Journey

Our First Family Studio Photo

2011-01-11T16:32:00.006+11:00

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

2010-11-08T14:37:00.001+11:00

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Build a Bear Workshop at Westfield Doncaster

2010-09-04T18:34:00.003+10:00

Kitchen Renovation In Progress!

2010-06-20T18:27:00.006+10:00

Soon after moving in, we realized that we would be much happier if we renovated the kitchen. So, we started hunting for kitchen renovators, mainly using google and visited some kitchen showrooms (if anyone's looking, I'd say don't bother trying freedom kitchens. They decided that if we don't increase our budget to match their prices, it's not worth their time coming to quote!). I also found a pretty cool website - serviceseeking.com.au - that we can find tradespeople from. After a couple of quotes we were *almost* going to go with Zesta kitchens - but we thought we may be able to get cheaper appliances compared to the package they quoted us:

Joey wanted the 90cm set, upgrade to a canopy rangehood and add sink and tap, so that was $2420 + $499 + $238 = $3157... and with that, we were still not happy with their oven (we want something that can turn off by itself!) and the sink (we want a double sink, not 1.5 sinks!), so it seemed we needed to find these items on our own.

I therefore went to a Harvey Norman Commercial Division (and btw, they're a separate entity from Harvey Norman retail) warehouse clearance or something, which was in Brooklyn, 45 minutes west of where we are. First problem was parking, didn't realize there was going to be a crowd, so instead of getting there at opening time (8am), I ended up arriving at 10am... and since I was worried about getting fined, I had to park like 10 minutes walk away (which by my standards is pretty far! haha). Anyway, when I got to the building that's when the real wait begun - due to space limitations, there was a queue to go in - probably 5-6 people every few minutes were allowed to enter. I joined the line, which was by then a whole building away (sorry, no pictures - I refused to leave my place in the queue to go take a picture. lol!). So, I was in the line, slowly moving along, for almost 2 hours (yes, no typo errors... two hours.... thank goodness Joey and the kids didn't come. they were at home moving house with Elijah, Sarah and Naomi & friends). While in queue, I was talking to a friendly bloke in front of me, his name's Jason and he's a psychologist. Nice guy to chat with, which made the wait a little more bearable (the cold weather wasn't helping though!). In the conversation, I explained my reasons for being there, and he said if I was renovating my kitchen, I should try calling the guys who do his kitchens (he's done multiple kitchens through them already) - so, that's how I was introduced to Ace Craft Kitchens. Jason must have been godsent, though - he gave up waiting to get in and left after about 1.5 hours in queue. I guess he was meant to be there just to tell me to call Ace Craft =) My shopping went rather well, though. I bought a 90cm set:

- Technika Oven (it has the timers and all!)

- Fisher & Paykel canopy hood

- Fisher & Paykel gas cooktop

- Blanco sink ,double basin with tap (hmm... just realized this may be the wrong way around...)

and it all came up to $1862 including delivery. Quite happy. the gas cooktop was another story on its own though - they had run out of 90cm cooktops while the sales guy was sticking the 'sold' stickers for me, so they agreed to order one... and it turned out the model they promised had been discontinued, so they decided to honour their sale and give me a free upgrade to the current version. That's customer service to be commended!

So, back to the kitchen tale - I contacted Leah from Ace Craft Kitchens, and apologized for the late notice, but explained that Jason asked me to call them and that I was about to book with Zesta unless they wanted to quote right away. Yet another miracle, she kinda squeezed us between the current appointment and delayed the next a little, so James was able to come right away! We were pretty impressed with James as he took very careful measurements, and was able to explain why the sink should be moved to be aligned with the centre of the windows etc. Furthermore, he took out a piece of paper and instantly sketched out - by hand! - the entire kitchen! Amazing. And if that wasn't enough, he came up with a pretty competitively priced quote too! They invited us to their factory, and were willing to wait til 7:00pm so Joey could come after work. We therefore visited their factory a short while later, where they had the computerized 3D image ready for us to view. We discussed on the design, door type, colours, materials etc. They adjusted the computer image to give us a printout, and a few hours later (thanks, Kathy for babysitting Ryan and Noel, it saved them a few hours of misery!), we paid a deposit and booked our kitchen.

We had some miscommunications on what they could and couldn't do and when, but last Friday, which was 14 days later, our kitchen was ready for installation (with the exception of the benchtop that will arrive on Monday) and James brought 2 of his guys - Andrew (who's supposed to be specializing in Ace Craft Dogs, I believe) and Joey (how coincidental is that?!) to remove the existing kitchen, on a Saturday! They finished in a short time, and gave us an 'offer we couldn't refuse' to remove our floor and lay the floorboards too. So, we agreed, and they worked late into the night... James left to get reinforcements and the 2 guys worked from morning til about dinner time ... when it suddenly dawned on us that they haven't had anything to eat! We bought back some KFC buckets to share and when James returned, with another 3 more guys, he even brought our kitchen over!

So here's our dining area, kitchen removed, with an impossibly huge pile of rubble left, and that's James with a piece of our new kitchen.

and here's Andrew and Joey, you can see how dark it is! so yeah, they worked pretty late... (thanks, Simon for lending us the wheelbarrow and shovels... saved alot of time and effort!)

and here's our pre-assembled new kitchens:

And this was today, Sunday (reaaally rare to find tradespeople working on a Sunday too!), James brought the 3 people back again... and here's our kitchen is partially set up...

and the floor's being laid...
they did a really nice job, although the finishing touches need to be added the next trip... probably Wednesday, which was our original planned installation day =)
so, the tale is still unfinished, but this is where we're at right now! James and Ace Craft have really gone beyond the call of duty to provide great customer service and we're definitely happy to refer them to anyone who wants to get a new kitchen (or bathroom, laundry or whatever cabinet-related job).

It is finished!

2010-06-15T21:46:00.001+10:00

For those of you who aren't regularly checking on Joey's facebook, we have FINALLY finished the playset we bought for the kids.
It consisted of 32 phases to build. We started it on 16/5/2010, and up til last Friday, we had only completed 8/32 phases, mostly due to the fact that it's terribly cold and the sun sets at about 5:30pm (I audibly dislike winter!).
Anyway, with the long weekend (Monday was a public holiday), we were able to complete the whole thing! We made some unfixable mistakes along the way, buy mostly cosmetic. But after all that, I gladly say, 'It is finished!'

-- Post From My iPhone

Stuck at the airport!

2010-06-08T05:27:00.001+10:00

Friday, 4th June 2010. First time we got stuck at the airport - Joey must u've left the lights on or something, the car wouldn't start! And it was like 12:30am too! We were picking Wai Ling & Lai up, and our poor guests had to start their visit here by helping us flag down cars so we can get a jumpstart!
No thanks to technology, alot of people couldn't help coz their cars were computerized and the jump start would have reset all their settings. We finally found a kind soul, though, so we didn't need to call RACV :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Moving is no fun....

2010-05-26T16:03:00.002+10:00

this is our 5th time moving in 2 years.

Puchong to Petaling Jaya (MV) while waiting for the PR approval
Petaling Jaya to Australia (Coburg)
Coburg to Heidelberg Height
Heidelberg Height to Doncaster East
Doncaster East to Donvale

i hope we will not be moving anytime soon for a while ....

God is good he always send helper

when we are in Malaysia moving we have some youth and cell groups member helping and when we are in Australia from Heidelberg Height to Doncaster East Elijah & Sarah is around to help. and this time from Doncaster East to Donvale there are here again to help. I think is fated, they are our official moving buddy. each time they comes we moved. They both help with the packing and moving and Sarah help with the new curtain for the new house both of them are a BIG help.

We also have Naomi & friends helping over a weekend, they came over moved a few car & trailer loads and help to build the patio heater & a big rabbit hutch. btw Naomi is my newly found sister in Melbourne =) We also have Vincent over to help to change the lights in the house. he brought all his tool and lend it to us.

we have boxes and boxes of stuff lying all around the house, we are going to take our sweet time to slowly unboxing them 1 by 1 =)

Ebbie> since we've begun on the thank-you's, I should also add big thank you's to our friends Kathy for helping with the curtains (I don't think I'll ever be able to operate a sewing machine!) and Simon for the trailer - I don't think we could have moved that easily without it!

P.S. Joey, how bout our moves from subang to putra perdana then to USJ court 10? :) and I think PJ again before Puchong... Haha

We got the key to our new place

2010-05-18T10:11:00.001+10:00

Sunday - 16th May 2010

We got the keys ......

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Ryan's electronics class

2010-04-22T00:05:00.001+10:00

Ryan took up an electronics class in term 1 this year. They had a presentation last Monday to show the parents what the kids have learnt.

I was pretty surprised he could name all the parts - 2 snap connectors, 3 snap connectors, LED, speaker, push buttons, slide switch, blade, battery unit etc!

-- Post From My iPhone

Hope of all hearts

2010-04-18T23:07:00.005+10:00

one of my favourite in the album

Verse 1

The world may fail

You will remain

In the midst of the trial

You will always be

I’ll sing Our God never fails

Our God never fails

Verse 2

With hope and light

You reign over all

Though my heart may fail

You will always be

I’ll sing Our God never fails

Our God never fails

Pre chorus

Praise in the morning

Praise in the evening

Praise when im laughing

Praise when im grieving

There will be dancing

There will be singing

Upon injustice we will tell of Our God

Chorus

The hope of all hearts

The hope of all hearts is You

Your love never fails

Bridge

In the darkness in trial

My soul shall sing of Your mercy and kindness

Our offering of Praise

Our God never fails

Planetshakers - Even Greater

I BELIEVE IT

2010-04-16T11:27:00.004+10:00

VERSE
There is nothing that could hold back Your love
So we will sing to You with all that we are
We are favoured by the Father above
And in the favour we will live out Your love

PRE-CHORUS
It’s Your love we sing about
It’s Your love we’re living out

CHORUS
I believe it, I receive
Everything that You have for me
All my hopes and all my dreams
Are found in You, my everything

BRIDGE
You are the centre of everything
You are the reason why I dream
There is no greater thing to do
Than live a life of praise to You

Planetshakers - Even Greater

BRING IT ON BRING IT ON FAVOUR!

2010-04-14T17:20:00.004+10:00

Just want to blog about how God is good and how his timing always perfects. We have sold our house and manage to buy our new places and our prayer were answered.

Now let me tell you how we actually get in to this journey. Somewhere is February 2010; we are thinking of venturing into property investments and guess what we do not have any capital to do it, so we decided to check how much equity we have from our home. Maybe we can get some capital. So we talked to a few real estate agents to find out what is market value of our house. First agent we talked to from Barry Plant, he came over talk to Ebbie and give an estimate figure from 630K to 660K base on other sold property around the area. I am not so convince so we talk to another agent from Ray White, this agent is very proactive when he came he came prepared with documents and reports in our area. And the reports confirm what the first agent said.

So we are thinking of selling our house now and upsize, we are currently in a townhouse so no backyard or garden, Ryan & Noel has been asking for a new home with backyard so that can play and run around. This is where it all starts. We decided to put our home up for sale (auction). We set our auction date. Set our open inspection date. Reason we go auction is Melbourne has 83% success rate in auction and generally they get about 15% from that want seller asked for. We also spoke to our mortgage broker on our finances, he told use if we can sell our house for 650K we can go for a new place for 730K to 750K. So everything looks doable. So mum taught the kids to pray during meal time and pray that we can sell the house and blessing of a new home & promotion for mummy and daddy. The kid did it every meal =)

The first open we have good results we have about 8 groups came and view the place and there is 5 people show interests. It was a good start. We all are so excited and start planning our weekends to go for house inspection and attending auctions for our new places. We will start at about 9:00am and go from house to house till about 6:00pm, looking at 10 to 15 houses on Saturday for couple of weeks.

Well all our excitements plunge straight down from high to low and down to depressed when our open for inspection no one comes. It just doesn’t feel right. We still go for inspection and hopping that our next open they will be more people comes. Another week passed. We get even more depressed, all the houses that we like and hopping to get are all over our budget. Some house starting prices is 600K to 650K but when it reached the action day it all closed in the range 830K to 860K. There is no way we can afford it. And horror of all horror there is no one showed up for our inspection again. This is really bad …… somehow we can’t attract people to come to view the house. We still believe that this is a year of FAVOUR and it should get better.

Well we continuing open our house and still no one showed up and we slowly stopped searching for houses …. And guess what my company just retrenched a staff in our team. I would say the whole team got shaken and I felt insecure and felt that I might be the next to go. So I decided to look for jobs. I went for 3 interviews. And the whole interview process takes within 2 to 6 weeks. So life goes on day in day out.

Our auction day finally comes 13th March 2010. There is only 2 groups that came. This is really bad. Coz other auction we went to we are talking minimum 30 to 40 peoples turn up but normally only 2 to 4 interested group that will actually bids for the property. We have 2 groups that is less than 5 peoples. 1 of them wants to buy and the other party just said see how. Auction started no one bids and the one that is interested only offer 550K and agent came in and talk to us and said that is the only offer 550K do we want to consider? Of course we said no we told him that is not what we have in mind is way too low. So we told them we will set price to 600K for private sales. The agent left and we just felt that all our afford for the past few weeks like getting the house ready for inspection and spending hours on the road to searched for houses just wasted and all the excitement just disappeared.

That afternoon I told Ebbie to call the agent and tells him that I decided not to sell anymore gives us the bills and we settled it (adv bills). We roughly calculated that this whole event will cost is about 4.5K to try to sell the house. Advertising bill is about $1500 and then we took a line of credit for the 10% down payment for a new home. The fees come up to $2400 and some lawyer fees that come about $600. Well we tell ourselves take it as tuition fees a fee that going to takes us month to cover it back.

Ebbie talked to Dad about it and I am depressed and thinking about the house should we’re advertise and sell it for 600K? So that we can move on … we still make a good sum even if we sell it for 600K is just that we will not have enough to buy our next property. I can’t sleep that night, my mind just wondering around the whole night. The next morning is Sunday 14th March 2010, getting ready to go to church. I told Ebbie we will have to sit down with the agent again and see how should be proceed if I want to sell it 600K and what our next moved.

During sermon time in church I have called from our agent, so we told him we can’t talk will call him back. After church we called him back and he asked if we can come into his office. Since I wanted to talk to them on our next moved so we decided to go. When we get there and seated down. He shows how the sales contract. He manages to negotiate with the buyer that offers 550K to increase another 40K to 590K. We are shocks we told them not to do anything yesterday afternoon and he still takes his time on Sunday morning to get us the contract. He said is still 10K less to 600K and to help up he decided to cut down his own commission to help us up another 2K so total will be 592K. That is a WOW ! we signed it an sold our house anyway, now we are about 58K short coz we were planning to Sell it for 650K from the starts. But I felt that we should have let go and move on. So we did it.

Now we are homeless and we need to start looking for our home now. We told the agent now help us to find a new home ASAP. We are doing a loan portability we need the old & new home to settle on the same days to save 20K (another long story). Monday 15th March 2010, agents show us a home in Donvale and it has everything we wanted and this house is not on the market yet. The seller just want to test the market and see if the is any interests.

