The capital of Australia - Canberra, is where the trio made out of Jon Raj, Andrew Ng and myself spent an entire day. Jon and Andrew needed to get their passports renewed while I was wanted to see as much as Australia as possible before I leave. It was the 6th of August 2008.

The city itself was nothing much to shout about though be must be noted for it's cleanliness and simplicity. There are no skyscrapers in Canberra, something I found to be really odd because skyscrappers define what a city is.

The planning of the place was excellent.. kinda something like what Melbourne's CBD's like, except that Canberra's a pentagonish (or is it a hecsagon? Hmm) shape. The proper city planning and being the administrative capital reminded me of Putrajaya (Malaysia's administrative capital), except that Canberra is conceptualised a century ago unlike Putrajaya which is yet to hit it's first decade.

Canberra's also where all the embassies and high comms were.

The three of us left Southern Cross the previous night at 9pm. The Greyhound service was one of the few headed up that direction. We got there around 7pm and immediately tried to work our way to the Malaysian embassy.

While hunting for our embassy we had a chance to view the embassies of other countries, namely UK, Finland, Indonesia, Singapore, US and others. China's was the biggest. Could kinda tell they wanted to show off. Malaysia's embassy is located the furthest away from everyone else. And I gotta say, if weren't for PNG and another country, the Malaysian embassy would be the ugliest. So much for my Malaysian patriotism.

Took a few hours for the other two to get their things done, and we still had to return to collect the passports. So we went around, the shopping complex, the national science center nd most notable - the Australian Parliament or Parliament House.

Panoramic view from Parliament House

The brain of Australia, Parliament House is located on (and in, literally) a hill with massive boulevards. It's made out of two houses - the Senate and the House of Representatives.

 
Messing around on Parliament House and another one for "great places I slept at".

Me in the Australian House of Representatives (blue room) and the Senate (red room).

Honestly, the whole place felt more like a musuem or exhibition room than a place of administration. Oh well, not like I've been to the Malaysian Parliament anyway.

 

Here's a pop quiz question - Who are these chair's for (the two behind the front chair)? Jon and Andrew guessed it's for the speaker or chairman and his/her deputy. But, no.

It's for the Sovereign, or the Queen (or King, depending on who's alive and on top of the ladder). The smaller chair is for the consort.

 

Our day grew shorter as we headed back to collect Jon's passports and Andrew's official documents.

Left: Jon being the loving boyfriend. Right: Voon being the "friend"
Having fun at the science center.

Waiting for the bus we ate at this wonderful cakeshop (oh geez, I forgot the name) before the 9 hour bus ride back to Melbourne. Thanks Andrew for the pictures!

Falls Creek is one of the few Alpine mountains located North of Melbourne. It's pretty much in the same area as Mt Buller, Mt Hortham and the other great snow cap mountains.

Last year several of us were at Buller and I personally had one interest experience which I would die to have again. Snowboarding - everyone must try it. However, a change of venue would be excellent, hence Falls Creek.

It was a grueling 6 hour drive from Clayton to the mountain, making only one stop for chains and permits (excluding that emergency peeing stop Jem and I made near Waranggata). We left Clayton at 3am sharp. Before we left, there was a slight incident where Jinghui forgot to turn off her phone's silent mode and she was one of my passengers. So my morning calls didn't work. I became so desperate I actually took chairs over to her house and climbed over the fence. Glad I did. Nothing's gonna postpone my fun! In the end she counted 20 miss calls, but I seriously believe I made 50. Oh well, all in good fun.

So Jingjui, Nori and Sue Ann made up the passengers of UNS 989 (that's my car). 3am and off we go. The roads took us up the Hume Highway, with a turn off at Waranggata into the Great Alpine Road. The drive along the road was probably beautiful.. just that it was dark and we couldn't see anything scenic for the most of the trip. Oh well.

Me on one of the Skii Lifts

Falls Creek was beuatiful. The runs were prettier and more natural. The snow was softer. And I mean really soft. Apparently it was the heaviest fall of snow they had in years. The local Aussies called it bad weather. Me? What a Godsend! The snow was so soft we were actually able to imprint our faces on.

