The Last Spring Break

In case you have been wondering what had actually happened to me in the past three weeks or so, here is the explanation. Zahira came to Sydney on Thursday before we both travelled to Canberra where we spent the whole week of our spring break with some good old friends there. Oh, Didy and Hanna also came down from Brisbane, so that clarifies everything.

Let’s see what my view on this capital city of Australia is.

Well, to start with, the journey from Sydney down to Canberra via land takes approximately three and a half hours, which is not that long if compared to the travel time covered going to any other major cities here. Just in case you happen to be a nature lover, I would highly recommend you to travel during the day for along the way, you are welcome to put your sight on the wonderful scene of vast, green Australian land, joined by a spectacular sight of the majestically clear blue sky. OK, imagine now that we have passed through the three and a half hours travel period, the bad news is do not expect to be greeted by high-rise, eye-catching modern buildings once you arrive at the city of Canberra. To give you a rough idea, imagine a capital city of Putrajaya’s type.

Now, both Zahira and I were not heavily bothered by the dull sight of the city to be frank partly because we were already mentally prepared, and also for the reason that the purpose for the two of us going there was just to meet our friends. Now when you have already set your mind to go visit your them, I bet you will have little or no problem at all with their place simply because they are your friends even if for some reasons, the place happens to be an isolated island, agree?

OK, so Canberra is dull, apart from some very few unique places notably the old parliament house and of course, the current one. We were a bit lucky that spring is already here Down Under, and add that up to the fact that Canberra is well known for its natural beauty come the spring season- what you get is an annual flower exhibition called Floriade. Anyway we got the chance to visit all of the places I mentioned above except for the first one because we decided not to as there was just nothing interesting inside, and I was especially looking forward to the opportunity to get inside the New Parliament House. The visit, albeit brief, gave me a huge impression at the way they handled the place- you know, it is not easy to manage a tourists-accessible Parliament House, just think about the one we have in our country- and I left with a book about Australian Prime Ministers purchased and given by Zahira as a souvenir. Thanks!

Now, you might think how on earth those students who are sent there could survive in such a dull place then? A good idea will be to be close to each other and live in a way that complements everyone’s life… which is exactly what they are doing. Friends become families, regardless of races or personal beliefs.

I must thank two persons in particular for making our spring break a heavenly one, despite the dull state of the place. Lemi and Eri, you both had been great companions. No, not that the rest did not do enough to be counted, it is just that these two were simply too good to us during our stay. Lemi for one is my batchmate back in MCKK, but look, I was never that close to him during those days- apart from being basketball teammates in the early days and classmates in most of our study years, there is essentially nothing else- but the way he treated me during that one week stay, people might have been forgiven if they tend to have a wrong idea that we are best friends.

All in all I guess Canberra alone equals complete dullness but Canberra plus its people are just great. Hey, it is a compliment isn’t it?

Hahndorf!

A wise man said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. Being a huge fan of history myself, but not so much into the museum visit stuff, so one of the highlight during my three-week long stay at Adelaide was an escapade to a historical suburb by the name of Hahndorf. Let me give you a healthy reminder first and foremost that even though I love this place, I cannot guarantee that it would be the same case for the others because on second thought, I remember that there was not that much of stuff to do there. Probably if you bring some friends or perhaps your loved ones, then it would be an opposite case.

A little bit on the history. Well, from what I read, Hahndorf is an early settlement site for the Europeans, the German especially, in Australia. The rest is a somewhat typical historical stuff; while some chose to go back to their home country, the others decided to stay and started a family with local folks and there you have Hahndorf as it is at present. Of course, this European bit can be seen from the architectural style of the small town. On another note, Hahndorf in a way also reminds me of Cameron Highlands, probably because of the similar geographical attribute for both areas, which is on the hill. So a good guess would be if you like Cameron Highlands, then Hahndorf would suit you just well.

Hahndorf is also a perfect place to experience autumn or winter Down Under; the scenery looking at the trees down the road is just awesome while the atmosphere is too chilly you find it difficult to breathe.

Just as I mentioned earlier, there was not many things to do apart from casual sightseeing there, and thus, limited stories to share here. But I did capture some nice photos, which I wish to share with you guys here.

