Woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs from the hotel cafe. However in a rare attempt at frugality, we had to forego the $9 Vulcan Big Breakfast. Instead we went again to Paddy's Market, this time to the fruit and vegetable side that we missed yesterday. Cheap, fresh, fragrant stuff.

Found a $10 note on the sidewalk and used it to pay for our breakfast at McD's. Exactly the same as in Singapore except for the sausage that was probably pork and definitely not halal. I still want bacon and eggs though. Sigh.

Caught the Explorer to our 1st stop, The Rocks. Here, June was in her element -- exactly what she had been looking for in a weekend market: unique handicrafts and artworks made by authentic Australian hands. Here is a list of our purchases:

1 x display mobile made of twisted forks and spoons
1 x eucalyptus scented wooden puzzle block
2 x fridge magnets hand-carved from wood
2 x scented wardrobe protectors, guaranteed 3 years
1 x banana bread
1 x lemonade
1 x reproduction painting of Sydney landmarks
1 x book of collected Aboriginal folktales (my purchase)

This is the most shopping we've done since we arrived in Oz!

Loaded with our purchases, we hopped Explorer to view Sydney Opera House up close and personal. From afar, the overall structure is already impressive. Close-up and it's the texture of the tiling that grabs the attention. With all the ceramic layering its surface it looks set to be an alternative space shuttle design. Took lots of photos here.

Explorer to Mrs MacQuarie's Chair, a spot on the harbour that Gov McQ had designated as a garden and as a lookout spot for his wife (i.e., for his wife to look out of, not for him to look out for his wife). Her chair had been carved into the rocks here and it became her favourite hangout. Today women sit on her chair and make a wish. This place is also the best land-based vantage point to frame the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the same photo.

Explorer to Wooloomooloo and the site of the original Harry's Cafe de Wheels. Finally got to order our pies; a Tiger for me, and a chicken and cheese pie for June. Wow! Excellent stuff and reasonably priced too. They are substantial and taste great! Meaty and juicy, crust flaky and light. The addition of mash and mushy peas on the Tiger made it more of a meal. After guzzling our pies, we ordered another hotdog to share, I am unashamed to confess.

Explorer back to our hotel to dump our purchases and get ready for dinner with Charis, Samson and DotDot, their King Charles. We grabbed their pressies and stuff they wanted us to get for them. Went to Central to check out the timetable for our train ride up to Newcastle tomorrow, then went to meet our friends at the bus stop.

It's great to see them again after 2 years. They've settled down in the suburbs and DotDot still remembers us. She's such a dear. We saw their lovely house then drove out to Hurstville for Viet food. Our pho was big with good, lean beef and piles of sprouts and mint leaves. June was very happy to see the saucer of chilli padi. DotDot sat patiently in her seat while we ate, and attracted lots of "so cute" from passers by. Charis and Sam kindly drove us back to the Vulcan after dinner. Wonder when we'll see them again?

Caught the 0924 back to Sydney. The trip took a little more than 2 hours to arrive because of the morning congestion at Central Station. The train operator kept giving us periodic updates on the ETA while registering his own impatience with the system.

The Vulcan upgraded our room to a very modern furnished one. 202 even has a working fireplace, though this being summer, it's too hot to light it. Besides, it'll play havoc with the air-conditioning.

Today we spent most of our time hopping the Explorer bus and using the 1st day of our 3-day pass as much as we could.

On Friday, Paddy's Market opens for business, so we headed out there and saw... a big pasar malam, manned and operated mostly by more Asian folk. Hence, the merchandise was nothing unusual to us. Clothes, toys, stuff. After a short prowl we gave up and crossed the street into Chinatown...

... where we ordered a char siew fan, a siew ngap fan, and a soi gow tong from a Hongkonger run restaurant. Same thing: high prices, humongous portions. June and I were slack-jawed for a second then worked our way slowly through what looked like half a roast duck, a large fraction of roast pig, a vegetable side, and a number of huge dumplings stuffed with fresh prawns, minced meat and black fungus. Oh, for cheaper meals and smaller portions.

Then back on the Explorer to Argyle place to take pictures at Garrison Church, Explorer to Campbell's Cove to take pictures of Harbour Bridge and the Opera House, Explorer to take pictures at the magnificent St Mary's Cathedral and surroundings, and a short walk to the Hard Rock Cafe where the t-shirts cost much less than the ones in Surfers'.

The Explorer bus is a lot of fun, particularly when the driver turns off the canned "tourist info" recording and launches into his own politically incorrect commentary on local politics, Sydney landmarks, famous Australians, and occasionally pointing out the more attractive female passers by whom we might otherwise have missed seeing.

At Circular Quay we had a change of driver. The new guy took over wearing a Father Christmas costume complete with fake beard and sunglasses. He distributed candy to the lone kid seated in the 5th row before driving on. Sydney -- lots of elderly folk, few kids.

Whoever designed Sydney must have been a conglomeration of artists and other people with an eye for the visually stunning. I love the designs that blend the old with the new, the geometric with the organic, the blending of different tastes from different times. What a fun place!

We saw the Giant Christmas tree in Martin Place and we marvelled at the splendour of the Westin occupying No. 1 Martin Place, a Colonial GPO building that the GPO is still operating out of. The Fullerton must have borrowed the idea from here.

We found an Internet cafe opposite Central Station for me to update quidestveritas while June scouted ahead for other attractions. The cafe is run by a PRC and the other patrons are likewise mostly Chinese playing Chinese online games. We've certainly reached far and wide.

June spotted a Harry's Cafe de Wheels at the Capitol and we went to sample their world famous meat pie. We were too late. All the pies had already been sold out and they were closing in 10 minutes. We had to settle for the only thing they had left, a hot dog, but what a dog! A bun filled with a scoop of mashed potatoes, a scoop of mashed peas, a scoop of Mexican chilli con carne, a large sausage topped generously with ketchup, mustard and hot sauce. Everything was spilling out into the paper tray it came in, so the counter dude gave us a fork to eat it with.

