Yes, TTL(TirzaTajabLiku) definitely strikes again(?) Due to my unfinished shifts on latest department, I have to save all the stories until now.
As you know, traveling is one of my biggest passion in life. Everyone have their own way of traveling, and for me, I like to get all the things done by myself. I have to choose the places where I will stay, my own tickets, my transportation, the attractions that I would like to see, etc. I don't do travel agent. So when I attempted to make our Australia visa in a travel agent, I cant help but frustrated about the requirements they asked. There were too many things to be prepared, I mean, just too much. I know there must be a lot of papers to be deal with, but I asked my family in Oz if it's necessary, and they said it won't. So we gave up travel agent and do it by ourselves. This is a just a tip: if u want to make an Australia visa, just do it by yourself. You maybe work a lil bit more, but it taught u about endurance and patience. Plus, its cheaper.
So, our route is Makassar-KL-Melbourne-Newcastle-Sydney-KL-Makassar. Our day-transit in KL was quite an experience. We have to spend a day there so we decided to accept offer from fellow CS member, Lee Cheong Hong. He is a good Malaysian guy with nice apartment. He helped us when Mus left his backpack in the taxi T-T that was insane... all of his money and passport was in that bag, so u can imagine how frustrated we were...but with God's grace, after hours of bargain and phonecalls with the taxi driver, we finally made to get the bag back. Lee told us that we're quite lucky..because he said its kinda rare to find a taxi driver who accept to negotiate in this kind of situation. And the insanity doesn't end that fast. In the morning, we have to go to airport to catch the flight. And we decided to take the "short" walk to nearest train station. For the love of GOD, its not that short when you bring luggage with you! And no one mention about the freakin' stairssss. We're full of sweats and we have to help each other because our Oz fam added an extra bag (filled with Mks food of course, wkwk), and that definitely slow us even more.
But God's grace. Again. A guy, named Faisal, who we coicidentally met at the station, became our hero for the day. Actually we just want to ask for directions of the train, but after a short chitchat we found that he's a Palopo guy :)))) dunia oh dunia. He's a culinary student in KL, but he used to live and study in Palopo. Then he offered to take us to KLCC, our destination. We said no because he said before that he has a class. But he insisted... and there we were, with Faisal, taking us to KLCC, safe and sound. He even helped pull our bags along the way.
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| With our savior, Faisal. A good guy, he is. |
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| with Jard, Mus' friend in Malaysia, a cheerful lady who loves to travel by herself to so many places. She offered to take us from KLCC to airport and it was nice to meet this kind lady |
And after 8 hours of flight... Here we go, Australiaaa. We landed in Melbourne, and stay for a week, then we continue our journey to Newcastle and Sydney.
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| Melbourne City Marina |
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| Mount Dandenong - the place where you can see the city of Melbourne from above, a nice place for family picnic |
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| the cool thing about Oz: you can go to the nearest park and just laying on the grass.. like no one cares.. |
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| Weribee Mansion |
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| praise the spring... we can enjoy beautiful flowers anywhere. these roses were taken in Victoria State Rose Garden |
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| my kind of place |
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| William Ricketts Sanctuary - it's an open-air museum, where you can see Aboriginal sculptures |
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| had a nice breakfast with my auntie Tante Meli, her husband Om Paul and my cousins, Siegfried and Heidi at their lovely home |
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| my fav place in the whole world. National Library of Victoria - a very BIG library with million books of any subjects, and really calm atmosphere... i spend a lot of time there, omg |
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| Flinders Station, the main station where u can get all the subways |
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| the infamous Brighton Beach (it was a very crazy-windy day. man. so we just took real quick shots and gotten away with joy) |
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| the road to Ballarat(outside Melbourne)was quite awesome.. its like seeing those farms in Heidi's story. It's not even New Zealand yet, but I feel like I've been there already. Haha! |
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| Sovereign Hill in Ballarat - a really cool living museum with working exhibits brought to life by costumed characters and also horses. Set on 25 acres of an original mining state of old Australia, Sovereign Hill is a goldfields town with shops, hotels, school, factories, gold digging and underground mines, provide excitement and education for you and family to enjoy |
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| taking Jackson for a walk near our place in Newcastle City |
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| I miss Jackson already, that naughty (but handsome) creature.. man how he loved to invade our beds... |
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| Merewether Heigthts - I know, the view is breathtaking, right? :') |
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| Merewether Beach |
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| Newcastle Beach |
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| what is going on with this city?? they have hellova cool beaches! God. |
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| the koalas chooses to sleep when we finally get to see them. bad koala.. |
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| chillin with these guys at Morisset Park. that place is awesome, out of town, anti-crowd |
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| my heaven in Sydney ... Dymocks Bookshop |
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| the infamous Bondi Beach |
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| the crowded Manly Beach |
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| the lovely Om Liam and us - Sydney Bridge |
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| pleasant afternoon in Opera Bar, with my loveable auntie Tante Evie and Om Liam |
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| my luvs Kak Ririe dan Kak Ferry, our beautiful madam matron and papa matron (eh) in Melbourne |
So Australia made me happy more than I could ever imagine... I like that country so much.
The coolest thing about traveling, you can also visit your family as well. I know traveling is a journey, and to discover new things and people, but a family in another place, esp another country, is a very great thing. You may not worry too much about the destinations and routes, because there's an expert you can ask. And if bad things happen and you can't handle it by yourself, they will be there to help you. As for myself, I've been looking forward to meet them because we've been chatting from a long time ago and they keep asking me if someday I will be able to visit them. God is so good. We never want to cause a fuse, but they treated me and my friends very well, sometimes more than I could ever ask. When we were in Newcastle, we stayed at my friend's house, and her auntie and uncle treated us way too kind. Took us anywhere, cooked for us, captured our pics, in short words I feel overwhelmed by their kindness. They even gave us "oleh-oleh" to be brought home. In Sydney, my uncle Liam is a busy person, and they live quite far from the central. But, they arranged us a tour and treated me like a baby... Om Liam is a very very very kindhearted person, I remember I was looking at this fancy chocolate cafe in Sydney (maybe with a lil lust in my eyes wkwkkw), and he pulled me to that cafe and insist us to taste anything I want, even I kept saying oh God please no, My mum made me swear that I'll not "macam-macam" and "merepotkan", because Sydney is a very expensive city, and to take care for myself as much as I can, but...how I can't resist his kindness. Next, when we were at the Sydney Bridge and Opera Bar, for me taking some pictures in this 'iconic and touristy' places is enough, but Om Liam, he cheerfully asked me, "do you want to drink wine and maybe some cakes in the bar down there, with that nice view of Sydney bridge?" Oh man.... I almost cried and touches by his kindness. In this very expensive city with 8 dollars price on a ONE WAY train stop and 15 dollars for a simple lunch, kindness is something that touches your heart right in the middle of it. GOD I LOVE THEM. BLESS THEM. *sheddingtearsofjoy*
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