The Beginning of the End

22nd September was suppose to be a day of celebration. Instead, it became one of the devastating day of this new career. I thought I was ready for anything that comes my way. And I couldn't be far wrong. But I've moved on. Retry is the word. You can only rise up stronger everytime you fall. I have to admit that my flying was marginal. Is there any exterior motive involved? I don't know and I don't care. The next time I fly, it would be so good that nobody could dispute it with any exterior motive and no weather be it good or bad could stop me!

Apart from flying, Mark and myself had been busy trying to sell off our car.. our faithful and loyal Nissan Pintara that brought me safely to Augusta and back. The roaring of its Porche engine marks our presence everywhere we go. It marks (hopefully) the end of our stay here. How soon is the end is yet to be seen.

Once the deal was sealed between us and the buyer, I quickly took the chance to take a photo with it since I realize I had never taken any photo of the car with me in it. 2.4L engine is definitely a very powerful car but I have a feeling that this would be the biggest c.c. car I would ever own for now. Having said goodbye to a piece of metal, its back to concentrate on my confidence building flight tomorrow.. and then another shot at my ticket home!

Results of City to Surf

Obviously City to Surf happened last Sunday but we've just seen the official results published in the local newspaper. Before the run, organizers issued us with a transponder which we tied to our shoelace. At the starting and the finishing line, we're suppose to step on the mat at respective location to activate the transponder and to record our finishing time (quite cool).

For the event that we participated which is the 4km run, only the top 2000 results were published. All of the guys from our course who participated manage to get into that list (of course). Quite surprising considering Macha just recovered from his hamstring pull two weeks earlier and the rest of us literally stopped jogging the same time he got his hamstring problem. Talk about giving him our support and being united (just another excuse to slack). The results are as follows:

Nicholas (hehe.. they got his name wrong) in 357th place!

Uvaraja aka Macha at 372th place

Hao the Stretch at 470th place!

Tristan (instructor) with his long legs managed 453th place

And myself at 363th place!

Anyways, Nic and I just casually talked about our 20 days fitness regime beginning with a 6km run tomorrow morning and increasing in distance by 1km everyday to a maximum of 15km by the end of our target period. Personally I did 8km run yesterday and another 6km today. The main question now is can we maintain this discipline? We'll find out soon.. for now its good nites everyone everywhere in the world!

This is how I celebrated Merdeka Day

What I did last week

Since I still can't sleep after my insomniac post, I thought I might as well just write about what I did the week Sandeep was here which is last week of August. Thanks mate for the encouragement... so I might as well give a weekly report until the day I leave Perth which I really really hope is very soon.

Trying out Hog's Breath Cafe has been one of our aim. Coincidentally when our Crack was around and we had nowhere to go for dinner, we decided to try HBC. Appearently the signature dish is the slow cooked rib steak. When they say slow cook they mean 18 hours of cooking. All of us tried Mega cut of the portion which is worth it. This is one of the most thick portion of steak I ever tried. I had the special blackened sauce rib steak with vege and baked potato on the side. Coincidentally the cut that they gave me was shaped like the Australia continent!

That week as well, we went to Yummy BBQ for dim sum and Happy Meal for chinese. At Happy Meal we ordered tons of chinese food unfortunately there's no photographic evidence. There we ordered so much that the waitress was shocked. Most of the staffs there actually made a bet whether we'll finish the food or not. As usual, our appetite never let us down.

Towards the end of that week, most of us 'volunteered' to join the City to Surf run. Because we 'volunteered', we participated in the shortest run which is the 4km. In the end it turned out to be fun event for health freaks and some horny guys trying to 'cuci mata'. Big crowds of 30,000 participants liven up the event. I manage to run, tumbled and continue running to finish the race. At the end there was a medal presented to all those who finish the run.

This is the crowd for 4km run/walk. The bulk of the other runners had started earlier for the 12km and the half marathon.

