Blossom's Wedding (^^)/

Hehe sorry for the interuption of my Melbourne Trip post. But this one can't wait. This is about one of the most important wedding in 2012.. It's HH wedding!!!! \(^^)/ Most importantly, I was the bridesmaid so yahoo!! My face will be in most of her wedding pics hehe


Anyway, why blossom? HH, SJ and I called ourselves the power puff girls and I even set the PPG theme song as the ringtone for both their numbers.. And I think HH should be blossom because she's the eldest hehe

She picked a very nice date for her Nikah; 10.11.12. That's easy to remember :) Last time she said she wanted 10.10.10 then change to 11.11.11 and nah.. dapat jugak kan a nice date. Ko ingat tak ko cakap camtu, HH? Ka lepas kawen dah xde mase jengok blog aku.. huh!

I sat next to her during the Nikah and both of us were very blur. I've no idea how the Nikah works in Pahang so I just sit there and watch and helped wipe off sweat from ruining HH's make up. During the khutbah, HH whispered to me

"Nak buat muke ape weyh?"
"Buat  muke amek perhatian kot hehe"
Alhamdulillah, the Ijab and Qabul was done with one lafaz :) (Btol ka aku cakap ni..)

Lol! Masa ni baru lepas kejadian HH reluctant nak jawab mase kena tanya "Setuju..?" Dia bukan ragu2 tapi tak dengar haha

When you climbed countless mountains and did too many crazy stuffs together.. Gambar ayu begini look so wrong in my eyes hahaha rase macam nak cakap "Eleh! Ayu konon!!" Sebab salu nampak HH wat muka comeyl seperti ini..

Haha tapi memang ayu pon masa nikah tu..

X bole imagine kalo aku.. Mesti lagi nampak fake  haha

Malu2 lagi masa suro pegang tangan.. haha

That night, I spent the night at Mentakab with the other girls because I don't want to miss any updates. All of  uswere exhausted from the long journey; KL-Maran-Mentakab.. But, still, we manage to gather strength to stay up and fill each other with what's been happening in our lives. Not much to share with SJ, MR and RA because we just spent 10 days together. But SHA and HHM was with us and they sure have lots to tell since    it's really hard to see these 2!

We woke up early the next morning and had our breakfast at a mamak restaurant. All the other restaurants were closed. we were enticed to this mamak restaurant by the strong roni canai aroma~~~

Muka belom mandi masing2..

Carpool \(^^)/ I was too lazy to drive that morning ..

And after that we prepared for the wedding.. SHA helped me out with the shawl. I'm not that up to date when it comes to fashion haha

Posted this pic on facebook. Some thought I was getting married! Astaga... Cepat2 betolkan perception.. Jato la saham ni (-_-") hahaha

Masa bersanding..

Yah! Love this pic a lot! Drama kan??

Suap suap kek (^^)

Left alone on the pelamin with no bridegroom beside me.. HH jangan pergi...

With my family except for that makcik in blue hehe that's HH's brother's mother in law.

With the girls!!! \(^^)/ They have to leave early.. Even before the 'sanding'..

Hehe masa salam SJ, MR and RA la poyo..

RA & SJ: Ok gg, jumpa lagi dekat *next destination*

MR: Nanti brooch tu bagi mase kat *next destination* la ye

Hahaha lucu.. 7 months to go but we are already super excited!

Did I cry?? No lah.. Well, I cried when Len got married. At that time, I don't know how it would be after that. I thought I'll lose her.. I thought things won't be the same again. But I thought wrong. She's still the same old bff that I always have. We still have our girly chats once in a while and her husband was never in our way. Siap suro datang ruma lawat baby lagi hehe It's just that she has her own family to commit to. The friendship stays alive (^^) And I know, with HH, it'll be the same for us too.

Tembam nya kao haziah!

Many people were saying "Lepas ni tak lame lagi giliran pengapit la.."

Most people, I know, will say AMEEEEEEEEEEN.. But somehow, I just smiled and say nothing.. Belom ready kah.. Laen post aku creta..

I-don't-remember-who: Gg bile lagi? Nak tunggu yang macam mane..?

