Fun with Manly....

27 Aug 2006, Sun - Forsaking our friends for the weekend, we went out with our Aunt and cousins, away to Manly (no... not all men at Manly are handsome, macho dudes.... They don't turn into one either... what disappointment.. haha..)

It's a picnic and we each have to bring two dishes per household to feed 7 mouths...

Guess what Aunty L, S and ML brought....


Looks like a "Golden Pillow" doesn't it? But... It doesn't have any curry inside.. nor soup...

It's an Italian Sandwich! It's the biggest and most filling sandwich I have ever eaten... I didn't know how to "conquer" it, so it was a little messy... haha... But it was scrumtious...

As usual, after everybody has had enough food, we had to work it off... And the 'flying disc' comes into play again...

Even Aunty L joined in....

And when we got enough of the sun, we had a little more food before we packed up for a walk at the yatch club....

A lot of rich blokes here.... Even the dog gets to go out to sea....

Question: What name would you give your boat / yatch? Esmo reckon he'd name his "Escape from Wife" or "Don't let my wife know"... haha...

We had some "distinguished guests" but they were so fast and shy, I didn't get a shot of them. Esmo reckons the couple of dolphins who swam into the wharf had faulty GPS, that's why they got lost and were turning in circles... haha...

Gazing at the "lost souls"....

Another new sign...

A gathering point for those who lacks the courage to approach the water / yatch?

Maybe the men at Manly needs some place to muster up their courage to face their wife after their yatch / fishing trip? haha....

As the day was still young, we drove to Wellington Point with the intention of walking to King's Island. (yup, we found out the island which we had walked to previously was called King's Island... )

And if the Malaysian "Ikan Bakar" sellers were there, they would have had a "bountiful" time there... Why? Because the beach was full of this......

"Siput" in Malay or "Luo" in Chinese... They come in all sizes.

And as it is spring time, it's a very good time to pro-create (Mind you...I'm not referring to myself!). There were lots of baby Siputs around, and they (the adult Siputs) are still "Doing it".... Ever wonder how they "Do It"? Wonder no more, for I have captured them red-handed....

We had fun "collecting" them. L was messing with the crabs. He circles around the crab, messing up their "passage" and disorientates them so that they have a hard time finding their way again.... A male crab would need a longer time to get to where they intended to... Why? Because males don't ask for directions. It hurts their ego... hahahaha...

And with Spring came another "beast"... This beast cost the government, insurance companies and the community a lot of time, effort, heartache and not to mention money.... The beast is none other than the "Bush Fires"....

We didn't take up the challenge to walk the 1.5km to King's Island. But instead we went for some ice creams; and S decided to test his nimble limbs and balance a little....

so did the rest of us...

Esmo: For the first time, the wind beat me to my ice cream!

It was dripping all over his hand.....

Then, we went back to Manly to pick up Aunty L's car and throw some more Frisbee...

While the guys were sweating it out, Aunty L, ML and me went for beach scouring again and found......

Oysters! Natural aphrodisiacs! haha.. I wonder if the sales of the little blue tablet around this region went down since these "organic wonders" are readily available? haha...

Loads of them! Siputs and hermit crabs too... We were very sure that every step of the way, we were killing one form of crustacean or another.... We felt rather "chek ak" (cruel) so we went "Sorry, sorry, sorry" every step... haha

This would have made "Oh Chian" and "Ikan Bakar" hawkers' day!

Esmo was suggesting to bring some cheese, barbecue sauce, bacon, black pepper, sambal, pliers, aluminium foil, banana leaves for a very "fresh" barbecue of shell fish next time.. haha..

Last but not least, we ended the day with a sumptious dinner at "Bamboo & Pine" (if I remember correctly..) Thanks for the treat, K and L!

Thanks to ML, S, K, L and Aunty L for the wonderful time and food!

Next appointment: 8 Sept 2006, Fri for Yum-Cha (Dim Sum) supper at Manors.

See you then!

Lazy Saturday.....

19 Aug 2006, Sat - After continuous activities on the past few weekends, we decided to give our pocket a little break (to regenerate and mend itself of the big holes we've caused) and stayed home.

The boys decided to tinker around with their toys for a bit....

K is helping Esmo to fix the speakers on his car








After lunch, Esmo and I went to a shopping centre at Carindale, a neighbouring suburb. It was humongous! We were there for a couple of hours and had a cup of coffee AND we didn't buy anything! haha...

Since the day is still young and we have the car, we got tempted to go for a little drive. So we went to the Eagle St Pier at the city, which has a nice view of the Story Bridge.


If you walk all along the pier, it brings you to under the Story Bridge and to the other side of the Brisbane River.





With the cool late winter breeze and the setting sun, it was a nice LONG walk. There were still a couple of "Go-Downs or warehouses" left and a couple other remnants of the past.

Walking past the bridge gives you a different view of the city skyline.






One of the relics is the World War II's air raid shelter.

So now we know, if we were attacked and is around this area, we'll break down the plank blocking the entrance to our safety and scuttle down below.....





Can anyone take a guess at what these two things are?


Clue: When they were still useful, they were always wet, and you don't see all of it at the same time...

Ans: Buoys.....



You don't get to walk on solid grounds when you get to the other side of the river. That's because if you are, you may be charged with tresspassing of private properties. Yes, there are rich buggers residing on water front villas (as usual....). So, the government, in a goodwill gesture to the public and the rich, built a floating walkway on the Brisbane River.

The walkway sways when the CityCat, a hydrocraft (it's a public transport - believe it or not) passes by. When it does, you get a very strange feeling, as if you were floating in mid air....




