2010_12_26 Around Mt.Gambier and along the Great ocean road day 5

Woke up to a cloudy morning!!! 

And we had a good exploration of the old Mount Gambier gaol which is small but quite interesting!!!

This Gaol cum hostel is definitely one of the highlight of the our trip to Mt.Gambier!!!

The sinkhole and cave garden were the other highlights of Mt.Gambier!!! A garden in a sinkhole was certainly creative and unique!!! 

I was pretty happy that we made our way to Portland and to Cape bridgewater.

The big long stretch of beach was simply breathtaking!!! Wished we could stay longer, but the time was ticking, All the time we were racing with the clouds, trying always to stay a step ahead. The petrified forest was on the other hand so so, if no one said it's a petrified forest, I would have thought of them as weird rock or land formation, haha. I love Cape Nelson lighthouse too, haha, I guessed by now one can tell I'm a fan of Lighthouses!!!

There's many town to stop by on the Great ocean road, and my colleague has been bragging bout how she enjoyed Port Fairy, a quaint fishing town which was once a whaling port. So we visited this township though we kinda really didn't spend enough time there to perhaps appreciate the town much. But it's definitely a relaxing place and an ideal place to retire with your own yacht here. 

Warrnambool was just another bigger town where we stopped by for lunch and fuel. 

Pretty much from Warrnambool onwards, is where the Great Ocean Rd gets interesting!!! It's a long winding drive snaking along the coastline. We made our way all the way to Port Campbell and then camped at a caravan park in Princetown. 

Highlights??

Well, contrary to many beliefs and the great promotion, the twelve apostles was a bit disappointing. Maybe the sun light wasn't enough, but it was definitely not in its glorious days anymore. What you saw in most pictures and postcards were old pictures reprinted before more and more of the rock stacks collapsed. However, the Victorian tourism did a GREAT job in luring the crowds to come and see them!!! There were so many people and cars that evening we were there. I really wondered what was on their mind??!! 

Most people only join the tour or drive to see the twelve apostles and a bit around the area from Melbourne (~5hrs drive one way along the coast), which I reckoned is definitely great but the Great ocean rd has a lot more to offer than just the twelve apostles!!! Of course, you can't do it in a short time you are here unfortunately. 

However, we did saw a lot of other cooler attractions least promoted along the drive which my friend and I agreed is MUCH better than the twelve apostles!!! LOL. 

Among them are

Bays of islands, the Bay of Martyrs, the grotto and the London Bridge.

Don't miss these places if you visit the Great ocean road which are just a little bit further down than Port Campbell!!!

Oh, I must say that my pictures really don't justified well the beauty of the Great ocean rd as well as our JOY when we saw these spectacular coastline!!!

One of the smaller courtyard in the Mt.Gambier Gaol/hostel. At the far end is the entrance to a bigger courtyard which is used by the women.

The living room next to the little courtyard, free internet access which is just what we need to read the weather forecast. Here after dinner, I met a girl from Victoria?? and chat a long time...she was a bit of a troubled girl and her ex-bf in jail in Mt.Gambier.

Interestingly, here I learned tea can mean dinner too from her!!!

2010-12-25 Around Limestone coast day 4

The limestone coast stretches along the southern coastal from Fleurieu peninsular all the way to Mt.Gambier which is our destination of the day. Pretty long drive all the way from Newland Head conservation park (bout 5 hours ish), and the highlights are mostly at the end of the road trip today. Pity that I'm not driving a 4WD, so we did not assess the rugged limestone coast which is said to be very pretty!!! 

There were two surprises for the day:

Firstly, I did not foresee that we have to cross the murray river via ferry at Wellington, and I was like "oh FCUK!!!" what if the ferry wasn't operating since it's Christmas!!! Luckily it's operating, otherwise we would have to make a huge detour to cross the river which adds another 1-2 hours drive. Got to thank whoever was still working during Christmas!!!

Another surprise was our backpacker hostel in Mt.Gambier, it was so much better than what we thought and we were invited to join the backpacker hostel's family Christmas dinner!!! He told me on the phone months ago, but to be remembered and invited was so kind of them. They know it's hard to find food during Christmas!!! How good is that??!! Free food, haha.

oh by the way, I must say my eyes were drooping midway, trying hard to stay awake, luckily nothing happened, haha. 