GG: *smile*

Dalam hati "Yang 'want to spend the rest of his life with me and none other'

Noktah.

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Melbourne Trip: The Grampians! (^^)

We were to spend the night in the Grampians on our first day and it was about 2 hours drive from The London Bridge. On the way, we stopped at the Maits Rest Rainforest Walk. It was short walk; maybe about 30 to 45 minutes.

This rainforest is not like the ones we have in Malaysia. The climate was cold that we need not to take off our jackets and besides from tall fern trees, there were also trees native to Victoria and Tasmania. Ok.. Back in Uni we used to have this course about herbs and used to have visits to parks. I never really listen when my lecturer explained about those Mas Cotek, Tongkat Ali and whatnot. But in Australia, tiba2 sangat enthusiastic pada pokok bha pulak kan :P


Anyway... Walking in this rain forest was very refreshing, you see. In addition to the cool temperature, it has this very distinctive Eucalyptus smell.. o0o0 sangat best.. The two native trees that were shown to us was the Mountain Ash and Myrtle Beech.

I'm more into the Myrtle Beech. The roots form this huge hole that my friends and I can fit in. Well, when the Mountain Ash tree fell, the Myrtile Beech actually thrive on it's trunk and will get nutrients from the decomposing Mountain Ash trunk. As years go by, the Myrtle Beech gets bigger and the Mountain Ash continue to decompose and finally disappear leaving that huge hole beneath the Myrtle Beech.. Amazing kan?? hehe NERD! :p

And those fern trees, the trunk has this hairy features. Those hairs are actually the roots and they are always wet. I don't remember how it gets wet but Chris did explain how. Anyway, Chris described the hairy roots feel like dog's fur if you rub your hands on it. We did.. And we were like.. "O0o0o0o0 cmni rupenye rase bulu anjing.." Ngeh! :p

It was getting dark when we left Maits Rest. We head straight to the Grampians and on the way we saw wild Kangaroos hopping on the road!!! SJ and I were very sleepy, actually. But we wanted to see the Kangaroos so much that we forced our eyes to open until we reach the hostel. Although tired from the whole day trip and we haven't got ourselves a proper rest since our arrival, we stayed up that night chatting with our witty French roommates (^^)


So, in the morning, I remember MR said to me..

 "Kalo dalam video, kuar2 bilik da nampak Kangaroo.. Ni kene tengok betol ke tak.."

I was actually putting high hopes.. Opened the door.. No Kangaroos.. Held my video cam to my chest and inhaled a deep breath.. Trying to overcome my frustration. Pace slowly to the front house where breakfast was served.. And VOILA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were 4 Kangaroos grazing on the yard!!! And later we saw there was a Joey in one of the Kangaroo's pocket!!! Ok sy siyesly melompat lompat gembira ketika itu...  \(^^)/

Di depan hostel

Our first destination was MacKenzie Falls but on the way there we stopped at this field where there were many grazing Kangaroos! These are wild Kangaroos so we didn't get to touch or feed them. The Kangaroos here look much fatter than elsewhere. Due to the cool climate in this range, they have more body fats and thicker fur.

This is how close I was to the Kangaroos.. Tapi ini Kangaroo tidak sopan ok! Telah berkentut! haha

 There are 2 walks in MacKenzie Falls; one is to the base of the fall itself and the other one is the lookout trail. The base is actually a few hundred meters down the steep walk so it is quite tiring for those who are unfit. I didn't go to the lookout trail, but Chris said it would give a nice view of the falls although not as stunning as at the base.

The water cascade was amazingly huge. I'm not sure where the water originates but this is very beautiful!!!

There was another walk that will lead you to the above waterfall but I don't remember the name.. And I also don't remember what's the name of this waterfall :p

O ya! Grampians is actually a famous spot for rock climbers. The rocks are sandstones but not of those that easily crumble because this one yang suda mampat berjuta2 tahun.. I did check the climbing packages that they have there tapi extremely expensive. Not worth it. I rather come with my climbing friends and climb with our own gears hehe

O! Another thing about Grampians that fascinated me.. The ashen tree trunks!!!