Despite a 6 hour drive (arriving at 9 plus), we only really begun the day around 12pm, having hunting around for the cheapest rental shops for our gear, lunch and tip toeing in the snow. I guess the wait was worth it, monetarily. We paid almost 50 bucks less than the others also on Falls Creek. Once the day was started, it was pretty much slides, falls and the usual thrill associated with snowboarding.

 
Making our own breakfast and hotchoc from our mobile restaurant. Lol. Show how tight our budget was.

So many events not updated yet. Falls Creek - Canberra - Lakes Entrance. Will get to that as soon as I get pictures for the first two events. For the time being, here's something.

 

Instructions: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?
Earliest 27. Latest 33.

2. What is your most favourite thing to do?
Thinking.

3. If you have a close close close friend since childhood who loves to take away whatever you like, including guys/girls, and he/she always wins, will you still consider him/her your friend?
Yes I guess. Who said we can't share? Don't think my friends are just "mine".

4. What would you give up in return to eat all you want in the world and not get fat?
Time - the only thing you need to give to do the above.

5. Is there someone in your heart right now?
Literally - no. Lol.

6. Do you believe you can survive without money?
Haven't tried. But I believe I can. It's just money anyway. But don't think I can survive without food.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?
Heart.

8. What do you feel like doing, right now?
Sleep..

9. If there's someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
Yea.... All part of being the guy, ha.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you.
Philosophical. Enthusiastic. Adventurous.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
Love. A woman after God's heart. And everything else will fall into place

12. What is the thing that will make you think he/she is bad?
Neglect..? But that won't happen if there's love I guess.  

13. What would you do if you cannot get what you want in life?
Have faith.

14. What do you think 'Love' is?
Selfless. Pure. Amplifying. Godly.  

15. If you had a choice to be rich or happy, which one would you pick?
Happy.

16. If you have a chance, which part of your character you would like to change?
Laziness and pride.

17. What is the one thing you love about yourself?
My stubbornness. (Babi-ness)

18. How do you see yourself in 10 years time?
Executive Secretary, BBM. Leading BB to a whole new level. Leading many youths to the Lord. And still addicted to computer games and mamak.

19. Is there a specific song that can describe your current mood?
None. I'm moodless now. Lol.

20. If you had 24 hours to do anything, anything at all in the world, whether it be realistically possible, what would it be?
Try to convince everyone closest to me that Jesus is the only way!

8 person whom I tag:
Xin Wei
Darryn Chiew
Elisa Mak
Yeong Sue Ann
Ivie Tan
Ang Chin Wee (you're like my most frequent visitor buddy)
Alicia Choy
Sis

One essay due in 23 hours. Current progress at 1%. Why do I love digging graves? Oh well.

 

How do you tell a person he/she's doing wrong, when you know he/she won't listen? And you know people are afraid to speak up to them cause they'd be arguments which will damage the friendship. But the problem is still unquestionably there. How do you control pride (on both sides)? Loosing will only bring you back to.. well.. no point even starting the argument. So, how?

Back again in Sydney. Back again for the Hillsongs Conference. Back again for an experience called a holiday!

Last year some of us we took the budget mode of transport - the train, but proved to be quite a struggle to sleep, even for a sleepaholic like me. So this year we tried the bus instead, Bryan, Rachel and I. It was a good $50 lesser than the plane. I had time to kill, so why not. It was a 11-12 hour ride from Southern Cross to Sydney Central, but it wasn't so bad cause we had a chance to know each other.. and the sleep for me was easy, though the same cannot be said about Bryan and Rachel who had to endure my snores.

So yes. Sydney. It's hard to describe the experience this year. A different feel, more relaxing, less anticipative about the conference itself and it was great hanging out with a different bunch, namely Elisa, Yasmeen, Rachel, Bryan, Charmain and Vern.

Well, we did nothing out of the ordinary. Eat, visit places.. erm. That's about it. I met up with my sister at her place in Epping. Finally got to see it. Her BF Shaun was around, as well as my one time former classmate in CPU and neighbour - Audrey.

I'll let pictures do the talking from here.

 
Perverted eyes? Too bad you can't see the mouth.
Our night out at Lindt Cafe

Fried Mars Bar! Taken in Bondi.

Bullying Yasmeen was probably one of the funnest things I did throughout our stay in Sydney

Hanging out at Circular Quay

 
Why so moody....
Yasmeen and I were at the Sydney Aquarium

I wasn't posing in this one ok

Gerizmos in Sydney!