The hot dog was just and appetizer. Tomorrow we're off to Harry's main branch early to get us a pie! Count on it!

Doh! Woke up later than expected. Began the day with an all-you-can-eat cereal and toast breakfast at the Kurrara. Our plan was to take the walking path to Leura but we detoured first to see the view from Honeymoon Lookout. I thought we needed the delay because the road to Leura didn't seem that long on the map. Uh huh.

The path along the cliff turned out to be less trodden than the trails at Echo Point. The path descended deep into the valley in places, then sloped up steeply in others, making the walking tougher than yesterday.

We took another detour to view Leura Cascades which though not spectacular, was a pretty sight. The path then took a steep turn up a flight of steps cut into the sandstone leading to Leura proper and the path to the Gordon Falls lookout.

Once we got into the town centre (3 hours from when we started walking) we wandered around looking at the candy store, the toy store, the many handicraft stores, the 2 Christmas stores (selling Christmas ornaments all year round), then June developed a craving for pasta.

Now, it's not easy to find pasta in Leura. It's a more Anglophile town than Katoomba which is practically cosmopolitan in comparison. Eateries in Leura do English-style pastries and teas but eventually we found the BonTon Cafe with a menu that fit the bill.

BonTon served up a thick organic vegetable soup almost broth-like in consistency. June had a delicious Seafood Spaghettinni with fresh mussels, scallops and perch; and I had a Rigatonni Arribiata with spicy pork sausage in a tomato sauce.

At lunch we checked our guide book and discovered that we were too late to catch the last train through the Zig Zag Railway at Lithgow so we had to scrap that idea. It was still early afternoon, nevertheless, so we took the train instead to Wentworth Falls just for a look-see of the village. Small, not very exciting, but like everything around here, friendly and welcoming.

We caught the train back to Katoomba eventually and since the sun was still shining brightly even though it was about 1730 we walked back to Echo Point to find the Giant Stairway which we had missed yesterday.

The Giant Stairway is a 900-step stair that descends a vertical cliff face to the bottom of the valley. No way we would have made it all the way down and back by nightfall -- it's a 2-hour trek for healthy walkers. We only went far enough to reach a rocky ledge cut into the 1st of the 3 Sisters. Just looking down from the ledge makes the knees wobbly, so high up we still were.

We made our painful climb back to Echo Point, hungry again. We found the Swiss Cottage on the way back to Kurrara. Here we ordered a thick tomato soup with garlic bread each and then because we were too full to down individual portions we split a saussicon vaudior (spicy pork sausage in homebaked pastry and rossti) and a banana split between the two of us.

The staff at the Swiss Cottage were very busy and yet very cordial, warm hosts. The blonde who attended to us (presumably Monique) was model-pretty and very charming, entertaining our meal-on-a-budget order. When the restaurant got too full, she even turned away other guests who were prepared to place a larger order than ours simply because we arrived first.

Wish I could have left a bigger tip but they didn't take credit cards [WARNING] so they took all the cash I had. I could only leave a 50 cent tip from the change I got back.

Staggered back to the Kurrara where today, it's too warm to light the fire.

One other thing about the Blue Mountains. Outside when it's warm, each one of us is issued with our personal cloud of houseflies who buzz around us and settle on us when they get tired. They literally make us feel like we're the centre of their little universe.

Leaving Blue Mountains for Sydney tomorrow. I will definitely come back here someday.

A day of walking. Left most of our luggage at the Vulcan and with our day packs walked to Central Station. We caught the 0822 which left exactly on time. The ride to Katoomba is nearly 2 hours long. We sat in the upper deck of a double deck train and napped on and off till we arrived.

In Katoomba we're back in small town Oz again. Lots of family run businesses in shophouses, most of which close at 1700. Passed a bakery on the way to our guesthouse and bought a cheese and olive roll and an apple and walnut scroll for brekkie 'cos the smell was irresistable.

Found our guesthouse just off the town centre. It's a beautiful rustic house, lovingly furnished with a mixture of antique furniture. With my day pack on I'm quite nervous walking around inside 'cos with a careless swivel I might just bring down a 19th century ornament or two.

The Kurrara Historical Guest House is run by a friendly middle-aged gentleman by the name of Anthony (his operating licence says, Antonio Minardi), evidently of Italian descent. The house has a few common areas. Where I am right now is the TV room that houses the only anomaly here -- a 42" flat-screen TV. I'm also seated next to a toasty charcoal burning fireplace which Anthony has kindly lighted for us to ward off the evening chill. Books galore, mostly about Australia, are scattered about just begging to be flipped through. Anthony is himself reading Zen and the Brain, such exotic, intellectual stuff.

Oh, right. Walking. We walked from the station to the guesthouse; from the guesthouse to Echo Point (Katoomba's main attraction) which offers the touristy view of the 3 Sisters, a natural limestone rock formation. We took the walking trails from Echo Point to Katoomba Falls, but today it was the getting there that was more than half the fun.

The path took us round the cliffs and into the valley for a spectacular view of the Australian Mountainside. Deep, deep valleys, awesome cliffs and sandstone and shale outcroppings. Trees and shrubs and flowering plants of the temperate variety at the top, and rainforest at the bottom. I kept thinking how much Geog students would learn if they could only see the landscape for themselves.

Katoomba Falls on the map and in pix looks awesome but today the Falls fell short of expectation. Instead of seeing a roar and a rush we saw 2 piddling streams of water falling down a cliffside.