We like it and we decided to make an offer for it. Ebbie asked the agent how much should we offer. He told us not less than 650K and we asked again? How much should we offer? His partner was smiling, giving me the impression (If you asked an agent how much, of course the higher the better, coz that what they earn in commission). Our agent replied just offer 660K and his partner got a shocked looking face. BTW our agent name is David, David told us the seller might counter offer and we shall see what the counter offer is. Tuesday 15th March 2010 David came back and told us the seller said if we are willing to up another 15K to 675K the house is ours. So we agreed to will buy it for 675K. So we sign the contracts. So now we have SOLD our home and BOUGHT a new Home. We are now happy and everything should goes smoothly till the settlement date.

We truly believe that God Favour is upon us. A few days later we meet up with the seller again so I asked them where they are planning to move to. What is their plan? They replied they are now homeless; they are not sure why they sold the house so quickly. Their plan was to test the market and get show of interest then later auctions it. Later we talked to David our agent, he told us the private sales offer is just for us and if we didn’t take it they will not received any other private sale offer and sell it on auction. This is 100% a sign of FAVOUR !!!

The journeys still not ended yet, while our mortgage broker settling our finances for getting a loan for the new house. I got a call from 1 of the company I went for interview earlier; they offered me a Job and better pay. Ryan & Noel prayer all come to pass, they prayed that we can sell the house, buy a new place and get a promotion. It was like everything fits into place perfectly,
We talk to our mortgage broker that I will be switching job will there be any problem with our loan application. His replied YES if I switch jobs there is 90% chance I will not be able to get a loan. Well the good news becomes not so good news. If we can’t get the loan we can’t buy the house and we have to go back in to renting. =( until I have 2 months payslip then look for houses again. and by then we are not sure if we even able to get a good deal. I am 100% sure that God bring us this far he will not abandon us. So I typed my resignation letter plan to submit the next day.

The following day, I spoke to my manager that I want to resign as I had a better offer from the other company. So he asked what if they match it will I stay. I replied I might, and he goes and talk to the director and came back and said the company will match it. will I stay ? I told him I would like to but I know that currently we are not getting much project and I need assurance that I will not be retrenched in next few months. So we go and talked to our director and he give me an assurance that if there is another redundancy it will not be me, in my heart I was Praising God! So I stayed back and I got my increments and assurance for job security. So I have to call the other company that offer me the job that I am very sorry that I can’t accept the offer due to my situation that I am in the middle of switching houses I need my loan to be approved, the director said he understand and he really wanted me to work for their company, he told me just go and settle your stuff and keep in contact and let him know if I am planning to look for jobs again after all my house stuff.

Everyone tells us that switching job & switching house at the same time is CRAZY. Yeah is Crazy for a natural human thinking but not for GOD. I learn this during the Planetshakers 20TEN Conference. When we pray, we pray that HE give us TREE (end result) but God gives us seed. He want us to sowed the seed and watch it GROWS.

I am convinces that from the start God has planned all these for us to get a new house and an increments so that we can pay for the new home. He just want us to be able to see how he do it step by step clearly that his hand is at work and he is in controls and he is provider and we need to do is sowed the seed with FAITH and see it GROWS

God Is Never Late; He's Seldom Early; He's Always Right On Time

Noel's pony ride in Philip Island

2010-04-02T16:30:00.001+11:00

It's $20 for a pony ride, unlimited rounds as Long as daddy's willing to walk :)

They did 4 rounds! :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Thomas the train!

2010-03-27T11:53:00.001+11:00

Ryan and Noel with Thomas at Emerald Station.

-- Post From My iPhone

The Journey Continues

2010-03-21T08:15:00.005+11:00

it has been a while since our last blog and our journey has move on to another level. we sold our home last sunday 14th March 2010. and bought another place 16th March 2010.

this is our current house plan that was SOLD

this is the house plan of the house we just bought. well get ebbie to write how this journey started. as i she can explain in more details.

Chicken intestines & gizard

2009-11-08T15:51:00.001+11:00

Here's some adventurous Filipinos :)

Daniel was the brave one that went first ...

Then Abe went next

Roanna couldn't wait for her turn :D lol...

-- Post From My iPhone

Ryan at Adam's 6th birthday

2009-10-31T16:07:00.001+11:00

Ryan had great fun bowling at Adam's 6th birthday!

Their party host was also named Ryan :) and he's a great host for kids!

Superman can bowl! ;)

Kathy made the blue cake!

-- Post From My iPhone

Count down

2009-10-30T10:05:00.003+11:00

Count Down Starts ...

Hakka Tea house

2009-10-26T19:54:00.001+11:00

Having dinner with friends, Peter and Vivian.

-- Post From My iPhone

Nasi Lemak house

2009-10-24T17:12:00.001+11:00

-- Post From My iPhone

Supper Market

2009-10-23T19:03:00.001+11:00

www.suppermarket.com.au

-- Post From My iPhone

Home cooked birthday dinner!

2009-09-16T20:53:00.001+10:00

Dad and Mum cooked dinner at home as a special birthday treat! Really yummy, restaurant quality food! We ate until we were sooooo full... Couldn't eat another bite! Thanks Dad, Thanks Mum!

-- Post From My iPhone

Birthday Dinner

2009-09-15T21:30:00.004+10:00

Re-posting this as me... earlier post came out as 'Joey' =)

We went out for my birthday dinner in Docklands yesterday.... no, we didn't get the dates mixed up. haha. Docklands is having a Super Tuesday promotion on for an indefinate period, and we're making the most of it! Subject to terms and conditions, we generally get 50% off the total food bill. We've been to Live Bait & Bluefire Churrascaria earlier (yes, we forgot to blog) and it's been good. We also went to Kobe Jones (in Docklands as well, but for a different promo) for Fathers' Day. Had a $25 all-you-can-eat sushi promo for that one.

I'm blessed to have mum, dad and Naomi all here to celebrate my birthday!

Anyway, Joey said to choose somewhere so we (Ryan and I) decided to go to Yum Cha Dragon restaurant for Chinese food!

had some Roast Duck...

prawns...

sweet sour pork...

they call this suckling pig?

dried chilli n cashew nut chicken...

...and some other dishes we didn't take pictures of...

and they even gave us a cake to top it off!

Food and service was great. The guy, which I'm assuming is the restaurant manager, was extremely hospitable and helpful. Should have taken a picture of him. haha. We had a great experience there and would most likely come back again another Tuesday.

Coburg Lake

2009-09-12T16:18:00.001+10:00

Went shopping today, Nike in Smith Street was on sale, then went on to DFO. Didn't take pictures.. too busy shopping :)

Anyway, on the way back we stopped by Coburg Lake. It says it's 31 degrees today, but it doesn't feel hot at all. Nice breeze, not cold... I think this is the best weather we've ever had in Melbourne! So here we are, just sitting around enjoying it!

-- Post From My iPhone

Ryan loves mum ;)

2009-09-12T08:33:00.001+10:00

As u can see, it's so easy to blog from an iPhone. Haha! Be prepared from blog spam!

Here's what Ryan chose to wear today! (daddy bought it, of course!)

-- Post From My iPhone

Moments I love :)

2009-09-12T08:12:00.001+10:00

It's Saturday morning, and Noel is awake before 7am as usual, eagerly scooping up whatever game device he can get his hands on. Daddy limited them to playing on weekends only, and so Noel always maximizes every moment of it :) and the moment I love is that daddy gets up early too, to spend time with him, teaching him to play! :D I love all the father n sons moments. Hope I get to capture one with daddy & Ryan too!

-- Post From My iPhone

HOWTO: Sync Google Calendar on iPhone OS 3.0 with CalDAV

2009-09-08T16:27:00.008+10:00

CalDAV Calendar

Open up Settings from the home screen

Swipe down and select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”. At the bottom of the account list, touch “Add Account…”

We’re not adding any of the built-in accounts, so select “Other”

At the bottom, select “Add CalDAV Account”

Now, enter the credentials. For Google Calendar, use the following information. According to Yahoo!’s documentation, you would instead use “caldav.calendar.yahoo.com” for Server.

Server: www.google.com
Username:
Password:
Description:
The iPhone should now verify your account and auto-discover the rest of the settings. Really, that’s it!

Chili’s Baby Back Ribs (Serves 6-8)

2009-09-03T16:02:00.005+10:00

For those that likes Baby Back Ribs, this is an easy and tasty recipe.

This is the dish that Chili’s is famous for. Full rack of ribs "double-basted" w/BBQ sauce. Typically served w/cinnamon apples & homestyle fries.

6 pounds baby back pork ribs
2 cups water

Sauce

1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon liquid hickory flavoring
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut the rib slabs in half, leaving 6 to 8 ribs per section. In a large roasting pan, arrange the ribs evenly, then add the water. Cover pan tightly with a lid or foil to prevent steam from escaping. Bake for 3 hours.
About 2 hours into the baking time, make the sauce. In a large saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Prepare the coals in a barbecue. Remove the ribs from the roasting pan. Discard the water.
Cover the ribs with sauce, saving about 1-1/2 cups of the sauce for later use at the table. Grill the ribs on the barbecue for about 5 minutes per side, or until slightly charred.
Serve with the remaining sauce and lots of moist towelettes or paper towels.

** If you like your ribs falling off the bone, add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar to water before placing ribs to boil.

Grandpa, Grandma & the kids

2009-08-22T16:51:00.001+10:00

Photo taken from Ebbie's iPhone 3G at McDonalds on Doncaster & Blackburn road

-- Post From My iPhone

Deeper

2009-08-20T11:24:00.008+10:00

For the pass 1 month we have visited planetshakers church in Melbourne. and i felt that this will be the church that our family will be attending ....

Planetshakers is running 3 services on Sunday. 10:45am, 3pm and 5:15pm at Dallas Brooks Centre, Corner Victoria Parade & Eades Street, East Melbourne

They have beautiful worship and presence of God is strong during praise & worship.

2 week ago i bought this CD from church, here are some info about this album ...

"Deeper" is the brand new praise and worship album from Planetshakers, recorded live over three services at Planetshakers City Church. This powerful mix of 11 tracks includes "The Victory", "Jesus Reigns", "I Just Want You", and title track "Deeper". In typical Planetshakers fashion this album captures the heart of passionate worship. As you listen, you'll be encouraged to stir up a hunger within you and go deeper in your relationship with God. Songwriters on this album from the Planetshakers Team include Henry Seeley, Sam Evans, Joth Hunt, Mike Pilmer and Andy Harrison.

Australia orders 21 million doses of H1N1 vaccine

2009-08-20T10:10:00.000+10:00

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has ordered 21 million doses of swine flu vaccine, one for each person, with mass vaccinations to start nationally within weeks, the government said on Thursday.

Two million doses of the vaccine being developed by pharmaceutical company CSL Ltd would be distributed to doctors from next week, with pregnant women, the chronically ill and health workers getting treatment first.

"I think it's anticipated by the middle or end of September we will be starting to vaccinate the priority groups that, of course, are the most vulnerable," Health Minister Nicola Roxon told reporters.

Australia has 32,224 confirmed cases of H1N1, with 121 deaths associated with the pandemic.

Most cases have been in the most populous states of New South Wales and Victoria in the country's south east, which are in the middle of the southern hemisphere winter and flu season.

Leading flu vaccine makers include Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Baxter, CSL and Solvay.

Source

365 Days has passed

2009-04-14T16:06:00.003+10:00

Today 14th April 2009 is our 1st anniversary; we have been in Melbourne Australia for 1 Full Year (365 days).

It seems so fast time has passed. I can still remember that the day we arrived. We got our Australia mobile numbers, rent a car from the airport rush to the real-estate office to collect the rented house key and then rush out to do shopping to make the house liveable.

It is a phenomenon for everyone to think time is passing real fast?

When you are little you always want to grow up fast. my two boys they want to be like me being grown up. so that they can do this..and that.

When you are in Primary School you hope that you are in High School fast ... just can't wait to grow up fast enough...

When you are in High School you hare hoping that you in College or University...

For me the last 365 days passes so fast that it felt like it vanished into think air. after some thinking i finally realise that time ticking is always the same from the pass till now it did not move any faster or slower, the reason i felt that time passes fast is because God has BLESS me a wonderful year. I think when you are happy times just pass without you knowing.

Try to imagine that you are in this situation where your country is at WAR or something bad has happen or business not doing well and you are struggling to survive. I don’t think that time passes fast? You will be hopping to that all this will pass soon but it would felt like a minute is equal to an hour, a day will be a month and a year will be like a decade long.

When you think time passes fast do remembers what GOD has done in your life and all the blessing that he has given to you to make time passes fast

Mornington Peninsula - Alpaca Breeder

2009-03-02T20:25:00.005+11:00

After picking the strawberries we continue driving around the area. Our next stop is

I am not good expressing with words so i am just going to load all the photo here and let the photo express themselves

Mornington Peninsula - Sunny Ridge

2009-03-02T19:51:00.008+11:00

Last week we visited "Mornington Peninsula" is a nice place.

We started by driving all the way to Dromana for Strawberries picking. We went to this place call Sunny Ridge

After all the hard work ... now is the time to enjoy the fruit

After a break we continue with Raspberries picking

Dockland Fireworks

2009-01-01T02:10:00.005+11:00

Here is some fireworks photo I took on the New Year Eve at Dockland

The Great Ocean Road

2008-12-31T03:20:00.009+11:00

The Great Ocean Road (GOR) is a 243 km stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was constructed as a Memorial to those killed in the First World War. It is one of Australia's great scenic coastline drives.

GOR starts at Torquay and travels westward to the outskirts of Warrnambool. The road forms about 90% of B100 (previously designated as State Route 100), the remaining 10% known as the Surfcoast Highway which joins Geelong to Torquay.

We Conquer part of GOR, on the 29/12/2008, we started our journey from Doncater East to Port Campbell on the GOR, it took us about 4 hour via the inland route.

and coming back we took the GOR route. The journey back was challenging, long and winding road.

while we are on the GOR we visited :-

God's Wonderful Creations

The Grotto

London Arch

(formerly known as London Bridge before collapse of land section)

The Arch

Thunder Cave

The Blowhole

Elephant Rock

The Nobbies

2008-12-28T22:16:00.005+11:00

The Nobbies (Phillip Island) - a magnificent headland with boardwalks and lookout points offering spectacular coastal views. But there's much more to see than great views - the main drawcard of The Nobbies is the chance to view Australia's largest colony of fur seals, located 1km offshore. Up to 16,000 seals gather at Seal Rocks, with the number peaking during breeding season from October to December.

Watch the seals sunning themselves on the rocks, feeding their young, wrestling, or flopping into the cool water. From the boardwalks at The Nobbies you can watch their transformation from ungainly land creatures to swift, sleek marine dwellers twisting and rolling in the clear waters. For a closer look, visit the new Nobbies Centre which has just opened on the headland. The centre features state-of-the-art animal viewing technology, via a camera positioned on Seal Rocks that can be steered by visitors to zoom in on their favourite seal. Also onsite are educational displays about marine life, a café and upstairs function centre.

