Flora gave me a duck face -_- for naming the title “Short Post”. Hence, I called it “Shorter Post” 
Extremely stressed and just to post something.
March 3, 2009
February 19, 2009
After a series of hot days, Victorian and myself long for a cool change. Cool change is a drop of temperature from soaring high to a comfortable low. I managed to capture the weather screen to illustrate the cool change. The temperature drop almost 20C within an hour.
February 9, 2009
As Melbourne and the rest of the Victoria embraces the record high temperature of (47-48C), tragic things had happened.
BUSHFIRE. It claims 100++ lives and thousands homeless. They literally left with what they wear.
I don’t know what to say but let these links tell the story.
January 30, 2009
When I experienced the 40++C temperature last year (2007/2008), I was glad that it only lasted for a day or two then followed by a cool change.
When the start of summer in Australia in 2008/2009 is cool, I was quite concerned that something BIG will happen. And it did! Melbourne is experiencing a very hot summer 4 days in a row!
Started on Tue (27 Jan 09) with high of 36 C, then followed by 43 C on Wed (28 Jan 09), 44 C on Thu (29 Jan 09) and today (30 Jan 09), it’s expected to hit 43 C. In fact, it’s almost there as of the time I’m writing this post. The temperature is already reaching 41 C, 2 C shy of today’s maximum.
It’s so hard to sleep at night. The fan is pretty much useless as it’s blowing hot air. The air con is a great help but with it making so much noise at night, a good night sleep is almost unachievable. I woke up at 2am this morning to eat ice cream just to cool myself. That’s how hot it is…
Forecast for tomorrow (31 Jan 09) is expected to be less hot with maximum of 35 C. Man…. this is a very hot hot hot summer indeed.
January 14, 2009
The Werribee Park and the Victoria State Rose Garden are located almost next to the Werribee Open Range Zoo. Since we were at the zoo, might as well pop over for a visit.
The park has a big mansion called The Mansion which has some historical value to it. Unfortunately, to visit The Mansion, one have to pay for the entrance fee. Too bad…., so we just took some pictures from the outside.
This is not The Mansion. This is where you pay for the ticket
Next to The Mansion is the Victoria State Rose Garden. For roses/flower lover, I think this place should be on your must-visit list. I’m not a flower needless to say rose person but the view of the garden is just fantastic.
Some of the pictures of roses taken by Flora.
January 9, 2009
During New Year eve, we visited the Werribee Zoo. This is an open range zoo. Open range as in, you are free to walk together with most of the animals. The zoo is about 37km away from where we stay.
Together with my officemate and his family, we made our way to the zoo at around 930am.
The Werribee Zoo is made up of 4 main sections. The bus safari-like section, the normal zoo section, the water saving plant section and the Australian animal section.
The idea of the bus safari-like is something like Open Safari in Africa you see on TV but a much milder version.
Animals here are free to roam around. The environment setting is pretty much like the animals own habitat.
There’s bison…
Antelope…
Wild horse…
Giraffe…. The normal ticket does not include animal feeding. If you want to feed the giraffe up close like those shown in the picture, additional ticket need to be purchased.
Zebra… The bus driver literally has to stop the bus for the “Zebra Crossing” 
Rhino… Once again, to feed the rhino, additional ticket is needed.
The bus tour took about 1 hour. The zoo also provided benches and shelters for picnic.
Lunch time. It’s advisable to bring your own food as there’s only one restaurant/cafe in the zoo. Food’s choices aren’t that many. The price is quite on the high side. After lunch, we continued our visit to the remaining 3 sections.
In this section, we can see hippo…
Meerkat…. the weather for the morning was relatively cold. That’s why you see the meerkat are so ‘friendly’. In the late noon when the temperature rises, this is what you get…
The normal zoo section has not so many animals. There are cheetah, lions, african wild dogs etc No pictures were taken because when we were there, these animals were sleeping and it makes no point for photo taking.
Then, we proceed to water savings plant section. Since water is a big issue in Australia, the planting of water savings plant become more and more popular.
This picture is showing part of the garden. You’ll get the idea by looking at the soil type at the base of this plant. These plant are pretty lasting under dry condition and are quite nice for house decoration too.
The last section is the Australian animal section. Sadly, the kangaroos are sleeping (as they always do). We only manage to see emu roaming around.
Comparing this zoo with Melbourne zoo, I would say the latter one is much worth visiting. This zoo didn’t give me a “WOW!!!”. Regardless, it’s a nice way to celebrate the New Year Eve.
December 30, 2008
It’s Christmas Day and the public transport is FREE!!!! So we took this opportunity to travel around. After the church service, we went to the Shrine of Remembrance and Royal Botanical Garden. The Shrine of Remembrance is the place to remember the sacrifices the Australian soldiers made during the war time. Again, let the pictures do all the talking.
A famous statue of a soldier carrying another soldier located outside the Shrine of Remembrance
The Shrine of Remembrance
Some silly-cool pose
More silly-cool pose
A nice view from the Shrine of Remembrance
Flora adoring the well-built soldier
The Royal Botanical Garden is located nearby and this place is best for those nature lovers.
The garden is big. Check out the map. The walking path sums up to about 1.5km.
Some nice flowers in the garden.
It’s a nice place to have picnic and to be with the nature.
We started the journey feeling very excited
After almost 3 hours spent around the shrine and the garden, under a quite hot weather, we were exhausted.
December 29, 2008
It was the eve of the Christmas Eve (23rd Dec 08). With Vik Tor visiting from Brisbane, we decided to visit the Phillip Island. It’s about 150km from Melbourne and the journey (by car) took us about 2 hours 30 minutes.
We departed around 9am and we’re hoping to catch the Pelican feeding session at San Remo at 12pm. San Remo is the last town on the mainland before crossing the bridge to Phillip Island… and we did manage to see the feeding session.