Oh anyway, the suburb is not that far from the city, probably 30-40 minutes bus ride via Princess Highway. Because it is located on a hilly area, expect a rough bus ride. It is also essential to note here that I did not encounter any halal food outlet there, so a good reminder is bring some food along or simply do not go while your stomach is empty. Worse comes to worst, fret note because Hahndorf is not that big a suburb you would probably be able to walk from one end to the other in less than one and a half hour and go back, provided that you do not stop at a particular shop for too long. Again, I guess I should stress here that it is not that great a place, but still I would say your stay at Adelaide would not be complete if you do not visit Hahndorf.

Vibrant Melbourne!

I know I should have posted this earlier, but well, as usual, we humans are always prepared with excuses. This time around, please give my early excitement of arriving in Adelaide and subsequent laziness forgiveness.

So my winter holiday started right after Physics paper on the final week of June, with Melbourne being my first holiday pit-stop. I took the bus from Sydney Central at 7pm together with another two friends, my mind was full of anticipation of what’s there in Melbourne awaiting my arrival. Before anything, anyhow, next to me on the bus couch was a friendly pak cik. So the first couple of hours were pent chit-chatting, exchanging point of views with him. It could easily be elongated anyway, but I pretended to sleep after that as not to give him anymore chance of asking me more questions and before long, he himself fell asleep. Excellent. However, looking from the positive side, that pak cik essentially passed me pretty much a handful of insight. And yeah, if it was not because of him, I would not know up until now that Australia is actually less populous than Malaysia, though the former country covers a significantly broader ground on the world map. To cut the story short, let us jump into the next morning; Southern Cross, Melbourne, here I am.

For those of you who are still quite equivocal about the city, Melbourne is the capital of the state Victoria, located at the southern part of Australia about 12-hour ride from Sydney by land. Apart from the scope of being prominent for being the home for 3.8 million people thus making it the second most populous city in Australia and annually organizing the world-famous motoring event in Formula One, little are aware with the fact that Melbourne is in fact the first capital city of the country, before the title was handed over to Canberra.

Amongst university students, Malaysians in particular, three tertiary educational institutions stand out when the name Melbourne city echoes, namely University of Melbourne, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology which bears a more-known acronym of RMIT, and Monash University. The first are located in the middle of the lively city, whilst Monash University covers a number of campuses which are spread around the Victoria state if I am not mistaken, the famous one amongst Malaysian students being the one in Clayton, a suburb area of Melbourne city about 40 minutes by train from the city hub. For a personal reason, I chose to stay with a friend in Clayton. I was nervously contemplating on the amount of cash I needed to fork out during my stay in Melbourne initially but thank God the public transport system was somewhat economical that the only drawback for staying there was the time spent travelling back and forth to the city.

One word I chose to describe the city- vibrant. If people talk about places on earth where there is no huge difference between day and night, Melbourne definitely fits in the bill as such place. Perhaps it was because of the extensive tram network in the heart of the city that the city looked more crowded and busier, but throughout my visit to the city I failed to see a single place or road where there were less than hundreds of people strolling, coming in and out from one contemporary building to another. And yeah, talking about the tram, it was simply awesome. Imagine in the middle of a hectic road where dozens of people squeezing in between the cars that made the traffics, suddenly this tram came and at once those movements turned into standstill, giving ways to the moving tram. And there are not merely three or four of them, I believe there are hundreds, connecting the entire city of Melbourne. Going back to the issue of public transport system just now, I found it rather remarkable that the whole extend of bus, train and tram are all set under a uniform regulation, which means that one ticket bought for any one can be used for the rest, albeit under the time limit. So if you have just arrived at the city from Clayton and wishing to sightsee around but are too tired or lazy to walk, there is always the tram to bring you around town. The best part is the frequency of this tram is fabulous, albeit not all of them go to the same destination; some sway to a different branch at a certain place. But mind you, those who do not hold the valid transport ticket as I mentioned earlier but choose to gamble taking a ride are sometimes busted and required to pay heavy fines. This is already experienced by a friend of mine there. A little bit about the transportation cost. Well as I mentioned, I found it somewhat economical, but I do not know, perhaps it was for me who came from Sydney. Those from different parts of the country, especially where the living cost is considerably low will of course find it the opposite way. For the record, the daily pass for the public transport in Melbourne which brings you anywhere around the city zone in he space of 24 hours is AUD$6.30, which is only a little bit higher than the total cost to go to merely one place in Sydney and come back home.

All in all my days in Melbourne even though brief, was splendid. Absolutely looking forward to come again next time!