Stuck in Sand

If a picture says a thousand words

I'll give u 14,000

Uh-huh, yeah, thats our car stuck in the sand.

Another signboad we ignored =P

It's a river during rainy seasons

Our car is not meant to cross rivers, dried up or not

Thats the job of 4 wheel drives

Fortunately, we were only stranded in the middle of the desert, in a dried up river for less than 5 minutes

Helpful Aussies to the rescue!

Pulled us out under the instructions of the elder man. We tried to go across the river again, more to the left this time, which looked more solid

But no, we got stuck AGAIN !!!!

The man and Russian were trying to look for a hook in front instead of the back. So that they could pull us forward, instead of backwards again

No luck, no hook in front. They pulled us to the back again =(

Back to where we came from. That was me whispering "Come on, come on, come onnnn"

Left with no choice but to take the longer road to Kings Canyon

Those aren't our tracks, definitely not. Funny actually, i was admiring those tracks and asked if they wanted to stop. They said no, but we stopped. Thats when we discovered that we were stuck in the sand...

Continued on with our journey. Bestfriend and i made fun of Russian's choice of words when reporting The Kangaroo Accident =)

We made it to our accomodation in Kings Canyon

I wanted a picture of us with the sunset but screwed up the setting. Oops

See, i can take good pictures of sunset =)

2 months & 2 days

The challenge...

Defeated?

November

Let's take a break from the Australian Outback and revisit my unfinished travel entries of Cambodia

They're crazy in Cambodia, building such a massive bridge to the island! Plus its such a small island, not like Penang or Singapore

Phnom Penh city kids visit Sihanoukville to swim the same way Kuala Lumpur families head to Port Dickson for the beach

This place really resembles Port Dickson in many ways, except that their water is cleaner, bluer

Our tuttut driver brought us around town, we noticed there were a lot of stone wall. We asked why but his answer isnt really clear. To mark property i guess?

Another thing noted by Bestfriend who travelled all around Cambodia in a month, is that all the cows in Cambodia are pure white and skinny

Building by the beach, unoccupied, meant to be a foodcourt or something?

What i dont understand is why do they have to have open fires?

Pollution

Such a pity, the water behind is just so scenic

The tuttut driver became our cameraman. Haha

The trail from the road to the beach

Lots of construction was taking place. The workers and their families live in make-shift homes:

Just across, are modern structures

Really reminded me of Port Dickson

Great big huge arch.

I couldnt help but wonder, will this beautiful place become bustling and successful like Phuket or something? Or will all these be unoccupied and unsustainable?

Its not really an airport, its a night club

Market where Bestfriend wanted to buy toothpaste but the lady didnt want to sell her 1. It had to be 3 for USD1. I bought a pair of sunglasses for USD3 (its already broken)

Throughout my short trip in Cambodia, i've captured many shots of the locals fully utilising their motorbikes to transport almost anything under the sun

Desert, Treasure, Trash

We ignored this sign board for one hell of an experience!

The arrow is where the tarred road ends, where the dirt road begins

Ernest Giles road is the shortest route to go from Alice Springs (Point A) to Kings Canyon (Point B)

Even Google maps on the GPS would direct u off-road.


Tail of dust behind, and guess what's in front?

Toilet roll!

Its so cute just lying there in the middle of the desert! Haha! Drove on further and saw more stuff

Someone's boot must have flown open, and all their camping food flew out. We stopped to see what we could take!

Russian went to get baked beans

Bestfriend wondered if there was money in one of the bags we saw on the road! Haha, all i wanted to do was take pictures, so i can blog =P

Earlier on, before the dirt road, we spotted camels on the way, stopped to take a closer look

Russian chased them away by going too close!

Bestfriends, without any camels...

Australians are really nice, we saw a couple with a four wheel drive stopped by the side of the road. Asked to see if they were okay, turns out they found a huge purple luggage lying on the dirt road and was picking it up in case the owners are looking for it. Wow, so thoughtful eh?

Unlike us, taking baked beans and thinking of money! Hahahahha

We drove further down and then saw this car coming from the opposite direction, they were going really slowly. Noticed that the passenger had her door not closed properly and she was picking up stuff. Realised that this had to be the car whose boot flew open! Told them of the other car

Most of the stuff that flew out their car cannot be eaten anymore but they took the effort to actually pick up the ruined groceries to keep and throw into a proper rubbish bin later!