The Blowhole

Ryan's Kinder Concert

2008-12-22T23:32:00.003+11:00

This is Ryan's 1st & last Kinder Concert.
Next year he will be going to prep school.

Phillip Island! - Churchill Island, Koala Conservation Centre & Penguin Island

2008-10-30T00:14:00.008+11:00

We finally made it to Phillip Island last Saturday. Was supposed to take mum and dad there, but it didn't work out the last trip. planning to bring them in February. for this trip, we were on a 3-park pass (was good value for money, but I seriously doubt I'ld do 3 passes again). Passes are cheaper if you book through RACV - have to be a member though. Our car insurance is with them, so it qualifies. Usually the penguin ticket alone is $20, but with this RACV benefit, the 3 park pass is $28.50 or so and the family ticket (2 adult + 2 children) is about $70 or so. can't remember the exact figure.

the weather was beautiful. Sunny, but not blazing hot, and not pouring rain either.

we started off at Churchill Island

the good thing about going out with others is that we get to take a family pic =)

Elijah and Sarah are lots of fun

and my cousin Irene managed to come along too, so we really had a great time! Hope she's willing to come out together more often =)

Sarah's been great with the kids... and horses... hehe

I think Elijah was keen to see if Irene might someday become a vet...

I don't know what's going on here, but it sure is cute =)

and everywhere that the guy went, the lamb was sure to go. seriously, he said he's been taking care of this lamb since it was young and the lamb considers him to be its parent. hehe.

Noel was amazing, he went up to the goat all by himself as I watched from a short distance (the goat was tied, and Noel seemed to figure that part out, which he was quite thrilled about). So, he spent quite awhile with Mr.Goat, feeding him handful by handful...

and Mr.Goat was happy too

As good as Elijah may be with the kids, credit goes to Sarah for taking a really nice shot =)

We also went to the Koala Conservation Centre (Park 2 of 3). Not that many Koalas, possibly about 10 or so, but you can get really close to some of them

like this

After that, we went to the Nobbies (free entrance) and used the seal camera to take pictures of some seals on the rocks in the distance.
[sorry, seal pictures not scanned yet]

funnily enough, although the scenery was really nice, we were all too busy eating fish and chips (which wasn't very nice) and totally forgot to take a pic. so, I'm copying this off the Philip Island website:

Then, the highlight of it all, we finally went to Penguin Parade... and its not our fault that we don't have pics - photography is strictly prohibited. So, once again, taking from their website:

these penguins are smaller than you think. they're about the height of a seagull ... and seagulls aren't large birds... soooooooo cute...... need to see them again... =)

Plants - 26/10/08

2008-10-26T22:19:00.008+11:00

Dad/Grandpa planted some stuff with the kids earlier, so here's a progress report =)

Honestly, I did not remember to water it everyday, but I did see Noel trying to do it today, so ... yes, I went on to water the plants today. Hope I remember tomorrow =) Just bought Noel a little watering can (after the picture was taken) so maybe he'll do the watering for me instead =D

Here's the french beans... looks like I'm supposed to do something with it soon, but I cant remember what... was I supposed to poke sticks in? I've got satay sticks but that may not suffice...

these ones are coming out of the ground... can't remember what its called...

these ones are really tiny, but they're also coming out.

and these are the sunflowers that the kids planted with grandpa during the Royal Melbourne Show

Playground Fun!

2008-10-26T20:06:00.003+11:00

One thing nice about living here is that there are alot of lovely playgrounds around. Joey took the kids to this playground one evening after dinner, then Elijah and Sarah brought the kids to play another day when we were at work. Its newly completed... although I think they are still building a couple more items.

Ryan was very good with climbing up this structure.

Noel was having fun spinning around

until it started spinning too fast. hehe. even the photographer (Elijah) was too dizzy to move when they both got off the 'ride' =)

There are all sorts of cool swings there too...

and with some help from Aunty Sarah, Noel can climb up quite high too!

HAM radio tour

2008-10-24T23:32:00.003+11:00

Elijah and Sarah begun their trip here with trying to convince us to get a HAM radio license. We have no plans to get it so far, but we sure met some reall nice people. This is Greg and Denise.... we had dinner in their place. They have 2 lovely dogs that Noel and Ryan could sit down and play with.

Greg also took us for a walk to try to spot kangaroos... but it wasn't very successful. we'll probably have to look for them at a proper park (or come out early in the morning or late in the evening)

We did however see lots of equipment - which was pretty interesting, they can transmit to people all over the world! and look at the size of the antennas jutting out above their house(s)... all of their houses can be spotted from pretty far away =)

Life as at 23 Oct 08

2008-10-23T23:28:00.005+11:00

Debbie & family left this morning, and Anna left yesterday. Both are supposed to be returning in a couple of months... I'm guessing Debbie should be back next year and Anna the year after. Then again, that's assuming neither of them change plans.

As for us, we're missing mum and dad (err... I think 'us' excludes Joey in this case... haha), but we (including Joey) are very happy to have Elijah and Sarah here.

House - we need to find a tenant to replace us before we can move (we're trying to settle earlier than the settlement date), but if we can't find one by 10th November, we're going to have to pay the rent and the loan simultaneously... which is bad... and this will be ongoing until we find another tenant that the landlord is happy to take, or til the end of our contract in May next year, whiehever comes first. Our house was open for inspection this evening and there was one family that came. we will get a better idea tomorrow if they are interested. there will be another 'open' this saturday, so we hope someone suitable will apply(to rent).

House in Puchong - for the house in Amanputra, we're trying to sell it. someone has verbally offered, but when we agreed, they said they want another week before they confirm, so we're still looking for buyers.

More on Mum & Dad's visit

2008-10-21T23:02:00.009+11:00

Mum actually ended up getting sick for awhile after the Royal Melbourne Show, but when she finally got better, we had the chance to take them for a night out... also, Mum, Dad and Anna helped us with a last minute house transformation for an inspection we had on a weekday, and Joey wanted to take them out to say Thank You as well.

Oh, inspection basically refers to the event where you open the house for potential tenants (in the case of renting) to view. OK, enough words, time for pictures!

we went to the marina at New Quay, Docklands

we were thinking of eating here at first, but it was simply tooooo cold to eat out that day...

I jumped in for a picture...

and Anna managed to get a nice shot of mum...

this pic was taken from our seat, so no, we didn't eat there this time, we ate at somewhere called the Berth, which was a similar concept to this one in the pic - overlooking the waters.

the food took awhile, though, so Joey got busy with Noel (Anna, good job on the pic, u actually managed to take Joey! haha!)

and Noel sat quietly playing while waiting for the food.

at least Ryan managed to look up for a picture =)

the food finally came, and it was generally nice...

and there was a cute fireplace right behind us

after dinner, Anna finally got a chance to be IN a picture

then we went for a drive around the city

we only managed to get some pictures from the car, coz we didn't stop anywhere, but u get the idea =)

Royal Melbourne Show 2008 - Part 2

2008-10-20T23:59:00.008+11:00

I should have posted this long ago, but life has been kinda hectic with us trying to sort out everything for the new house... it's still in progress, but today, I had a moment of inspiration when I had an email from a friend who's still reading the blog although I haven't been faithfully updating it... so... I said I AM gonna blog tonight... as comfy as my bed is... sleep will have to wait just a little while more =)

Royal Melbourne Show - the second time we went was with mum and dad... also known as grandpa and grandma.... =) it was lovely having them over to visit us, and we're looking forward to their next trip here. Okay, I'll let the pictures do the talking now...

here's the 'monster truck'

going over the cars...

and down the other side...

I wouldn't want one of these things behind me during a traffic jam!

Then there was this stunt-rider ... I couldn't take good pics of his stunts, but he did go over, under, backward etc on the moving horse, which was quite fascinating!

the bike stunt-men were even more impressive though...

i'm not gonna put everything up or else its gonna be a reaaallly long blog...

but these were some pretty cool stunts

don't try them at home, though ;)

Noel had a great view, first on daddy's shoulders then on grandpa's...

grandpa and grandma were pretty good, still smiling although the sun was REALLY hot!

there was also a clown show...

and lotsa animals... these are alpacas... i think...

Grandpa helped the kids plant a sunflower (each) that they could take home...

Noel should go in for an advertisement on how kids love eating fruits =)

yummy... how satisfying!

the kids were very happy to be out with grandpa and grandma... but it took up quite abit of energy for grandpa n grandma to catch up with them!

TanZen

2008-10-07T10:22:00.008+11:00

I would like to recommends this games to those that has an
Apple iPhone or iPod Touch.

Find your Zen, with this updated version of the classic tangram puzzle game. Honoring all the elements that have made tangrams popular for centuries, Little White Bear Studios has brought this ancient challenge to the iPhone!
Fit all seven shapes completely within the shadowed puzzle area, without overlapping!

Features:

Over 100 puzzles to choose from.
Freeform play. Solve puzzles in any order you'd like!
Large, intuitive touch controls for superior shape placement.
Simple, addictive game play.
Puzzle memory. Stuck on a puzzle? Go try a different one, and come back to it later.
Your past progress will be restored.

Available now, at the Apple App Store!

After many attempts, I finally FINISHED all the puzzle.

Our New Home

2008-09-27T20:33:00.006+10:00

Just want to share some photo on our new home !

Kitchen

Living Hall (photo taken at the dining area)

Dining

Garden / Patio

The layout of the house ...

will post more photo later ...

Royal Melbourne Show 2008 - Part 1

2008-09-20T22:23:00.007+10:00

Today, we went for Part 1 of the Royal Melbourne Show (www.royalshow.com.au)... why part 1? coz we have a promo ticket where we get to enter twice for the same price - but they take our picture and print it on the 2nd ticket so we can't give it away... haha...

well, the place was quite crowded, and there was just so much to see and do

the kids seemed to especially love the animals everywhere. Here's Ryan at the Alpaca cage:

and Noel bravely did some face-painting

and he became super-spiderman... that is, spiderman face with superman clothes =)

which Ryan refused to do, but still cheered him on

there were also ducks...

we watched some horses

petted some animals

posed for a picture ... no, its not a real ram =) there were sheep, but the kids didn't sit on it for obvious reasons =)

Ryan milked a cow!

we didn't have time to ride the ferris wheel, but that might be the next thing we do in part 2 - if Joey's ok with it =)

what do you think this is? Believe it or not, its a fowl!

well, we did what they called a 'Farm Trail' for kids - which makes the kids go from one area to another, to answer questions and get their Farm Trail card stamped at each 'station'.

At the end of it, Ryan got his certificate, a McDonalds box of cookies and McDonalds voucher for a cheeseburger (or orange juice or salad... so we're sticking with the cheeseburger)

And Noel got his too!

we were trying to get a picture with Po, the Kung Fu Panda, but the sun was right behind, and getting lower.

by the time it was our turn, the sun was in a really bad spot...

but we did play some games

and win some prizes

one thing to note though, don't park at the 2hr parking zone, if you know you're gonna stay longer than that! =) ladies and gentlemen, we present.... our first parking fine!

Blessings of Home...

2008-09-19T21:46:00.005+10:00

I'm not really sure where to begin... we've tried searching for a house, and even made some offers, but as we told our LifeGroup (a.k.a. cell group), our prayer is that if it is not meant for us, by all means, shut the door. So, as doors shut around us, we continued our search for a home, content to know that all that isn't meant for us wouldn't land on our laps... ok, fine, we were not that great... although we did feel peaceful and content deep down, up on the surface we were, as all humans are, getting annoyed, frustrated, and completely confused to the point that we couldn't really figure out what we wanted anymore. haha... so, when Joey asked what I wanted for my birthday, I instinctively replied, "a house?" =D

we've been to a couple of 'inspections' as they call it, where you go to the house, look at it, and if you're happy, make an offer which the agent will present to the seller to see if they accept/counter offer etc. While I'm on this topic, let me also explain that a lot of things here are 'area based' and I can't think of a better way to phrase it. Before choosing a house, you first need to choose a suburb, or a range of surrounding suburbs - because real estate agents are assigned to different areas - they only sell/rent properties in that area (which consists of a few suburbs close to each other) - unlike in KL, where you can have an agent seeing to your property in Bangi and Subang Jaya at the same time, it doesn't work that way here. Same thing with schools - you choose the one near to your home, or around that area... and that is one driving factor for house prices too. if your're in an area with better schools, the houses cost more. if you get a cheap beautiful house further away that is not in the 'area', you cant take your children to school there. One more thing to consider were the freeways. From our office, if we are headed north or west, we would end up driving through towns or really jam packed 'main' roads with only 2 lanes... which will increase driving time, compared to heading east (coz our office is near the eastern freeway), where even if you live further out, you can drive at 100kmh along the eastern freeway, and if you need to stay further east, they have the eastlink(toll) that connects to the eastern freeway too. so, getting to a house 30km east is way faster than getting to somewhere 30km west.

So first, we needed to properly choose a suburb - coz when we called to enquire about prices, the real estate agents will ask, which area do you want to live in? and if you say 'anywhere in Melbourne, north, south, east or west...' its a pretty bad idea - no one takes you seriously. And we found that out the hard way =) we replied that we're looking at anywhere from Deer Park in the west to Bayswater North in the north east area... so, after much thought and school searching, we decided to either live in the Manningham area (north east, 20-30km from the city), which had relatively good schools, and the prices weren't insanely high compared to Balywn North and Glen Waverley where the most popular schools were. The other option was to remain in Heidelberg Heights where we live now, which is actually nearer to the city (about 15km northwards, slightly east) - the schools weren't as 'good' but the prices were about 70k less in prices. Eventually we decided on Manningham, which covered the suburbs of Bulleen, Templestowe, Lower Templestowe, Doncaster, Doncaster East, Donvale and parts of Mitcham and Ringwood etc... Our church is in Lower Templestowe, and there are some nice schools in Doncaster and Doncaster East, so we decided to focus on these 3 suburbs...

The first house we fell in love with was in Doncaster East - a townhouse with 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms (one of which is an 'ensuite' meaning the master bedroom has its own bathroom) and 2-car remote controlled garage. It wasn't very near to the eastern freeway exit, but there was a direct road to it, and it was with a bunch of houses that were all newly built, so it was pleasant to come home to. The houses in Doncaster east ranged from 500k to about 700k onwards depending on the size, new or old, how many rooms, land size etc... this one was going for 549k. we made an offer, but it was nowhere near good enough and it got rejected. To be honest, it was good of our agent, John, to actually put together our offer, because it was apparently not reasonable, and we could see it on the face of his colleague as John was helping us out with the offer anyway.

We also saw another townhouse in Doncaster East that had an awesome location - really close to a primary school, with a playground and bus stop in front of the house, it was relatively new and also had 3room, 2bath and 2 car remote garage - but the the rooms and living areas were really small and cramped. So, although it was asking for 509k, we decided to pass on this one.

