Whine whine whine

Looking at my previous post.... I have to remind myself.... no matter how bad it is... there's always somebody who is worse.... When we think we been going home late every day - there's some other poor bas****s who went home later than us...

Or it could be worse - we could be in Indonesia near Merapi or tsunami or.. Baghdad? Kabul?... :-)
----- enough whine-----

Good news to share : insyaAllah my sister is coming to stay with us for almost 3 months.. NEXT WEEK!

Must get another bed today.... actually not even a bed --- only a trundle..

So we'll be rearranging beds for the long weekend... and I hope I can fix my wardrobe situation! out of control!

Kapooped!

It's on Wednesday... feels like Friday.. Had a rough few days.. Sunday worked all day [till almost 6 pm]...
Monday -- also 6 pm
Yesterday --- 6++ pm
I am hoping to go out for a long lunch... didn't happen.

so, long weekend* ... bring it ON!

*Am taking Friday OFF and Monday is a public holiday!

My heart broken son

Aladdin: Mummy, you hurt my feelings
Me: Why is that?
Aladdin: Because you don't buy me monster truck :-(.. I won't be able to play with Ronan's truck and my birthday is agessssss :-( :-(

Round Handbag for a 'Round' Lady

I was never a handbag person. I only have ONE (good) handbag at a time. This one is locally made in little town called Evandale. Simple and round! Cow hide leather.. also leather lining. Brass YKK zip. bla bla la di da di da....

He also sells imported stuffs and branded items.. (Aussies) like R.M Williams, Milenni, etc --- that kind of stuff BUT not LV or Coach and stuffs like that.

I asked if he 'teach' people how to make leather bags.. ofcourse not!

I don't really like the shape - but I must say it is growing on me...

-the round lady-
p.s _ if you like 'leather' smell ---- his shop is full of that! you can also see the workshop!

Bonding time

I miss many weekends with my kids. Lately my job is so demanding it's kind of crazy!

Last Sunday we did an 'adventure' trip down the river - but not the section that I took Intan and Ida. Aminah and kids pretended that they were some kind of soldiers in the jungle --- try to hunt the enemies.... I think kids had a ball of a time there... must do this often

sometimes the most fun things are the simplest and cheapest.....

Gold Pans are here!!

Everybody is exited about the gold pans (including Rohan). They arrived yesterday when I was in Melbourne. When the kids and Hisham picked me up from the airport last night, Rohan said "I like Gold mummy"

What the?

More images around Chinatown, Sydney

Sydneysiders are lucky.. So many choices and cheaper too

In Golden Century Seafood Restaurant, you can see your future dinner swimming around before you eat them!

Fruit and Veg @ Paddy's

This is what I miss in Tasmania...

Around Chinatown and Paddy's Market, Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Paddy's Market - I called it "shittery" market. :-)
It was closing down time. I didn't buy anything here but I nearly bought this kangaroo skin... nearly.. to add to my 'dust collectors' collection! hahahaha

The shopkeeper's sentiment here is a bit like in Petaling Street - maybe not quite violence..

Long Q at Korean? Taiwanese Restaurant.. not so far from mamak's.

If only I could capture the sound that comes from his instrument! - that's my kind of chinese music...

Madam Butterfly??

Mamak

A colleague said to me if I want Malaysian Food - go to mamak - near Chinatown.
I thought OK - will check it out... When I look at the queue... Hmmmmmm it must be good then. So I join in the Q. I actually read about this Mamak in the inflight magazine. Sure enough they have so many newspaper/magazines cuttings on their door. They opens from 5:30 pm till 2 am in the morning.

I got my order after literally...an hour's wait! Had roti canai ($5 a piece- reasonable price) and I took away nasik lemak (sebab tamak!)

The verdict is - it's gooooooood! - felt like eating roti canai back in Malaysia. Apparently most Malaysians said that to them.

If I want to be picky - maybe the 'kuah' should be serve a bit hot [as in temperature hot]. The male waiters [those Malaysian chinese boys] are very very friendly and nice. After I had my tucka - went out.... the Q still long!!!

On the news - they are opening another "Mamak" at Chatswood. I wonder when are they coming down to Launceston? -- hahahahaha

Sydney Trip

My brain still hurts from the weekend 'bootcamp'. These bootcamps is to prepare candidates for the practical exams. I missed the one in Queensland. So I put my hand up for Sydney.