Took the world's steepest railway back up to the top of Scenic World which operates 2 other cable cars besides the Railway. Unfortunately, the Skyway isn't ready yet (will be by Christmas). We did take the Flyway back down into another part of the valley and walked around some more before ascending by the Railway again. The Railway is such a thrill because the cars ascend almost vertically up the cliff. The seats are oddly canted so that on ground level our feet hang in the air, but moving up the cliff we're sitting upright again with a big drop below us.

We walked till about 1600 with only our breakfast rolls as our only meal. Refuelled at The Devino Cafe with a meat pie marinaded in red wine and herbs, and a penne with salmon and capers in a creamy white wine sauce, washed down with a home made choc milkshake each. Yep, every calorie we burned, we stuffed right back again with interest.

We'd been walking for more than 6 hours by then but it was still early so we shopped for souvenirs at K-mart and Coles supermarket.

Hmm... I hate to leave the fireplace. Think I'll sit a little longer.

Tomorrow, the village of Leura, the Zig Zag Railway and Lithgow.

Another early riser to catch the 2nd Qantas flight out to Sydney. Had an omelette and coffee for brekkie at the domestic terminal's food court. June spotted Channel U's Michelle Chong seated at the table next to ours and took a pix with her.

Arrived at 1040 in sydney and after some deliberation, we bought a 3-day Sydney Pass ($100 each) for ourselves. The pass covers unlimited travel on most, I repeat, most public buses and trains for any 3 days within an 8-day period. It also covers airport transit 2-way even beyond the 3 days that the ticket is claimed on.

Sydney is the Big City. Lots of people in power suits talking business on their mobile phones; way tall buildings and a curious mix of concrete-and-steel with old red-brick, copper roofed low-risers from a century ago. Bustle and crowded streets... ah, city life.

Our hotel, the Vulcan Hotel, is in the Ultimo district. It cost $7.30 by cab from Central Station. I gave the cabbie $10 and he said, "thank you!" I never got to see my change, but that was to be expected.

Cabbie was Chinese like a lot of the people here. Evidently, Asians are not the minority. This was certainly the case in Darling Harbour while we were looking for dinner. There's no cheap food to be found anyplace. We finally settled on a food court in Harbourside. There's Mexican, American, Japanese/Chinese, Turkish, whatever, food on offer but behind every counter stood an Asian face. That sort of took the authenticity away from the menus but, hey, we're all over the place now -- making up for lost time.

Food at the food court is still expensive though. Large portions but high prices too. Starting to worry about our cash that seems to be drying up faster than expected.

Oops... time warp. Lunch was at Sydney Fish Market -- first place we hit immediately after checking in. June and I shared a dozen Sydney rock oysters and another dozen of the Tazzie variety. They were so fresh, just recently shucked by the guy behind the counter. Cold and briney, no sickening aftertaste. How can we enjoy half-shell oysters at buffets from now on?

Got ourselves sort of lost wandering around downtown with the Queen Victoria Building as our main point of reference. QVB is a beautifully restored old building turned shopping mall and its centrepiece is a massive 3-storey tall Christmas tree wich is a must-take photo op.

From QVB we visited St Andrew's Cathedral and dropped in on Woolworth's for munchies and on Border's where I bought R & G are Dead on DVD. Yay! I've been searching for it for so long.

Our hotel is quite a long walk away from the main action downtown. It seems to be located in something like the forgotten side of town so it's a bit dark and deserted where we are staying. The hotel is nice and comfortable, newly renovated so it's like an oasis this side of town. Fringe benefit from this holiday: good health from all the walking we're doing.

Off to the Blue Mountains by train early tomorrow morning!

What a great day! Caught the early X bus to Movie World without even stopping for breakfast. The chicken salad sandwich I split with June from the Mobil On-the-Run outlet doesn't count. Arrived almost 45 minutes before opening but they started selling tix at 0930 and letting people stream in anyway. Was greeted at the door by Mad Mike, more on him later.

Again, we went straight for the big thrill. Lethal Weapon is a suspended steel monster boasting 5 loops, big and small. A few hair-raising moments; it was a breathless ride, though I think we're getting a little spoiled. The rush isn't quite there anymore.

We made it just in time to the opening of the venue for the Police Academy stunt show where Mad Mike ushered us (i.e., everyone) to their seats. Watch out for him though, he's a trickster and it's his job to catch people off guard and embarrass them in full view of the public. With his arsenal of whistle, tickler, banana, water-pistol and a box labelled "Insanity Dept." he is a load of laughs at the expense of his victims : )

The show itself is action packed with skidding vehicles, pratfalls and explosions. I'm not sure what the "volunteers" from the audience actually did, but I guess it was a way to make us identify with the things happening in the arena >nudge< >wink<. The final explosion at the top of the PA building threw an awesome wave of heat in our direction. No foolin' about, the stunts are dangerous -- don't try them at home.

The Scooby Doo Haunted Castle was an easily underestimated ride by the both of us. It looks like just another haunted house on rails, and it began that way too. 4 in a car, being 'scared' by some cheesy animatronic spooks. The cars then enter an elevator 2 at a time, then with a scream-inducing surprise, the cars then start pulling some serious G's for an indoor coaster ride. What a thrill this ride was. Again!!! But later.

Too many people stood along Main Street blocking each other as they tried to watch the Matrix action show. Luckily, I just happened to be standing right where the action was and caught a reasonably well-choreographed kung-fu fight sequence between Neo, Trinity and some Agents. They're no Shaolin exponents but they danced through their moves safely. Light entertainment.

We went to watch the Loony Tunes break into their own version of Christmas Carols, then joined the line for Batman the Ride 2. This ride is a simulated ride, so expect a lot of jerks and bumps as you explore Gotham City in a modified 'Batwing' along with 19 other fellow passengers.

Lunch was a club sandwich and a Coke, then over to the wild west zone where the ride we wanted happened to be temporarily closed for 'technical reasons.' Likewise the Matrix official exhibition, so we returned to Scooby Doo again. And again. And again. Whee!