A walking sunflower

Bored after run, we tied the balloons to make an impressive string of baloons which eventually we let loose

Insomniac

For the last few days my sleeping pattern have been haywired. Nowadays I can't fall asleep after midnight. In fact, my bedtime used to be around midnight. My sleeping time has shifted to about 5 to 6 hours later. I'm now officially on Europe time. And when I sleep, I could sleep up to 12 hours straight and that just messes up my sleep the next night. This morning is no exception. I guess I might as well bore myself to sleep by writing something here.

Just now Nic and myself went to pax Bunny's 1st flight with Dave, an instructor known for his super-duper-high standard in flying. We were surprised how nice he was departing from the various stories we've heard before. So I guess rumours are not exactly correct or it might just be Bunny's charm. I guess on first impression Bunny scored big time tonight.

Unfortunately for him, we were caught unaware of the weather building up in Pingelly, one of our waypoint for tonight. It was kindda scary because we didn't actually know what we're going into and the weather information was rather limited in the air. So we made the most prudent decision of all. Divert back and live to fly another day.

Now, back to imagining that my bed and pillow is just like this fluffy cloud and I might catch a wink or two.

Mr Bean spotted in Perth!

Sandeep and Alvin harrasing Mr Bean for autograph

You won't believe this but I think Rowan Atkinson aka Mr Bean is learning to fly in Jandakot! He looks like he gained some weight though....

Winery Tour

This is the second time I been to Swan Valley but I must say its the first time I had so much to drink (and thus so much fun) in quite a while. The only reason I can do this is because I'm not driving, and I went with a bunch of people who can really drink and knows how to have fun.

David Tan got his CPL(IR) recently and while waiting to go home, he'd graciously became our Swan Valley tour guide. Went to couple of nice places which I would uncover as we go along. 1st stop was Sandalford Estate for a full list wine tasting. This is quite a big estate almost similar to Voyeger or Xanadu in Margaret River. This is where I first tasted the late harvest wine. Its basically wine which are sweeter because the grapes are picked later and thus there's more sugar in it.

Posing for the camera at Sandalford

Then we went to Houghton for more rounds of wine tasting. The interior and exterior of the winery boast spaciousness. Next to the winery is a huge park for visitors to picnic with family. The vineyard was founded by a man named Jack who does not believe in oak aged wine. Instead he used stainless steel container to store its wines. Therefore, from outside, the winery looks more like a factory. Although unconventional it was at that time, it still wins plenty of awards for its wines.

Space and steely Houghton

Don't be fooled by the name. Contrary to what the name suggested, there's no olives on sale in this place. Historically, the owner of the place used to have olive farm as well as vineyard. This is one of the winery where the owner was around to greet visitors. We were treated with chilled and sweet red wine called Autumn Cabernet. It has a easy and light texture of cabernet except that it has a tinge of sweetness in it. There also have liquor muscat which comes in a very nice bottle. It makes a good wedding gift I must say.... Overall, the wines was superb and the ambiance of the place is very classy. It even offers a huge glass window where you can view the production area for the wines and some barrels stored under the staircase.

Contemporary settings at olivefarmwine where you can try the Autumn Cabernet

Sunset shadow show

The next stop was to a rustic looking place called Edgecomb Brothers. Meticulously planned, we save this place to later time because this is one of the places where its open later than the other winery. By now, dusk is falling outside (that's why we have the shadow show earlier). This place looks quite rustic outside some dining table set beside the main building overlooking a lake. The symbol of the winery is a tortoise which coincidentally is the name of the lake (in aboriginal language) right next to it.

Edgecomb Brothers offer a variety of liquor wines as well as some home made grape and strawberry jams. Again, the owners are there to give you a personal touch. The building itself is also cosy with a corner where they have fireplace and choices of muffins, nougat and cookies. We were introduced to a way to enjoy the liquor shiraz. First, take some vanilla ice cream, top it with grape jam and then top it with the liquor shiraz to your liking. The combination is superb! Although I can't take much of liquor shiraz on its own because its too sweet, this receipe is just nice and its a very simple and nice idea of a desert.