The 2nd townhouse we really liked was in Lower Templestowe - near to church, and nearer to work than Doncaster East, it was brand new and had 4 rooms, 2bath - but no ensuite, (master bedroom has no connecting bathroom - the 2nd bath was in the hall downstairs), smaller hall and smaller 'usable' backyard space because of the way it was designed, but there was alot of premium add ins to the house... one other problem was that it had only 1 car space in the garage - meaning one car had to be parked on the driveway right outside the garage door (its the only space to put the 2nd car), so we have to keep reshuffling the cars to get one in and one out. So, not very practical, but the house was gorgeous, and it was in an area with nice houses all around. This one was going for 520k and we offered just under $500. They wanted us to add in extra cash on top of the sale price, and we offered an extra 10k, but it still wasn't good enough for them. They asked for another 8k more, and this was the one that we told our LifeGroup that if it isn't meant for us, we are happy not to get it. Anyway, it was sold to someone else within the next 2-3 days.

Next, there was a piece of land for sale in Doncaster East - actually, someone with a large land was selling off their backyard. It was going for 270k and to build a house on it would cost about 250k (without blinds, oven, stovetop, dishwasher etc etc) depending on how much the ground slopes etc - anyway, we made an offer subject to the plan that we want fitting on it. well, the land was too small. called a couple of builders, but they could not fit in the plans we wanted. also, one said that because the house was at the back half of the land, they were not willing to build there at all - something about increased costs of moving the materials to the back etc. so, that didn't work out either.

anyway, dad skyped us to wish me happy birthday on Wednesday, and I told him about the house hunting and stuff, and he simply said to just get something we were happy to come home to. My reply was, "err... Dad? there's that price factor....", to which he said 'Don't worry...'
'yeah, very funny', I thought... However, as I look back now, I believe something happened in the atmosphere...

I hung up the skype call shortly after and Joey and I sat down chatting about the all the real estate agents we had been dealing with, and we both agreed we liked one in particular - John. He was always courteous and professional, made us feel like he was doing his best for us and had actually called me earlier that day to let me know that there was another house for sale. We did look at it, but it wasn't something we liked. As Joey and I continued talking, our house phone rang - which was strange, coz we don't usually give out our house line number (simply coz we don't use it - we use our mobile phones)... I picked up the phone, anticipating either a wrong number or Marjorie, and to my utmost surprise, it was John. I was trying to tell him that we didn't like the other house he told me to look at, but he said he was actually calling to see if we wanted to re-present the offer that was rejected earlier. We said sure! The next day, sometime in the evening, he called to say congratulations...! Somehow the seller had a miraculous change of heart all of a sudden, not to mention that John's colleague that we mentioned gave us a look that seemed to show 'unreasonable!', ended up also having a change of heart that night we were skyping with dad, and he was the one to re-present out offer to the seller the next day. We rushed over to pay a partial deposit after work and I called Debbie and Marjorie to tell them the news! We were so excited, we wanted to go see the house again, and John kindly took us there, which is really kind of him, because he could have just said it was after his working hours. His work was done and everything was signed, but he still looked after us. that is one great agent. Marjorie came along to look at the house too! Up til now, I still can't believe it, but it seems like we've got a home, and its nothing short of a miracle. All I can say is that it is God's blessing, and I believe He will also bless the seller of the house and the agents involved in making all this come true.

With God, all things are possible, and he truly looks after us even more than he provides for the sparrows in the fields =)

p.s. Dad, if you read this, I must say I personally believe that when you gave us your blessings, our heavenly Father did likewise. Thank you!

Birthday!

2008-09-19T21:28:00.002+10:00

So what did I do on my birthday?

Well, at work (yes, I went to work!) I brought some cakes - it is our office tradition that you bring some cakes on your birthday and put it in the kitchen and send an email out to either your team or all staff ( I guess depending on the amount of cake you brought. hahaha)... anyway, I did that... was fun getting 'happy birthday' greetings all day.

after work, past 5pm, we decided to have dinner out... it was actually an idea we were thinking off all day - but I wasn't sure if we were gonna really do it... I was thinking of calling Debbie, Caleb and family (Anna too) as well as Henry and Marjorie, but considering the fact that it was past 5 by the time we decided, I only ended up calling Debbie (etc) - coz I kinda knew she was on standy for a last minute decision =D

So, we managed to have a fine time at dinner together at Shoppingtown Hotel, where I've been to dinner with my colleagues before. To add the finishing touches to a great night, Henry and Marjorie stopped by and surprised us not just with their presence but also with a thermal full of bubur cha cha =)

now, if only Debbie or Anna could please send me the pictures.... hahaha...

Tesselaar Tulip Festival 2008

2008-09-15T23:45:00.009+10:00

Last Sunday, we went to Silvan to see the Tesselaar Tulip Festival

Although I've been told its better at Canberra, this place is much nearer, and it was still great for us since we've never been in a field full of tulips before...

this blog is gonna be quite crowded with pictures, so I'll try to write less =) but we did have quite a lot of photographers that day... all of us took turns at taking pictures!

this picture was taken by Ryan:

And this one was taken by Noel:

here's our tour guide - his name is Nick, he's 11 years old and he's a really cool tour guide!

we went gnome hunting together, so the kids could win a candy prize =)

some things were toooo attractive, we just HAD to take pictures, even if it wasn't tulips...

and this is by far the best decorated tree I've ever seen:

we also took a bite .... here's the tiny pancakes with butter, maple syrup and icing sugar (sorry, we ate the croquettes before we remembered to take pics of it... but it was really yummy... good recommedation from our tour guide!)

then there was a really huge gust of wind that blew the plate away... yes, it can get super windy... and although the pancakes were heavy enough to fall on the table/other plate, the empty plate went flying in the wind, sprinking some icing sugar on Noel on the way... not sure if u'll need to zoom in to the pic to see it though =)

we also took a ride in the horse carriage... it didn't go far, but the kids seemed to love it anyway!

and Noel thanked the horse for the ride! quite literally actually. he went to stroke the horse and said 'thank you for the ride!'

both of them love flowers, apparently. Noel likes touching them...

and Ryan's trying to blend it =)

anyway, the tulips were gorgeous. i LOVE tulips!

they even had miniature windmills...

and I don't know what this tree is called, but its pretty...

aside from tulips there were also a lot of daffodils...

and Ryan and Noel chose a tulip pot each to bring back. They were 2 for $10. Ryan took a bright red one and Noel took a yellow one.

ok, that's most of it. I'm sleepy. gonna sleep now =)

Fathers' Day 2008

2008-09-09T22:15:00.007+10:00

Last Sunday was Fathers' Day here in Melbourne... and though the kids still owe Daddy a present (shopping was not on Joey's list of fun things to do), we had a pretty exciting day. You guys won't believe how it began - Joey woke up at 5.45am to be in CityLife Church together with Henry Bong and team to set up the audio equipment for the Sunday Service. Yes, it's the first time, but apparently it's not gonna be the last!

Joey came home to get us, then we went to church for the 9am service, where the Senior Minister, Mark Conner was preaching that day (http://www.markconner.typepad.com/).

After church, we went home to prepare for a picnic with Caleb, Debbie n family... and Joey managed to grab a few minutes of much needed sleeeeep =)

Caleb and Debbie arrived just before the rain did. So, we had some indoor games first (ok, fine, we didn't plan anything, I don't deserve any credit for having a backup plan - like bees to honey, the kids naturally went straight for the Wii remote controls... hehehe). Fortunately for the picnic plans (and unfortunately for the drought), rain here doesn't last long (nor does it pour buckets of rain all down at once). So, once it slowed down, we got into the car, detoured to pick up some pizzas (which, if u get the ones on sale on Sundays, can range from $3.49 to just under $9 per large pizza... we ended up choosing 2 of our favorite large pizzas, including the special pastry crust we were trying out for the first time, and 2 boxes of brownies, which altogether cost less than $18.00).

Armed with Pizzas, Brownies, Chicken Wings, Sausages, Snacks and Juices, we were on our way to Ruffey Lake Park! One problem though - it was still raining. So, we told Ryan he better pray for the rain to stop, or else we'ld have to go home instead of having a picnic, and without a second thought, he quickly prayed for that. Who can guess what happened? Seriously, God truly honours the prayers prayed with such childlike faith. When we got to the park, the rain had stopped, and the kids ran straight for the playground (which had those big sail-looking shades so it wasn't wet).

There are hot plates provided for public use in the park (just hold down the 'on' button for a few seconds) which we knew about, hence the presence of the uncooked chicken wings and sausages... anyway, it's a pretty cool (err... I mean, hot... haha) facility! Note: the building in the background is the restrooms.

Joey cooked the sausages n chicken wings

and Caleb watched over the kids and took pictures,

while Debbie and I took a moment to enjoy the breeze and think about what a great way it was to spend Fathers' Day (with one father cooking, the other taking care of kids and the 2 of us relaxing). Hahahaha! Well, our magical moment lasted about 10 seconds then we went on with setting up the picnic. =)

The parks here are very well equipped. Besides the awesome playground, public cooking facilities, and restrooms nearby, there are also sheltered areas with tables and chairs,

and even drinking water fountains! (Just twist the tap once to turn on, and again to turn off)

As much as the kids enjoyed the food,

they definitely enjoyed the playground much more!

After we packed everything up and were ready to go, the rain began to fall again, and we happily returned to our cars, with memories of a successful Fathers' Day picnic...

p.s. thanks, CalebDebbie, for the pictures that you recognize on this page ;)

Fun Time with CityLife Manningham Members!

2008-09-06T23:52:00.004+10:00

For those who's been asking, have asked, are planning to ask, or are simply wondering, yes, we did find a church we're happy with =) Our search for a church in Melbourne did not take long actually... in our 2nd week here, we landed ourselves at CityLife's newest site in Manningham, and I dare say we've settled down there church-wise. I must admit it was initially due to the fact that they have a great Sunday School programme, namely ROAR, that Ryan and Noel loves (and has brought back a whole lot of art and craft (and sunflowers) to prove it!) However, having said that, I believe the reason we're feeling very much at home here after all this while is that we've kinda grown to love a Bong family =) and no, it's not Debbie and Caleb's Bong family. hehe.

The history lessons, summarized, is that we met Marjorie Bong the first day we were at CityLife, because she was volunteering as a Sunday School teacher for Ryan & Noel's class. After a lunch at her house and our continuously failing to attend a LifeGroup (or what we used to know as a Cell Group) over the next few weeks, we eventually ended up in the LifeGroup of, who else, but Henry and Marjorie Bong. It's been alot of fun spending time together, and their girls, Valerie, Vanessa and Vivian are such a joy to be around... AND ... *news flash* for all you guys back home - Joey organized and carried out the icebreaker during our last LifeGroup meeting =) yes, no typo there, it wasn't me =) *clap*clap*clap*

Well, here's to share with you all a great day we had with the Bong family and other Manningham church members today!

Lunch
-------
What can I say, doesn't all our lives revolve around some kind of food-related event? what makes you think that's changed now that we're in Melbourne. Haha... actually, when we were invited to attend the sort of Guitar Graduation performance of Vanessa and Valerie's guitar group lessons, we had no idea food was involved. And, I'm saying sort of, because it was later introduced as not a performance, but a short Worship Session... but with 8 guitarists and their trainer... err... followed by food =)

(you need to switch OFF the website player so it will stop playing the background song, before you can hear the video... or else it will be pretty noisy!)

Dinner
--------
We had the privilege of having the Bong family over for dinner after that - dessert and games included, of course!

[Left to Right: Marjorie, Noel =), Henry, Ryan =), Vanessa, Valerie, Vivian]

we had some pre-dinner fun:

then dinner:

(and I forgot to take pictures of all the different ice creams we managed to create from Chocolate Chip ice-cream + Peppermint Ice-Cream + choc fudge + whipped cream + nuts + choc sprinkles + coloured sprinkles + M&Ms ... not to mentioned we also had some yummy strawberries with whipped cream as well as pistachio nuts, choc brownies and potato chips... and NO, its not to be eaten simultaneously. yeah, we enjoy food. haha)

and then more fun:

As far as I can tell, the funniest event of the day was actually the video that Joey took of the Father and Daughter Wii Boxing match between Henry and Vanessa. For those of you who don't know how the Wii Sports - Boxing game works, it has to do with 2 people facing the screen, each holding a remote in one hand and a 'nunchuk' (an extention to the Wii remote) in the other so that the Wii console can calculate your punches/movements.

Fathers Day Tip! This is what you can do if your daughter is beating you at a seemingly masculine sport! LOL!

Henry, Marjorie, Valerie, Vanessa & Vivien - thanks for spending the day with us, we loved every moment! Do come again!...and Henry, Joey's still planning to see u at church at 6am tomorrow to help out with the audio stuff! =) Happy Fathers' Day* to you both!! =D

*Its Fathers' Day here on Sunday, 7 September 2008.

1,000 visits!

2008-09-02T22:31:00.003+10:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, today, 2nd September 2008, marks the day we officially hit (and exceeded) 1,000 visits on this site!
... or, in other words,
"YAAaaaaayYY! Woo Hoo! Look at the counter! over 1,000 visits!" *jumping up and down* *waving arms around* *doing cartwheels*.... errr... no, actually, I can't do cartwheels... well, at least I didn't say backflips =D that would be way too unreal for me =)

Either way you say it, its still exciting to know someone reads our blogs! Come on, you guys, leave us a chat message or a comment! we wanna know u're there! strangers included! =)

well, a big thank you to all of you who actually come and check on how we're doing (and to those of you who just found our site informative!), glad you visited, and do come again =D lol... I can do a commercial, right? hehe...

Home cooked food...

2008-08-31T21:35:00.004+10:00

So, what do we eat in Melbourne? Unlike our original belief of the lack of rice in Australia, we have found that Australia (or Melbourne, at least) is teeming with asian food, rice included. In fact, some of our friends here have invited us over for Hokkien Mee, Laksa, Prawn Mee... not to mention going out for Nasi Lemak! and someone brought over rendang too! everyone also seems to know where to buy red beans to boil... but we haven't personally looked it up yet. will try to look out for it the next time we're shopping in Doncaster.

Anyway, here are some things Joey's cooked up in our kitchen =)

Wan Ton Mee with Curry Chicken and Siew Pak Choy (aka baby bok choy) ... we had this for dinner tonight!

Grilled Ribs with Mixed Vege, Mushroom Soup...

Lamb Chop with Baked Potato, Steamed Vege...

yeah, the two of them look alike coz I couldn't think of interesting side dishes. haha. not to mention Joey only likes mushroom soup and orange juice.... lol..