Dennis hut "window"

The popular surfer's beach - Parsons beach 

It's quite amazing to see how much fog were there!!

Walking along the bridge (causeway) to Granite island just off Victor habour

2010-12-24 Around Fleurieu peninsular day 3

3rd day was a full on day, haha but blessed with a pretty sunny day. We drove all the way down from Adelaide to Newland Head Conservation park along the coastal road. Who said the South Australia beaches are not as pretty???!!! then please judge for yourself with my photos below. In fact, i reckoned some of these beaches are better if not on par with the other beaches at the other parts of Australia. It's just that there are not heavily promoted in SA tourism and best known by locals!!! Looking back, those photos made me wana go kayak at these amazing waters!!!

We stopped by Port Willunga, Second Valley, Rapid bay and then did a "shouldn't do" drive to Tunkallila beach on hilly dirt road. This road was steeper and longer than what i thought. Thank god my friend was patient with me, haha. Though driving for such a long distance just to get to a beach on a dirt road with lots of small pebbles did give me a creep since the car was rented. All those thoughts started coming into my mind, i didn't pay extra for any accident, so i drove slowly and it just seems to take ages until we finally see the edge and the beach!!! I dare not drive down, haha and it's steep walk down (kam ngam tak kam qiu i stomach ache, aiks~!!!!). Then we visited parsons beach, setup our tent at Park 1st before we set off for the Starhill windfarms!!! Seeing the those turbines so close was one of the highlight!!! Though there wasn't a good sunset, but we were very happy with how the day turned out!!! 

Port Willunga

How I wished I was him with my kids and pets enjoying the crystal clear beach on a sunny day!!!!

2010-12-23 Around Adelaide day 2

The second day of the trip, you bring people to where most people would normally go. To see the icons of Australia. 

But before that, we dropped by the big bridgewater mill which is kinda cool to look at for 1 min?? 

Well, the pictures speaks itself, my friend here just enjoyed her time with the icons, as you can tell by the pure smile and joy when she fed the roos, haha. Although i must say here she was a bit frightened by them in the 1st place, as some of them were quite BIG, they can stand on both legs and be taller than ya!! And it's understandable for my friend who was given a high school ticket price!!! haha. But i think i must applaud her courage to try to feed the emu, and she's lucky that she found a tame emu!!! haha.

2010-12-22 barossa valley tour day 1

2010's summer was a different one because i have a guest from S'pore over to travel with me!!! This trip have been planned since almost a year ago, lots of decisions, info searching, etc. Basically it's the first time i am travelling with a close friend from M'sia that i have not seen for 2 years??!! and it's just the 2 of us, haha. Somemore she's a girl, but luckily she's not the Cinderella type girl and love travel!!! 

Well, one question that was raised was, hmmm...a guy and a girl!!! well...i said, it's very common in Australia to travel like this, you don't need to have anything going on to be travelling together, haha. And whatever...

The 1st day was a pretty hectic day because she said she's fine without any rest after the long flight. Oh well,  the 1st place that i would like her to see is this amazing dam. Because i'm pretty sure she would be surprised as i was before and will like it. 

It was a great sunny day and my 2nd time driving in Australia, haha.

The GREAT preparation of 2010

The GREAT long road trip of 2010. 

Preparation and preparations before hand!!! 

Stay tune ^.^

2010 CCB and Lab X'mas

 I know these photos are a bit too late, haha. It's 2011 X'mas now and yet i'm uploading 2010 X'mas??!! oh well...., LOL

CCB X'mas bbq

It was a nice one, though i missed the one this year, haha. I really like this kind of open party/bbq, just sitting on the ground (some people brought chairs). It's a day of good food, beer and wine!!! And the day you'll see people letting loose!!!

Some people played Frisbee, the photo above showed people playing soccer, and it was fun. haha. Even our CCB director, Angel Lopez joined in with his Argentinian skill!!! It's the first time i saw Angel outside of his usual smart attire and playing sport!!! Soccer is the world game, hey??!!

