Australiogue - Chapter Three (1/1/2010 - 2/1/2010)

A New Year has arrived & we're all set to explore the greatest, most picturesque ocean drive - Great Ocean Road! And also, from Fucking HOT to Freezing COLD!!! Yes, we woke up on 1st Jan at Naracoorte, all set for the sunny day only to be greeted by cool winds & low temperatures (it was abt 17 degrees to start out) & no sun!!! It was a shocker for us, after enduring days n days of hot weather & bright sun, to be faced with NO SUN & cold weather! Shivers...... & i was in my sphagetti top & shorts! LUckily, I had my handy jacket!

Another early start so that we have enuff time to take in whatever we can! Left at 8am to begin the journey. It was a rather nondescript drive for the 1st 2-3hrs, making our way down from Naracoorte to the start point of GOR (Great Ocean Road) at Port Fairy. The roads are easy to follow & the signs are visible almost at every important intersection. Still the weather was gloomy & cold.

After another hour or 2 of driving, we finally reached the real start point of the sightseeing along GOR! It started with Bay of Islands, Bay of Martrys, London Bridge & many many more!! With the roads & stops just along the coastline, u can imagine how bloody cold & windy it was! No matter, still have to stand there & marvel at the greatness of the sights! How soothing! If only it had not been that cold, or the sun was abit more hardworking... Gloomy skies do not make a good picture though...

1st stop Bays of Islands...

London Bridge has FALLEN down

Even with an early start, we only reached Port Campbell, middle stop along GOR & where we spend the night, after 4pm.

TIP OF THE TRIP #1: Always stop at Information Center. They are a great source of information & really helpful!

We got directions to our hostel (even though the town is damn small, still need to know which street & where to find!), tips on the sights to visit, & a small tip on bird watch at night! When the shearwaters (birds) all flew back at night! More on that later, it was a fantastic sight!

So, after checking in, we immediately set out to visit Lord Ach (not before changing into longer pants). It was already 5pm but still bright (slightly bright due to the gloomy weather). Lord Ach was magnificient! Lots of different rock formations, & great sights juz by looking out into the Ocean! Easily spent 1hr there, wandering around the area(it's actually a big area so devote more time there!). Had to rush back to hostel to cook dinner so that we have time for the sunset at 12 Apostles. This time, we really did buy the correct ingredient - Risotto! Nice!

Our dinner... Angeline cooked half of it! Bravo! It doesnt look much but it taste good!

TIP OF THE TRIP #2: Cook to save $$

Yea, u do save alot by buying ingredients to cook, helps to lower the cost. Eating out in Australia is rather expensive. A simple sandwich costs at least 7AUD! Imagine!

It took a long time to cook & by the time we finished our dinner, it was 8pm, and time to set out to 12 Apostles for sunset, scheduled at 8.55pm.

It was bloody cold!!! Winds extremely strong. Freezing & shivering out there! ANyway 12 apostles are no longer, i counted & it seems only 6 left! Bter hurry up b4 they become nothing. There, we shot countless films capturing 12 Apostles, left right center up down! Haha wonders of digital camera!

Finally! It was v v cold i tell u

Camera effect... Like very 'lomantic' hor

Very soon, the sun starts to set, & we now know why tons of pple wait there for the sunset! Whn the sun sets, the rays cast beautiful shadows over the 12 Apostles onto the cliffs, making it THE PHOTO of the moment! & u have to be quick to capture as it'll be gone in minutes!

& the sun sets....

It was also there that we started playing with 'Finger Art', using our fingers in the composition of photos. As Angeline said, it could be the start of sth new!

Finger Art! We took lotsa more...
I touched 12 Apostle!!

After sunset, we drove to Lord Ach again, for the nightly return of the shearwaters! Sitting in the freezing cold (i was trembling!) the birds started to circle ard in large numbers slightly after 9pm. The sight was fantastic!! Lots n lots of birds, flying at high speed, circling ard overhead of us! We braced teh cold & stayed for abt 20mins before retreating back to our cosy hostel to rest for the night.

It was another early day out for us the next morning, to complete the journey to the end of GOR - Geelong. The journey was rather uneventful (the highlights of GOR have already passed). We stoped by Gibsons Step, juz some steps that lead down to the beach. N the views were fantastic! WE were early (8am) so the beach was deserted, which is GREAT cos no unwanted shadows or pple stepping into the pictures & allow us to do crazy things. Finally i get to write my name down on the beach (sth i do almost everywhere i go with beaches - Sipadan, Manado Redang etc). Obviously, not to forget, jumping stances! I need to practice on the jumping.. Need to be more varied...

