Thanks Amy for faithfully coming to check if i have updated and all the comments. But i cant skip and go to the other part of my trip coz that is not what my blog or writing is about

And so, let me continue on….if my memory does not fail me.

Driving along coastal road with tremendously breathtaking scenery has always been my dream and it finally came true.  Thank God for the opportunity tho i have never planned for it.  And so, before i forget and become ungrateful, thank you Angela, Beng Kheng & Anne…. for being part of this dream of mine….for sharing it with me and making it happen :o)

12 Apostles….never know it existed nor what they are.  Thought it was part of the apostles route down under but knowing Bible geography, it is not possible for them to have come to Australia…hahahaha…. Then what is this thingy that Anne kept mentioning.  It didnt take long for me to find out that they are limestones collectively stacked along the shores at Great Ocean Road in Melbourne.  Google the history and realised the original name was SOW and PIGLETS…..what a name!!  Clearly, it is hardly a touristy attraction name and so it was changed in 1950s to this majestic “12 Apostles”.  Alas, the limestones got washed off over the years and right where i was in April 2009, there are only 7 standing tall.

It was pretty cold with the wind blowing strong but given the bright sunshine to savour, i wasnt going to miss every moment to see the stones.  It was fantastically beautiful….wished i could go down to the sandy area and just be there for a longer period of time, listening to the crushing of the ocean waves and seagulls flying gracefully above it.  I am reminded of the reality of the apostles and their ministry after Jesus ascended… how they were changed from timid disciples to men who dare to die for Jesus.  It has to come from within, with the Holy Spirit’s enabling.   The change was evident in their lives and they turned the world upside down, doing the work of the Lord till martyrdom (except John). 

And so, I marvel and ponder at these limestones standing strong and tall, some small, some big.  Angela & BK did the chiny thing and we had lots of fun taking pics (see them in gallery).

After savouring the limestones, we went in search of London Bridge, some attraction that Anne told us about.  It was amusing coz we were down under and not at prime meridian :o)  Anyhow, it was quite a view and we even had time for some other smaller attraction like the Blowhole.

The sky turned dark and we had to move on, as in get back to Melbourne city….back to Bethel B-P Church to put up for the night.  It was a long drive back and we got lost due to erh…some human error reading the map, tho i must say a rather not-so-clear-cut map.  It was at this moment that i appreciate the Singapore Road Directory being produced year after year

Thank God for Kenny who helped us to get on the right track.  What was the error? We turned, or should i say I turned, to the wrong highway, got charged for toll, went onto another highway which was further up than where we were heading.  

Had a hearty dinner with Rev & Mrs Khoo, who cooked chap chye curry and ordered roast duck for our famished stomachs.  BK presented a plaque to Rev & Mrs Khoo which was handpainted by Cindy as a token of appreciation for the lovely accommodation in Khoo’s residence.  I am specially thankful coz i have one entire room to myself! Yeah!

Just a quick note to mention about sleeping in Khoo’s residence.  They turned on the heater for me as the room was chilly.  But i felt warm, in fact pretty warm, and stuffy in the middle of the night.  Woke up to turn off the heater but i still couldnt sleep.  Decided to open the door to the hallway and felt a little better.  Tossed and turned and even kicked away the comforter coz it was really getting hot.  ”Struggled” my way thro to morning only to realise there was a window in that room and i could have just open them to let in fresh cold air……….oh what a night!

sigh…….. 

It has been sooooo long and yes, i am back to update. To those who have been patiently waiting.. thanks!

It was my every intention to wake up and see sunrise….. but alas, the hotel reception gave us a wrong timing…..she told Angela 7am….of which by then it was bright daylight.  I woke up at 6.45am and found morning had already arrived.  The sun had risen over the horizon and so, the mood to see sunrise from complete darkness was gone. I went back to bed only to hear the Ong sisters (from the other room) got excited seeing the Australia sun….hahaha….. Anne was the faithful one clicking away.  In fact, she was so enthu that she got out of the unit, wearing only a sweater over her pyjamas.  Here are the collection of pics, sunrise and surrounding area….poor BK,  had to stand in as model in her nice pyjamas……

I took a pic of the sunrise too…..followed by a pic of myself…hahaha…. and straight after a bath and simple breakfast, we packed our bags and made our way to the 12 apostles.  Took a group pic in the apartment before setting off and some by the beach outside our apartment.