Last zone to visit was the Loony Tunes Village at which we rode the Roadrunner coaster. A kids' ride, but the speed was enjoyable.

Managed to get photos with Wonder Woman, Catwoman, the Police Academy team, and Austin Powers, but lost an opportunity with Santa because there were lots of kids around him, and kids get priority. Why was I brought up to be so polite?

All parks around here close at 1700, so by 1600 we made our way back to the bus stop to beat the crowd. We were lucky enough to catch the X bus again without waiting. Back downtown for dinner at the Koreana BBQ Restaurant. June's favourite hot-sour beancurd soup and a small beef bul go gi. Stuffed now, yesterday's fruit still waiting for us back in our hotel room.

We're off to Sydney tomorrow, bus coming to fetch us to the airport at 0550hrs. Guess that means an early night for us. G'nite!

Another blast of summer heat. Already baked an uneven shade of pink on the forearms and on my face. A pretty colour, if somewhat sensitive, in the not-too-painful sense.

Having a nice, lazy Sunday afternoon sitting in the balcony of Room 108. Am listening to the rock fountain cascading into the swimming pool below. Not much else to see, hemmed in as we are by several other high-rise hotels closer to the beach front.

Woke up at 0530 this morning but the sun was already pouring through the gaps in our curtains. It was so bright I thought it was well past our wake up time. But no, it was bright, it was hot, and it was still an ungodly hour in the morning. We were right on schedule then, heading for the Carrara Markets which open at 0600.

Since the Markets open so early, we couldn't believe that the 1st bus there only started running at 0800. Our concierge told us to wait at the Marriott, the Marriott told us to wait at the ANA, the ANA gave us a bus schedule that confirmed in black-and-white that our pickup was indeed at 0808. We had plenty of time for breakfast and a short stroll along the beach to marvel at the surf.

Pancakes at the Platinum Cafe, a 24 hour place and one of the few eateries that served breakfast this early in the morning. Perhaps we should have been more specific with our order. Instead of getting breakfast pancakes, we got pancakes (good), syrup (ok), butter (fine) and chocolate sauce and ice-cream on top (arrgh!). They did serve a good coffee, though.

Bus came more or less on time. $1 return per pax, nice! Carrara Markets is wonderful for bargains. I expected fruit and veggies, but there was a lot more! Fresh produce from the local farms were in abundance and smelled wonderful. But there were also jewellery, headgear, local arts and crafts, candy, collectibles, gardening stuff, pet stuff, Chinese massage, toys... and if it wasn't for the heat we would probably have spent the rest of the afternoon there too.

I bought a shark's tooth pendant for myself and June got one tiny tooth attached to a tiny surfboard to wear around her neck. The fresh peaches we bought are now chilling in the minibar. For brunch we had 2 meat pies -- one chunky steak and one chicken and vegetable. Hand-sized for convenience. The meat filling was really chunky. The pies were rough and satisfying, and went well with the lemonade that we shared.

Lots of cheap sunglasses on sale too. $10 each, $15 for polarized lenses, but I couldn't find a design I liked. Pity.

Came back to our hotel to nap in the early afternoon. As I sit here and write (at the moment I'm handwriting my blog in my pen-and-paper format) I can see dark clouds returning . Thought we'd seen the last of the bad weather but it may just have been a temporary respite. Hope this doesn't bode ill for tomorrow and Warner Bros. Movie World!

Now transcribing my notes back at the Platinum Cafe. Until next time!

A complete change of weather, and what a scorcher! It was a beautiful day for Dreamworld. The sun was out and we finally felt the heat that makes Surfers' paradise.

We started the day badly with transport woes. Only 1 public bus to Dreamworld and thought is is very cheap -- $6 per pax return -- it is also infrequent and consequently by the time it reaches the bus stop at our end it's already too full to accept any more passengers.

After an hour of fruitless waiting, we hailed a cab. It cost us $25 but it got us there in good time; within 20 minutes of opening at 1000hrs.

We made a bee-line for the theme park's main attraction. From afar, the 1st thing we saw of Dreamworld was this great phallic symbol pointing skywards. This is the pillar that is central to the 2 most thrilling rides in the park. The Big Drop took us right to the top of the 110m tower and suspended us there for about a minute while we admired the parking lot, or contemplated our fate. Then without warning, the platform plunged into free-fall for a few seconds, making us feel like we left our insides at the top, before the brakes caught.

Next up, the Tower of Terror. The ride seats 24 of us in a car on rails. With a hiss and a bang the car rockets up the same tower vertically, then plunges us back again BACKWARDS. This is supposed to be the fastest and tallest drop for a theme park ride, but really the anticipation is much worse than the actual experience. It just happens too quickly for us to register the terror we should be feeling and then it's already over.

We took a short break on the Runaway Reptar Rollercoaster, which is thematically based on Nick Studio's Rugrats. It's a suspended steel coaster with lots of twists and turns, though on the whole, it was actually quite a mild ride.

Lunch at the CatDog Snack Shack eating (what else?) hotdogs. We're used to cats waiting at tables for scraps, but here stray heron with nasty, long, sharp, curved beaks stalked around looking for windfalls of abandoned food.

The big coaster, The Cyclone, was another steel monster with a double loop. Standard stuff, though compared to what we tried next.

Wipeout is a ride that though remains stationary, spun us around high up in the air, inverted us and swung us headfirst towards the ground a number of times. And just when we though it was over, it sprung it's nastiest surprise. Exhilarating.

The Claw -- a rotary swing is the source of another set of screams. The big swing and the rotating platform sends us up in the air to almost a full inversion, spinning us simultaneously so we either looked at the clouds or at the concrete tarmac before being swung back again with velocity. Crazy!

