Devonshire Tea

First time i heard of it was when C wanted to rent a car to dead to Dandenong Ranges for it. Back then i was busy and couldnt go

T who attended my 7year old birthday party was visiting Melbourne and mentioned she wanted to go to Dandenong Ranges

Sassafras town. We planned a spontaneous trip! Haha! I Facebooked R one day before and the night before the trip she decided to join us!

Mrs Marples is the place to go for Devonshire Tea in Sassafras.

The restaurant was full at noon



Every seat was taken except for the waiting area

They took down our names and told us to come back at 1pm sharp. So we went somewhere else for pies first. We got back to Mrs Marples right on time =)

We were given a cute cosy little table at a corner by an un-lit fireplace. Took pictures.

The lady at the table next to us plays the part so well in my next picture

Love her expression... looking out the window, relaxed, while her partner went to the toilet. Will i be like her at her age, spending a simple Sunday afternoon with the one i love in a nice little cafe like this?

T and I. Thanks to an old school photo uploaded, she and S planned a primary school reunion. Since then the two of us have been in touch and closer over Facebook. We are both avid travellers =)

R and I. Not in touch for years until another friend told me over Facebook that she'll be in Melb, so i met said friend and the friend told me R is here and through Facebook we discovered we are living near each other!

Small world that R and T used to take the same transport to school a long time ago! That makes three of us for that day =)

No idea why scones in Mrs Marples are more like cakes. We took original and fruit. OMG i love the jam and the whipped butter. Heaven! =)

I'm waiting for more girl friends to come visit Melbourne, would love to have a Sex And The City moment with girls in Mrs Marples again =P

The whole place is decorated with teapots! Reminded me of Duck Inn in Mt Buller where it was all decorated with ducks!

A backward glance and a snapshot of our cosy seat as we left Mrs Marples

Blue skies, it was such a lovely splendid day

Haircut ! (Concave)

My Spanish teacher told us about a Spanish event in Frankston. On the spot i decided to go! Alone!

On my way to get there, i passed by a hairdresser. I've walked into so many since the beginning of 2011. The Aussie girl with red and black hair in the cut i wanted, served me. She put down an appointment for me at 4pm even though i told her i'd think about it

I called up my teacher to know where she is but spotted her just as she was reaching into her pocket to answer her phone!

She was happy to see me, greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. Chit chat, and talked to her colleagues as well. They are from Argentina.

She then pulled me over to go see some dance that was taking place. She doesnt know which central American country its from, but it was fun watching

Love how so many people wore hats like that. My teacher told me she needed to go back to her booth and thanked me for coming

The next show was Zumba

They welcomed the audience to try. Shy at first... and told myself i have no one to take care of my handbag as an excuse

No idea what got into me, but i decided, why not just put ur bag on the floor where u can see it and try the dance! U know u wanted to! Thats exactly what i did! Conscious at first but totally did not care in less than a minute. My long hair was all over the place when doing the highly energetic dances!

Thats when i decided. This is it. A nice classic ending to my long hair. I'm going for the hair cut!!! =)

I went to visit my old boss in a restaurant in Frankston, chat a bit =) Still had 30 minutes to spare after that, so i grabbed a bite to eat. Sat at one of the tables and just observed the people around me

Watched the way the old Spanish couple greeted their friends, loved hearing Spanish. Listened to the Aussie tell his friend he practiced his Spanish by saying Gracias when he bought his food

Then it was time! The 4pm appointment

I look so scared! Hahahah. 10 years since i last had a drastic haircut. Even though the hairdresser is a Caucasion man, i felt comfortable. There were many women in this shop unlike another place i previously enquired (looked like a barber, $20). And cheap too $27.50. A mall hairdressing place quoted me $80, another was $45

With another place, i dont know if she said $50 or $15, it was an Asian lady, most of friends would say caucasions dont know how to handle Asian hair. But i was worried of the Asian lady... scared i couldnt communicate with her.

Told the white guy what i wanted, he said its called a concave cut, not the bob cut. He snipped off some of my long hair before i asked "I think its too late but do u think it'd suit me?". Hahha. He said he wouldnt cut it if he doesnt think it suits his customers =)

Shocking when i look at the amount of hair on the floor!!! Even when its fallen, my hair looks so pretty. Look at my highlighted bits... Poor locks.

The cut brings out the highlights i did in Thailand

Exactly what i wanted =) From the front it looks similar to my long hair. Because the front is the same lenght. The back used to be longer than the front. Now the back is shorter than the front =)

Freaking hope no one gives me the dreaded "you look the same" comment

Went to the Frankston beach to feed seagulls leftover bread. It was relaxing =) Treated myself to some caramel churros (Spanish doughnuts) and then headed to the train station

While waiting for the train, i tried tying up my hair. OMG! 3 inch pig tail! I'll definitely miss my comic-book-like one foot long wavey black hair flowing out of the cap i wear at work (i look at myself on the CCTV...)

It'll grow back. But for now, i'm happy. Really happy to have some change =)

Went for fish and chips in Port Phillip Bay after that. Shop named Hunky Dory

With a couple of my Malaysian friends in Melb and a couple of their Indonesian friends =)

Love them!