Thank God for good weather…..we had a clear blue sky. Dropped by a look out point…. so lovely scenery….

Photo taken from lovely view point.

Oh boy!!!!  I fail to load the video 5 times and i am beginning to miss blogspot right now…..argh….

Anyhow… i managed to upload the video at blogspot…so go and view it at http://alennalow.blogspot.com

And so, i continue from the fire episode… it was disastrous….I never got it further than what u see in the video.  Then Angela took over and tried. She did quite a good job….watch the 2nd video at blogspot and see for yourself. 3 cheers to her!!!!

But our joy was shortlived….coz the fired died even before we left for dinner!  It burned for less than 15 mins!  Since when was it difficult to start a fire? i always thot it was super easy….but not anymore.

We were getting hungry and so we left to find a nice eatery place….one that sells steak. Angela & I craved to eat beef that night and so we had a special mission to accomplish…. Armed with sweaters and umbrellas plus a tiada, we made our way…..which was just 2 mins drive from our apartment. hahahaha…….

Located some eating spots and enquired for a famous seafood rest in the vicinity coz Anne had read about it and wanted to eat there.  Found this place and was super super EX!!!!  Decided to turn back to the place where we got help as the man was very nice and offered to cook a good meal for us.

Rather amusing pic!

We had our steak (saw the huge portion of steak i had to finish????)….anne nearly chose the Kangaroo meat menu….hahaha… 3 of us dare not eat lest we start to jump and hop like one… nah!!!  Who would want to eat the cute little hoppity brown fella?

We had an interesting meal….but not really good steak… could have been better… It was still raining when we got back and apartment getting cold.  We tried a few times to start the fire and nearly wasted the whole box of matches.  Then i asked Anne if our neighbour could help us…. she bravely went over to knock at their door….and an elderly caucasian came over to help. He was really really good at it… it took him about 7mins to get it started….i would think it was a perfect timing…..

When he was sure the fire would carry on burning, he turned around and asked us this question:

“Do you ladies need help in anything?  TV? Heater?”

Oh man… he must have thot what spoilt singaporeans we all are….dont even know how to turn on a TV???????  Hahaha….. i did turn that on for BK earlier who had problems handling the remote and she thot our TV set was spoilt.  My “pass-on-down handyness genes from dad” taught me to look at  power switch and that it was -  pressed to off.  TADA….just a switch and TV worked beautifully. 

Here’s a pic of the fire…and looked how happy we were!  Mission finally accomplished by a stranger friend for the night! 

Burning bright and good!

The 4 ladies….each has a bag… except aunty BK who carried 2 plastic bags! OH MAN… BK, where is the bag that Amy has given to you?  hahahaha…..she is just so cute!

At the car rental company….

The man at the counter was a little high handed.. perhaps he doesnt like asians (i had this naggy feeling as i stood to see Angela and Anne talked to him).  For the first time in my trips… i sat back (BK whispered to me to join her….hahaha!)  While negotiating for a good car, the man recommended Nissan.  My ears popped up and i went to the counter to participate. Which model, i asked. He said Teana….and that was the exact model i drive back home!  YEAH.. i told Angela, let’s take this car. At $50-60 a day… it was worth it all.  And so, paperwork sorted out and he asked for driver’s licence.  It was then my mind drew a blank….a horrid blank….i forgot to bring!!!! 

My usual travel wallet is different from my day to day in Singapore. It only has:

ATM card (in case i need more cash)

One or Two credit card

My Passport identity card.. which can act as PP too

Driving licence  -but somehow…not there!!!!

Whispered quietly to Angela and asked her to show hers first.  She casually mentioned to him that i am the driver but forgot to bring, being a tall man, he leaned forward and spoke to me (i felt like a total dwarf in this instant):

“Then you are not allowed to drive.”