After this, June too a nap on my shoulder then on my lap. It was so hot we guzzled 3 600ml bottles of Mount Franklin spring water and some Coke too.

Refreshed, we sought out the last thrill -- the Eureka Mountain Mine Ride. It was dark, enclosed with one or two sights to spook, lots of abrupt turns, but again another mild ride.

We said hello to koala, Beltana, and got our pix taken with her. Took a photo with a Spongebob Squarepants statue, rode Wipeout once more, then it was time to go. Park closes at 1700hrs.

We were lucky enough to catch the public bus back and met Dawn and parents (from church)aboard. Small world.

Shopped the early evening away at downtown Surfers', KFC for dinner, then home for an early night. We need it for the early start tomorrow morning.

The late departure from Changi meant that Dreamworld was not possible this morning and will be postponed to early tomorrow instead.

We arrived in Brisbane at about 1100hrs and caught a 90 minute train ride to Narang where our limo driver collected us and our luggage and deposited us at our hotel, the Australis Sovereign. We will be staying here for the next couple of nights.

The hotel is quite a friendly place, not too formal but it looks and feels new and comfortable. It is quite a walk from the main action happening at Surfers' Paradise, but the walk is pleasant and, I suppose, healthy.

The problem is, as usual, we bring the rain. We've got our windbreakers on, hoods up, walking around Surfers' in summer. Most everyone else here is walking around heedless of the wet weather, but we are nicely bundled up, quite the anomaly, though people are too polite to mention it in our presence.

We stopped for lunch at La Porchetta, an Italian chain restaurant, for a small meat lovers' pizza with extra mushroom topping. Thin crust, plenty of meat including bits of lamb, and fresh mozza. Lovely.

In the afternoon, we hit the malls searching for the Hard Rock Cafe. HRC stuff is quite horribly expensive so we didn't buy anything, though we wanted to get a t-shirt for sis-in-law's collection.

There is supposed to be a night market along the beach every Friday night but the poor weather must have washed it out. The beach is deserted today -- not even the hardcore surfer dudes are out -- so no point opening for business, much to June's disappointment.

Returned to the hotel with my left sandal busted up at the same place I had it stiched up last time. Bah. Need to get new sandals now.

Hope Aussie TV isn't as boring as American. Hopefully, Dreamworld tomorrow!

Check it out! It's almost 9pm and I'm still here -- at home! I should have been at the airport 2 hours ago, but my flight's been delayed. QF52 is supposed to depart 2110, now estimated 0100. This effectively loses us half a day in Brisbane tomorrow, but I guess this also means we don't have to rush any more.

Ok, calm down. Everything's ready to go, everything's packed, everything's prepared for the pets to survive 2 weeks without us. Thanks to Dad-in-law who'll be pet sitting everyday until we come back. Just breathe easy, and enjoy the trip.

Relax. We're on VACATION!

Still holed up at home nursing my head cold. The weather has turned chilly and that's not helping. Hope the sun and heat down-under will clear my head or it's going to be one heck of a trip.

While I was at home, the Diamond water filter guy dropped by to repo the filter system we ordered on trial. It's a mid-size plastic box that sits on the kitchen counter connecting the water supply with the tap. The water that comes through the filter is supposed to be cleaner and healthier somehow than normal PUB water, and it was convenient to just fill up our drinking water bottles without having to boil the water first. After 2 weeks of trial though, it didn't really make much difference to our lives and so to remove one more piece of clutter from our kitchen we decided to discontinue the service. We're not likely to be using it over the next couple of weeks anyway.

Other things keeping me occupied today are NFS:UG2 (completed, all parts and rewards unlocked), Neopets (advent calendar is giving out free stuff, in case you've forgotten), Rave: Groove Adventure on AXN (a major soap opera of an anime involving more talk and backstory exposition than action, and a pretty girl-with-a-forgotten-past), and The Amazing Race also on AXN. So much media. Can feel my social life petrifying as I blog.

Cargo bag stands ready to be filled with our stuff. Clothing, electronics, stuff that friends in Sydney have requested us to get for them, toileteries; hope I can squeeze all this stuff in and still travel light. Amongst the clothing will be my new Nautica windbreaker, a Christmas present from sis-in-law. It's a convertible jacket that can double as a parka when you wear it with it's inner lining. It even has a compass on a 'bina attached to the zip. Cool!

I'll try to make one more entry tomorrow before leaving for the airport. After that, who knows? Else, see y'all in 2 weeks!

Lousy start to the week with nasal congestion, ear blockage and sore throat. Been feeling this way since last Friday, though I haven't yet been totally incapacitated. Didn't want to think about it before but I hope it clears up before I leave for Oz on Thursday.

Still managed to get myself and June to the D&D last night. Everyone was polished and well-groomed, in a way that I've never seen before in NY students. Scruffy ol' me took the trouble to shop for a blazer for myself, and a gown for my date. I even used what was left in June's ancient jar of hair gel, though I panicked a bit when I applied it to my head and my hands got stuck to my hair like they were glued on. That jar was way past its expiry date and had dried into paste. Fortunately it obliged to wash off with a liberal amout of water and I didn't dare use any more.

My table was an all-girl table, with me the odd exception. Usually in these situations, I would feel like the rose among the thorns, but last night it felt quite the opposite. Kareen, Mindy, Farisa, Mei, Pris, 'nette, Yan, Rach, and June were all beautifully decked out, leaving me feeling a bit ah pek compared to them. Old insecurities arose, those I thought I'd long since buried. I can't show how gorgeous they were 'cos my camera suddenly turned shy and stayed in its pouch all night (er... no, that's not a euphemism for anything). Their hair and faces were sparkling and shimmery, their material flowed and curved around them, their cosmetic makeovers made them hard to recognise as the schoolgirls I used to teach, and indeed, I had to look at a few of them before I could recognise who they were. I was probably the oldest man in the hall (apart from the P, who isn't a man) and I felt my age. Sigh.