Next up, was the Goodall-Khew Goodall lab X'mas. Each time of the year this time, i have headache on what should i bring, haha. I'm not a good cook, neither am a good baker of any sorts. In the end, i brought marinated satays from the central market, easy, haha. 

2010_12_19 Stella creek cherry picking

Cherries cherries!!!! Super sweet juicy cherries!!!

Cherries here are link to X'mas!!! You'll always see some cherries in a guest's house during X'mas^^

Tash offered to tag along with them to do some cherry picking which i gladly accepted. We have been checking the website of Stellar creek for 1-2 weeks as the orchard's opening time is very dependent on weather. Big rain pour sees the cherries falling off and also rotting. Well, what we need is a good plenty of sunny day!!! The sun get the cherries to ripe faster becoming the red juicy fingerfood we like!!!

Unfortunately, the weather before X'mas and our lab X'mas bbq wasn't great, we waited and waited until that time came!!! It an overcast day but at least the orchard was opened. 

2010_12_04 Gawler shooting

This is an old town that took me almost 2 hours on the train to get there!!! This is the furthest of the northern region one can get to on a convenient public transport. 42km from Adelaide.

Somehow i wanted to see new places and shoot new things, hence i went on this train to visit this town. It turned out to be quite a nice day walk + shooting. 

Gawler is one of the gateways for most people to get to the famous Barossa Valley due to its closer proximity. Much to my unknown, this town is the first country town of SA!!! Hence, there's a lot of heritage value in this town. The town plan was devised by the colonial surveyor William Light, and was the only town planned by him other than Adelaide. Gawler prospered early with the discovery of copper nearby at Kapunda and Burra, which resulted in Gawler becoming a resting stop to and from Adelaide. Later, it developed industries including flour milling and manufacturing steam locomotives. Now, Gawler is a commercial centre for the Mid-North districts of South Australia.


My visit was near Christmas where they have the Gawler Christmas street festival, almost the same time this time of the year!!! (sigh, lol). One can see X'mas decoration on the buildings. Here's the photos!!! Enjoy!!!

The last train stop

2010_11_20 Glenelg and West beach shooting

Here's some of my chosen shots of Glenelg and West beach!!! Revisited with my new toy :) Enjoy!!!

2010/11/09 staff "Deppreciation" night

Some photos of the night :) 

2010/11/19 Rebecca & Andrew's wedding at St.Andrews

Am very lucky to witness this couple's wedding!!! 

Andrew, the senior RA in the lab is the lucky man that day!!! 

It was a gorgeous day with a wonderful wedding inside a lovely chapel!!!

Here's some of my favourite photos of the day!!!

2010_11_07 Adelaide Goverment house open day

A visit to the Adelaide Government house which is located at the corner between King william st and nrth tce. This house has sparked some curiousity in me everytime i walk along the tall wall of its perimeter. 

 The only time i can have a peep was through the front gate which has a driveway that leads into the house or i should call mansion!!!

This house only opens a few times every year and i have always missed it or either too lazy to get into the CBD to visit.

2010-11-07 Adelaide Botanic garden- roses eVERywhere!!!

Get ready to dive into the captivating colourful world of roses!!!

2010_11_06 McLaren Vale vineyard walk

Decided to go for a vineyard and cellar door photo shooting on a weekend although the clouds don’t looked so kind as i got closer and closer to McLaren Vale, a town famous for its wineries, second to Barossa Valley. Many people visit this place due to its close proximity to the town and located in between Adelaide and Victor Harbour (relax and beaches). However, it took me 1 and half hours and careful planning of time to get here!!!

The slightly overcast day somehow created a perfect shooting days as i’m pretty much shooting more close up rather than landscape photos, so the overcast kinda brought up the colours and did not cast shadows on my subjects!!!

Once i got to the town, it’s all walking and shooting!!!


Saw these lavenders at bloom with all the bees hovering around, catching them on the shot required patience, haha.

 
Then it’s all vineyard shooting all the way…

Spring blossoms in Mt.Lofty botanic garden 2010-10-31

Morning greetings by morning glory near my house.

The weather was great that day, here’s all the chosen shots from the trip, some i couldn’t decide which to put up and which not to, so i put them all up, haha.

Hope you guys enjoy the pics!!!