Family Trip To Australia

We finally started our family for 2013 and we arrived at Brisbane, Australia on an early wet morning. Though it was raining on a sunny island, we proceeded to the jetty for our ferry ride to Tangalooma Island.

The jetty was totally a disaster as there was no proper shelter at the waiting area, and not the journey to the ferry. It was pouring and we were not prepared for wet weather since it was supposed to be summer time. But I was really lucky to have met this Australian lady who offered to shelter Faith and me all the way to the ferry while her hubby was drained… I thank God for sending us an angel.

During the ferry ride, it was though choppy but I was trying to overcome my sea sickness by having some sweets. While we are almost arriving to the island after about 75 minutes ride, Faith started to feel sick and vomited. It was so unpleasant and I too began to feel nausea. It got even worst when the ferry docked at the jetty when the ferry began to sway from one side to another due to the choppy sea water.

My hubby saw the look on my face and gently told me to endure till we get off but I instructed him to take Faith while I get the bags… the moment I got off the ferry, I ran to the nearest area and I threw out! I was then feeling terrible yet relived that we have arrived FINALLY!

After checking in to our rooms, the room was relatively big with 2 twin beds and an extra bed at the side near the balcony. The view from our room was a wonderful sea and garden view. Simply beautiful! Faith was really happy with the balcony and got out asking me if we will be able to see some sharks from our room!!!

After cleaning up ourselves, we headed down to the café for our first meal in Australia. We ordered pizzas, wedges, pastas, fish & chips to share. What surprised us were the drinks… it was much cheaper to drink beer or wine than soft drinks or mineral water. The food was pretty good though the presentations were simple and looked more like high school canteen food.

The rain finally stopped and we went to check out the beach area. Faith simply loved it and told me that she wanted to play sand castle but it was still rather wet and cold so, I told her that we will keep that itinerary for tomorrow morning instead. She seemed to agree with me and we continued our walk around the island.

There were many different spices of birds on the beach and Faith wanted to catch them or perhaps trying to scare them away. She was running on the sand and chasing the birds away! That was quite a scene and I suddenly believed that we are already in Australia!

When night falls, everyone went to the jetty to wait for the wild dolphins to swim ashore for feeding. It was so chilling in the evening at the jetty but that did not stop us from having the opportunity to feed the wild dolphins. It was such a wonderful experience!

Dinner Gathering

Though Minowa-san has resigned from MC and joined another MC subsidiary, we would very much like to keep in touch with him as often as possible. This gathering was planned way ahead to suit everyone’s schedule and here we are today!

Sumiya will be first visit for most of us as it was recommended by Minowa-san who has been there and found that it was pretty good for our casual gathering. Sumiya Japanese restaurant was housed Kuriya which was quite a popular venue for Japanese.

Since it was mainly Japanese food and we sat back and relax while Minowa-san called the shots. He ordered mostly their popular dishes and some of which our favourites… the dishes came in small plates and portion which was good for us so that we can try more dishes. Steven kaiye on the other hand lend his palm to pick the Japanese beans for us. It was very interesting coz’ they came as a big pot and you need to have big / huge palm to grab as much as you can… that would be your portion and paying for the amount of $9.

The food was delicious and I especially enjoyed the BBQ squid… so chewy and nice. We also had a small BBQ pit to cook our own dishes like prawns, corn, meat etc… I was very relieved that we don’t smell like BBQ meat as we were seated outdoor… perfect seats for BBQ.

This is one GREAT place for casual gathering for friends and I would definitely be back with friends for family soon… Thumps UP!

Happy 13th Wedding Anniversary

Happy wedding anniversary baby….
I am happy that we took my path of life with you by my side where you have given me joy, happiness and lots of love during our journey. I am sure we will be sharing every moment together be it happy or sad; in sickness & in health and I still promise to love you all the days of my life.