Argh…. i so wanted to drive!!!  I dont care!!! ….Angela & I exchanged glances but Anne was pretty concern. She said since i didnt bring, i better not drive… just in case. Hmm…i kept quiet..didnt want to upset anyone. But the 2 Ong sisters went on with few more exchanges (being sisters and knowing each other too well), i kept mum and went back to sit with BK.

With the paperwork thru, we went out happily to collect our car…. Lo and behold…this was the one for collection:

What Teana 2.4cc????  This one is Tiada!  HAHAHA….looked small to me.  What a disappointment…..blamed it on my hearing or his pronounciation…..

then we spotted this beautiful scenery with bridge and lake and just had to stop to pic! Alas, the only soul there was a lovely elderly lady who was taking her late afternoon walk as i couldt find a spot for my tripod to stand on. She was really sweet and cute.  I instructed her how to press and view us from the big display thingy…  Here was her first try

What did she do?  She pressed her left eye onto the display thingy and couldnt see us at all……guess she thot the camera was like olden days or the DSLR to peep thro a small pinhole….  Anyhow, i told her again gently  but she didnt seem to hear me. She did it one more time…. and in between our giggles…. this good old dame took our pic:

Winding, bendy….but totally awesome scenery as i drove….. never regretted driving!!! It was getting real dark and hardly able to take nice pics….will wait till next day when sun comes out….

After few hours drive, we finally reached The Apostle Bay……a place with lots of hotel and motel and apartment….but erh… no pic to show coz it was pretty dark then. Tried to look for accommodation facing the sea thingy, esp when i wanted so badly to see sunrise the next day.  Found this wonderful gorgeous apartment….

 but too bad all rented out. It was overlooking the perfect sea..shoreline and simply breathtaking to just sit and watch the waves crashing in. Took a souvenir pic to show how beautiful it could have been……

Thank God for His providence…. managed to find another, tho not so luxurious but pretty comfy and had quite a good view. 2 bedroom apartment at Bayview. Here are some pics to show:

Guess what we had in the apartment???  A FIREPLACE!!!! it has a chimney but not the usual santa claus thingy with bricks and stuff…. but this modern one is close enough.  There were logs and logs at the basket outside our apartment and so we took them in to start a fire… before we left for dinner.  Wanted to make the room warmer.  Here is a video on how we tried to start the fire.. or rather me… oops… took so long to load and now gone missing???

 fire-starting….erh….let me sort this out….hang on!    fire-starting1….still no link?

 fire-starting2

23 apr - the night i flew off to Melbourne at 10plus (i think..haha).  Checked in online 24 hours prior to this and was assigned seat 34A by the computer. Wanted to change to a better seat but no more available. Most of the seats were blocked as taken. Resigned to the fact that it would be a packed plane and also having a stranger next to me for 7 odd hours……hmmm……

Had a very pleasant surprise when i boarded….i was one of the last few who went in and there was no one sitting at my assigned row!!! Oh wow….then i prayed if it be possible, i have all 3 seats to myself. Thank God for answered prayer….or rather, thank God for His mercies to me…coz this was all arranged in His perfect timing without me knowing.  Why did i say that?  When Angela booked the air ticket for me and send me the itinerary via email, there was an option for me to select my seat then. I didnt see that link and left to Emirates comp to generate one for me. If i had seen it and selected, it would be seats all the way to the front….. which meant i would not have the luxury of sleeping across 3 seats! How so? Coz i took a glance when i walked down the aisle as i boarded the plane…the front seats from 16-30 were all packed…packed…packed! And from 31 all the way, it was like one person to one row kind of thingy. haha!!!! God is good.