Monthly expenses: Utility Bills etc

2008-08-30T21:39:00.004+10:00

Another info session on living in Melbourne, for those of you planning to come too. This should assist a little with your monthly estimates =) Utilities here are quite reasonable, we're happy with it... for anyone trying to estimate how much you need a month on utilities, this is generally how much we spend (but of course it will be different for everyone... not to mention, it may differ for different seasons... and its winter now)

Electricity:
Our electric bill came yesterday (we're billed quarterly), so for the past 3 months, it cost just under $250... which averages to slightly over $80 per month. not too bad! We're only in the house on weekday evenings and weekends, though. Things we have running on electricity include laptops, TV, fridge, dishwasher, oven, microwave, washing machine, dryer etc. We're with AGL for electricity and gas, but there's alot of energy provides here... some are listed in http://www.artog.com.au/ArtogUtilities/providerList.aspx but there are still others like TRUenergy, which I didn't see on the list.

Gas:
The gas bill comes every alternate month, I think... and our last one cost approximately $30 per month.
Things running on gas includes the stove and central (gas ducted) heating

Water:
To be updated after we get a bill... haven't received any from May til now. At Coburg, if we remember correctly, it was about $30-40 per month. hmm... what was the organization called?

Telephone:
Generally less than $50, depending on whether we use it or not. The monthly fixed cost (line rental) is about $26. We're with Telstra, but I believe you can choose to go with Optus or some others too.

Internet:
We're with TPG, on the $69.90 package for ADSL 2+ with a capping of 40GB daytime use and 110GB midnight use (3am-9am) per month. do note there are cheaper packages with TPG / Telstra / Optus ... there are alot of broadband providers here. If you're looking for one, check http://broadbandguide.com.au/

Foxtel (cable/satellite tv):
well, this is not a utility, but its something we spend on monthly... We're not on the full package so its about $60 for the basic package + the package that playhouse Disney belongs to. Full package would cost about $105 I believe.

Mobile Phone:
We're with Vodaphone, on a prepaid package. We usually top up $49 monthly, which gives us $310 (sometimes $330-$350 depending on the promo). Mobile phone providers here include Telstra, Vodaphone, Optus, 3 and Virgin Mobile.

What to gear/ equipment to buy for a camping trip in Melbourne?

2008-08-28T22:08:00.008+10:00

Good question... I wish I knew... well, we had to think of something, coz we just signed up for a camping trip with my colleagues next March =) So, I went round asking, and my friend said, start with the basics... fine... basics... first thing I had in mind was the survival camp we had about 11 years ago... ooh... not good... and that's why I specifically said camping in MELBOURNE! not the jungles of Malaysia or something. hehe... anyway, my friend went on to describe the 3 room tent, bunk beds, sleeping bags, air mattresses etc.... hmmm!! that's starting to sound better already, not to mention we're booking powered sites, so we get electricity! she told me to expect the start up costs to be about $700. Which, thinking about it, isn't horribly bad, coz if we took a cabin instead of a powered site, its already about $800 for 4 nights... whereas, our powered site is only $216 for 4 nights... so, we decided to spend the money on something we can keep and reuse. And the result? (Okay, if there's any seasoned campers reading this, do note that we're newbies at camping in Melbourne)...

Shopping Total = $728 (yes, we went shopping!)

1. 3 room tent! ...the 2 room one was $50 less, so... might as well =)

2. Sleeping Bags

3. Air Mattresses

4. Bunk Beds

5. Chairs

6. Tables

...and if u had been counting and the numbers didnt't add to my total... its coz I didn't specify how many we bought? hahaha... (no, we're not insane, we're planning to do some camping with some of our guests when they come)

we haven't decided at this point if we're gonna be doing the cooking on site yet... we might have to... or just eat out... assuming that there's a town =D

well, that's gonna bring up the topic of a stove and mini bar fridge, I believe.

Anyway, camping here can be quite interesting, as far as shopping goes, at least! Here are some stuff we did NOT buy - taken from Kmart's catalogue - Fathers' day sale - and yes, I said Fathers' Day... we learnt the blur way that Fathers' day here is not in June... its in September. hehe... anyway, imagine camping with all this:

Airasia FREE flights to Melbourne!

2008-08-26T22:22:00.005+10:00

Ok, we're a little bit late with this news, but better late then never =) Airasia is giving out 1,000,000 free seats ... all destinations, so this includes Melbourne! Who's coming next? =)

http://www.airasia.com/nl/nl080825-en.htm

Hot Air Balloon!

2008-08-26T00:17:00.004+10:00

No, I didn't go on a hot air balloon ride... but if anyone wants to know, there are a couple of tour operators here that have either the Melbourne or Yarra Valley sunrise packages that include breakfast with champagne from about AUD$250 onwards I believe (yes, per person), depending on whether its on promo, or its weekday or weekend etc.

Anyway, I'm hoping to get to ride on it for our 10th wedding anniversary if we can still remember it by then... haha... we literally forgot our wedding anniversary this year til Saundra reminded us =D *thanks, Saun!*

Oh wait, where was I? Oh yeah, I was just trying to blog a little on my trip to work today. It was about 7am, and as I got out of the house, I saw this in the sky...

ooh! how cool! so many of them too! =) so, I went on my way to work (no, actually, I ran back up to take the camera to take this shot first) and the balloons accompanied me all the way... I believe this one was at Hoddle St, which is a main road, BUT as you can see, the traffic lights were red when I took this pic (with my iPhone from inside the car... thank goodness we can sorta make out the balloons. hehe_

and the next one is on Johnston Street in Abbotsford...

Ok, fine, the picture quality isn't great, but the point is that I managed to capture the moment anyway.... (note: the light is red again =) safe driver here!) I especially like the next one...

I like it not because of Tibet, but coz its smack on top of my office. Yeah, that building in the pic is the side of my office... I was driving into the car park... we use the whole building =) anyway, I enjoyed the balloon accompaniment today!

Is it expensive to live in Melbourne?

2008-08-26T00:00:00.001+10:00

To buy or not to buy, that is the question... =)

We did some grocery shopping last Sunday after church in Westfield Shoppingtown, Doncaster. It's a shopping mall, so I'm told you can actually get cheaper groceries if you go to the local market, butcher etc... but anyway, this is just to say that if you work and live in Melbourne, groceries are actually not that expensive...

ok, fine, there was a sale, and we were happily shopping... we don't usually buy so many of everything... we literally filled up our whole 6-seater dining table... here are some things we had amongst others...
- 16.89 kg of chicken wings
- 12 cans of whole button mushrooms
- 7 packs of fresh strawberries
- fishballs, noodles, cabbage, spinach, baby pak choy, tins of curry gravy, prawn dumplings, 2 bottles of soya bean, 1.5 litre tub of Capilano honey, packs of mac n cheese, big bottles of sauces, 18 boxes of chrysanthemum tea (u can only see 12 there coz some people drank a whole pack by the time we got home), 20 packs of chips/snacks, 2 bottles of apple juice, biscuits, bread, tissue... can't remember everything... try to figure it out =)

anyway, the whole table load of groceries cost about $140... which if u don't convert to other currencies, is pretty cool =)

Monday, 25th August 2008

2008-08-25T23:43:00.004+10:00

G'day Mate ! This blog is officially 1 month "mensiversary" ! Why do i call it "mensiversary",

I found this on Google Answer ! with the Question what is 1 month old anniversary called. this is the best answer ...

If the word for the commemoration of a yearly event is anniversary, by
analogy the logical word for the commemoration of a monthly event
should be "mensiversary." "Anniversary" comes from the Latin "annum,"
meaning year. (The "versary" part comes from a Latin word referring
to turning.) The Latin word for month is "mensis." Hence,
mensiversary. I've not found this word in any reputable dictionary,
but perhaps exposure in Google Answers can help to put it there. ;-)

St Kilda Beach

2008-08-23T16:39:00.007+10:00

Today we went to St Kilda, which is slightly south of Melboune. There's quite a number of beaches there, so we just stopped at one of them that had a parking lot on the beach front. Once again, we were greeted by this ever popular photogenic bird that seems to be everywhere. ~~Is it a seagull?~~ Yes, its a seagull =)

Anyway, the kids had fun running on the beach after the rain stopped (yeah, it rained for awhile, so we just sat in the car waiting =) but we had a pretty scenic view from the car anyway, so it wasn't too bad)

and drinking water was readily available...

the colours surrounding us were so vibrant, we just had to take pictures!

but since we had no photographer, we had to take turns, haha...

a little strange seeing such green grass by the beach =) but as usual, the kids loved it as long as they could run around!

Joey, on the other hand, preferred to enjoy our first experience of the beach in winter. Its pretty cool walking along the beach in the cold =) It got a little 'warmer' (depends on whether u call 11 degrees warm or not) later, but it was nice being there without any chance of getting sunburnt!

I didn't get to take the many dogs that Noel managed to pet (lotsa people walking their dog(s) today...), but we were pretty happy that he was brave enough to pet them ...though he did scream once when a big dog unexpectedly showed up beside him. hahaha .... Ryan wasn't scared at all, which he was proud to announce... over and over and over again... hehe... but it was all good. Oh, if anyone wonders, we only let Noel pet the dogs if the owner said it was safe to do so =)

This was just a nice shot we got of the birds all lined up... does it look like a professional istock photo? hehe =)

Look what Ryan made!

2008-08-23T16:22:00.003+10:00

He did this by himself...

It's a set called 'Magnetix' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetix) and as far as i know its not the building blocks that were recalled =) having said that, though... we may stop the kids from playing with it unsupervised...

Noel is better now

2008-08-23T10:11:00.004+10:00

Thanks for all your prayers, Noel is better now.

Did not wake up with a high fever today. He's still coughing, but we're hoping the antibiotics is gonna fix that. We took him to another doctor (this doctor saw him once, about a month or two ago). Its usually hard to book an appointment with this clinic (Doctors of Ivanhoe) so I called to speak to the doctor, but he wasn't in. They said they will leave a message, but I wasn't sure if he would really call back. To my surprise, he not only called back, but after telling him my concerns, he said to bring Noel in during his break time and he will take a look. Amazing. I love this doc. I think we're gonna stick with him (while we're staying in this area, at least). So, he took a look and said there was some wheezing sounds, but it may or may not be a mild athsma. so, we're to continue with his cough antibiotics and if it doesn't go away in a week, to bring him back for a review. so, we'll keep praying =)

Ryan wanted to be in the pic too =)

Noel is not well....

2008-08-21T18:30:00.003+10:00

I didn't go to work today... on what they call 'personal leave' which can be used for sick leave or taking care of dependents when they're sick.... and today, Noel was very unwell. Yesterday, when picking him up from daycare, they told me he had a slight temperature in the afternoon, about 37+, then in the middle of the morning, im guessing about 4am.... he came to our room with a temperature of 39.9

took him to the doctor at 10.40am, but at that time, his temperature went down to normal. the doctor concluded that he had athsma.

athsma?! well, I was absolutely shocked, and even after buying whatever stuff he needs (namely a 'spacer', face mask and an inhaler thing called ventolin, aside from the antibiotics for his cough), I still don't know if he reall does have athsma or not. the doctor gave him a round of ventolin at about 11 something, and said to give it to him every 4 hours... somewhere around 3 as I was putting him to bed I found that he was feverish again, so i gave him some childrens' panadol and ventolin, but the fever did not go down, and his breathing did not seem to improve. he was still breathing heavily and fast.

The doc also said in Australia 1 in 5 kids have athsma... the daycare guy said to bring his medication etc with written instructions tomorrow and he also said he believes its more like 95% of kids he knows has athsma ... so I'm not entirely sure that the Australian standards of athsma is what I had in mind ...

Joey thinks its just the weather that's making his lungs congested... guess I'll have to do more research on the Australian definition of athsma =(

2 Ways KL LCCT to Melbourne - RM 1,192.00

2008-08-21T02:43:00.002+10:00

AirAsia flies KL - MELBOURNE (Tullamarine)!

2008-08-20T20:35:00.005+10:00

http://www.airasia.com/nl/nl080820b-en.htm

Its HERE! Set your alarm clocks, because bookings start at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (Malaysia time)

"Starting November 2008, AirAsia X will fly direct to Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport (4x weekly) with fares from as low as RM99" (before taxes, surcharges etc)

oh, Tullamarine is the Melbourne Airport. The other one is Avalon which is over an hour away. so, KL - Tullamarine is great!

Let us know when you would like to come! so far the JoeyEbbie Homestay accomodation is booked for the following dates ;)
18 Oct 08 - 19 Nov 08
16 Dec 08 - 12 Jan 09
2 Feb 09 - 20 Feb 09

Dinner at Shoppingtown Hotel

2008-08-18T22:23:00.004+10:00

Last Friday night, (yes, I'm doing backdated posting.... bear with me here... trying to catch up on all the belated posts...) we went out for dinner with my colleagues.

Dinner was at 'Shoppingtown Hotel' in Doncaster. Joey ordered the largest plate of meat he could summon up, to celebrate his success at getting his license earlier that day. So, up came a 500gm rump steak... awesome... no, we didn't get a picture. we had our camera, just didn't think of it til it was half gone. hahaha... I had lamb shank... you can probably see part of it at the corner of the picture...

ryan had spaghetti

and noel had mini roast with fries

but u can't really make it out in the picture =) both kids' meals. Food tasted great, but none of us managed to finish our food... =( Joey is never ordering a 500gm steak ever again... haha...

Kids loved the playland.

PASS - 96%

2008-08-15T14:02:00.002+10:00

As of 15th August 2008 - 12:00 pm I PASS my driving test and gotten my Victoria driving license. hmm .... i had my Malaysia driving license since 1997 and i PASS it in the First attempt (I did not Bribe), that is 11 years ago and Could you imagine it take me 4 1/2 attempt to get a Victoria driving license.

First attempt in Carlton VicRoads, my so call mistakes is i did not stop before the white line at the stop sign. i stop on the line. i did not performs a head check. i actually did the head check before i switch lane but the tester said my gesture is not big enough. i need to make a bigger gesture when performing head check.

Secondly attempts in Sun Shine Vicroads, they failed me for not using the internal & external mirror correctly, as usual i told the tester i used all the mirror, tester reply that i used it the wrong sequence. the correct sequence will be look at the back mirror before you breaks. before indicating left or right signal, you need to look at the back mirror then look at the left or right external mirror before you make the signal. so i was failed for that.

1/2 attempts in Hopper Crossing VicRoads, I don't really consider this an attempts because is not my faults. While i was reversing out of the parking, the instructor commented 'be careful', and because the instructor spoke, test was immediately terminated.

Third attempts in Dandenong Vicroads, this round they failed me for driving too slow. this is because i saw a sign saying 60 area. so i was driving around 56 -58, until the tester asked me to turn in the small road, in the rules book if there is no speed limit sign by default it will be 50, so i don't see any speed limit so i was driving between 46 - 48. driving about 10 minutes i was routed back to the VicRoads Office, i knew i failed. so when the tester giving his feedback, he told me that i am driving too slow, so i explained there is no speed limit sign by default is 50. he said correct. but the first sign we see was 60 area. 60 AREA means this entire area is 60. and i am driving 40 plus is against the law. we are not allowed to drive 10K below the speed limit.