Pelican feeding session at San Remo.
We had our lunch at San Remo and stuffed ourselves with Fish & Chips with Osyter. Personally, I didn’t like it. It was Vik Tor’s idea to let us try. At the end, he ate most of it.
Waiting to eat
Fish & Chips
Before I proceed, it’s best to clarify how did we get to Phillip Island. I DIDN’T buy a car. I DIDN’T rent a car. Thanks to Simon for letting us to use his car during his holiday back home to Malaysia. Thank you so much. And just to show off a little bit 
My 5 minutes of fame.
Ok…back to the journey. After lunch, we crossed the bridge to the island. We visited the “AMaze N Thing”. Here, I’ll let the pictures do all the talking.
A room filled with water (I wish we can enter it)
This mirror thing is really cool and confusing
A quite tricky Maze
Yay! We “conquered” the maze.
There’s mini golf too.
I wouldn’t recommend this. It’s a 18-hole mini golf course. By the time we reached the 6th hole, things started to get very very very very……………. (you get the point) BORED! I think it’s because we suck in golf, I can’t find better explanation for the boredom.
Next stop….Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit. This circuit hosted the MotoGP as well as A1 GP. For me, this is a must visit. Unfortunately, when we reached there, it’s almost 5:45pm. It’s closed. Well……. a picture will do, even though it’s outside the circuit.
At least…..
The highlight of the island is of course the penguins. These cute little penguins will come back to shore near sunset. The sad part was, since now it’s summer, the sun set very slow. The arrival time for the penguins the night before was 9pm. So, since we have around 3 hours to kill, we decided to have dinner in Cowes. After dinner, we went off to Nobbies for a bit of sight seeing before “waiting” for the penguins to arrive. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures of penguin.
At Nobbies.
The penguins eventually arrived at around 915pm. Some tips. Just get the cheapest ticket as you still can see the penguin up close. Left the island at around 1030pm and reached Melbourne around 1am.
December 19, 2008
This song from Don Moen’s latest album entitled “I Believe There Is More”.
One song, “Grace Is Enough” caught my attention as I listened it and meditate upon the lyrics. Don Moen co-write this song and the lyrics emphasizes that God’s grace is enough for us despite us failing Him all the time. Everytime I play this song, I just feel like crying with tears of joy. Tears of knowing that God is so loving and so patient with us.
Here’s the lyrics. God Bless.
I can boast to many works
Done out of insecurity
And credit many conversations
To my immaturity
And while I’m misunderstood
You are understanding me
And showing me
How grace is enough
For everything that I’ve done right
Seems a thousand I’ve done wrong
And I keep on losing count
Of all the times my flesh has won
And when the light of Christ that’s in me
Is overshadowed by the fall
You’re showing me
How grace is enough
When I feel unworthy
And so undeserving
Chorus:
Still I can come, just as I am
For I find Your love
Is free of condition
So I will run to Your wide open arms
Where I am accepted
And I am forgiven
Grace is enough for me
Your grace is enough for me
I’ve been quick at passing judgment
When I’m worthy of conviction
And the times I’ve measured virtue
Only based on my religion
But theology it seems
It’s not the things that’s saving me
Your are showing me
A grace that’s enough
When I feel unworthy
And so undeserving
(Chorus)
Bridge:
Though I was blind, now I see
Sweet is the sound
Of Your grace over me
You said it all on the Cross
Your grace goes beyond
All that I’ve done
When I feel unworthy
And so undeserving
You love me beyond
All my failing and hurting
It’s not who I am
But who I can be
And I know You are working
Your purpose in me
(Chorus)
Your grace is enough
More then enough
Your grace is enough for me
For the sample of the songs, you can visit Don Moen’s official website here.
December 18, 2008
It’s Flora birthday. Since her birthday falls on a weekday, and being very busy at this moment, we decided not to go out for any dinner celebration. To compensate all that, I’d decided to cook for her. I disallowed her to enter the kitchen to help me as she is the star of the day, no work for her in the kitchen.
We have been thinking to try Lebanese cuisine for quite some time but just didn’t have the chance. This is because the famous restaurant that we’ve been trying to visit close on Sundays. (Yea, you can imagine how good their business is. Can even afford to close on Sunday). I decided to make her and myself Lebanese cuisine. Did some googling and found out two Lebanese cuisines that is quite simple and interesting. They are called Kafta and Tabbouleh. I can’t find some of the ingredient, so I did a little bit of modification.
Kafta is actually BBQ Skewed Lamb/Beef. I used lamb. Mix the lamb with big onion, parsley, salt and pepper. Then, bake in oven for about 40 minutes.
My version of Kafta.
As for Tabbouleh, it’s a salad kind of appetizer. (Google Tabbouleh for more details). The original recipe used “burghul” which is made from durum wheat. From the food glossary, it says this burghul is quite similar to couscous, so, I used couscous instead. Mix the couscous with tomotoes, big onions, coriander, cucumber, lemon juice, salt, pepper and olive oil.
My version of Tabbouleh
Then serve all this in a Lebanese Pita Bread.
Voila. Our Lebanese cuisine for dinner.
I thought the whole thing tasted quite good. I was quite surprised by the refreshing taste of the Tabbouleh. The Kafta, tasted good.
So, you must be wondering what birthday present did I get for her. Ta..da…. a quilling set.
Flora’s birthday present. A quilling set.
This set can’t be found in Melbourne that I need to order it online from New South Wales. It came just in time for her birthday. Phew!!!
I think Flora played with her new toy the whole morning….. and look at the things that she made….
Little butterflies and flowers
And one more thing….. I let her pamper herself with a nice hair cut.
Tada…. Isn’t that fantastic!
Happy birthday HONEY.