Gibson Steps.. The Beach... Nice!! So many clouds!

I left my name on the beach

Take 1 - Face kena covered.. Damn

Take 2 - Haven't take off yet (damn look like bird)

Success!

After that 1st stop, it was practically juz driving n driving. We stopped along the way for a small trek through the rainforest & some other small trek to a small trickling waterfall (it's summer, no rainfall = no waterfall) & this stretch of GOR (From Port campbell to Lorne) is the windiest stretch of road. As it's a coastal drive, the roads follow the bends of the mountains. It started with the stretch of road along the National Park with bends bends & more bends, followed by the coastal drive along Lorne where the bends were like 90 degree or smaller! Lucky i was not in the driver's seat! Haha but then again, I got a taste of bends later on during the trip! Angeline said that after the trip, she's damn good at S-curve! & she was deep in concentration during those times! While i was dozing off to sleep haha! & they say that passengers are likely to feel giddy & wana vomit....

I touched the bend! As u can see, it's really quite a curve!

The trickling waterfall...

Finally at abt 2pm, we reached Geelong to check into the fanciest hotel of the entire trip - 4 Points @ sheraton. Not rich, juz that I got it FOC cos i used my points to redeem. It was nice to have a cosy & nice room to sleep in after 1wk of travel.

Geelong - nth much actually, but the hotel is right by the pier, makes for good air & view! Shops were closing by the time we checked in & were ready for some R&R. Even the food court closed at like 4+pm, & we had to scramble to find a place to makan! Luckily a ramen store was stil open!

The hotel. We rounded at least 3 times, trying to find the hotel & the entrance! It's not conspicious!

Cute ice cream van! But expensive ice cream also

Lights out, sleep tight, & hold on for more the next day when we finally venture into Melbourne area, starting with Mornington Peninsula! If you're wondering if i took only these photos, u'r wrong! haha i posted more on FB

Australiogue - Chapter Two (30/12/2009 - 31/12/2009)

Before I start blogging about the trip, just a small side note/trivia I noticed in Australia. Nothing extremely WOW or outa the world, juz a small observation. Parking! Haha

1) Australians are extremely good at Parallel Parking. By extremely good, I mean EXTREMELY good. No doubt about that. Head in, boot in, whatever way, they can juz park in 1 try! No reversing in and out to get the alignment right or straighten the car, juz 'ZOOP' and in the car goes! Amazing! We have witnessed it countless times, and still are amazed at their efficiency and prowess at parallel parking! Practice and necessity make perfection i guess!

2) They're more fixated with parking the car in as their objective rather then trying to straighten the car, being parallel to the parking lines and such. Yes, i know Singaporeans are rather concientious when parking, always wanting to make sure the car is damn straight and parallel to the parking lines, and perfectly 'sitting' in the box, not 1 inch out of line. Australians, they don't really care! As long as they can get their cars somewhat parked in the lot, even if the wheels touched the line! Their cars can be as slanted as imaginable, and sometimes parking lines are non-existent to their eyes. Case in point:

Notice how crooked the cars are parked! WE sorta got a shock after we parked ours to witness how the cars are parked! Lines are there, but apparently, the cars don care! Haha, it actually is uch more crooked than the picture tells! Amazing! I don't think i'll ever see such a sight in Singapore!

3) They, like the US, love head in parking. Heck, they don't even get tested for reverse parking! Heck, i think they don't even get tested for head-in parking. Like their driving test seems very easy! No circuit, no reverse parking, just driving on the roads, do parallel parking, that's it! Haha. But then again, driving in Australia is quite enjoyablde cos the drivers there are quite nice! At least during my time there, they've all been very nice! SLow down to let me change lane or let me pass... Good driving etiquette!

Ok, back to the point - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 started on 30 Dec 2009, with the longest drive ever during the entire holiday from Adelaide to Mt Gambier, a total of 450km, approximately 6hrs via Highway. It also thus began my 1st drive in Australia! After a hiatus of abt 10mths (the last being CNY in 2009), i once again drove the roads! & U just get the hang of it after a couple of mins! It was a nice drive, if not a really really long drive along highways with few cars in sight, and through suburbs or even juz forests. This is rather dangerous cos with no cars, u tend to juz speed up & go! With nth in sight but juz trees & bushes, u sometimes will drift off & get distracted. I admit, it happened a couple of times, nth serious, juz gentle drifting of the car but i managed! Of cos, i did not drive the whole way! Too long a distance, need to change driver.