There were a lot or nervous people there even though the examiners were pretty friendly and not mean... I had a full-on Saturday and Sunday.... but still have time to enjoy Sydney [by myself mind you!]

Friday night I arrived pretty late. But the taxi I took from airport to my hotel, broke down in Newtown [about 1.5 kms away from the hotel]. Yeah WTF! But Newtown is really a good place to be stucked - the street is full of restaurants. Almost like.... as if I am back in Malaysia at the 'pasar malam'. Only difference is the stalls is infact the restaurants.

As I walked up the streets - the smell was unbelievably familiar. WOW.. Not hard to find halal food too. But I wasn't that hungry. Mental note : must come here if I have the chance.

Is it OK to kill the 'pest'?

Berry farmers spent millions in protecting their crops from birds. Hisham will put the net up as soon as the cherry starting to get red/pinkish color. The pest is the black bird - not sure what they are called. 'starling' perhaps? I just call them black bird.

Some people really hate this bird. One colleague at work said if her father catch this black bird he will semi bury the bird in the groung and run a mower on the bird! a bit sadist I thought!

Somebody I knew put ratsak [rat poison] in strawberries and last year she killed 60 of this black birds [what???]
I just noticed this baby inside my carport last week. Baby black bird isn't so black and they normally aren't as black and they look bigger than the adults one.

I know I can easily kill it.. but it's kind of WRONG to kill baby birds - I mean it is not so bad to kill baby slug or baby snail.. baby bird????
I'm not killing it.

I do hope they don't come to eat my cherries. (smart black birds - some managed to get to the fruits even with the net in place- I saw them pushed the net till they get to the fruits, some even get inside the net! very brave too!)

Cherry Blossoms

The question is : How many of these flowers will turn nice ripe cherries?

Got my exam result

Yes - Not surprisingly - unsuccesful

I am not sad about it since I knew the moment I got the exam papers - I will fail. The next exam I hope I can do better - better prepared etc.
Exam is in March 2011. So I have 5+ months - in between commissioning new machine + tutoring two new physicists and patching up my kids my this n that...

aaargghhhhhh

Insyaallah - I will be fineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I will be fine I will be fine I will be fine..........

Fossil Bluff

I was so happy to be able to go to this place. Kind of re-living my 'fossil collecting' days. (Donks ago!) To my geologist friends out there- this place is a must in Northweast Tasmania. Fossil Bluff, Wynyard.

The whole cliff are covered with fossils. But not really worth much kind of fossil - We were hoping to find dinosaur bone but naaaah.. only those shellfish ones.

I'm sure my friend Sherry can tell me what do they call this type of rocks.. If I'm not mistaken - this is what my Professor called tafoni? taffoni??

We aren't supposed to take those fossil but I can't help but adopt this one [must have!]- hahahaha

This one is actually stucked on the 'roof' of the cliff..

Shil - you would love this place... I got hyped up about 'geological' sites. So I said to Hisham let's stop at Doctor's Rock near Burnie (on the way home) - because I can see the sign "geological site" along the road somewhere.... but it turned out more interesting than fossils or tafonies!

next entry!

Penguins in Burnie Waterfront

We went to the penguin centre just before dark to get a closer look at the fairy penguins. Previously in Stanley we saw the baby penguins in their 'burrows'. That was in January. In early October we can only see male penguins coming to shore to prepare the nest for the mating season. Unfortunately they only come onshore after dark. We were told that the females will come up in a few weeks time.

These 'mock' rocks are actually made by kids from 'special' school. (disability type school).

It is like a little rock cave for those penguins to nest. The penguins also built their nest in between rocks or under a bush or even under the boardwalk.

There are low fences along the road. The fence prevents the penguins from becoming roadkills.

So if you are driving along Tasmanian coasts and you see the peculiar low fences along the road, it must be close to penguins rookeries

There were a couple of volunteer guides at the site. Unfortunately the flash would blind the penguins. So any photography must be without flash.

Must get the redlight torchlight to see these penguins.

The male will come up and stand around the rocks or their future nest and poo pooed around it [to mark it's territory]. Sometimes you see several penguins fighting for the same nest. They made a lot of noise too. [Apparently they are the smallest and noisiest of all penguins]

Too bad my camera can't handle low light without flash kind of photography.