The food... well, who was really paying attenion to the food? The MC kept the attention on the stage with his silly games and low-brow humour. The choice of Prom King and Queen was um... expedient and arbitrary to say the least. Wonder when it became compulsory for D&Ds to insist on hiring game-show hosts to liven up the proceedings? Perhaps on occasions when guests aren't likely to know each other that's when MCs come in useful, but here when we are more likely to have fun entertaining ourselves he was just distracting.

Veritas=Truth:
Left as soon as dinner was over. I guess a combination of factors made me opt for an early exit. Physical infirmity, chronological disparity, social incongruity, whatever. I should have toughed it out and stayed longer; been more thick-skinned and inserted myself into more group photos; and whipped out my cam at every inappropriate opportunity; that would have made the event more memorable, but I didn't. Overwhelmed, I raised the white flag, committed social suicide and headed for the safety of home. Now I'm sorry I missed the post-dinner festivities.

This weekend was like a training session for our upcoming Aussie adventure. Our mall walking took us to PS (at last), then on the MRT to Chinatown, then back on the MRT going west-north to Causeway Point where we finally picked up some supplies and a Christmas essential, our turkey.

How is all this relevant to Aussie? It's what we intend to do once we get to Sydney. Hop on board public transport and hoof it all over town, seeing everything possible. We have to build our walking stamina back up, seeing as how lazy we've gotten over the last few years. Long past are the days when we walked from Tanglin road to Suntec City and back to Scotts Road just for the fun of it. We did this quite a few times a week too because it was the only way we could spend time together alone back then. Now, we just go straight home from wherever we are and we're already alone together. Pets don't count.

Anyway, we got almost everything we wanted from our shopping list except for the kitty litter deodorant and the vacuum cleaner hose to replace our current one which has sprung a leak. We did get our turkey -- a 4.45kg li'l fella -- who's going to be chilling out in our freezer till we come back from our vacation. Also saw some new Rollerblade models which are now about a third to half the price of when they first came out. In-lines are back on my wish list. Now if only I had somewhere to use them...

We leave in a couple of days. Better start packin'.

Went shopping again on Orchard Road. This time we hit Scotts, Tangs, Lucky Plaza, The Heeren, Centrepoint and Cineleisure. Although our main objective was to walk down from Orchard MRT to PS, we never made it. There was just too much to look at between Orchard and Somerset to move any further than that.

Lunched at the Island Cafe on the top floor of Tangs. Very good local food at premium prices. Used to be, the place was just a self-service cafeteria where I would sometimes go for a reasonably priced lunch when I worked around the area back then. These days, it's been upgraded. Now, we have to 'wait to be seated' and we have a menu rather than a chalkboard to make our selections from. Wait staff are polite and top up our glasses with ice-cold water. Good eating places always ensure the water they serve is kept well-chilled.

I ordered a chicken bryani and it came with chicken curry on the side. Mmmm... tender boneless chicken in a spicy dry curry. June's Indonesian Fried Rice was a very generous mountain of rice fried in lots of shallots and some other spices I couldn't identify, but the flavour was just gorgeous. Accompanying the rice were 2 sticks of chicken satay, some chicken curry (same as mine), a handful of fried egg strips and another handful of keropok (prawn crackers). There was so much on June's plate, even I couldn't help her finish everything, and that's quite saying something. It was quite an expensive meal, considering the same dishes are usually a fraction of the price we paid, but then this meal was a level above the usual.

Major annoyance occurred when we were at the Heeren. When we took the escalator down from 3rd to 2nd floor we heard a dull thud, like someone had dropped something solid on the floor. We didn't bother to turn around and look but 5 seconds later we found out exactly what had fallen. From behind, a girl's voice made an apologetic exclamation just before something cold and very wet hit me on the shoulder soaking my right sleeve. The same wet substance splashed into June's sandal as well, though fortunately it had missed the shopping bag June was carrying.

The bimbo behind us had dropped a bottle of Coke then picked it up and immediately opened the bottle top. Of course the pressurized contents just shot forward and hit us who were standing right in front of her. We tried to wash the mess off us to the best of our ability, but we still spent the rest of the afternoon, June with a sticky foot and as for me, somehow the Coke residue on my sleeve reacted with I don't know what -- my sweat maybe -- and it stank like improperly dried laundry. Blecch.

We stayed out like that till about early evening. Nothing stops us from our Christmas window shopping, eh?

The first time I watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show was at a Halloween festival at York U. I'd heard it was a cult favourite though I didn't know why and I wanted to find out. I was in the midst of an audience, most of whom came wearing quite outrageous costumes. I thought they had dressed up for Halloween. Certain members of audience became quite unruly as soon as the movie started. They were chatting, some even shouting and making fun of the characters and situations on screen. I got annoyed when (uncooked) rice fell on my head at the opening wedding sequence. Rice-wedding, geddit? I got it. I realised that it wasn't just a few blokes trying to spoil the show, rather it was EVERYBODY who was part of the show.

The movie itself was a no-brainer, but people keep going back to watch it again and again because it is the experience of audience participation, the crazy atmosphere and the chance to do what is usually frowned upon because it breaks every rule of audience etiquette in the book. Just as there are lines on particular cues that everyone knows and everyone shouts out simultaneously there are also moments when individuals improvise lines and they can be hilarious as well, and we try to remember to include what we had heard into our 'script' for our next screening.

Many of the themes in the movie, and what got added on later by the audience, fell under our censors' scissors in the past: sexual conflict (homo vs hetero, not guy vs girl) being one of them. Recently the censors allowed it to be shown as an outdoor event during the Halloween period, but the audience here hasn't a clue as to how the movie is to be enjoyed. When I was in Hono last year I picked up the movie on DVD as it is impossible to obtain here in Singapore (thanks to the ban that ceased to be of relevance many years ago).