We departed Ade at 08:00hrs and FINALLY reached Mt Gambier under the sorching hot sun (NO CLOUDS AT ALL) around 14:00hrs. Yes, damn long drive! But the roads are easy to drive, and directions are easy to follow! I can read a map ok! We had no GPS to guide us, juz plain old paper maps & recognition of roadsigns.

After checking into Avalon motel (nice motel with aircon which is badly needed given the damn hot weather), we ventured out to explore Mt Gambier. Thinking that the places of interests are far away, we were initially rushed for time, but we were proven wrong with the 1st place - Umpherston Sinkhole. It looked to be far on the map but we reached in like <10mins.>

The magnificent Sinkhole!

Doesnt it look like some beach getaway or forgotten island?

Lotsa flowers!

ANyway, the Sinkhole is magnificient! It was created when the earth crumbled and sank to the ground, thus SINKHOLE!! It has grown into a little garden with lotsa flowers & greeneries and 2 damn tall trees. It would have been pretty nice to juz laze ard there for a while if NOT for the bloody hot weather. & I thought Mt Gambier, being slightly elevated, was s'posed to be slight cooler, thus the 3/4 pants! If i had known, I would have changed to shorts!!! FYI, that day was the 1st day when temperatures soared up to 40 degrees!!!

How blue is that!!

After sinkhole, we proceeded to the bluest lakes in the world!! Ok, i think so la, not for sure. It's just called 'The Blue Lake'! Damn blue i tell u! Like blue until can reflect light lo! Haha... We wanted to take a walk around the lake but due to the terrible weather, we surrended to the heat & proceeded to drive around the lake instead. We also visited the Valley Lake, then to the Cave Gardens. I must say Cave gardens nothing much, esp after we had been to the SInkhole.

A model of how the cave actually look like

Last stop was Englebrecht Caves. We were lucky to be there for the last tour of the day! Apparently, pple go cave diving there & u have to be damn expert in diving to be able to dive in the cave there cos it's extremely dark underwater. Imagine. Sounds quite scary!

After a whole day of walking around under the hot sun, we went back to the comfortable of the aircon to rest & wash up b4 going out to hunt for food or shopping. But as all of u know, in Australia, all shops or rather the town is dead after 5pm. Literally dead! But we managed to find a fish & chips stall & bought a pack for AUD9.80 to share. LUcky we shared cos we would not have been able to finish 1 each! The portions were damn big, & the chips were like FREE lo! They juz dump a whole bunch into each pack! & salt seems free to them cos they literally drown the chips in salt! Damn salty!!! We couldnt finish the fries cos they were beyond edible...

The ultra salty fish & chips, with some onion rings & calamari, everything being salted to the max!

2nd day morning (New Year eve), we set out ard 9+am, toward Mt Schank! Extinct volcano! WE thot it to be a relatively easy climb up, well it was kinda not difficult, but the climb down to the crater hole (now it's full of greenery bushes & trees) was rather difficult! But we managed, me in my slippers somemore! Haha! It was a good 1.5hrs of exercise for us! Been so long since i last exercised!

Mount Schank from afar - Note the presence of clouds? That was on 1 Jan 2010, when the temp suddenly dipped to 18 degrees

Me on top of the crater. It was damn hot, abt 34 degrees on 31 dec

The road down to the bottom, which we took. Looks a lot nearer than it actually is

D&A - Dian Shan & Angeline. We dissolved the intial 'Team G' to put our mark. Wonder if it's still there now....

Artistic shot with the wind blowing...

After Mt Schank, we set out to Naracoorte Caves, World Heritage Site! Where we will be spending our new year's eve. More on that later.

Our accomodation was bunk house, & we were the only occupants in the bunkhouse, which was good cos we get the whole room to ourselves! But there was no one ard, except for the family living there... Lonely, we were so lonely.... All alone in the bunkhouse on new year's eve.

Fossils of some extinct animals. Can't determine whether they'r herbivour/carnivour/ominivour yet. Does it have the Jurassic Park feel to it with the shadows on the walls?

We set out for 2 cave tours - Victoria Fossil Cave and the night Bat Cave tour. Tip from the trip: Always try to be the last group of the day! Haha, u get the priviledge of more personalized tour (cos most pple would be gone by then, less tourist - more personal time) & sometimes, u might just get exclusive tour of the place! Like we did in Victoria Fossil Cave! We were able to venture into the lesser ventured area hen there are more pple in the tour!