Was handed the menu….roast or grilled chicken for dinner…..can u imagine dinner at 11plus in the night????   And some english breakfast thingy towards the morning.  I was tired…slept very little in the days before this trip…plus i needed to be the driver when i reached Melbourne (Anne planned some trip to Great Ocean Road to see the 12 Apostles and it would be one night stay over there)….and so, who needed dinner???  I chose to sleep… tho i didnt put the “DO NOT DISTURB” sticker on my seat.  Anyhow, as soon as the seat belt sign went off, I piled up 3 pillows and one blanket under my head, covered myself with the other blanket and the 3rd one, left it all wrapped up in the plastic bag at my feet (for use when it turned really cold).  I slept….only to be woken up by the smell of lovely sumptuous grilled chicken…oh man!  I wasnt hungry but it was inviting. i remained unmoved and covered my head with the blanket….think Lem or Shing would have given in to the smell of food and devour the chicken!   Haha….. i heard the clattering of forks and knives and people chewing…tried my best to sleep. Thank God for a rather good sleep…all in all 3 hours. 

i did wake up several times tho (my usual sleeping habit that perhaps never could change).   Maybe it has everything to do with me being too “long” for the 3 seats combined..feet rather uncomfortable and had to bend all the time.  Had to visit the toilet towards the morning when the plane was still in darkness.  Something happened when i returned…….my 3 pillows were down to 1!!!! Someone stole them from me!!!  How could they???   So horrid….:o(  Could have done some investigation and walked round to inspect and catch the culprit..but no mood to do so, neither did i want to trouble the stewardess to give me more pillows.  Went back to sleep with what was left and topped up with the blanket in the plastic bag. 

Nearly missed breakfast coz i overslept….woke up to the smell of lovely awesome bread! How could i ever miss it?  haha…….there was omelette and mashed potato too! Didnt return to sleep after that coz we were going to land. Met Kenny from Melbourne church who offered to pick me up. It was rather funny… i was supposed to look for a guy with Melbourne B-P Church sign….didnt see any coz eyes too blurry, plus i was just too shy to walk past the row of men and check them out.  And so, instead of turning to my left to “scrutinize” them, i turned to the right and walked to a quiet end. Then I did the thing that i am most familiar with….took out my trusty E71 and called Kenny…. singled him out among the guys crowd as soon as he picked up the phone…Tada…!  Smart huh?  I would think so!!!

Angela told me this kenny guy is Alvin’s age and so i should have no problem talking to him… sure i did…the only problem was i nearly dozed off..not that he was boring…but i was simply too tired.  We talked a fair bit.. about life, YF, family and church.  It was a 1.5 hours journey and my dozing off was over a 5min period….. think i did pretty well…able to keep a straight and alert face in the remaining minutes….. and not showing my tired self at that split 5 mins, not seconds…. :o)

The Ong sisters were in the parsonage, waiting for me to have breakfast (so sweet of them)… time checked… was almost 9am.  Kenny helped carry my HUGE luggage up the stairs… talking about my luggage.. it is one long story.  I tried to use the one i always carried to NTM (2 week trip thingy size) and found i could not fit in my warm clothing. Was told it would be very cold and i brought more than i had to.  Besides, i had every intention to shop and buy stuff (already had few orders from the prince and princess)….and so, i chose to use Dr lowly’s luggage.. a bigger one and rather heavy on its own without stuff inside.  Guess my luggage weight at the Changi airport???

A whopping 23kg!  OH BOY… and emirates counter staff (a man) told me my luggage was way overweight.  I asked him, “Erh, Emirates usually allow up to 30kg, right?”  His reply was curt, “NO. Only 20kg.”

I felt deflated….i am so not going to pay for extra charge at the beginning of my trip…..but seemed like i had no choice…and wished at the point i could relive my packing moments and brought fewer warm clothing (die in the cold if i had to) and a smaller luggage….sigh sigh sigh…..  I didnt know what to do and waited for punishment in monetary form.  The lady assisting him to tag the bag turned to me and asked for my handcarry bags. I lifted my one and only small handbag (erh, borrowed from Rachel) and she immediately told him to let me thro!   WOW!  Amazing!  Awesome!  I love her!!!! 

Alright… back to Melbourne…. we had bread and instant noodles for breakfast.  Packed some stuff to stay overnight, boiled some corn, spreaded chunky peanut butter over bread (our lunch along the way) and off we left.  First stop was to go to the car rental company (2-3 stations away by train) and then the long drive by car.  Read of this in my next post. This is long enough for first reading…..heez!   :o)

Thanks to some who have been asking to update….. i have been rather busy….. go see my photos in facebook first

been too busy to update or write anything in this new blog?  yes…..

or perhaps there is an unwillingness to write stuff due to various comments by people about what i should or should not write?  yes too……

i dont know…but i guess the result is still the same…. no posts

Will be leaving for Australia tomorrow night…..a holiday that i totally did not plan for.  It all started with Carol sending me an email of cheap airfare to Brisbane in early Apr. I thot she was just informing me and so i put that aside.  It wasnt until she told me one Sunday that she wanted me to go with her to Brisbane that i took that email seriously. Sharon said she wanted to come too and so i needed to seek permission to go.