Nampak tak badan pokok ini hitam??? (badan pokok?? (>.<) )

All the trees in Grampians are like that and I was rather curious.. At first I thought (the nerd mind of mine thought) it's just how the trees adapt to the climate but I thought wrong!!!

Actually, many of these trees produce very flammable oil within their barks especially the eucalyptus so that's why they are prone to fire. So, to control this, they used controlled fire or prescribed burning to reduce the amount of flammable material in the forest.  Sebab itu la mereka hitaaaaam.. And what's amazing, actually the practice dated back from the era of the indigenous people of Australia!

*******Maaf post ini panjang.. Sikit lagi...********

After the waterfalls, we went to the other walks and lookouts.. Lets just see some pics for this one...

With our French Roommates

On the edge~

Maaf, bukan camera canggih yang punya lense besar. It was cloudy that day so the pics are quite blurry


And our last stop at the Grampians was Brambuk Cultural Centre

Nga Keenatt is 'Welcome'

So.. In this building they display the pictures of the aborigines and told the stories of what have happened since the arrival of the British back in the 18th century.. Due to limited time, I only manage to read about the assimilation process and I'm actually glad that I went to that section. Read about the 'Stolen Generations' dengan air mata bergenang-genang.. 

So that's it for Grampians \(^^)/

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Melbourne Trip: Downunder adventure!! (^^) Part 1

This trip was the longest wait ever!! Bought the tickets December last year and we waited and waited and waited.. But in between we were distracted by the Korea trip so the itinerary making was delayed until we were back from Korea..


Anyway as you go through the post of this trip, one face is missing.. Yup.. HH.. She'd wanted to join us so bad but since her wedding will be in 3 weeks time from the date of our return, so it was best for her to stay put and settle everything. She was generous enough to let us stay at her brother's house for a night and even offered to send us to the airport. So I brought along encik kure2 who traveled with us on her behalf..

Our flight to Melbourne was at 1.40 pm and was schedule to arrive at midnight. Since the cheapest hostel is about AUD 29/night, we opted to spend the night at the airport and will place our luggage at our lodging before joining the Wildlife Tours Great Ocean Road and Grampians tour in the morning. There's suppose to be a very convenient prayer room in Melbourne airport where Muslim travelers usually settle during transit. However, when we were there, it was under renovation and a small temporary prayer room was set. Well, it was a small cubicle set at one corner and was shared by both muslimin and muslimah. The rest went to sleep in the surau while I fell asleep on the bench hehe

At about 6 am, we went to the Skybus booth and bought a 2-way ticket that cost us AUD 24 each. This was when we made our first mistake. Well, it is cheap if you're traveling alone or as a couple. But in a group, especially as big as a group of 6 and with a handful of luggage, it's cheaper to take the taxi instead. To our lodging from the airport cost around AUD 80. While using taxi from Southern Cross, where the skybus stopped, to Victoria Parade, , cost us an extra AUD 13.

This is Home at The Mansion. They allowed us to store our bags in the storage room for free while we were on tour. They have lots of guests from many countries but still the place is cozy and quiet. Sungguh banyak lelaki Eropah yang kacak! (^^)v O ya, SJ, RA and I are very into caucasians. At first we were so excited and frequently exclaimed "Hensemnye!!!!!!" but then we came to realize that they can easily understand this so we changed it to "Kacaknyeeee!!!!!!!!!" hehehe the bliss of traveling with singles~ Enjoying eye candies togeda! haha

We were told to wait in front of the hostel at 7.05 am but the coach showed up at around 7.15 am. 1st impression: mereka tidaklah sepunctual Korean hehe Anyway, our tourist guide name was Chris and when he first saw my friends (because I was at the counter dealing with the receptionist) he asked "Salleh???" Ohoho

So our first destination was the Great Ocean Road.. Adeyh. Macam kena dvide ni post tau.. Banyak suda dalam kepala ni

Our first stop was Belle's Beach. Belle's beach is actually the place for surfers. Not much for picnic but the scenery is nevertheless breathtaking. Spent a few minutes taking pictures and then we had our tea (^^)

So.. What's so great about The Great Ocean Road??