I finally put the DVD to use last night at Weng's place. He had invited a few guests over for our first screening, though we really could have used a much bigger crowd. Luanne was there, of course, Chang Wei and Celine too. And it was nice to see Debbie and Eugene again, students I had taught from a couple of years back.

Weng had set up an outdoor cinema of sorts using his garage wall as a screen. He provided the hot dogs and drinks, June and I provided egg salad sandwiches and a few crunchies. Only me, Weng, and someone else in the back (Chang Wei?) were calling out most of the time, the rest of the crowd, newbies, only contributing the obligatory, "asshole," "slut," "this man has no neck" responses whenever these characters appeared or mentioned their names, and tossing the various props that Weng had provided us with on cue.

It was a fun evening. We even pursuaded Weng to show us the short film he shot a couple of weeks back. He had asked me to be in it, but I was so busy with invig at the time I couldn't fit the schedule. Anthony took my place instead, his film debut -- oh, and Celine's too. Bad crowd to show his film to though, 'cos we were still in the spirit of RHPS. We heckled it as well, turning his 'serious' drama into an unintended comedy.

Looking forward to the next screening when we have a few less RHPS 'virgins' who can create a bigger disturbance and create a better atmosphere for the next set of newbies to join us. How 'bout it, guys?

Must be the week to view over-reachers and world conquerors. Last Friday it was Cheng Ho, today, Alexander. Where Troy was Hollywood fluff, Alexander is a textbook, and doesn't pretend to be anything else. This movie is from the perspective of one of Alexander's old surviving Generals as he dictates his memoirs of Alexander's great exploits to an eager, wide-eyed scribe.

Pretty much everything we know about ATG, director, Stone, faithfully retells in this 2+ hour long epic. How ATG gets his horse, how ATG takes his comparatively small army to take on and defeat the nasty Persians, how his ambitions take him to India and would have taken him to conquer western Europe, had he not died at an early age. There is suspicion of poisoning as a cause of his death, but Stone, as in history, does not point an accusing finger at any one particular entity.

There is political intrigue and more than a hint of ATG's bisexual tendencies, though this is not surprising considering the time he lived in. Battle scenes are thoroughly messy. Blocks and blocks of formations clashing in a dust-obscured orgy of violence from the bird's eye view, and numerous quick cuts of personal and intimate violence from the combatant's perspective.

Always gets me wondering whenever I see scenes of close-quarters melee combat: why do men drive themselves into the midst of such utter madness, where life and limb are almost guaranteed lost? It's part of our nature, I guess, since we haven't learned anything from past battles fought long ago. It's still happening today in many parts of the world, and it's still a part of our growing -up ritual as well -- our boys being conscripted into the army for 2 years' National Service.

The timing of this movie could be Stone's warning to the US regarding it's expedition in Iraq. ATG marched into Babylon to a great welcome after having defeated Darius in battle. The US likewise expected a great welcome in Baghdad after defeating Hussein, but it wasn't to be. The narrator, Ptolemy, caustically remarks that entering Babylon was a far easier exercise than exiting it. The US finds itself in the same position today. Since Babylon=Iraq geographically, the parallel can be no coincidence. (Late edit: Stone himself says it was a coincidence).

To those of us who already know the history of ATG, the movie puts a grand picture to the text we know by heart. But those who haven't a clue as to who or what ATG is, the movie can be pretty dry and tedious to sit through. Perhaps the presence of "pretty" boys (to quote from ill-fated Clitus' spiteful observation) who litter the cast might add some interest to this movie, since the babe factor seems to be missing save for maybe Angelina Jolie who plays ATG's mom. How ineligible.

One interesting side note. According to a Discovery Channel programme I watched a week or so ago, a former Scotland Yard head and a team of forensic scientists have recently discredited both theories that ATG may have died of disease and that he may have been poisoned by shady elements within his royal court. They looked at his symptoms before his death and matched them with those caused by a toxin found in a root of a plant common in Macedonia. This root was used as a remedy for depression at the time, and it is well known that ATG was majorly bummed at the death of his best friend (some say lover), Hephaistion. The truth of ATG's death may simply be that he overdosed on this root, basically killing himself because of bad medical practice. Not very romantic nor heroic.

Odd to see this quotation so soon after I mentioned in my entry from a few days ago: "Fortune favours the bold," Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC).

So, we've got our first Idol in the 'fik. Between the 2, he is the better choice to represent us on the world stage whereas Sly still needs a lot more polishing before he can match up. Strangely enough, I had always thought it would be an all girl final, seeing as talent-wise the girls seemed to have more presence and musical ability than the boys. Guess they just couldn't pull in the votes.

I have to compare the Idol series with the 'Talentimes' of years ago. With Idol, there is a marked difference from the time of the contestants first raw debut to the time the winner gets chosen. There is an effort to mould the contestants' image, up their entertainment value, build their fan base and develop their sense of professionalism in the business. Not bad for 6 months' work for them who used to be ordinary Joes n' Janes.

The Talentimes of old didn't bother with grooming the talents to this level. What you saw on their first appearance was usually what you got at the finals. Winning depended on the judges' final decisions, and thus there were fewer surprises and less drama in these old formats.

The Idol concept is certainly a lot more entertaining, particularly since there is greater emphasis on the relationships that develop amongst the contestants. Here there is the possibility of fleshing out the contestants' backstories, their comradeship (no bitter squabbles featured in this season's Idol, but perhaps next season?) and the idea that it's a friendly rivalry -- only one will win, but everyone must pull together and work together in order for everyone to have their chance of being the last man (or woman) standing.

Central controlling figures, the judges, only have the power to be critical but the power of selection is in the hands of the people. Likewise, the responsibility of choosing well is also the peoples'.