Fourth attempts in Broadmeadows VicRoads, i was praying so hard that God gives me peace i was so nervous and afraid to Fails. this time i almost get 100% correct, after finished with the first stage of the test the tester will asked to pull in to the kerb while she calculate the score and see if i can proceed to next stage. i was so nervous i stop at the kerb without knowing that i was on the NO STANDING, No Standing means not stop at all. Breaking the law is a critical, so i taught i failed again, then the tester said if i m ready i can proceed the next stage. she said in stage 1 i am allowed to make 1 critical mistake. so i was relief and continue the next stage. after another 20 minuets drives we are back in the VicRoads Office, she told me she need to calculate the result score on the computer system asked me to go into the office. so i waited like 5 - 10 minutes. it actually feel like 30 minuets waits. she called me and congratulated me saying I PASS, and my score is 96%, then she explain what happen to the 4%, the 4% went to the mistake i did in parking at the NO STANDING area. and she said i am a VERY VERY GOOD Driver, if i did not makes the parking mistake i will get 100%. she was surprised that i actually took 4 attempts to PASS it.

I am so glad God answered my prayer by assigning me a good an understating tester and during the driving test i have Peace and confidence.

I can post!

2008-08-08T21:26:00.003+10:00

hahahaha! forget the >e<
I can post with my own name...
fine, I should have tried it earlier, I guess I just wasn't a keen blogger (yet?) hehe

thanks, Rachel, for the tip!
*hugz!*

and with that, the era of the >e< blogger ends... and a new dawn begins ;)

so, what are we doing now? it's 9.30pm, Caleb, Debbie an the kids are here so its fun, fun, fun as usual! joey did some really nice chicken stew for dinner, so we all over-ate. a good warm dish for a cold winter's night! Mmmm... was really good.... tender chunks of chicken simmered in thick stew with soft, well-cooked potatoes and sweet carrots ....and my novice-logger-traits are now clearly showing... i didn't take a picture. ate it all up.... well, most of it anyway.

the kids are playing games for another half hour, then the adults take over to watch the olympic opening ceremony!

*yawn* hope i don't fall asleep first... sleepy, sleepy.... *sigh* ...no, musn't think of the bed... the nice cosy bed... with soft pillows... and warm quilt.... no no no.... need... to .... watch.. the... olympics...... lol!

Life at home...

2008-08-07T22:17:00.005+10:00

>e<

so, what do we do when we're not out exploring the world, or researching migration info, or going for more and more Vicroads tests? (no, its not officially one of our hobbies...haha)

well, we're usually just doing normal stuff at home... u know, playing, doing laundry, playing, watching tv, playing... lol.... yes, we're quite addicted to the Wii...

hehe, but OTHER than the Wii, here's some other home-stuff we do...

Grow Sunflowers!

Lol... no, it wasn't my idea. When Ryan arrived in Melbourne, he said he wanted to grow a flower. We told him 'later', 'not now', etc, and gave him every possible logical excuse not to grow anything right now. and we really had good reasons too - it was winter, we didn't exactly have a garden, we didn't even own a pot, and we actually moved from one house to another.... and .....err.. i didn't really want to take care of a plant (Joey take care of the plant? wasn't even an idea in our heads... lol). funny thing is, on the third (i think) sunday we were here, the kids came back from their 'ROAR' sunday school... each holding a styrofoam cup with soil. they said it was a sunflower, and that the teacher gave it to them. those of you who know better would realize God's answers to little kids' prayers can come in ways parents don't expect... thrown completely off guard, we welcomed our leafy-to-be friends, home.

mum and dad, if you're reading this... yes, their flowers are still alive =) i've moved them from the cup to the orange juice bottle, though! Ryan's little flower is out, and Noel's has got a bud. Even the plants know who's supposed to be older ;)

okay, okay, I'll stop talking so much and show you the picture already =)

so, it's the smallest sunflower I've ever seen, but that doesn't matter to the kids at all =) and hey, give it some credit - its living in an orange juice bottle by the kitchen window, surviving winter, and getting watered probably every few days, if i remember... but when we take them down for the kids to see, its so cute to hear them encourage the plants to grow... ryan keeps going 'mine's bigger!' and noel would greet his little plant with an encouraging 'hello, flower! grow up okay?' not to mention petting in on the leaf. =)

Baking?!

Instant Mix... Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways...

From Instant Cookies...

to instant chocolate fudge brownies

err... you'll have to forgive me for that... it couldn't wait long enough for me to take a pic...

anyway, the action of stirring eggs, milk and oil into a bowl and then putting the mix in the oven still counts as baking, by ryanoel standards, at least =D and seriously, just coz its so easy to do, I don't mind doing it again. and it's YUMMY!! *munch*munch*munch*

Just being happy...

and when we've got nothing else to do, we just sit down and be happy!

(thanks, Anna for taking the pic!)

more lessons to learn about the driving tests...

2008-08-07T21:58:00.002+10:00

>e<

yet another test, yet another lesson...

Joey said, two things to look out for... again... and yes, he is still working at the license...

1. look out for the dotted lines when the road splits left and right... it seemed sorta straighter to the left, but in actual fact, where the road split, there were dotted lines on the left side, so he should have gone right instead. that one action alone caused two critical errors (coz he also didn't signal... mainly due to the fact that he didn't realize the other side was the 'straight' road)

2. if the sign says '60 area', it means keep to 60kmh until you see another sign. really. coz they went further in, until it looked like small roads, which usually have the default built up area speed of 50kmh... yeah, hard to believe Joey could get penalized for driving too slow too ;)

anyway, what I actually felt was, for those who aren't rushing to get the license, just keep going to the same vicroads office... you'll be more familiar with the area, then this wouldn't happen... we've been to carlton, sunshine, hoppers crossing and now dandenong too. and i think his next one is broadmeadows. I seriously think he would do better if he could find an early date at one of the places we've been to before.

I got my driver's license!!!

2008-08-06T20:17:00.005+10:00

>e<

woo hoo! yay! *jumping up and down*
guess what i got?
*duh* the title says it all.

ok, here's what happened - remember I wrote in that letter to appeal for that one error? It's so cool that they actually checked it really thoroughly, and they were not biased in any way. not to mention, no one asked for any kopi-money. it was plain clean justice. can't imagine such a thing in Malaysia. I got a call yesterday from the person in charge in the centre where I took the test. He said he actually heard my complaint on Saturday, but they needed to check it through first, that's why they asked me to write all the details down, and having reviewed it and the rule book, they apoligized for the mistake. I'm just soooooooooo happy!!!! and they were really sweet too - said they were so sorry for the trouble and they hope we understand they're also getting used to the new rules etc. and at this moment, I can be absolutely understanding on just about anything they want. hehe. They made the arrangements for me to pick up my license at the nearest vicroads office, and I did that after work today... so... I've got my license! you should have seen how surprised the lady was when I said I'll pay for the 10 year license. haha. we could choose between 10 or 3 years, and considering the fact that I am *not* planning to lose my license for any reason (and the fact that I was so happy to get it, I didn't want it to expire.... haha... actually, I just didn't even think about it), I just asked for the 10 years. License costs are currently:
3 years - $45.30
10 years - $154.00

so, the best thing I can say for anyone who takes this test is, the info on the new test criteria is here
1. you really need to read the rule book
seriously, it helps alot. every point is a possible mistake you can make, so remember as much as u can!
2. the book contains all the rules, but some major ones are the ones we've listed as the errors we've made in our earlier posts. especially speed and the mirrors. in fact, try to look at the mirrors every 10 seconds or so (periodically, at lease), someone told me.
3. practice driving the way they want. especially if you've been driving for years, its not very easy to remember to keep looking in the mirrors, headchecks, speed limit etc unless you actually force yourself to do it on a normal basis.
4. practice driving in the area that your test is in. take note of which lanes are what speed, which ones are left turn only/straight only etc
5. If you were penalized for any errors that were not stated in the book, it might be worth writing an appeal letter for it. but do check the rule book first to be sure.
6. If you're an experienced driver and want to take lessons, you can go ahead with the 'preparation for test' classes they have, but take note of a few things
- its not true that you need alot of lessons, if any at all. I felt better with a lesson, but Joey didn't learn anything new.
- do NOT bother to pay to have the instructor with you. I still haven't figured out what the point is with that yet. the instructor cannot help you in any way. that's a law. and if forget to keep their mouth shut, you get an immediate termination.
- vicroads also said its not true that people with instructors have a higher passing rate.

Joey is going for yet another test tomorrow. hopefully he will get through this time!

Google unveils Street View across Australia

2008-08-05T09:16:00.007+10:00

AUSTRALIA will today become the third country to have its cities, streets and landmarks "scanned into" Google as the search giant unveils its most ambitious Street View project to date.
Google Street View is an online tool that lets users take a virtual tour of landscapes from their computer by perusing an interactive database of millions of 360-degree snapshots.
The snapshots are taken by a fleet of cars fitted with special cameras that drive across the country, capturing images on every street corner and along every highway.

The technology has so far been used to create virtual replicas of major US cities and the route of this year's Tour De France, but Google will today unveil its most comprehensive Street View project to date – the mapping of virtually all of southeast Australia and much of the east and west coasts.

Users will be able to wander the streets of Australian cities and towns from Port Douglas to Perth and along the Stuart and Eyre highways that cross the country, as well as view icons such as the Australian War Memorial and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Google product manager Andrew Foster said that because the company's mapping tool was based on technology developed in Australia, it was excited to bring Street View to the country.
"Google Maps has its origins as an Australian invention so we're thrilled to bring Street View here as one of the first countries in the world," he said.

Google Maps, the online mapping service that incorporates Street View, is based on a product created in Sydney by Where 2 Technologies that was purchased by Google in 2004.

Google Maps Australia

Driving Lessons, to have or not to have?

2008-08-04T06:45:00.004+10:00

>e<

Before I blog, let me just say, we have not passed the driving test yet, and we will be taking it for another time (next one will be the 4th time for me, sorta 3rd time for Joey - long story, read below)

For our 3rd attempt at the Driving test, we figured we needed driving lessons. Not so much to teach us how to drive, but to tell us what they look out for. When enquiring with the driving schools, there were some that mentioned that if you have an instructr with you, somehow the % of passes were higher, maybe coz the tester wasn't right next to you (the instructor will sit there), and from behind, the tester may not be s strict. Also it supposedly showed you've been professionally trained, not to mention if there was something the tester penalized you for, the instructor can speak in your defense.

And the outcome? NOT TRUE! not for experienced drivers actually, according to the VicRoads tester. For me, the lesson was a good practice, but there was NO point in having an instructor beside you during the test at all. We had this guy, Emran. In my test, he just sat there, and did nothing.... which was actually harmless, but when it came to appealing for an arguable mistake (I was allowed 2 mistakes, I supposedly made 3), he just stood there, without a single word at all - until the tester turned her back for a moment, then he said, its arguable. but he wouldn't open his mouth when she was there. So I've written in and will wait a week for their response. One mistake was evident, I admit, I panicked when she gave me an instruction I couldn't comply with (She said go straight at the roundabout. When I got there, I realized the arrow said left only). The right thing to do was not do it, but I did, so fine, my mistake. The next mistake (she said I didn't give way to someone at some roundabout), I couldn't remember at all, so no point arguing. But the last mistake that I am arguing about is the speed limit. As you can see from my previous blogs, I'm usually slow. So this time, in the 2nd half of the test (this is the first time I've made it to the 2nd part of the test), when there was an 80kmh section, I tried to hard to get to 70. haha. I saw it hit 80, and I looked into the back mirror and then braked, as per the required sequence, but the tester said she saw me hit just over 80 for 3 seconds. Firstly, I told her, I only saw it hit 80, not exceed it, and secondly, even if it as while I was looking in the back mirror, it couldn't have been 3 seconds. So she takes out the rule book, turns to the 'speed' section and reads 'you can't exceed the speed limit by any amount of time', to which I responded 'for over 5kmh' which was clearly stated in the same sentence. she goes to the next (or so) sentence and says, 'you can't exceed the speed limit by any amount at all' to which I replied, 'for 5 seconds continually' - it was right there, I already read it before the test. So she flips to the back and said, its considered 'other illegal action', so there. Anyway, like I said, appeal submitted, but I need to book another test again while waiting. will be calling vicroads everyday at 8.30am.

and Joey? this is the reason why we have concluded, DON'T take an instructor with you. While he was reversing out of the parking, the instructor commented 'be careful', and because the instructor spoke, his test was immediately terminated. So, he didn't get to do it at all. The tester (same as mine) was very very good to us in this case, although there was nothing she could do, she spoke to Emran's (the instructor's) manager (that I called to scream at), to bear witness that Joey did NOTHING wrong and his termination of the test was due to Emran opening his mouth. We never saw Emran again. no apologies, no goodbyes, he just drove off. I was in the test centre, he never even came in. sorta ran away. I did pursue the matter with his manager, and the conclusion is, Emran has an entirely different story, said the tester tapped his shoulder to ask him to say something etc, but the tester clearly spoke to his manager, in front of us, saying there was no such thing, she did not indicate anything to him in any way, she would not have made that call, and she would not have penalized Joey for anything at that point in time. anyway, too late, he has to make another booking too, which he is VERY upset about. I mean, he didn't even get to take the test! On the other hand, the driving school (Emran's manager) was very apologetic, said he believed us because we did let him speak to the tester to hear for himself, and he agreed to get the guy to bank in a reimbursement for joey's half of the lesson that was paid to him, plus the cost of the next test - which was the minimum that I asked him for.

so, our Journey continues...

Cheap Flights to Melbourne!

2008-07-31T20:33:00.006+10:00

>e<

Calling all visitors-to-be, Jetstar is having a sale!

"Massive Mid-Winter Sale
Sale now on until midnight (23:59 AEST) Tuesday 5 August 2008, unless sold out prior. Sale may be extended. Travel dates vary depending on the route and sale fares are not available on all flights or days. School holidays are excluded. Sale fares include JetSaver Light fares, for when you travel with carry on baggage only. Of course you can also choose a JetSaver fare (as shown below) for $10 more for domestic flights and $20 more for international flights, with the full 20kg checked baggage allowance. So whichever fare you choose, you're sure of an amazing fare!"

Travel Periods:
15 Oct 08 - 10 Dec 08
29 Jan 09 - 28 Mar 08

Singapore - Melbourne (and back) from AUD$259... there's the Jetsaver light for AUD$239 but you don't get to check in baggage... haha... so, no, not counting that... =)

However, I randomly searched some dates, and I've found that there are quite alot of dates which are actually priced at SGD$128!!! yes, no typo. SGD not AUD. excluding tax, though. I searched Singapore to Melbourne return, for dates like 28 Nov 08 - 10 Dec 08 and/or 28 Jan - 12 Feb 09.

So, come visit! and let us know your dates so we can accomodate =) Do note that there's an extra fee of SGD$35 per way for meals and unlimited soft drinks (optional).