Edgecomb Brothers with their liquor shiraz

After lots of dosage of wine, comes the beer. Went to this place called Feral. They pride themselves in being able to brew beers similar to the Belgian ones. They are generally pale in colour and have that clean taste just like Hoegaarden.

Feral's choices of beer

Every person have to eat when the time comes. And ours come just at the right time... when everyone's hungry and the temperature falls. Few minutes drive south of Swan valley and we're at the heart of Guildford. It doesn't seems much at night but at one corner of a crossroad, there's a lighted neon lights with the sign Alfred's. Many people are hanging around outside having hamburgers, sandwiches, soups and so on. And we weren't disappointed. If you ask for everything in your burger, you'll get hamburger patty, steak, bacon, eggs, cheese slices and vegetable. The catch is; make sure you can open your mouth wide enough to take a bite! The burger is sensational and there's just something about eating hot burger outside in a cold weather near a fireplace made for its customers.

Alfred's humungus burger taste better in front of fireplace (and after plenty of wines of course!). Macha doesn't seem too pleased being disturbed during his meal to pose for a photo though.

Overall, it was a very nice outing and everyone unanimously agreed that this is one of the best outing ever... (without Sandeep.. we had to rub it in big guy!!)

The entourage with our loot

Frosty Morning

ATIS information Zulu. Temperature -1degC. Result: Perth is one big freezer. Consequence: As shown in the photo. Call me 'sakai' (Sarawakians will know what it means) or whatever... I was quite excited seeing frost with my own eyes. Guess I can say I've seen every facade of Perth.. rain, shine, thunderstorm, frost. Oh yes, frost gives you that Christmassy feeling which I hope to spend time with my love in Singapore.

Looks like dew on the grass from afar


Nearer inspection its actually frost on the grass

Looks cool from afar and up close

Single flower frosted flower on the field

Even on the leafy plant

And hoar frost on the cars

Ice droplets on the grass. Wonders of God's creation

Current hairstyle is the in thing.. almost same length as the frosted grass. Photographed by Fadhli

Frosted even my balls the tennis ball

Little Caesar big on toppings

Today on Edisi Makan-Makan! (Eat edition).... pizza galore!

To get there from Jandakot, take Roe highway, exit to Great Eastern highway, drive until you swallow your saliva 3 times to balance your ear drums because you're climbing up the Perth hills and there's some pressure difference, and then you're there!

Little Caesar is situated at Mundaring. A place known more for its reservoir's beauty more than anything else. Well, maybe the pizza is well known as well because.... they're considered the 'World's best Pizza!' Its not an easy feat to be called best in the world. You see, for an athlete to be considered the best, he/she have to join the world track and field or Olympics and train endlessly. I guess it might be similar for this pizzeria. Oh, but you see, I'm a harsh food critique for that matter. And I don't consider the result from a competition the pizzeria entered dictates if its really delicious. The judge for the night shall be my palate..

Enough on the description.. lets go straight to the menu. I have to say that this momentous night, that fateful night, that night I had the close encounter with the world's best pizza was sponsored by Iswen who just cleared his P-Check.

First of all, let me introduce you to Janes. She had an addiction to marinated prawns, proscuitto (Italian Bacon), garlic cream sauce, wild rocket pesto and mozzarella cheese. She tops all that up and walla! We have Janes Addiction.. very rich in cheese, the prawn's fresh and the bacon's superb! It was good! Really one of the best pizza I ever had!

Janes Addiction.. its mine as well now.....

Next, comes the Lamb pizza. Its not just any Lamb, its Greek Lamb! And oh.. it just melts in your mouth!! Then I knew I had the best pizza in the world.. if they had to order some pizza and put in a time capsule to be sent into outer space so that alien civilization knows about humans, this had to be the pizza they should order. The lamb is marinated in rosemary, topped with caramelized onion, fetta, kalamata olives, lemon juice, cracked black pepper and tzatziki (garlic sauce). Gosh, my stomach is growling as I'm recalling the night I almost had my tongue orgasm...

Greek Lamb.. mmmm... I like!

