Tas-Mania Pt 2

The days in Tassie went by quite quickly, but that was because I was enjoying myself. There are so many things to relate, but I think I will just highlight them. The pictures that I took from my visit are on my Multiply site (phyeken.multiply.com), so please feel free to have a look:

University of Tasmania

I was finally able to see firsthand our twinning partner. UTas is one of the oldest and largest universities (so I understand) in Australia but the law school was anything but old. The campus is colossal and the law school is confined to a corner, bordering the residential areas of Sandy Bay, Hobart. As we arrived, we were greeted by Prof Margaret for a short discussion and then were ushered into Dr Gail's (one of my moderators) classes: Law of the Oceans. I received a warm welcome and an introduction in front of the lecture theatre (wow ... felt really nice). After that it was off to the cosy law faculty lounge where we were served morning tea and all sorts of biscuits, cakes and pie ... yummy. During my visit, this is what I remember: I had good chats and lunches and dinners with my moderators (Ken, Dr Lisa and Dr Gail) and other lecturers that I had met before (John and Michael), ate loads of great food and wine, visited Dr Gail's lovely home and had a great evening with her family (and superb seafood, food and wine), spent good times with my ex students, took a tour of the campus (courtesy of my ex boss: Patrick Foong), visited Salamanca market (an experience that can only be appreciated if you are there), tricked (haha) by my students to visit Zoo Doo (an um interactive zoo where the emus and osctriches and all sorts of towering animals 'assault' you for food), walked around Hobart city and had home cooked meals too (thanks all). I really praise Jesus for His grace and love and generousity. Also I visited Energizer Life Church.

P.S: hehe ... do pay attention to the food pictures I took. It's no wonder I gained about 3 kgs. Hahah ... and that was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg, as Sydney was also a gastronomical adventure in itself.

So please feel free to check out the pictures. Here are a few below. I think there are 400 plus at my Mulitply. :)

Jesus bless you all.

Tas-Mania (Pt 1)

I took over 1400 photographs while in Australia ...

O_O

Pre Australia: the situation looked grim ... I had about a 'gazillion' things on my plate and little time to enjoy any of them. My time with my God, Jesus; family; work; ministry and friends and studies was precious little. I felt as if I was running when I wanted to walk, burning out slowly but surely. I was grudgingly serving God and others and just needed a break. In the nick of time, God 'rescued' me from crashing and burning ... and gave me a much needed retreat in the form of a 10 day trip (almost fully sponsored) to Tasmania and Sydney. So on the 25th of September 2007, I boarded the MAS flight and made my way to Koalaland ... :)

Flight: I enjoyed my trip even before I arrived at my destination ... woo hoo. I admit I was slightly nervous about flying (after my experience flying back from Sarawak) but I prayed and put everything into God's hands. I enjoyed it so much ... I was actually trying hard to stay awake trying the movies, songs and video games ... hahah ... like a child in a candy store. Needless to say, even at that time, I was looking forward to my flight home also (walau). I managed to watch Mr Bean 2 and also listened to many songs and played some games. Food was good (I was hungry) and flight was smooth.

Melbourne: I last visited Melbourne when I was std 5. That was a good ... 20 years ago. This time however, I was just squatting, as it were, at the airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Tasmania. Melbourne is nice and cold and windy too (reminded me so much of ol England). The transit time was 5 hours and I must say, Australian customs mean business ... oh the number of mooncakes I saw being inspected ... hahah.

Tasmania: Finally ... Tassie land! Even as we circled to land, I was thinking how sparse the population was ... Tasmania is relatively, in that sense-lah, untouched in its pristine condition. Nature lovers will adore it. The airport was small (like Ipoh one) and it even had a Selamat Datang sign :). We (my friend and I from KDU) were greeted by a driver hired by the University of Tasmania to ferry us to the largest hotel in Hobart, the Grand Chancellor. The country side gave way to city sights and a huge bridge (which name I do not recall now) that connects one side of Hobart to the other. The hotel was elegant without being too expensive looking and guess what? we each got a double room! Talk about space ... Food was on the university and so was transport. Where else can you find such a business partner? Sigh ... :) God bless Utas.

Dinner day 1: Seafood, seafood ... we had (on UTas) a seafood dinner at Blue Skies restaurant. The raw oysters in Tasmania are the best that I have ever had. So fresh ... yummy. We ordered this huge seafood platter (besides three entrees and wine - the wines are delectable) which had pan fried and deep friend fish, octopus, calamari, prawns (fried and steamed), really fresh veggies, mussels and raw oysters with roe. Walau.

We had dinner we my ex boss, Patrick Foong, now pursuing his PhD at UTas. After dinner, we three went for a late evening walk around some parts of Hobart. The night was nice and cold ... like I like it. What a wonderful start to my trip ...

More to come ...

Jesus I bless You.

Jesus bless you all