Funny how a TV programme can reflect our current political situation, and quite possibly the direction education is going to go from now on. Greater emphasis on individual responsibility, less decision-making by a central authority. I don't know how well this is going to work out in practice, but in theory it sounds good. Everything now depends on how wisely we choose from ever growing options, and how we act upon our choices.

Right. Enough rambling for one night. Go to bed, old-timer!

Went to Orchard Road to do some shopping. Wandered around Far East Plaza, Scotts, Isetan (Shaw House), and Wisma Atria. Looked at clothes. Lots of clothes. Actually bought some clothes. Women have lots of different types of clothes to choose from for different occasions. Lots of colours to mix and match. Why are men's clothes so boring?

Another evening of scaring kids with bad acting. Tonight's group of night walkers seemed even more serious and task oriented than Sunday night's. We started the night walk earlier, but we still ended about the same time. Things went quite quickly at my station, but perhaps I crippled too many heavy people so groups had to struggle to get to "Rivendell" for "healing" and had to take many rest stops along the way. They were slow. But good news was that there was no rain though the sky did threaten a little in the early evening. No rain means no mud and my boots were spared.

On the way out of camp, we had to stop the car to allow a large python to cross the driveway before we proceeded towards supper. The driveway is looooong and the python was quite a distance from our campsite but JY called camp to alert them on this latest sighting of local fauna anyway. From what I could see, since Amy's headlights were not shining directly on it, the snake's body extended to about half the width of the driveway and the head had already passed into the bushes on the left and couldn't be seen. Kinda' makes me wonder who else was with me while I was hiding behind my tree at my station during the night walk. Brr...

Supper was at Punggol Nasi Lemak near Hougang. It was already about midnight when we arrived. For $5 I got 2 chicken wings (one was for Vince), a fried egg (over-easy), a generous piece of otah, and a sprinkling of kacang/ikan bilis. Apart from the spoonful of nasi I accidentally dropped on my crotch, the meal was quite enjoyable. The food was tasty, and it was an alternative to 24hr prata. 2 nights in a row? No thanks.

Wow. Came home after midnight again. LTC duty was more fun than I thought. Started with going to Beach Road to pick up camo paints for some of the night walk characters manning the event stations along the way.

The Army surplus stores on Beach Road are great places to get outdoorsy equipment and cool militant fashion accessories. NS men resupply their disposable items here, get their tailoring done, and get non-standard items that look great though not necessarily field-approved.

The shopkeepers here reflect a savvy approach to total retail. Alongside the gung-ho looking shops draped to the max with field equipment and military apparel there are other shops selling female footwear, hair accessories, women's clothing, and if I'm not wrong, even ladies' headgear. This incongruity is puzzling at first, then I realized that guys in the market for army stuff tend to bring their girlfriends (and wives) with them. The women in tow are another potential market to exploit, so why not?

Me, June, JY and HP squeezed in Amy's car to get to MOE's Bhatera Campsite. For a campsite it's quite a nice facility. Cool-looking open-air stilted longhouse concept housing about 10-12 occupants each. Apart from having to sleep on mats on a hardwood floor (which actually isn't so bad) the place is quite comfortable. Our crew were not overnight stayers, though.

Our job was to role-play scenes from LOTR at certain designated stop-points during the night walk. Amy, Victor, Lena and I were at the first station and it fell to us to set the story for the night walkers to get involved in. Amy, the storyteller, narrated the history of the Ring. Frodo, played by Lena, appeared on the scene chased by an umm... orc(?) played by Victor. Victor had taped strips of garbage bag to the poncho he wore and with his face in camo paint he looked like a half-hearted sniper. But with his bent-over, shuffling gait he looked evilly animal-like in the moonlight.

I had the fun job. I was Strider coming to Frodo's rescue. Initially, the idea was to engage the orc with a flaming torch, but whoever prepared the torch was overenthusiastic with the cloth wrap and the amount of kerosene soaked into it. On a test lighting, the torch quickly became a raging inferno in my hand. Burning out of control (the torch, not me) I had to drop it and it took an entire bucket of sand to put out the flames. I had to settle for a stick with 2 glow-sticks taped to the end. The flames would have been dramatic, but we weren't prepared for an orc barbeque last night.

I also had to select a few of the night walkers to continue the walk simulating walking or visual disabilities. It took the night walkers some time for their imaginations to kick in. They had to discuss what they needed to do to get to the next station with their handicaps. I could tell what was in their minds was 'let's get this over with,' rather than 'oh, a game! Let's play!' Sad thing about our young these days: they tend to get serious over the wrong issues. Sigh. I guess it's the way we train them from young. Instead of the healthy immediately rendering assistance to the needy, they have a discussion over the rules of the game, job descriptions, task allocations, and the committee can't make a decision to save their lives. In this game, as in life, the fun actually lies in 3 little words: Just Do It! Thank you, Nike.

Other stations involved John and Thad squatting half-naked by a puddle playing Gollum's 2 personalities and getting bitten by ants and struggling to maintain character despite the discomfort. JY, HP and alumnus, Natty, were elves, faces painted with the glitter cube stuff June bought from the Body Shop in the afternoon. Other alumni played the roles of Shelob and Sam, and Gurmit was, of course, a convincing Gandalf thanks to his convincing beard.

2 cars drove out for supper after the debrief. Same company in Amy's car; Jeeves and guest, JJ, in Vince's. We descended on The Prata House, Thomson, where JY got the cheese prata she'd been craving all afternoon. June and I had a plaster and a kosong each and split a milo dinosaur. Considering that the rain was so terrible in the afternoon that it looked like waves crashing over the railing into our balcony and our staircase became an impressive waterfall into our void deck, prata made a nice end to a muddy, squelchy, slippery night walk.

5 groups to entertain last night, another 5 tonight.