Sydney at night.. spectacular!

The Conference

The conference brought back alot of memories. I felt very refreshed and renewed coming here. Though overall I felt it wasn't as fantastic as last year.. it was still awesome.

The lights, backgrounds were of typical Hillsong standard - really really wow-ish. But I gotta say that the presentations and entertainment wasn't as good, particularly the opening and closing ceremonies. Last years one was so grand. Oh well, maybe they were trying to send us a message..?

During one of the sessions I sat at the same section where I sat 5 years ago. Wow.. that first time in Sydney and Hillsong was something. 5 years ago.. hmm. I remember I was on top of my game in everything. What happened to that guy?

Ah, the food. Fish market was the best. So good we went the twice. Tried a bar for cocktails at the Opera House. Fantastic. Also this french cafe at the Rocks.

Hmm.. how many cents for this one? Heh.


There was this dramatic moment at Darling Harbour where we saw a group of 8 ducklings under the protection of mother duck. Attracted quite a crowd. They came under attack by the seagulls, but I believe none were harmed..

 
Loafing at Town Hall Station

Till the next time in Sydney! Dunno when that'd be.

 

Monash Results Testimony

On the second last night of the conference we were due to receive our exam results via sms. My phone ran out of battery since the start of the day, so I wasn’t able to check till I got home late at night. Meanwhile, out having dinner with OCFers from around the country, the Monash students received their results one by one. A new friend of mine had 3HDs and 1D! STRESS.

I was worried about one subject, business law, which I retook. I felt I did much worst than the last time.. so that’s one big reason to be worried.

But I told myself no matter what, I’ll still give thanks, for whatever I’ll get and its God’s will. It has been such a though semester, going through so many struggles for OCF Berwick.. but I was sure I served Him faithfully. I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that everything will be fine as long as I’ve been faithful to Him.

But I can’t help doubting myself.

Me, a guy who has a rock bottom academic track record. Do I stand a chance against this subject I failed before and did worst in? It’s only by Gods grace if I can make it out of this one. I was more concerned about the money wasted if things didn’t go well.

I went back to X-Base and found Robin in the bunk. He was asking me about my results and saw how nervous I was at checking. But he encouraged me to put my trust in Him and just accept whatever results I’ll get. I already knew that, but it’s still hard! But I really thank Robs for encouraging me. Made it easier for me to hit the “open message” button.

A sigh of great relief. Not a just a pass, but a credit for business law! And the rest were pretty much what I expected. In all - 2C’s and 2D’s (yala yala, I know your one is better). Praise God!!!

It was only till a day later during the conference did I realize that it is the best results I have so far in Monash. I was so humbled by His faithfulness and grace…

It encouraged me to never doubt Him and made me wanna go so much further for Jesus!

 

Mount Buffalo is one of the snow cap mountains located about 300-400km north of Melbourne. I camped there for a night, leaving the next morning. But it was a very enjoyable time up there despite it's briefness. A handful of us went - Joshua Khoo, Eric Ting, Joel Gn, Rong and myself.

It was a very last minute camping trip for me. I only heard about it the day before they were scheduled to go up. They've planned it for some time and I was just gate crashing. I was due to leave for Sydney on the second day of camp, so I drove there to enable myself to make an early exit. The others stayed for another day.

Mt. Buffalo was beautiful. It so happened that it snowed the day before we arrived. So when we got there we had nice and soft snow to play with.. soft enough to make a few snow balls to throw around. The same time the next day the snow was more like ice.. therefore not as fun.

I love camping. It's just so relaxing not having to worry about anything. Just hanging out in the outdoors... and slack. the place itself was cool.. literally. When we got there it was 2'c! The surprising thing is.. we didn't even feel it's cold.

When it became dark, it was another story. -5'c was the read. CRAZY! We sat around the camp fire at night for a long time. I'd say a good 4-5 hours. Our make shift heater. All we needed to do was leave the perimeter to freeze our butts of again.. or wait for a cold breeze. We talked about alot of things..... confidential though.

Jesus walked on water.. so pans and spoons can too. Lol. Nah, it's on ice.

The drive back was a long, but relaxing one. The view driving down Buffalo was breath taking. Stopped to take a few shots. It's scene's like these which makes the long drives worthwhile. So beautiful is God's creation.