Rainbow

2008-07-31T19:13:00.008+10:00

On my back from work. I saw the biggest and clearest RAINBOW i have ever seen. I am so glad that I was stuck in the traffic jam. From where i was i can see the complete ARCH ! I wish I had my Canon 40D to take some nice photo but all I have with me, is my Apple iPhone.

The rainbow is a beautiful token of the Lord that continues to testify of the covenant that He made with the world and all flesh (Genesis 9:11-13). It is a perfect reminder of our Lord’s protection and the keeping of His promises

Listen to this song =)

VicRoads Driving Test - Booking Tips!

2008-07-31T19:00:00.001+10:00

>e<

Some info about booking VicRoads driving tests... which we wish we knew in May when we first booked our driving test... they made us wait til mid-July - and by that time, the driving rules were tightened

1. Call their customer service line at 131171 at 8.30am SHARP every morning.
- If you call them later, or book at the office later, the earlier dates will all be gone... and you'll be left with some appointment like 1-2 months away.
- they have new dates almost every day, due to cancellations and releases of new appointments, which they won't tell you in advance. so just call every day to ask. In our case, I called today and got one for this Saturday, which is only 2 days away.

2. Ask them for the nearest date for any vicroads office IN MELBOURNE ONLY
- seriously, when I said 'anywhere', I got an appointment someplace in victoria, 4 hours drive away. hahaha. Even in Melbourne, you'll have to look up the addresses (http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/AboutVicRoads/ContactUs/OfficeLocationsAndHours.htm)
coz some of them are still an hour's drive away. I guess it depends on how desperate you are to get the test done fast.....and make sure the map reference says 'melways'... those stated as 'country directory' are reaaaally far...

Payments/Costs:
you will need a credit card in hand. they charge:
Appointment: $11.10
Car practical driving test: $35.00
for the first booking and each re-sit.
if you already have a booking for a future test that you haven't sat (or re-sat....hmm is there such a word? haha) for then they only charge the $11.10 to change the appointment.

this is assuming you already have your license and you don't need the L or P licenses... and this also doesn't include the previous 2 tests we took before this, which are the Learner Permit test and the Hazard Perception Test, both of which are computerized.

VicRoads Test #3

2008-07-31T18:00:00.000+10:00

>e<

okay, here goes again. we've booked yet another vicroads test for this Saturday, 2nd August. What are we doing differently? Driving lessons! And no, we're not learning to drive - we need lessons to teach us what they will assess us on. We're gonna do a 45 minute crash course each before the actual test, and bring our instructor to sit in the car with us too. Statistically speaking, applicants with instructors somehow have a higher % of passes. We're about to find out if that's correct or not ;)

What not to do during a VicRoads driving test

2008-07-30T21:00:00.005+10:00

>e<

ok, I'm getting used to this... we failed the test again and we're gonna have to retake it... again... and by the end of it we would have compiled a long list of not-to-do's during a vicroads driving test that hopefully helps someone else to know what not to do.

the first test we failed, we learnt the following:

1. at the 'stop' sign, you need to stop before the line, not on the line. and it has to be a complete stop too.

2. headcheck - make sure they see you doing the headcheck. if the gesture is not 'big' enough, you still get penalized

3. there's a limit as to how slowly you can drive, so driving slower is not playing it safe. you cannot go below 10km/h of the stated speed limit (at the same time, if you go above the speed limit, you're still in trouble)

today, we learnt, amongst other things, that mirrors can make you fail:

1. Before signaling left you have to look at the back mirror then look at the left mirror then only left signal

2. before signaling right, same thing. back mirror, right mirror, then signal

3. before braking or slowing down, look at the stupid back mirror again first

4. if you signal, and while turning the signal goes off, you have to turn it back on, or else its considered 'not signaling long enough'

5. if you're turning or merging with traffic, you need to take the FIRST safe gap. if you wait til the next one, too late (at the same time, if you don't stop to observe the traffic before moving out, u get penalized too)

anyway, today's story was mainly on the mirrors, coz every time the officer said turn right, turn left etc, we lost points, not because we didn't check the mirror - she said she knows we did - it just wasn't in the right SEQUENCE. so, anyone who's gonna be taking the test, as far as I understand, what went wrong is we didn't follow the sequence of back mirror then side mirror then signal. we either signaled first or did them simultaneously... both of which were unacceptable.

and believe it or not, I still lost a point for not keeping up to speed. and this time it was only for a short stretch, just from the time we turned out of the office til the first traffic light. didn't seem to help that it was all fine after that...

hope we dont need to learn too many more lessons... haha...

Sunday, Monday, today and all...

2008-07-29T20:54:00.003+10:00

>e<

What a day it has been! and so many people to thank =) thanks Debbie and Caleb for coming over and cooking dinner (really yummy chicken soup and Caleb's special vege dish was great!), Debbie and Anna for cleaning up, Caylie, Dylan, Dayson for the get well soon cards for uncle Joey, Rachel and Dorcas for your online prayer... =) We're happy Debbie and Caleb's family came over. As usual, we had fun =)

The day is finally drawing to an end. kids have gone to bed and Joey's resting. The distant sound of cars passing by fill the night. peace and quiet... *tyres screeching* ... ok, not THAT quiet if you're living along a main road. haha. but quiet enough to reflect on the things not blogged =)

Sunday:
I wanted to write about the pot-bless (aka pot-luck) lunch my lifegroup had in our leader's house. the kids have been asking to go visit Vanessa and Valerie, which are the twin daughters of our lifegroup leaders (Henry and Marjorie), and also Sunday school teachers in church. great family, they're a joy to be with, and I must not forget their lovely little sister Vivian who always tries out the food and lets me know what's nice to eat =) what will I do without her! I don't know how we ended up in an almost-all-malaysian lifegroup. sort of just happened. anyway, the kids had a great time there and they wanted to bring Vanessa and Valerie back... although Ryan kept calling them both Vanessa. haha. another day he'ld call them both Valerie =) the silly thing that happened on Sunday was that some hopelessly forgetful person left her handbag at that house and we all went home.... fine, fine, so I did it... hey, accidents happen... err... although that's the 2nd time I've left stuff at their house. the first time was Ryan and Noel's jackets... *sigh* anyway, I've got a picture of half a twin here ;)

Anyway, they ended up coming to visit us (while bringing back my forgotten handbag...hehe) and we had some fun eating chocolate ice cream, strawberries, playing on the Wii and iPhones... and chatting away... so it all turned out good.

Monday:
I seriously wish I could have got a picture coz even I found it hard to believe that I was scraping ice off my windshield in the morning. but seriously... u know how there's like a morning mist that makes your car screens foggy? well, I took out the squeegee to clear it all off so I can drive on to work smoothly, and of all things, I found that parts of it was ice and not water... haha... had to scrape real hard at it ... and if anyone wonders... it was a rubber squeegee, so no, i didn't damage the car =)

oh no!!! we haven't read the rule book for the vicroads test tomorrow!!!! argh... bye!!

...and he's back

2008-07-29T08:16:00.002+10:00

>e<

ok, just got my VIP from the hospital... yes, the doc said its migraine, and he's not allowed to use the computer or TV for today and I think tomorrow too (Anne, stop laughing....) he's on MC for two days... migraine is due to various reasons including insufficient fluids and computer/tv screens ... like 'staring at code too long...'

he won't let me take a picture of him....
off to work I go!

Joey's in the hospital...

2008-07-29T05:03:00.005+10:00

>e<

ok, i'm gonna postpone writing about the pot-bless lunch our lifegroup (cell group) had last sunday and ice on my windshield yesterday morning etc. as you can see, I've got other things on my mind.

It's 5am, and I've just got back from the hospital awhile ago. Joey's still there. Before anyone panics, its not very serious (we hope). He had some sort of bad headache yesterday, guessing its some form of migraine. He tried to go to work, but ended up coming back a little earlier, still with the headache. When I got back from work and settled the kids, I asked if he wanted to see a doctor, and guess what? he said no, if the headache persists, he'll see one tomorrow... then... at 1.30am he was nauseous and after vomiting, we went to Austin hospital... its not the nearest hospital, but we know exactly where it is and its still nearby.

u won't believe how many queues there are.
1. queue to register - there was no queue at 2am, so, this was fast
2. wait to see the nurse - also almost instant
3. wait to see the doctor.... his turn came at 4am...
and the nurse in there did a blood test (results in an hour) and the doctor will come later.

The nurse said it may take another 90 minutes, or maybe 3 hours? they don't know yet, and both Joey and I are surprised that they're taking a blood test to begin with... he was expecting to walk in, get injected with a painkiller and come back and sleep. anyway, I had to come back coz I was afraid the kids will wake up... and NO, I did not leave them home alone. Anna is staying over tonight. She was also helping me take care of the kids earlier, so that's a great blessing.

Anyway, now I can't sleep... and I'm gonna have a bit of explaining to do if I can't get up for work =\
waiting for either Joey or the hospital to call me...

hmm... I better just try to sleep...

-------

5.35am... im still awake... called the hospital and checked with the nurse, Tracy.. she's quite nice. said the blood test results came back all good. and they're still giving him some kinda fluid, another litre to go. as far as i can tell, it's on an IV drip. if that works, the doctor will see if he can leave... if that doesn't work ... either more tests or more medicine....
=\

Where are you from ?

2008-07-28T14:25:00.005+10:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

2008-07-26T23:42:00.007+10:00

>e<

so, you all know we visited lake mountains 2 weeks ago... and the snow covered mountain, snow-topped trees and crisp mountain air still lingered in our memories all the while.. so, with those expectations in mind, we returned to Lake Mountains again today, with about twice the amount of people and had twice the amount of fun! =D

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting...

"Lake Mountains - The Return"

Its 8:00am and the doorbell rings.... oh no! I'm late again!! Debbie n family have arrived, and I'm not done packing yet! Joey was checking the cars to make sure everything was in order, gas, black oil, water, etc etc. I've got a pile of clothes that's our of the dryer, and I'm rummaging through that to find something for Ryan and Noel to wear. On the table top lies the loaf of bread that was supposed to be a tupperware full of sandwiches by now. Next to it were the plates of sausages, fishballs and square fishball-tofu thingys that Joey cooked earlier that morning... and yeah, as you can see, I said 'plates'.... I was supposed to have had them packed into containers too, but hey, I already admitted I was late... =)

after getting the food packed (Debbie helped out with the sandwiches) and into the car (which Joey actually did while I was running round wondering what else I had forgotten to pack), we were on our way! The scenic journey was relatively stress-free, as we cruised along, passing by farms with cows and sheep dotting the green pastures, and horses in their winter outfit... hehe... we didn't stop to take pictures, but its cute that only the horses seemed to need 'clothes' the other animals seemed fine... i guess winter is too cold for them somehow. we passed by yarra valley, with all its wineries, and healesville where the koala/kangaroo sanctuary is... and kept going on...

Ryan prayed for snow again... and I felt my heart sinking, coz I thought the weather report said it was gonna snow tomorrow, not today... hoping I was wrong... coz I didn't really take a good look at the weather forecast anyway, I was hoping and praying that God won't let him down... coz 2 weeks ago when we went up, he prayed for snow on the way up and it snowed once we reached the car park. then he prayed before we left, that it will snow one more time. and it did. so, I guess any parent reading this would know how I was feeling right then... sorta like, 'please let it snow, please let it snow, PLEAAAAASE let it snow!!!' lol

we stopped by Mystic Mountain Ski Hire to rent our gear and then continued on to Marysville to have our picnic lunch... yeah, its customary for us to ensure all tummies are happy before anything else =) here's Noel waiting for food...

and here's the rest of the party!

The picnic was supposed to be a short stopover, but we ended up having lots of fun as well. There was Joey and Caleb seemingly having a photo taking contest... including taking photos of each other taking photos... this one's from Joey's camera, so u know what's on Caleb's camera... hehe...

They both took pictures of this really long log, but I don't know what the story is... hopefully Caleb actually read the inscription on the metal plate attached to it...

and I ended up having a bird show for the kids... u see, there were these 2 ducks... and they were quite happy sitting around waiting for me to throw them some bread crumbs... but that wasn't really so interesting... then came this black bird... who snatched the bread out of the air before it landed in front of the ducks... poor ducks... not just coz they lost that small piece of bread, but because that black bird also completely stole my attention... and we had a fun time getting our little friend (friends, actually, as more and more black birds filled the tree above us) to catch the pieces that we threw up in the air

so, the kids joined in the bird-feeding frenzy and we were having a pretty good time til Joey reminded us that it was not the main objective of our trip... so, on we went, toward our destination Lake Mountain ....the trees were not covered in snow compared to our first trip there, which was a little disappointing... and we were quite worried when the signboards said the top carpark is full, and the staff directed us to the next nearest car park, which was about 2km from the mountain top... but everything worked out well, as they also provided free shuttle services to get us to the top!

the sled ride wasn't working, and we didn't think the kids were old enough to ski yet, so tobogganing we went!

tobogganing downhill is really soooo much fun, but trudging back uphill with THIS isn't as easy as it looks:

what's wrong with that? oh, nothing, except that the kids are really heavy and we had to pull them back uphill? *puff,puff* *pant,pant* oh well, it was all good =) err... besides the one time (later on) that I was too tired to pull Noel uphill and accidentally let go of the rope as we were reaching the top of the hill... so... he started sliding down the slope on his own, much to my horror... I leapt for the toboggan, and managed to hang on to a corner of it as we both continued sliding down for a short distance til some kind lady lent us a ... foot. hehe. she put her foot out in front of the toboggan, effectively stopping it long enough for me to pick myself off the snow and pull the toboggan back up. lol... no, I wasn't on the toboggan, i was sorta lying on the ground, flat out on the snow, hanging on to a toboggan that was going downhill... looking back, it was hilarious. thank goodness the guys didn't get a picture of that!

okay, the more fun things... look at this snowman!

would you believe me if I said we made it? =D

*sigh* no, we didn't.... but Joey did make a snowduck...

then got quite carried away with his natural refrigerator

while the kids were making snowballs

and bigger snowballs...

and now that we've gone far enough from that impressive snowman picture, here's our little one sitting beside the snowduck =)

the carrot was compliments of Ryan.... I don't really know where he got it from, but Joey said someone else's snowman got smashed and so, that spare part became available. I was quite thrilled to see it though... apparently a little too thrilled, as Ryan happily ran off again and returned with another 3 carrots.... err....

the highlight of the trip, for us at least, was that it SNOWED! and it snowed even more heavily than it did 2 weeks ago. In fact, it snowed so much, it was absolutely beautiful, like something out of a movie or something... and the first thing I could think of was, 'Thank You, Lord!!!!'.... Ryan on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at all... he was happy, and he started adding extra snow on to daddy

but we reallllllly so happy bout the snow shower. Its almost like we were out in the rain, but not getting wet =)

okay, I'm really sleepy now, and I think I'm writing too long for a blog... but let me begin my ending with pictures of the kids making a snow angel...

so, that was our day today, really fun, ended with a nice dinner at home together. thanks for 'joining' us!