Our dinner. It actually looks & taste good!

After a meal of home-cooked pumpkin + pea soup + bread + oranges, we went for the bat cave tour. It wasn't meant to be this way. We had bought the instant cook ingredient, thinking it was risotto, only to discover, upon cooking it, that it is actually the base ingredient for cooking risotto! So there we had, the pumpkin risotto soup, sans risotto. What goons! Hahah, luckily we had bread! But still, a satisfying meal cos we added lotsa peas & carrots (canned vege) with bread & oranges!

3 Kangaroos in action!
Blanche Caves, a limestone cave

The bat cave tour, when at night, includes the view of the bats leaving the cave! It started with a viewing of the bats in their caves through vid cam (obviously we can't go it, too dark), then proceed with a visit to Blanche Cave with stalactities & stalactmites. The cave was amazing! Even better than the Victoria Fossil Cave! Once the sun sets down, bats started to come out! & once again, being in a small group & last tour of the day (only us 2 + a family of 4 with 2 kids, & the guide's family), we stayed much longer in the cave, to view the bats flying in the cave! Quite interesting sight!

After that, we proceeded to the opening of the bat cave to view the bats flying out. Too dark to capture it on camera, but it was nice! Though the night was rather chilling! After that, we went back to our bunkhouse at ard 2200 hrs, didnt even wait for 12midnight to strike b4 we went off to sleep for another early day next! Yes, u guessed it - The Great Ocean Road!!

Stay tuned to Chapter 3, the 1st day of New Year....

Australiogue - Chapter One (27/12/09 - 29/12/09)

Country - 1; States - 2; No of accomodations = 8; No of attraction stops/towns - 11, Days - 14; Fuel - 221L; Photos - 719 (single cam); KM driven - 2214; Amt of Sunblock & moisturiser - Unlimited; Roundabouts driven - Countless; 3-point turns made - Countless

Experience - PRICELESS

It all started with 2 like-minded ladies with the heart & mind for adventure & travel round the world. And the rest, is history... So many stories, adventures & details to share, so little time! Or rather too much to type.. Henceforth begins the Australiogue (i.e. Australia Travelogue). Taking into account the length of the trip, amount of photos & details to share, this shall be broken down into chapters for more comprehensive reading. As to the total number of chapters to be presented shall depend entirely on the discretion of the author, yours truly.

A brief rundown of the places we visited - Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, Mt Gambier, Naracoorte Caves, Great Ocean Road (it's considered 1 big attraction), Geelong, Mornington Peninsula, Melbourne City, Dandenong & Yarra Valley. Due to time constrains, we were unable to visit some of the other popular tourist spots, & we deeply regret that but with what we had, we were fully satisfied with our itinery. As the Chinese saying goes - 来日方长.

Summary of some important information on Australiogue:

Main leads: Angeline Voon & Dian Shan

Guest Appearance: Clara Chen

Main transport tool: 3.8L Beige Ford

Timeline: 26 December 2009 (2350hrs) to 9 January 2010 (1700hrs)

Special thanks to Singapore Airlines for making this trip possible & the handy blanket to keep us warm when the nights were cold

Australiogue thus began on 26 December 2009, when we headed to the airport (T3) for our 2350hrs flight to Adelaide. After a 6hrs overnight flight, where I managed to secure the entire row of 4 seats to sleep horizontally & rather comfortably, we arrived in the hot & sunny Adelaide on 27 December 2009 Sunday. The town seemed to be still asleep when we arrived at 1000hrs, with hardly a person or car in sight. Mr sunshine, however, was already wide awake & working extra hard at providing its mightly, piercing rays at us. As we strolled the rather sleepy town up & down in like 2hrs, finally we arrived at the shopping district of rundle mall when hold & behold, the city is ALIVE!! After a rather disappointing visit to the Botanic Gardens (where the flowers seem not to be blooming well) we headed for the Chinatown for some lunch. For all those who have not been to Adelaide, its Chinatown is only a single short stretch of street with a few Chinese stalls & eateries, hardly any Chinatown feel to it.