Next on our menu was Sub-marine. As the name suggest, its a seafood pizza topped with cheese, mussels, crab, prawns, anchovies and fresh tomato. Its a bit fishy but the taste is good. Each seafood complements each other and you know the individual ingredients that you bite into. Not for those who don't like seafood with passion because of the fishy taste.

Imagine having chicken fettucine with sundried tomatoes, cream sauce , parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, chicken and bacon. The twist? Having all those on a pizza! Surprisingly it taste perfectly fine! This would be my 3rd most favorite among all the pizzas we ordered.

Chicken Fettucine on pizza.. why I'd never thought of that?

And for dessert, why not have more pizzas? Chocolate on pizza? Isn't that wierd combination? Nope.. its superbly nice!! Its one of the better desserts I had. Well, apart from anything that have cheese in it, this pizza had change my perception. Mudhoney dessert pizza is basically chocolate mudcake on pizza base. Topped with honey, icing sugar, chocolate buttons and chocolate sauce, its really a must for the sweet tooth.

Mud honey.. more chocolate than meets the eye

New York Pecan Pie.. sweet for the sweet, sugar for my honey...

The last on our order list was the New York Pecan Pie. It has toppings made of butterscotch pudding mix, pecans, icing sugar, golden syrup, caramel sauce and tecan toffee. The tips for ordering dessert pizza is; make sure you got enough mouth to finish it. Its generally very sweet so a piece of each pizza would be more than enough. In sequence of my favorite pizza to the lesser (I'll take the lesser pizza anytime compared to fast food's pizza) for this trip:

1. Greek Lamb
2. Janes addiction
3. Chicken Fettucine
4. Mudhoney Dessert
5. Sub-marine
6. New York Pecan Pie

So there you have it, the world's best pizza unveiled! And it is found on a secluded little town on the hills of Perth! Now.. I have to look for something to have for supper.... all this food review have made me hungry.

Unconventional Photo

I'm definitely taking Freeways whenever I drive next time. When Felicia was here for the last trip, I thought it'll be a good idea to take minor roads just for a change of scenery. Bad idea. Suddenly at a corner, a flash with lightning-like intensity caught my eyes. Problem is its not even raining in Perth at that time. I was doing over 60km/h at the downhill road (you know how it defies logic to press brake downhill when its safe to just let it roll downhill?)

And sure enough, it was a nicely set up speed camera in front of a bus stop. I'm not exactly happy with what had just happened but I didn't want to express it because its suppose to be a holiday for her. A month or so passed since and there wasn't any news of it. I thought that I might just be lucky and got away with it. Then at last I got a letter last two days. Most people was actually quite amused when they saw it because the letter actually comes with a photo of the driver. I guess I got a unique 'souvenir' from the Perth police. Problem is the 'souvenir' cost $75...

Margaret River

Normally I drive to a destination. Never had I imagined that I'd be sightseeing (that's not exactly the technical term to use when you're undergoing a flight training) on a plane!

Margaret River and its vineyards- birds eye view

But last week I did just that to Margaret River. All I know of the place is that its full of vineyards. What I didn't know is that there's a place called Cape Leeuwin just south west of Margaret River where Indian Ocean meets Southern Ocean. According to Darren, the latest south WA tourist attraction expert, the cape is marked by a historical lighthouse which is a must go destination if you're driving there. So now you know too!

To the left of the cape is Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean on the right

Crabs! (but I'm not talking about VD)

Crab or no crab. That is the question. Location: Peel Inlet which is one hour drive south of Jandakot at a place called Mandurah. This inlet is a unique geographical feature where rivers meets the sea and forms a huge lake but waters are just knee deep. Don't know when the season begins and when it ends. Legally only 2 months in a year strictly no crabbing i.e. September and October. However, we didn't want to take the chance missing the crabbing season as there's sign that summer is getting shorter by day and therefore conditions may not be favourable for crabbing anymore.