It's one of world's most scenic coastal road and is said to be the world's largest war memorial! \(^^)/

Okay.. I'll try to explain based on what I remember from what Chris have told us during the tour. Well, first of all why is it said to be the world's largest war memorial? The road was actually built by those soldiers who survived World War I and was dedicated to those who perished during the war and also as a some sort of psychological therapy; to keep them busy so that their mind won't be occupied by horrific images after the traumatic experience at war. 

One of the world's most beautiful coastal road; I've to totally agree with that. This is a coastal road that offers you various scenic views and attractions. What I mean by various is you don't just see the ocean and the sand.. It has those sandstone and limestone cliffs. There was a waterfall that we saw from afar. And we passed small towns along the way. Memang cantik!

The road actually travels via Anglesea, Lorne, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell. The above picture is Lorne; the coach was traveling too fast that I couldn't capture any nice pics. Anyway, I remember Lorne was the most luxurious-looking place among the four. There were mansions all around and Chris did mention that despite of it being one of the best place for surfing, the lodgings are expensive. 

Our second stop after Belle's beach was the Koala Cove. This was where we first saw a Koala resting on a tree branch! Walaupon jauh kami tetap excited sampai melompat2 heee But to me the best thing was actually the tame birds! Two gentlemen from Malaysia who happen to join another tour gave us some  of their bird feed, placed them on our palms and the birds came to us! Excited sebab these are the birds that we usually see in bird parks or inside a cage in Malaysia. But there, they flew freely here and there! 

Ok fine.. Ketakutan di situ. I've never had a bird resting on my hand like that before and I don't know whether the beak is sharp or not and I was worry that my palm will bleed if the bird peck on my palm. Banyak fikir pulak kan. But the bird was gentle when picking the feed and the tongue tickled! hehe

And another thing that I remember most about this part of the trip was when Chris exclaimed

"Yeehaw! Koala Virgins No More!!!" as we were exiting the cove haha

Next, the Loch Ard Gorge

Loch Ard is actually the name of a ship that capsized in this area back in the 18th century. It hit one of the cliffs and was left with two survivors. There are 3 walks here and it is actually advised to spend 2-3 hours to finish all of them but with tours we have limited time, of course. We finished 2 walks in 50 minutes! Ok.. Mestilah berlari-lari dan ambil gambar signs and read them later :p Kami jenis yang akan baca semua signs sebenarnya hehe

It was very windy that evening and the waves was so0o0o0 HUGE!

Okay.. Gambar promo tourism :P So next was The famous 12 Apostles!

As you guys might probably have known, the 12 apostles are those famous stack of rocks that line along the coast of one part of the Great Ocean Road. Well, I was actually curious of the name because you know, apostle.. That sounds just so.. em.. religious.. hehe But then Chris told us the story of how the name was derived..

The rocks were formerly known as the Sow and Piglets but because the name doesn't seem to be attractive enough so they changed it to the 12 apostles for tourism purpose. Haha At one point we thought Chris was kidding but I checked it.. This is true fact..

Ahax! Apakah ini?? Ini adalah Boarding Pass!! Boarding Pass apa?? Boarding Pass Helicopter Ride over the 12 Apostles \(^^)/

This is actually one of the things that we were soooo looking forward too. We repeatedly remind ourselves in the airport while waiting for the sun to rise that "Esok naek Heli!!"

We paid an additional AUD 80 for the ride. But the experience was worth it and the view was breathtaking to an extend that you drool... :p

It was a 15 minutes ride over these rocks. I don't know which one is the 1st,  the 2nd and so and so because they look alike. But from the air, the view was superb, man! 

There use to be more of them, but some have fallen due to erosion huhu but still cliffs ini sangat cantik!!!

Sempat lagi.. Lebar tol senyoman aku hahaha :p

And the last part of the GOR trip was this cliff that is called the London Bridge. There used to be 2 archs but in 1990 the bridge that form the arch fell and that's what left of it. 

So yeah first part of my OZ post is all about cliffs, cliffs and more cliffs haha Macam obses dengan cliffs sejak dari Uluwatu :p Anyway, this is a place that you need to be there yourself and be awe-struck by nature's beauty (^^)/

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