From Top: Adelaide Post Office, Me with a big red Post Box, The mini Chinatown in Adelaide

After some more wondering around, we headed back to our hostel to await the 1520hr bus for our Kangaroo Island 1D1N tour! By this time, Angeline was already falling victim to slumberland & slept all the way throughout the almost 2hrs bus ride to Cape Jervis for the ferry across. Upon arriving at KI, we were transported by the van for 1 more hr to our accomodation for the night, arriving at close to 2020hrs. After some musing around & figuring where n how to get to the penguin tour, we finally found out that we were to make our own way to the penguin center which is a 5-10mins walk from our hostel.

From Top: Can you spot the "Voon"? That's my fren's name & We're in Room 2; LIttle penguin being shone red light (FYI, they cannot see red so it doesnt actually hurt their eyes)

LUckily we were in time for the 2045hrs tour & saw our cute little penguins, also known as Fairy Penguins. The night started to beccome cold & windy & by the time we were out to spot penguins, it was freezing cold & dark! But we managed to spot a few penguins on the shore or hiding in the rocks. Cute Cute Cute! After freezing our asses of for 1hr, we were starving & cold & with no food or eatery in sight for a nice dinner. So we headed back to our hostel & munched on apples & biscuits. Thank god for the apples!

Kingscote Airport on KI, where all flights must fly 'overseas' - Get it??

The 2nd day was the highlight~ We went on our Kangaroo Island Highlights tour where we visited all the famous spots on KI! The views were fantastic & breathtaking! & The sun was sorching hot but thank god for the cool sea breeze! It was a long day but it was a very fruitful day. We stopped by the Admiral's Arch, Seal Bay, Remarkable Rocks & passed by fantastic views along the way. Of cos we were treated to a nice lunch along the way!

Seal Bay conservation park. Lots of Sea-Lions & seagulls! Sea-lions just suntan, sleep, rinse in water & come up to suntan again so lazy

Little Kangaroo Sleeping So Cute

Birds of Prey - Eagle!

At Remarkable Rocks They are really Remarkable!

More of the Remarkable rocks

At Admiral's Arch

Admiral's Arch - You can see lots of Seals!

Admiral's Arch - Seals suntanning

The long long day ended when we arrived back in Adelaide hostel at around 2200hrs, tired & sleepy, ready for bed & recoup our energy for more adventure the next day!

The next day, we collected our car! A 3.8L beige ford from Avis & started our road trip to visit Victor Harbour! Angeline was the test driver & she was really nervous! Hahah... The drive to Victor Harbour was straight forward with the signs all clearly marked out & easy to follow. Of cos it helps that I can read a map pretty good! & had researched it on Google Maps prior to the trip so we had no trouble at all reaching our destination!

Horse tram ride!

Me on Granite Island, overlooking Victor Harbour

That's the bridge connecting Victor Harbour to Granite Island

After 1hr of driving we arrived at Victor Harbour & just in time for the next Horse Tram ride across to Granite Island! The ride was about 20mins (the horse trotted slowly across). The view from across was really superb! We did a walk around Granite Island & was greeted with fabulous views of Victor Island & beyond! After that, we drove all the way (20mins) to the other side Golwa where we landed on Coorong National Park. & the day just ended like that! The thing with Australia is that almost everything place is far away & requires like 1hr driving! So it makes your day pretty short as the shops close at 5pm everyday!

At Coorong, doing the jump!

Our car - S232 ABA, can buy 4D??

At Port Elliot where boys were jumping off the pier even though it's prohibited

& therein, ends our Adelaide adventure as we venture out to Mt Gambier that following day, a 6hr drive from Adelaide.

I'm back.. Don wana come back but here i m back home

EVENTUALLY, IT HAD 2 END. My bIG tRiP 2 OZ hAs EnDeD. NoW BAcK HoMe TiReD BUT StIlL MIsSinG HOLS! dON WANT IT 2 END! ShALL BlOG aBT IT lATER LOTS 2 TaLK AbT, V ExCItING RoADTrIP N hAD lOTS O fUN!

Reflections

Cue background music *who is that girl I see, staring straight, back at me....*

Ok, i lost my background music cos geocities closed down the account & i dono how to get my backgrd music back.. ANyone who knows can teach me? Else it'll be silent blog forever (i don't like to research this kinda thing not my forte)

Anyway, from the title, u know it's abt reflections, abt what the past yr has achieved for me & what i have achieve for others ahahah.. Why am i writing this on Xmas eve instead of New Year eve? Cos i'm gg off for holiday on 26th night! & wun be back till 9 Jan 2010! For you curious readers out there (yes, i actually have genuine readers!!!) I'm off to a road trip from Adelaide to Melbourne via Great Ocean Road! Woo Hoo! Don't worry, i'm going with a girlfriend of mine from JC, so it's not another loner trip :)