After the LONG walk, we got hungry and dropped by Hungry Jacks (a.k.a Burger King in Singapore) for some snacks. We flipped through the complimentary paper and found this CORNY advertisement on Optus Broadband.
If you noticed, the two polar bears at the bottom right hand corner are in a conversation.
The conversation goes like this:

Male bear: Where have you been hibernating all my life?
Female bear: You just want me for my body.....



No wonder Optus is posting some red figures to its parent company back in SG....

Apologies for the less than satisfying pictures. They were all taken using my mobile phone. We didn't plan for a scenic walk...

Till next post, signing out... Cheers!

Another Market, Another Point.....

13 Aug 2006, Sun - We visited another market after brunch today. And as it was late by market schedule, most stalls have packed up for the day so we didn't have much to see. We however, found this structure quite intriguing.

What does it looks like to you?

It looks like whales' or dolphins' fin to me...

It's also a slide and the kids were clambering all over it!




Since there's nothing much at the market, we didn't spend much time there. We headed on for another "Point" - Cleveland Point, and we found another interesting structure....




It was said that Cleveland Point used to have a lot of these lighthouses along the shoreline. But as time progresses and people's wealth inflated, the areas were once again bulldozed to give way to luxurious, water front residences. This is the final one standing.....







There were a lot more sailing activities at this point.

And as you can see, it was high tide and the tide came right up to the embankment!

We spotted some tiny crabs on the rocks... Makes me wonder they could have been sunned, pickled and roasted to become one of those Japanese snacks?





Esmo wasn't satisfied with the sundae he bought from this vendor.... the caramel had no taste in it!

He was pissed! haha...




In conclusion, there are better "points" elsewhere.....

Of Weekend Markets, Fish & Chips and Desserts....

12 Aug 2006, Sat - We started our weekend with a visit to the Powerhouse Market at Newfarm. Though it is not a very big market, it does have a variety of stalls ranging from farm produce, home produce, art works and most importantly food!

We found this "direct competition" between the fish monger and the butcher. The butcher went on a vendetta to save sea creatures with his cute sign saying "Save Nemo, Eat More Meat!"... I wonder how many people heeded his call to save poor Nemo?
And in retaliation, would the fish monger come up with a sign saying "Save Babe and friends, eat more fish"?




Another interesting sign...









There's a park at the end of the market and it's along the Brisbane river. Over on the other side of the bank, is a totally different scenery. You won't get to wander around there coz it's all private properties and you'll be charged with tresspassing! Just look at the size of this mansion!





Then we went to the famous fish and chips stall - Morgans, at Redcliffe. We busted around $50 on fish and chips, oysters, crayfish and prawns.

The man, after being "power hungry", is very unwilling to share the bounty.







Seafood lovers will love this place. It's as fresh as it could be! Any fresher and you'll have to fish them yourself on one of these boats.







After we have gouge ourselves with a lot of protein and zinc (not to mention calories), we drove to a nearby beach called Scarborough. It's nothing like Gold Coast. It has a long jetty by which a hydrofoil was docked to it. If you are interested to see some really BIG fish, pay some BIG bucks to get on this... and you MAY get a chance to see the world's biggest mammal in the sea ~ the whales....














We had a great time there. See... We were all smiles!

We proceeded to another stretch of beach called Settlement Cove, where Esmo decided to do some pro bono work for K and W.








Aw.... How sweet......







We decided that we've had enough sea breeze for the day and headed for Rosalie where our yummy desserts were waiting for us!





After topping up on our sugar levels, we felt that it was still too early to call it a day so we drove up to Mt. Cootha for some night view of our beloved Brisbane city. It was more crowded than usual! We spent almost 20 minutes looking for a parking lot.










Lucky it wasn't as cold or as windy, otherwise we'd be frozen stiff with our thin jackets.

What an eventful day... but we're not complaining!

One Day Off....

10 Aug 2006, Thur - Esmond's day off.... and we blew a big hole in our pocket! haha...

Why?! Well, the Queensland sun was frying the occupants of the green Mazda Astina so the owners decided to fit some shades on the "green monster". We had it done by a reputable company and they gave us the darkest possible shades that's legal by Queensland law.

A couple of hours passed and the monster looked different. It feels different too - from the insides. It's at least a few degrees cooler and the sun no longer burns its inhabitants' skin. But, there's a loophole though (literally) coz Queensland laws forbid any tinting to be done on any car's front screen. So the poor two souls in the front seats still gets burnt partially. (haha..)



Now the "green monster" looks more and more like a sports car.... much to the delight of its male owner....

And in order to ensure that the shades doesn't come off, we are forbidden to wind down the windows for at least 48 hours.



After the "surgery", we proceeded to Victoria Point for a scenic lunch. Australia being an island, there's a lot of point, i.e. look out points facing the ocean.














We went to this "joint" who totally lived up to it's name and is absolutely obsessed with 'The King'. Nostalgic (but not for our generation though... we hardly knew him...Maybe 20, 30, 40 years down the road there'll be such cafes showcasing the 4 Heavenly Kings, namely Andy Lau, Jackie Cheung, Leon Lai and Aaron Kwok? haha....)

The man, waiting for his lunch.











Every "Point" is a luxury housing estate. Every water front residence has a private ramp for their other luxury vehicle. Some people get to enjoy the high life......










There are people living an island opposite the bay - the Coochiemudio Island. (No kidding! This is real! Cute name huh? I wonder if their inhabitants are called "Coo-Chi-Coo-Chi-ders"?) They commute via ferry from the island to 'mainland' Australia. We saw them carrying big bags of groceries, daily necessities, computer stuff and even petrol! Some people got tired of walking, so they drove their vehicles across ~ on a ferry.

And it's not just cars, but vans and even trucks too!