Its a pretty interesting device that we use to crab. It is made of spherical wire mesh hooked to the end of a stick. We had to saw away some end of the broomstick so that it fits into the car boot. Because the mesh is wide, we have to carry a pail with us so that when you scoop up the crab, you put it immediately into the pail or else it'll scurry around and fall back into the water.

Evening and night is the best time to crab. Walk around in the inlet and sometimes you'd spot something moving in the water. As you approach it, the crabs (which has camouflaged back and quite hard to spot) would be in its attack (or defence?) position with its pincher raised. This would actually cause its white contrasting bottom to stand out in the water and thus making it easier for us to spot and catch it. Kindda silly isn't it?

Interesting part of the trip was some of us got pinched by the crab at night because we can't see where they are and we're not wearing slippers. I guess that's the best time for them to take revenge on us. Also at night, wherever you shine the torch, there'll be some silly fish swimming in the beam and most of time we mistaken it for crab. Too bad the fish is too small to be eaten and too ugly to be kept as a pet.

Anyways, we caught some crab and missed some, let go of some which are too small (minimum size is 127cm at its widest). And in the end, the number of catch for the day tallies to 8! But I guess its not the number that counts but the fun and excitement of catching them. The chilly and egg crab dish we had for supper is just the bonus....

Fairies in the Sea

Finally Felicia set her feet in land down under. This would be the 1st entry since she's here.

Best kept secret in Rockingham unfolded! Initially thought as a laid back suburb that boast only two rows of shops and a big anchor as a landmark; it finally unveils its wonders to the people who seek them.


And the open secret is the Penguin Island where the fairy penguins live. They're the smallest of the penguin family growing up to 40cms tall. That's pretty big since I'd imagine it to be smaller; say the size of a pigeon.

I must admit that I'm a nature freak - albeit I did most of it in front of a TV / National Geographic channel. (There's the grey area that I'm addicted to watching TV rather than watching just nature shows.) But when given the chance, watching it right in front of your eyes is thousand times better compared to watching it even on a Plasma TV (no pun intented for plasma owner like KG.. I'd wish to own one too!)

Except for one wild penguin we saw in the wild, the rest that we saw are permanent tenants of Discovery Centre on the island. They waddle clumsily as they walk but when they are in the water, they can really swim gracefully and faster than a fish! Its important since fish is their main diet. Their 'wings' are called flaps which they use in the water. Their feathers are 4 times denser than any other bird which keeps them dry after a good swim. I guess old folks tale about "the more fish you eat the better you can swim" is true after all!

Wild Kangaroos

Photographic evidance that kangaroos are rampant here like rodents roaming the city... like flies in summer... like weed in the field.. ok, I'm not very good at describing this... you get what I'm trying to say. We've been here for 4 months and suddenly they seem to appear everywhere.

The kangaroo has a baby in the pouch as well... I think they're checking us out....

Dolphins Sighted in Swan River!

Unexpected surprise during the New Year ride today. Went cycling during this quiet day since the weather is good. So I headed to the city. At Mount Henry Bridge stopped to see a couple and a dog sailing in their small boat. Quite fun thing to do from my point of view.

Then I continued north to Mill Point where took a long break while watching a family fishing by the river overlooking Swan Breweries. The Breweries is now a building used for some restaurant. I haven't venture to that place yet but I read it online that the speed limit for cycling near that place is 10km/h or else its a fine!! Wow.. never thought that you can get fined for cycling above speed limit!

Then I lingered around in South Perth checking out the historical wind mill built in 1835 there. The place was closed so just manage to read a bit on the history at the main gate. Quite interesting fact that windmills in Perth becomes obsolete because it is not economically viable to operate compared to other ways of milling. I still hard to believe it because its windy most of the time here.

As I was riding back from the city along Swan River, I saw 2 wild dolphins swimming around near the riverbank! Its definitely a sight to behold.. unfortunately the camera is not as sharp as the eye and all I got was a blurry zoom in. Another reason to get SLR? *hint*hint* Hmm.. instead shall I start a hoax saying Nessie sighted in Perth?? Heheh.. what a way to start 2008!