Stone man!

2008-07-26T23:17:00.002+10:00

>e<

just wanted to show you guys something we saw at Westfield Doncaster!

looks pretty harmless doesn't he?

that is, until he looks back at you =)

but he's a pretty friendly guy... and yes, he's a real fellow dressed up to like like a stone statue or something. and his job is to slowly (like slow-motion style) walk round the mall. if u're walking really fast, u'ld pass by him without noticing him move. but if you're looking at him, u'll realize he's moves every now and then ... hehe. say 'cheese!'

Migrating to Australia - General Skilled Migration

2008-07-25T22:52:00.014+10:00

Every now and then, people ask us, how did we become Australian Permanent Residents. so, here is some info we would like to share. These are the steps and processes we went through to apply for an Australian Permanent Resident Visa (PR).

There are a few ways to apply for it, but we fall under the category of 'General Skilled Migration'. So, we need to have a minimum of 120 points based on their points system. You can refer to the "General Skilled Migration - Booklet 6". This booklet contains all the info you need before you start your application. If you meet the basic requirements then you are eligible

to apply.

At that time of our application we didn't know much about this process, so we engaged a migration agent to assist us with the application. Our migration agent is Ms. Khoo Li Lu, and her company is Ausasia Migration at Sri Hartamas (Tel: 603-23001128)

Back to the steps ... you need to have your skills assessed by the relevant assessing b

ody in Australia. For IT, the assessment is done by ACS (Australian Computer So

ciety). For other professions, please refer to Booklet 6, it will tell you which assessing body you will have to get your accreditation from.

In this step, we prepared our documents and submitted it to ACS. For those who want to know what the documents are, it includes your degree certificate, resume, full transcript of the course (yes, every single subject and your scores throughout the course) as well as

a reference letter from your current employer stating your designation, with detailed description of the work you're doing, and how long you've been with them etc. Anyway, our agent submitted everything for us and after ACS reviewed it, they replied with an official document stating we've got our accreditation, and with that, we can begin our application with the immigration department.

The agent will advise as to when you will need to take the IELTS test, medical tests etc. Altogether, the process took us about 10 months, then we received that long-awaited letter saying we've been approved. From there, we had to get our passports to the Australian Embassy to get the visa onto it. Its basically a big sticker they paste inside that says you've got a permanent resident visa for 5 years. And yes, you have to maintain it. Easiest way (but not the only way) to do that is to stay in Australia for at least 2 years in total (does not have to be consecutive years. Just a total of 365 days x 2 will do)

After that, there's another phase you'll go through when you are coming to Australia, but that would have to be posted as a separate blog =)

To make it clearer, we've copied some of this from another website. These are the steps to apply:Assess your skill with the relevant assessing body in Australia

Required documents :-
1.1 Reference letter from your employer(s)
1.2 Your current resume1.3 Passport
1.4 Birth Certificate
1.5 Transcript
Note* If your documents are all in English, you can submit them at once. If not, you need to have an australian accredited translator to translate them to English (official translation, stamped by the accredited translator) before sending.

You have to attach the above documents with the application form for your assessing body. If its the ACS form you need, you can download it here. While waiting for the results, you may have a reference number (depending if you're with ACS or something else) that you can go to the website and trace the progress with.
After you get the letter of accreditation from ACS/whichever assessing body, then you can go to the next step.

Apply for PR at Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
If you're with an agent, they will see to this. Again, there are forms involved, not to mention a whole bunch of passport sized photos.

Now you have to prepare yourself for IELTS

You should get the IELTS test result before lodging the application. This is to make sure that your application won't be rejected. You need to get at least 'competent level' of all component of the test. As of 1 September 2007, the minimum band score of competent level from IELTS test is 6 (six) of all 4 (four) components to get a score of 15 for your migration points (of 120). A band score of 7 will get you 25 points.

The documents that you need to prepare ...
2.1 Passport
2.2 Birth Certificate
2.3 IELTS result2.4 Reference letter
2.5 Evidence of fluency in Community Language
After you have lodged your application, you will receive feedback from Department of Immigration by e-mail. You shall know your file number for further reference.
After your application is assigned to case officer, you may be requested further documents such as, police check and medical check up. At this step, you just follow the request in your email. After all of your documents is complete, your application will be sent to decision maker and you have to wait a little bit more ...

VicRoads - 2nd attempt

2008-07-24T10:25:00.005+10:00

Ebbie manage to call VicRoads and carried forwards our appointment to next Wednesday 30th July 2008. So do pray for us that we will PASS this time. We are trying to get the licence ASAP as my Malaysia licence only valid in Australia for 3 months and our 3 months is due on 17th July 2008. Shhhhh .... In other word we are currently driving illegally, even thou our Malaysia licence is still valid till 2011.

Is a weird system, if we a here in Australia under a temporary Visa, Student Visa etc ... we can used our Malaysia licence indefinitely as long as your Visa is valid in Australia. Just because we are a permanent resident in Australia, we only have 3 months validity.

Scienceworks and more

2008-07-23T20:07:00.005+10:00

>e<

... guess who's blogging? =D

It was a fine Saturday morning last weekend, perfect for our planned day at Scienceworks. First, we went to Coburg to pick Anna, Debbie and the kids, and then we were on our way!

[sidetracking here, for all the hopefully relevant things I've not had time to blog...hehe]

"Scienceworks"

... now how did we choose to visit that place? well, taking you back a little, it all started when a colleague of mine brought his son to work. We got into a conversation about where he liked to go, and (aside from lake mountain, puffing billy and the more commonly-heard-of attractions) he said 'Scienceworks'. That was seriously the first time I heard of the place. Google-mapping a little, I found that it was approximately 5km west of the city.. not too bad! So, we decided that we would go there on one of our Saturday escapades. Huh? what are our Saturday escapades? argh... I need to start another blog for that... haha... but since you asked, =D

"Saturday escapades"

... as you know, both Joey and I are working now, and our usual weekday is wake up - drop kids - go to work - come home - dinner - bathe kids - sleep .... yeah, I know you didn't ask about that, but I thought I'ld tell you anyway =) so, ANYway, we usually think of something fun to do every Saturday or Sunday (church here gives us choices as to whether we want to attend the Saturday or Sunday services... so we've actually been to church every single week without fail!) .... well, most of the time, our plans land up being on Saturday... mostly because its so exciting we don't wanna wait yet another day for it. hahaha.... so far, we've spent some weekends

- visiting different shopping malls (we've been to Northland, Chadstone, Knox City, Westfield Doncaster, Victoria Gardens... hmmm... that's all!?),

- looking around at houses for sale (old houses, new houses, houses that are yet to be built, display houses, north of melbourne, east of melbourne, etc etc)

- shopping

- cars for sale (we've successfully bought our car already, so that's the end of that)

- shopping

- going for picnics (only at coburg lake and ruffey lake park so far... yes, it IS cold in winter... )

- shopping

- and the most exciting one was Lake Mountain... which you've seen Joey's blog on... (and we're going again with Debbie's family soon... twice the number of people and twice the amount of fun!...coming right up!) Did we mention we made our very first snowman? err... he was about 1 foot in height and had twigs for hands and a leafy twig for a nose, compliments of Anna, but still, our first snowman! yay! and its actually hard work scraping ice with your gloved hands and equally hard work trying to make it resemble a roundish shape. Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse did not reveal that when they scooped up perfectly rounded snowballs off the ground and you seriously can't roll the ball round and round and expect it to grow proportionately bigger, nor is it perfectly round anyway... oh yeah, we had fun tobogganing too.... though the climb back up the hill wasn't too much fun for a certain someone who perfectly happy with the lack of exercise in her life ;) but it sure was fun enough to go sliding all the way back down again! especially sharing the toboggan with Ryan and Noel. we all had so much fun! [Note to anyone toboganing with a small kid in front of you... do NOT dig your feet into the snow to slow down if your kid's face is right where the snow is flying at... the little guy would turn into a snowman way faster than it took me to make my 1 foot snowman. lol...]

err... where was I? Scienceworks? yeah...

[continuing my original story now]

So, we arrived at Scienceworks...

And we fueled up on some food first

(the fried fish fingers and chocolate chip cookies that Debbie packed actually tasted better than the sandwiches at the cafe..!)

The weather was perfect for chasing birds (haha), so, we let the kids run around outdoors for awhile

Scienceworks actually has a few different parts to it. There's the planetarium and some invent-and-learn thing which we didn't go to (why? coz they charge them all separately and we only had enough time for one anyway. maybe another time)... anyway, the one we did go to was the main Scienceworks exhibition (which turned out to be free for kids, by the way!) and we also got tickets for the Lightning Show, which was pretty informative, although all the kids remembered were pretty lights and a mascot bunny. For those who are abit older though, there were alot of interesting facts about nature and energy and I never knew that paper clips could save my life =) give it a guess!

There were quite a number of things on display that the kids had fun playing with ... an all time favourite would be that little ball you drop into the ... hmm... bowl? not really a bowl... u know, how you can throw a coin into that big plate-looking-thing where it goes round and round before finally going down the funnel into the hole in the middle? yeah, that one. and no, i didn't take a picture of it coz it seemed so 'normal'. haha.

there was a section on sports, though...

like wall climbing...

tree climbing... errr..... *ahem*

and kayaking...

another fun one was the race track where they let 2 people run side by side and they track the time you took to finish what I believe was a 100-meter run, and they show you the lady that did it in 2 minutes... and as much as Ryan, Noel, Caylie, Dylan and Dayson tried, they couldn't do it in 2 minutes =D

They did, however, spend way more than 2 minutes at the playgrounds outside!

Its hard to take pictures inside, so we took some outside...

well... we all had a great time together ... and looking forward to more fun this weekend! =)

UBY 755 is back

2008-07-17T22:24:00.002+10:00

In the afternoon, we got a call from our mechanic saying that our car is ready for collection, but they are closing at 6PM. Myself and Ebbie finished work at 5PM.

I leave the office 10 minutes early to go and pick Ebbie then rush to the daycare, to pick Ryan & Noel. when we reached the daycare is already 5:30PM. cut the story short we manage to reach the mechanic 5:50PM and collects the car before they closed =)

Canon EOS 40D

2008-07-17T15:23:00.008+10:00

We are very very very very happy here especially me, all the toys I want to buy are now so so cheap (don't convert). when we are in Malaysia, each toys I get it will takes me 12 - 24 months installment to pay it off. All the toys are so expensive in Malaysia.

For example this Canon EOS 40D, if i buy it from Malaysia it will cost about RM4450, For that amount, I have to save a few months to a years to get it or if i want it desperately i will charge it into a credit cards for like 12 - 24 months installments.

Over here in Australia this camera only cost about A$1100 plus for the body and lens about A$300, so i add it together is only A$1400, and i can pay it off without any installment =)

We just bought a 6 months old Canon EOS 40D for A$1275, I don't have any idea how to actually used it yet, will have to read and figure out how to take good picture with it =)

The camera come with

Canon EOS 40D body
EF-S 18-55mm Lens
Hoya 58mm Pro1 Digital UV filter
Hoya 58mm CIR-Polarizing filter
8gb Sandisk Extreme III CF

VicRoads Driving Test

2008-07-17T14:39:00.001+10:00

After waited for like one plus months, the day has arrived, we both went to VicRoads for our driving test. My appointment is at 8:45 AM and Ebbie's is 9:30 AM. Guess What we both failed our driving test. After driving for like 10 years, we both failed.

We quickly set another test date. The earliest date i can get is on 2nd Aug 2008 - 8:15 Am and is 45KM away from our home. Ebbie's will be some where in September

UBY 755 is with the mechanic

2008-07-15T15:59:00.002+10:00

For the pass 2 days the car LPG indicator is beeping for no reason amd acting weird, it indicates that there is no GAS, but it is full, it keep switch into petrol modes. so this morning i sent the car to the mechanic for them to check it. at first they told me it could be the sensor that giving the problem, the mechanic said it will take about 1 day to fix it, I should be able to collect it back after work.

Just before lunch the mechanic called up and said that there is something wrong with the LPG system. they need to send it back to LPG service centre. so i asked them when will it be ready ? the answer i got is we don't know yet.

Hmm ... now i don't know when will i get my car back ...

14th July 2008 - Our third month in Melbourne

2008-07-14T10:32:00.000+10:00

Today is our third month in Australia - Melbourne, time passesed really fast for the last 3 months.

Lake Mountain

2008-07-13T10:36:00.003+10:00

We went to Lake Mountain on 12th July 2008 (Saturday), that day is the first time we (myself, Ryan & Noel) experience real SNOW.

Lake Mountain is about 90KM from our home in Heidelberg Heights. we took about 90 minutes drive up the mountain. The journey there is wonderful, beautiful scenery all the way there. we drive pass some farm, winery etc ... not like driving in the north south highway nothing to see.

We stop at Marysville for lunch and rent all the equipment before we go up to the mountain, Marysville is 20 minutes from Lake Mountain. we paid like A$18 for adults, it come with a toboggan, waterproof boot, waterproof pant. I can't remember how much we paid for the kids. this is how Ryan & Noel after suite up !

Click HERE for more Photo

Some info on Lake Mountain

Lake Mountain is Australia's premier cross country skiing and snow play resort. It is THE place for a wonderful snow adventure.

You can play, ski, take a sled ride, toboggan, tube ride, explore the trails on snow shoes or just take in the winter wonderland that surrounds you...it is special. There are modern visitor facilities and expert staff on hand so you can make the most of your day.

Some Facts and Figures

120km from Melbourne CBD
Two hours drive from most parts of Melbourne.
20 minutes drive from Marysville
Drive on excellent sealed roads
Dedicated toboggan slopes
Huge snow play areas
Over 37km of groomed cross country ski trails spread across 2400ha.
Beginners, intermediate and advanced ski trails groomed daily.
Classical and skate skiing Highest point: 1480M
Modern visitor center
Licensed Bistro plus takeaway
Hire clothing and is equipment available.
World class ski school Attracts up to 200,000 visitor per annum
Accommodation: 3000 beds available in the Marysville area.

The iPhone 3G has arrived

2008-07-12T11:43:00.000+10:00

After much anticipation, the iPhone 3G was released on 11 July 2008 in Australia.

Eager ... Hundreds of iPhone fans queue in Bourke Street, Melbourne.

Holden Commodore Executive 2006

2008-07-11T11:52:00.000+10:00

We just bought this 2nd car, the moment we saw it we both (myself & Ebbie) like it. it tooked us a few day to sort out which loan to take ? to salary package it or not ?

Finally we decided to just go for a normal hire purchases loan. What we like most about this car is it has DUEL FUEL - Gas & Petrol.

2006 Holden Commodore VZ EXECUTIVE Black 4 Speed Automatic Sedan

Body Colour : Black
Trim Colour : Slate
Doors : 4
Seats : 5
Cylinders : 6
Fuel Type : Petrol & LPG
Capacity : 3.6
Gears : 4 Speed
Gearbox : Automatic
Drive Type : RWD