The Malaysian me was so shocked, why are people so thoughtful here? I wouldn't have thought of doing that, i bet the typical Malaysian wouldnt either, but after watching them, in the future i will !

The desert dirt road behind the car had no litter!

Do u think those our are our car tracks? =)

Fourth Forth

My fourth exam paper for the Chartered Accountants examinations is on Tuesday. Will be my second last i hope =D



The last 7 days were spent in the Monash Clayton library. Will make it 8 days tomorrow

Other places i went to study include: Syndicate Room in Caulfield (its for MBA =), Stadium Cafe, another cafe, a caryard, Victoria Market, Bestfriend's place, Huntingdale station (while waiting 24minutes for a bus), Coffee HQ in Monash, McDonalds on Springvale/Wellington Road, at home...

Alice Springs

Imagine what raced through our minds when the car rental lady said

"THE INSURANCE DOES NOT COVER DRIVING AT NIGHT"

Our destination was Uluru, before Alice Springs but we had to make a significant detour to get our damaged car exchanged after The Kangaroo Accident

The journey to the centre of Australia

Our injured rented car

A view the sunset


Bestfriend and i were all smiles
unknowing of the insurance drama that lies ahead of us

Weeds as my object and the sunset in the background

Located our accomodation, checked in and asked for dinner recommendations. We were told that the Overlander is a good place

It really is, full house on Easter Friday. With live entertainment

They asked where we from and gave us flags

Australia, my new home in the long term. Russian with the Russian flag.

Food took ages to come so Bestfriend decided to have crocodile skin for starters

HUGE crocodile skin on the wall as decoration

Next to it, the Permit to Possess a Dead Protected Animal

More skin on the wall, its a real outback place

(Baybeetea.com does not condone cruelty to animals) Loved the ambience, loved the food, loved the company. And loved that the phone lines are working in Alice Springs!

I was smsing E, Russian was working on his mobile and Bestfriend complained that no one loves her. Hahahah. We walked back to our inn under the bright full moon. It seemed like there was someone following us...

I was just being paranoid i guess, we were fine =) My bunk bed is the one with purple sheets and the pink towel! But the towel isnt mine

I'd recommend this place. Only AUD 23 per person per night.

Alice's Secret is charming

Thats where the three of us sat at night, Russian taught us some curse words. Educational. And yes, there is a little swimming pool there

In the morning, Russian went online and posted on Facebook:

Melbourne > Hahndorf 700 km > Adelaide 20 km > Coober Pedy 850 km (speeding ticket for 220 AUD, adult kangaroo killed, front light doesnt work, cant open left side door) > Alice Springs 690 km (to exchange the car). Back to the desert.

While i walked around the traveller's in, taking pictures wherever i deem fit. Just like my mommy would =)

Wanted to take a pic of the bike cuz it looks rugged but hey, it looks even better with my shadow there =)

Headed to

The insurance cover does not cover night driving?!

Bestfriend couldnt breathe, Russian was full of rage, furious at the car rental lady, who was calmly taking out the insurance contract to prove her point. The term was highlighted. She repeatedly asked us "Where did this happen, was it in Northern Territory?"

Pissed off Russian yelled "Yeah... but what is the point of buying insurance if we arent driving at night..."

Loud, confident and firmly, I interrupted "91km from Coober Pedy, driving from Adelaide", looking directly at the lady in the eye. Ex-auditor Sue Lin has great attention for detail (not enough for my ex-bosses though)

She immediately soften and said "Then you ARE covered"

PHEW! Russian was speechless, i didn't observe Bestfriend's reaction, my heart was skipping a beat. Financial burden dissolved into thin air just like that. Snap, its gone =)

That was close, another close call. Wanna know the magic? The accident happened in the state of South Australia. The insurance does not cover driving between dusk and dawn in the Northern Territory, specifically Kangaroo Islands in South Australia and a few other states.

Since the accident did not happen in one of the restricted places, our excesss (liability) is zero!

Triumphant, relieved and estatic, we waltzed out of Alice Springs airport laughing dizzily towards the carpark attracting weird stares along the way

Say hello to our new baby, on the far right. Third from the right was our old car.

Out of curiousity, we asked how much does it cost to repair the damage. AUD 5,500. Crazy, that can be fixed under RM3,500 in Malaysia

What an adventure, and we were only halfway through the trip