Appreciate this wonderful Saturday! =) Going to bed tonight smiling!

Earthquake in Japan

Upon hearing the news, i searched Facebook for AK, the Japanese girl i went mountain biking with

Relieved when i read what another one of her traveller friends wrote on her wall: "So glad to hear you're OK..."

"Thanks Sue!!! At first I felt I had a bloodless, for instantly I realized it was swinging. It was quite long term to shake, so scary :( "

She lives in Aichi, Nagoya. I checked her Facebook from time to time over the past few days
 

"... I still can't get touch with my friends who live near the hit point :( "
Friday at 8:41pm

Sue Lin: "Have u heard from your friends in the area???" Yesterday at 7:38pm
 
"yeh, luckily i could. nobady got hurt!!! thanks God and Sue :)"
Yesterday at 8:00pm
 
"today is the worst since japan has been began... i can't stop crying..still don't want to accept this disaster :((( " 
Yesterday at 1:01am
 
"What the hell... the sun rose again, we can see all over the stricken area. which is sea or land side? It made rubble of everywhere... where is my loved Japan..."
Saturday at 11:56am
 

This reminds me about the time i was worried about a friend who was in Cambodia during the stampede... After travelling, world news affects me in a more personal way

Advanced Dive Course

My diving instructor talked me into doing the advanced course. Wanted to dive more anyway so might as well take classes!

Day 5 in Koh Tao, i got up early to walk around before classes start, i tend to twist the phrase "live everyday to its fullest". When on holiday i try to make the best of it, stretch every minute!

Someone's puppy poodle was running about on its own. So cute!

Took photos of myself and my surroundings

Wonder what is the significance of the cloth at the front of those boats...

Saw another girl walking around with a DSLR camera.

We smiled at each other and spoke a bit. We ended up taking pictures for each other and with each other. Chris from China. Her friends are sunburned and sleeping in the room! Haha

One of the pictures she took for me =) She liked the pix i took of her too, i'm good with cameras =P

Would have been nice to walk around with her and camwhore more but i had to head to dive school!

For Advanced Dive Course, deep dive and navigation dive is compulsory. And then u get to choose another 3

Dive computer, expensive shit. Some places they make u rent it or buy it, but in Scuba Junction, they let u use it for free.

The dive computer shows u how deep u are and how long u can stay underwater, based on calculations of nitrogen levels in ur body. I loved doing the manual calculations part of the course =) I'm such a geek, ahaha

I did buoyance first which teaches u how to control ur movements in water. U have to swim through a hoop underwater. Also did somersault which scared me... after its done the instructor told me that was for fun and not part of the course! Hahah

I scrapped my elbow on the sand in this course... on my first day my left ankle was scratched... and on the second i hurt my right knee on a coral. Have got little scars from those now.

All good and all smiles anyways =) In the afternoon, i did navigation where u use a compas and try to swim underwater in a perfect square. 90degrees each way. And then in a triangle of 120 degrees each way. Also timed how long it takes me to swim 100meters underwater and counted how many flipper kicks i used

Rock formations. Somewhere on the south of the island. What do u think it looks like???

Did i mention that my Advanced Dive Course was done entirely one-on-one?! Full attention! Haha. And i took SSI for advanced because its cheaper than PADI... no need to buy the book and less theory. My open water was PADI

Seargant fishes, loads of them. Visible from the surface. I saw a little seahorse on the ocean bed too, its was black, soooooooo cute and tiny. It didnt move, everyone looking at it formed a circle around it

Starlet

She's been with me for over two months now =)



My new baby. My first car in Australia



She's a pretty little thing. Manual, just like my old baby Kancil i had to left behind



The salesman called her Purple, i guess to capture a sale like me. But mechanics call her Blue. Spoiler! =(

The insurance company called me to clarify the colour of my car. I had to explain that its between blue and purple and the lady put down purple for me! Hahahahha
What a girl wants! =)


Okay, now Serious Sue comes out to play. Owning a car is no joke, let me lay it down for ya.

1. Rego, short for Registration, like Malaysian road tax is AUD624 per anum. Over here it doesnt matter if u drive a 3.0 four wheel drive or a little 1.3 Starlet. It is freaking 624 for all private vehicles. Car rental companies pay 800. Dont ask me how i know
2. Insurance. Its not compulsory here. An entirely different ball game. The policy i took is AUD308 and if a tree falls down on my car, or if it floods in Melbourne, i cant claim a cent. I can write a long description now but i still make mistakes
3.  E-tag, like a Smart Tag for tolls costs $50
4. I havent started servicing yet... so dont ask
5. 8L of petrol takes me 120km, about $10.50

Lets move on to my Victorian Driver's license
1. AUD668 paid to driving instructor for 8 x 45mins lessons and for him to accompany me to the exam x 2 (because i failed once).
2. Paid $34 to VicRoads for the rules knowledge test
3. $30 for the hazard test
4. Two on the road exams at $51 each time
5. Also i had to pay for them to issue my license (valid for 10 years) $162.20