With the days pressing nearer, my permission seeking process was slow. Finally, on 14 April, gotten a green light and within few hours, Angela & Carol mapped out dates and itinerary and voila…i am leaving on 23 April and back on 8 May.  Didnt think much about the dates until a friend actually counted and it is 15 days long!!!!  The Ong sisters are in Melbourne now and they will meet me and we spend time together for 6-7 days.  It will be my first and i am so looking forward to it….(the only place i have been to in Australia is Perth).  Angela & Anne have planned our Melbourne itinerary and i am totally clueless what to do there….only to know we are staying in Bethel BPC and worshipping there this coming Sun, plus visiting the cute little Joshua!!!!  Dont know what else to expect but i guess with Angela around, it will never be boring and FOOD feasting is a must!

On 27 Apr, i will fly down to Brisbane to meet Carol, who will be flying in from Sin. Thereafter, we will collect our 4WD (hopefully i can get a good deal) and drive it for the next 5 days!!  We should be doing a Brisbane city tour, drive to Gold coast, hang around there, and then drive 1000km up to Sydney!!!!  Will do the coastal route as it is more scenic and certainly my dream come true…..location, weather & car!  Probably stop by at some place (Carol is arranging) for one night stay and head on to Sydney to meet David.

For Sydney itinerary, will most likely do F&E as there is nothing much there.  We will do camping at Blue Mountains and look at the starry sky!  OHHHH…. so lovely altogether!  Not sure what else to expect but i will just relax and enjoy. Flying back to Brisbane on 7 May for some factory outlet shopping before catching my late night flight back to sin.  Carol will stay on in Sydney for few more days as David’s parents will be going there.

And so… i will be away very very soon and will miss YF for 2 weeks.  I am sad to miss Yfers and will be praying for you all….some taking exams, some started school, some going to NS and some just simply slacking! hahaha…… 

Guess i need a break and timeout badly…..too many things have happened and i just want to draw closer to God.  Pray for me if you do read this and yes… wont be updating for a while.

The week passed by so quickly…..and i wasnt even prepared for certain things that happened.

One good thing that came out of it was the recording being finally done on Friday morning.  Then i converted to mp3 and wrote into a CD for Cindy to listen over the weekend.  Needed to re-record one short para and so we did that on Sunday morning.  I need to brush up all the sound files to give even output and then pass it to dr lowly to compile & burn for brisbane mission team this Wed.

Next thingy would be the realisation & reminder that Jesus took everything on Himself because He loved us…. Oh what suffering took place and agony…..doing the Father’s will.  And me?  I have done so many wrong things and so stubborn sometimes to listen to Him.   There are so many hurts, so many pains, so many struggles, so many strains, so many downside, so many wrongs, so many of so many……YET, He loves me so and sees fit for me to go thro with His enabling, just so that i can shine for Him & testify.  God never give up on me and i cant do this to myself…., i want to cherish every moment God gives to me to better myself for Him and not slacketh or emoing away….

“When life gives you lemon, you squeeze & make lemonade out of it”…..tho not sure if it is word for word here…but i think it has the same meaning of being a coffee bean, spilling the goodness & aroma out of it in adverse circumstances and changing the circumstances.  Sometimes i wonder tho if the coffee beans do get tired of being boiled and brewed…..sigh.  I honestly dont know how to change my circumstances but i know God will enable me thro.  The joy of my risen LORD & Saviour gives me all the energy and strength i need.   It is also the past experiences that God has helped me that gives me much encouragement to go on. Lastly, it will be His unfailing promises in the Word of God that heals every broken & wearied spirit.     