Anyway, back to reflections. If u can remember, i posted a list of resolutions to be achieved in 2009 at the end of december 2008, so let's recap what i set & what i have achieved in relation to those goals

http://dianshan.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html (This article back in December 2008)

1. Invest more time in my love for baking.
I believe i achieved this! In fact, the 1st thing in did in Jan 2009 was to bake my famous chocolate chip cookies! On 1st Jan 2009 somemore! Afterwhich, I tried coconut cake, chilli chocolate chip cookies, banana cake, muffins, & once again my famous chocolate chip cookies (freshly baked out of the oven on 22 Dec 2009)

2. Maintain my health & fitness
Well this is a hard one. 1stly, I believe i'm more disciplined & worked harder in the gyms (training both cardio & muscular strength). However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, my knees started to give way in Nov which lead to painful knees which lead to me unable to maintain my high standards of exercising, which is in contrary to being fitness & healthy. I have to work my way back to being 100% fit & healthy. + I had my like 1st real sickiness in July this yr, which lasted for abt 2wks. So This goal, considered partial & will be an on-going goal.

3. More responsibility for my job
Yes, i believe this has been somehow achieved. I have much more responsibilities in different areas of my job, being involved in a big project which saw me being stuck in Shanghai for almost 40% of my time (tho in the process, i was upgraded to a platinum member of Starwoods Hotel Group!!) I was also involved in training for 1 small process to a small unit but nevertheless, it made me feel proud of myself. For the coming year, sure will have more to come

4. Challenge myself with 10km run

Yes i did it in 1hr 8min, not my best timing but i did it! Registered for another but due to work commitment, cldnt go for it. Now with the bloody knee problem, i can't even do running leisurely.. I hope my knee recover so tt i can continue to run!

5. Improve communication with my family
I believe slight improvements have been made. Sorta become more open & less resistant to telling them stuff & sharing. Always room for improvement

6. Pay more attention to the process of reaching the goal, rather than focusing too much on the goal itself.
This is a hard one.. I think i did, but then again sometimes i feel like i still focus more on reaching the goal

7. Learn a new skill/enhance a current one
Yes! I learnt tennis! But cos of the knee again, i had stopped for almost 3mths... I wana go back to learning again! I love tennis! I love Roger Federer!

8. Conquer the sky
Eh, no chance leh!! Hahhahaha

9. Travelling
Oh yea! Well i'm gg for a road trip soon so that counts! I went for 2 diving trips this yr! I went sight seeing on biz trip...

10. Live a simple life
Eh, i think i live quite a simple life. Except for the gym membership haha... But i don ask for much la, i don buy branded goods, i don buy expensive clothes, quite simple?? Hahhaha ok la, maybe nd to learn between needs & wants more..

So onto 2010? I think i still have some things i wana do which were not done in 2009. But not tt much different from 2009:

1) Knee to recover - This is bloody impt for me to do whatever i wish to do! I wana be active again!I wana try at 10km again & lower my timing!

2) Mt KK - Yes, it's a surprise & mystery tt someone like me have YET to conquer Mt KK!!! Was planning for 2009 but things happend & it didnt materialize. I really hope 2010 will be the yr. So hard to organize hahaha.. I have already bought the climbing shoes & socks! Cannot waste!

3) Excel in Tennis - Not in the way Roger Federer has revolutionized tennis, but in the sense that i can actually play, volley & not juz try to hit the ball fed over by the coach & nothing more. It takes alot of practice & sense to get the right timing & rhythmn.

4) Read more books! - I think i'm hooked on reading books, especially nice fantasy books that are damn thick & r at least part of a trilogy! Hahah, I'm now reading the Sword of the Truth series (total of about 11 books) & i'm now at book 7. Finished another fantasy trilogy by Fiona Mcintosh, will continue another trilogy of hers aft i finish Sword of the Truth.

Of cos, those resolutions not resolved in 2009 will continue on to 2010, hoping to be resolved...

Damn, time to do some sorting & packing.. Flying off on saturaday night.. I hate packing for leisure trips, cos nd to bring more things & consider more things... Nd to sit down n organize soon.

I'll be gone & this will be my last entry for 2009! Till 2010, Merry Xmas & Happy New Year!

When I return, I may blog abt my trip.. Hopefully I wun be too lazy to do anything...

Till Then..... Dian Shan Out!