thrilled

day 10 in aus. rest day.

two tired days had passed, more to come.

day 8 travelled far by bus to lone pine koala sanctuary. got up close and personal (hug, pat, feed, play) with koalas, kangaroos, wombats, lorikeets, birds, bats and etc etc. had an ugly but candid photo taken with Nessy. She’s very cuddly.

Which animal I liked most? Surprisingly, it’s the bats. Yes, simply love the authentic and mysterious aura about bats. Looking at them moving around and stretching themselves or just simply hanging around really made me wanna keep them as a pet.

Anyway, back in penang, my house did have a frequent night visitor that kept spitting down seeds of fruits down to my dad’s car. It was the bat. But I didn’t really see it in its face. It always flew off whenever it felt disturbed.

Another disturbing thought about bats would be on my previous Baktisiswa program at Sarawak, thanks to Lau Pan aka Stephen, I had the opportunities to chow down some bat’s meat (i think it is kind of illegal) served with black chilli soy sauce. I can still remember how the bat’s wings were there on the plate with its meat chopped up in pieces. It did taste a bit like chicken but much firmer and less juicy. not going to try that again.

day 9 trip to Dreamworld, Gold Coast. It was a stressful drive on qi’s cousin brother’s big Ford down to Gold Coast, but aussies are very well-mannered driver on the road. The trip there was practically 1 and 1/2 hours - 1 hour getting there and 1/2 lost.

And I thought Easter hols were over. That day was Pupils’ Day. Only the teachers had to go to school for training or some sort of orientation and so, the whole theme parks were infested by lots and lots of youngster. Even the very young barely 120cm (minimum height for high thrill rides) queued up for the major thrill rides. Lines for rides for games were long everywhere.

Tickets wasn’t cheap, but well worth it. Came out wet after the Log Ride with hug splashes all around.

Nailed 4 out 5 of its Big 5 Thrill Rides.

1. Wipe Out (twice) - feeling of being carried by tsunami
2. The Claw - similar concept of pirate ship, except you’re hung up by the claw (no boat)
3. Tower of Terror - fastest, tallest ride on Earth (guinness record), mind blowing experience.
4. Cyclone - roller coaster, disappointing - only one 360 degrees loop. I was expecting more
5. Giant Drop - long queue, operating slower on that day, skipped this one.

The tigers there were also amazingly cute.

Something I picked up on the Aussie TV on Day 8:

"Doctors are having greater problems as compared to people of other professions. They had greater chances of falling into depression, alcoholism or drug abuse. It is reported that being doctors, men have 2 times more liable to health problems as mentioned above while the ladies have 6 times higher."

and the reporter interviewed an Aussie GP about this.

"Well, it is indeed true. But I kept myself far by having a daily dose of natural antidepressant - cycling through the park"

I guessed it is time I figure out my own personal natural antidepressant and chip it in into my future working schedule. meditation would be the best bet.