Thanks for thorns as well as roses,

Thanks for weakness and for health;

Thanks for clouds as well as sunshine,

Thanks for poverty and weath!

Thanks for pain as well as pleasure –

All Thou sendest day by day;

And Thy Word, our dearest treasure,

Shedding light upon our way.

Dr lowly has been very kind to help me transfer from blogspot to here. He got a domain name for me to register for free. Did a few research and decided to use Wordpress platform. Made me choose a template and here i am

Hmm… it took me a while to transfer my cbox over but i failed in the statcounter transfer…just couldnt do it :( 

Thot i start off with a thanksgiving item to God in this first post i put up here. 

Cindy Tan came over yesterday morning to record THE REASON WHY in chinese.  It was supposed to be from 9am to 12noon.  At 10.30am, i was still struggling with the mic.  It picked up all the sounds in the atmosphere…like those poor performing microphone.  Checked all the settings and couldnt resolve the problem. It was frustrating… it was irritating…. it was super annoying!!!  Recording is something i usually do. … as in i know my equipment and it has been working fine few days ago….no one touched my stuff nor played with it.  What went wrong????

After trying and trying, i gave up.  Told Cindy let’s pray.  Committed the whole thing to God and felt so much peace after that. Honestly, i didnt know if it will start working again .. coz it would definitely be a miracle to occur after prayer.  Tried again, as in moved every button on the mic and checked cables…..failed.  Thot the last thing was to move Cindy to another spot and try…..i stationed her away from the aircon unit initially…and so this time, i put her right infront of it even tho it made absolutely NO SENSE!  Asked her to speak a line in the four directions… North, South, East & West.  Then i listened to the clip…..  AMAZINGLY, all directions produced clear sound!  My mic is performing again!  Whatever happened here?  Only 3 words…. PRAISE THE LORD!

Recording began and ended at 12.30pm, managed to finish 8 pages out of 16.  She will be coming again on Friday morning to finish off. Dr Lowly will have to put in the background music and compile all the clips into one big audio file. Thereafter, we will need to produce 10 copies for the mission team to bring to Brisbane next Wed, and send the original to CD duplicator for mass production & printing.

Relearned my lesson, in simple things, commit all to God.  And to know He works wonders when you call upon on Him to do His will through us.  Pray for Friday recording that it will go smoothly and for Cindy’s voice to be in tip top condition

Hmmm……saturday 4 April was the day i gave up my N95… literally.

It has been almost a year or year plus since i started complaining about this phone. It would hang up on me intermittently…as in black out and shut down, or the caller couldnt hear me tho i can hear them. It wasnt laggy per se but definitely some screw lose within. Perhaps it was due to the frequent droppings (of which i am extremely guilty of) and so… i had to bid farewell.

Getting a new phone was something i had been uttering at home…. not all the time but maybe 6 to 7 times in a year? Dr lowly didnt think i had a real problem and so i continued to “whine” when opportunity arose. It wasnt until he made a call to me and failed to reach me that my problem became his. Then out of the blue on Wed (after reading Digital Life), he told me to get E71 phone. It was permission in a sense to go ahead to buy a new phone and it has to be this. Hmmm…..i was overjoyed coz i could finally get a decent one that works.

Why E71? He said the specs look good and has a Qwerky Keypad…solve & meet all my needs. And shingy has been telling yfers how great is his phone and how not laggy, etc…. I put 2 to together and so on friday, we went to buy. Not just one, but TWO!!! One for me, the other for Rachel darling. She has been having problems with her music express series and so Dr lowly suddenly showered his “mercy and grace” upon us and tada…. we got our new phones! Black for her (her choice) and grey for me!

Did all the transfer of data on Sat morning and i started using the new phone. Struggled to key in stuff and pull out contacts. Needed Shingy to give some tips and i am beginning to get the hang of it. I like the sleekness and its trim body… plus the keypad. Have yet to sort out some data transfer but i think i should be enjoying it thoroughly starting from now.

Farewell N95…. i know you have served me well and sorry for dropping you countless times. There is no doubt if i had treated you better… you would still be by my side right now. I do mourn your absence and have to trade you off for an IPhone for Iz. So long dear…..you will find a new & better owner :o)