BEAUTIFUL

I got home at 4pm, due to leave Southern Cross Station for Sydney at 7pm. Holiday's were well under away!

 Initially, I went to the 24 hour Coles at Springvale to get some junk. I felt a little restless after a long nap after lunch... so I decided why not head down to the beach for a chillaxing time with God (as in devotion). Little did I know I was in for a long night. This was also to make up for our cancelled trip to Lakes Entrance.. I was already very pumped up to go. It was abit soar to learn that it's been postponed.. especially after I managed to take a days off. But I still wanted my long drive.

I first started at Brighton, which is the first shot you see below. It was 1.45am. Please note that it's all snapped from a camera phone, which explains the picture quality.

Spirit of Tasmania. The ferry/cruise ship that goes between Melbourne and Tassie. Sounds like a good holiday option. They allow us to bring cars along. Hmmmm...

Westgate bridge - wanted to just take a picture of it.. then dunno why decided to go close up.

The view from the bridge was amazing. It was high up and a fair view of the surrounding suburbs can be seen. The lights were like tiny pebbles in the sand. Amazing. Too bad I couldn't stop the car. If I could I would've been hanging out there for awhile.

Initially I thought of driving to Geelong.. but I was already burning lots of petrol as it is. So took a u-turn heading to the city.

Driving down Collins Street at 3am..

 
Flinders Street

Fed Square


Flinders Street Station

Starting from here are my failed shots, I think they produced some nice effects.. so let's just refer to them as "random art".

OCF had a camp over at Belgrave Heights, just 30 minutes away from Clayton on the 26-28th of June 2008. It was a fantastic camp. Systematic, well organised, high attendees and good food (Perasaning - I was helping out in the kitchen).

It's such an amazing thing to see this year's committee going working together to come up with this event, which I'm so sure was way better that last year's Winter Camp, which I was part of the organising committee handling logistics. I really thank God for making this camp come together the way it did and putting these wonderful new bunch into OCF. These fanstastic people are Faith Luo Jinghui (Chairperson), Justin Lee (Vice-Chair/Worship coord), Evone Tang (Secretary), Celina Ong (Treasurer), Lynette Goh (Publicity), Norikazu Fushimi (Logistics), Kang Wei (Programmes) and Andrew Ng (Chef).

My account of camp was spent half the time in the kitchen and dealing with food. I think it worked out pretty well........ I hope. Of course the fellowship was great. For me it's just working together with people I don't often spend time with normally which was enjoyable.

The camp speaker was awesome and there's so much one can learn from her. The speaker is Sarah Koh, who is a general practitioner (that's a doctor by the way), worships in Life Expedition Church and best of all.. a former OCF Claytonite herself! Seeing the way she is and from how she described herself when she first started off in OCF is very inspiring. She used to be very quiet and shy.. now a very energetic speaker.

Major significant outcome for me after this camp - I won't be applying for PR. I'll be coming home after I'm done with my degree.

That was the main plan initially when I first came to Australia. But somewhere, personal ambitions came in the way, a easy life, a head start, better security and all the other perks Australia had to offer. Sarah Koh's message made me realise that it's not about what I wanna see, but what God wants to see. Thought the easy life looks good, I realise that it may just feel good for me but not necessary be good towards His plans to use me for greater things. It's clear that He has called me to BB. No 5 years professional working experience? I guess that's the risk God wants me to take.. probably costing me alot of oppurtunities in future. So let's see how steadfast in faith I'd be. I honestly dunno if a lifetime working for BB can get me a wife or even allow me to support my kids.. but He's been there for me all the time so far. Who am I to put more faith in my career instead of Him?

The Pursuit is costly. The pursuit is His presence. The pursuit is a mission.

 

Congratulations mates! You've done it!

It's been more than 10 years (could be longer, just that no records were kept on past competitions) since the company won the Battalion/State title. Your hard work paid off and you reaped the rewards. But don't stop there. Up the pace! There's still Pesta to settle. Also don't let pride fool you.. you didn't do it on your own strengths.. God, your other drill members and other supporters contributed as well. Remember to give Him all glory!

For the second team which did not place.. whatever didn't kill you (should) make you stronger. Never give up. As long as you still have the chance. Besides, winning isn't everything.. and there's always something you will be good at.

Anyways. Good to know you losers can still do it without me. Heh.

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