Pine Trees

Sometime in April 2010, we got confused with the different time zones between Australian states. Plus there was the change of day light savings. Ended up waking up at crazy 4am!

It was the last day on our road trip, so we started off the day before sunrise. Misty and dark, we felt like we were in a horror movie. Of course, no photos cuz all photos just turn out black

Shortly after, Bestfriend needed to go to the toilet. By then it was bright and there were toilet signs that led us to this pine tree orchard

Having grown up in Malaysia with only tropical rain forests, these pine trees were a beautiful sight to me. The effect of the mist makes it even more special

The toilets and some people camping nearby



Oh so pretty! =) Better than miles and miles of our rubber trees whenever driving the North-South Highway in Malaysia

I walked around to take some shots and Bestfriend snapped a few candid ones of me, which turned out really well =)

Just shouldnt have left the car keys dangling out of my back pocket like that...

The two of us =) Russian was sleeping in the backseat of the car

Vineyards

"Where are u now?" is a frequently asked question i get lately. Hahah, my Facebook and blog has misled =P

Its impossible to Blog in real time, there will always be a delay. For instance, this post might make one think i'm back in Australia. But i'm actually writing this from the KL home i grew up in =)

So, after a day of desert rain (5/4/2010), we spent the night in Pimba. We had dinner in a restaurant in nearby Woomera, a rather large town compared to Coober Pedy and Kulgera.

Dinner conversation was funny! Russian made fun of my excessive love for photography, in protest i said i dont take pictures of all the food i eat.

He has lived in Taiwan and he started complaining about people who take pictures of food, post them up on their blogs and then the next day there is a long line outside the restaurant! Haha

Bestfriend looked out the window and said its so yellow, hell yeah. Mostly yellow till u get to wineries. I slept in the backseat throughout the day, cuz i was the designated driver later after wine tasting

Jacobs' Creek vineyard!

Saw their wines in Great Eastern mall the other day after my jog in Ampang =P
Bestfriend and Russian indulged in wine tasting.

While i indulged in photography =)

Our MSN chat display picture after the trip =) Yes, we both had the same picture for a while

Our purchases. The double one was for her dad, the Moscato was for my aunt and her family. My blogging is so backdated, we've already drunk the wine!

Lunch in Tanunda. Fish and chips. Before moving on to our next destination

Barrels. This time i barely even entered the wine tasting area

Early touch of Autumn

Before dusk, the sun was glaring!

At the carpark, shortly before they came join me outdoors =)

Those were good times =)

Merdeka

(Edited) During the Australian Road Trip, Bestfriend was asleep in the backseat when Russian asked me about the food in Malaysia

First thing that came to mind was NASI LEMAK! So i started telling him all about it. Describing the coconut rice, anchovies (ikan bilis), sambal...

And Bestfriend woke up suddenly and groggily asked "Are u talking about nasi lemak?" Hilarious, that woke her up! =)

Desert Rain

On the 6th day of my Australian Road Trip, i woke up early to camwhore!

Kinda miss my long hair.

The messy look. It'll grow back. Which reminds me, i need to layer my hair a bit more before i fly off next =)

Excellent for the road trip but horrible car to take your driving license test in. Yeah my driving instructor uses the same model for lessons and my exam

Snapped some pictures while Bestfriend went to check out of Mt Ebenezer guesthouse

Under a million stars, where we had dinner there the night before.

Our staple diet of sandwiches out of a box. Previously we ate out of a Coles plastic bag. But on that hot day in Uluru, Russian's cheese melted all over the bag so we threw it away

Russian and i were looking at this guy who's shorts are too short, and his legs were so hairless! Hahaha. Gay?

Prove of rain in the desert the night before

After rain kangaroos love to hang out on the roads, they drink form the puddle, he policeman told us.

Stopped by Kulgera again. And continued on.

The sky started to get dark

And darker

Started to pour

Rain on the desert

Drove through Coober Pedy for fuel. The pretty little mining town looks like a scene out of an end of the world movie now =(

The end of my desert series

Uluru

After travelling thousands of kilometers

We see Uluru, also known as Ayer's Rock

It is the sacred land of the oboriginal people in Australia, also a tourist destination

The research i did before my trip revealed that there's some controversy.

Apparently, tourists are advised not to climb it but not prohibited from doing so. Argument against climbing: it's sacred, we should respect the oboriginals and it is really steep making it dangerous
Argument for: they charged us $25 to enter the National Park, it a revenue earning tourist destination

Did this blogger climb?

I wanted to. Bestfriend wanted to respect the wishes of the oboriginals. Russian didnt have proper shoes. I didn't want to go up alone (dangerous) and it was so damn hot that day i got lazy...

We drove around the rock instead, inside our Toyota with the aircond on full blast. Hehe. And then we headed to The Olgas

Yeah, its just more rocks. Australia is full of rocks. We were "Rocked out" by the end of the day, didnt wanna see anymore rocks.

Mind u, we did Kings Canyon, Uluru and The Olgas in one damn day, the rest of our trip was spent getting to the destination and going back

We hiked to the middle of The Olgas, its the shortest trail we could find

Russian is sick of taking pictures, hence the face. The guy in green on the left was starring at us cuz we were noisy

Stupid glaring sun. Really killed the mood

Yeah i know how much i preach about natural sunlight being good for pictures. But this was too much! The view actually reminded me of Lord of the Rings but with the sun like that, i cant capture anything decent! Moderation is the key to everything in life eh?

Self shot on the way out of the Olgas.

Accomodation in Uluru is expensive, cutthroat as it is a tourist destination. So Russian wanted us to get as far away from the Rock as possible!

Sunset in the car (again) instead of at Uluru

Sandwiches for dinner under the stars at Ebenezer guesthouse. We called it a night pretty early that day, didnt wanna hit another kangaroo