car. So, we decided to drive to Hahdorf, a popular old German town located just outside of Adelaide. We went to Beerensberg Strawberry Farm first for strawberry picking! We cheated by bringing an empty bag & putting the strawberries that we had first round in the bag, and paid half the price that we were supposed to pay! Hehe.. We then headed to the town itself, which was surrounded by beautiful autumn leaves everywhere & took lots and lots of pictures. Since were we already at the South side of Adelaide, and it was a late night shopping day for suburbs, we drove to Marion Shopping complex & lepak! Adil & Haz did some shopping, and I bought Thristy Merc's latest single 'In the Summertime', the official song for the road trip! Hehe..

At the Beerenberg Strawberry Farm

I feel like a Stawberry Shortcake..

erm, dont bite my fingers now..

yes, I stuffed her underground! muhahhaa..

Autumn in Hahndorf

Queen Meen on her throne..

ride away with MeeN...

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Day 5- 15th April

It was Adil's idea for us to for Crabbing at Henley Beach. And we did, from 7.30am till 11.30am, from Henley Beach & Grange Beach, with NO luck at all! Most of the time, we chatted in the cold sea breeze, and feeling sleepy & tired due to non-stop movie sessions at home. In the end, we only managed to catch an endangered fish, which was so colourful and looks like Nemo's friend, and a little crab, which was smaller than 11cm in width. So sadly, we had to throw the crab & fish back in the sea. Sigh.. Sadly, we're not eating crab tonight, but it was an experience anyway..

In the afternoon, we tried to recover our sleep debt by sleeping (duh).. then for sunset, we drove to the top of Kensington road, where we could see (almost) the whole of Adelaide (not as high as Mount Loufty, but has a view). Adil decided to drive to Al-Khalil mosque, the biggest mosque in South Australia located at the north-western suburbs. The inside of the mosque was beautiful, which a 'Kaabah' picture & all. Alrighty, so for this year's raya, I know where to go for Raya prayers. =)

The crabbing gears

showing off my professional crabbing throw..

the tired-sleepy-restless trio

our "waiting" pose

"Hey look, I see a Seafood restaurant..wanna go there instead?"

this is what we caught..a small crab, and an endangered fish..

Sunset at Adelaide city

my favourite trio photo with Adil & Haz

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Ok, officially, our so-called 'Road trip' (including the times we were in Adelaide itself) was a 5 days trip. So on Saturday, Adil & Haz headed back home, and so-called 'back to our lives'. But NO, on Sunday, they surprised me at night by visiting me again, and they ended up staying at my place for the whole of second week of holidays! So overall, I was seeing them for 14 days straight! Haha.. But, I didn't mind. They 'claimed' that they wanted a new environment to study, and they 'love' my place. So yeah, it was fine with me!

Remember at the start of this entry, I was saying that "I'm taking a risk by going to this road trip"? But hey, I think the risk was REALLY worth it! Not only I found 2 new fond buddies, I got myself a new best guy friend (after 3 years..fyuuhh!), but also I had an amazing experience that I couldn't possible imagine I could have. I thought this autumn break was going to be a dull & boring one, but it turns out to be one of the best times in my life. A little roller coaster, I would say! Hehe.. I owe it all to Adil, who invited me for this memorable trip, and Haz, who helped plan for this road trip to happen. A big THANX for the both of you! May there be more adventures/ road trips in the future! =)

" ..everything is gonna be alright in the summertime.." -Thirsty Merc

Meen's work in Haz's big BArt book

Haha..yes yes, I know..I didn't update anything in April..but, here I am, back in the Blog game! hehe..Theres heaps of things I didnt mention in March, and some in April, so I will only highlight the interesting stuff that I did, okay.. Those who were waited patiently for my blog to be updated, THANK YOU for your patience.. hope you'll enjoy the next few entries.so, here it is:-
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Ok, before I talked about the concert, I had a Buddy Gathering in the afternoon. All the buddies gathered & we discussed our experiences that we faced during the Orientation week, and also suggest further improvements that can be done in the future. Everyone got their cert, and we had pizzas & snacks after the meeting. I might consider joining up for next year's Buddy program, hopefully this time I can be a PAID buddy instead! will see how it goes..

Buddies of Summer 2005

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Ok, now the concert.. I went with Mai & my new found friend Syar (who reminds me of my friend Raha, physically!)..I almost didn't go to this concert because I had no one to go with, but luckily thing that these girls came to the rescue! hehe.. It is my first concert in Adelaide, and I wanted to go to this concert on behalf of Shades, who is a die-hard fan of Avril.. (wish you were here with me Shades!!)

Anyway, the night started off pretty bad. I overlooked the bus timetable,and we kinna took the wrong bus! In the end, we took a taxi instead to Adelaide Entertainment Centre (mental note: meen, please do your homework properly!) So we arrived there at 7.40pm, about 20 minutes before the show starts, and everyone was still sitting down on the floor. There were heaps of Avril's wannabes (wearing ties & tshirt, or fairy skirts), there were a mix bunch of people (the locals, the asians, etc). At 8pm, everyone started to stand up, and we ended up standing behind three 6 foot people. Like hello, we can't see anything on stage! can you like stand at the sides of the stage? ishh.. so, we had to patiently squeeze ourselves & nudge up to look at the stage.. There was an opening act by this band whom we dunno the name.. they were okie i guess..

Then, at around 9pm..BAMM..AVRIL IS HERE!! Everyone started to push each other, suide to side.. it was to the extent that Mai got saperated with Syar & I, but we managed to find her again... despite the chaotic crowd movement, but somehow we managed to go quite front of the stage (about 6 heads from the stage). And we looked behind, those 6 foot people are WAY behind the crowd! Hah, good riddance! hehe..

So yeah..Avril rocked! She did all the songs that everyone knew.. managed to sing to most of the song..she even did a cover of "American Idiot" & Blur's "Song 2" (she played the drums for this one). I have to admit, she's really pretty! (now blond hair), but she's kinna skinny though.. she doesnt interact much with the crowd.. just the beginning part, she went "Good day mate" and whenever she introduces her next song. Syar even commented that the band members looked "bored & unhappy" (maybe stress? who knows..) and yes, I managed to record the entire song of "Happy Ending", my fav song ever! (although I was caught videotaping the song by one of the guards..but, oh well..whatever!) She ended her concert with "Complicated", and that was it! 75 mins of Avril's concert!

Seriously, I find the duration of the concert really short! I mean, usually a normal concert would go on for like 2 hours plus. But, it was only 75 mins! like, the night is still young! oh well, regardless, I had heaps of fun with Mai & Syar.. it was totally a girls night out, with us singing & jumping to her songs...we were all tired & sweaty after the concert! although, I do wish that it was a lil longer to make the ticket price worth it.. but oh well, it was a good night. We later headed to Pancake House & crash over at Syar's place till the next morning.. Ahh, what a ladies night indeed! ;)