Dinner At Shang Palace

This would be our second visit to Shang Palace thanks to the wonderful arrangement by Jessica. She kindly arranged it with the Director of Sales for Japanese Accounts, Miwaya-san who hosted the dinner.

When we arrived at the hotel, we noticed that it was very crowded and noticed the tiredness on his face though he gave us a warmed welcome at the lobby. We learnt that there were many VIPs in house and he did not have a pleasant day too…

Anyway, we can’t do much and proceeded to Shang Palace for dinner. He gave us the green light to order any dishes of our choice and dashed off to attend his guest after receiving a phone call. That was how busy he was!! We, as clients or guest that night understood his situation and we were so ourselves that we ordered freely!!! Hahaahahahah….

We ordered most of their signature dishes like the roast pork, cod fish, French beans, Peking duck and others. We waited for him to return but were too hungry… we started the dinner on our own though was rude but did not had a choice… our impatient tummy was roaring and we can’t resist the roast pork which was placed on the table.

After clearing the roast pork within minutes, we were quite embarrassed and we ordered a second plate of the same so that he could have a share when he returned. We were glad that we ordered the second plate of the same as he returned after a couple of minutes it was served.

It was an enjoyable dinner especially we managed to cheer him up a bit from his stressed up day. He was feeling better half way through dinner and even joked along with us. The desserts we ordered were pretty delicious too and the presentation was interesting!

Shang Palace… not too bad honestly but my personal favourite would still be Wah Lok.  

Girls Nights’ Out

Our dear buddy Dior will be stepping into a new chapter of her life soon and being her close buddy, we planned a decent dinner for her since none of us has time to plan up a Hens Night for her.

We arranged a dinner gathering with close friends like Emily, Susan, Anastasia and me at the café in American Club. That is one of our favourite hang outs thanks to Emily who is a member. She used to book the café for our music ministry gatherings and even invited us to the Chinese Restaurant which was fantastic!

It was a pity that Patricia could not join us due to her eye surgery. Otherwise, it would be a complete gathering for the girls.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable gathering with loads of catching up with one another and not forgetting the delicious spread of good food.  

I truly enjoyed the gathering with friends whom you don’t get to meet daily or often but yet able to communicate easily.  

We were all excited about her coming wedding especially Emily and me coz’ we were given the honour to sing at her church wedding. Though it was a heavy task but we are ready to take up and try to make it beautiful for her… hopefully….

Faith’s Little New Friend

We started attending Saturday Sunset mass at Divine Mercy Church once again after a long absence. It was our second Saturday and it was really great to be back; was missing the fantastic choir and the homily by Father Johnson.

This evening, we were seated at the side and by chance, there was this little girl with her mum sat beside us was really cute and friendly. Initially, Faith was quite unfriendly towards the little girl and was rather jealous
when I told her that the little girl was really cute and friendly.

Shortly after my comment, she started to smile at the little girl seated beside her and they started to shake hands… we began to introduce ourselves and so did they. Suanne was her name and she started taking out her story book and shared with Faith… I was really happy to see Faith communicating well with other children while I spoke to Selena, Suanne’s mum who was such a nice lady.

When mass was over, we stayed a little while longer for the two girls to bid their goodbyes and they seemed to like each other very much that they started to invite each other to visit their homes next time. That was so innocent and pure!

Hope to see you again Selena & Suanne!

Faith The Builder

I am pretty happy that we bought her this blocks when she turned 2 years old. Since then, she has been playing with it and I would say this is one fantastic toy for children as it somehow allows them to expand their imagination to build stuff on their own.

When we first bought the blocks, she wasn’t able to much stuff on her own but as she grows, she became more fanciful and started building castles, homes (which she imagined), swimming pools and others. Now that she is three years plus, her building has improved tremendously.

Now she build stuff like trains and called them trains; an enclosed area and called them home or castle; using colours to play around and at times, she will called them the swimming pool which really looks like one.

I wonder what she will build when she turns 4 years old.