ROADTRIP WITH TWO PAIRS OF SHOES.

just got back from the otways with 3 of my besties! we had such an incredible time! This is how it went...

MONDAY
basically, we arrived at shona's house at 12:30pm on Monday. That was the time we were supposed to be there, but i arrived at 1pm haha. We loaded my stuff into the car because everyone else's was already in there and then after about 15 minutes of pre-roadtrip cam-whoring we set off....to Shell Petrol station where we filled up and also pumped Shona's Honda's tyres! Sharmeen and i stayed in the car while the practical ones, Jess and Shona got onto it. :)

Then we actually set off. The roadtrip there was pretty uneventful and with the help of Shona's and Jess's intuition plus the GPS we were on our wayt. The GPS took us on this backroute where we basically saw nothing but fields of cattle for a long time, and we breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got onto the main roads. Finally we reached our little Ti Tree cottage in Forrest.

The cottage itself was really homey and picturesque. The living area and the kitchen are kind of joined together which made eating times and puzzle-doing times really fun. There was a spiral staircase leading to a one bedroom loft where Jess and I slept. And downstairs were two more bedrooms - one with a double bed where Sharmeen and Shona slept and another one with two singles (which for some reason i dubbed the 'boy's bedroom' because i thought it would have been ideal for Chris and Nick to stay there) and then next to that was the bathroom which smelled a bit and had a creepy shower curtain but was okay in general. 

When we finally got to the house, we realised we forgot some vital ingredients (the meat) for our dinner at Shona's house all the way back in Melbourne. While Shona and Jess are vegaquarians (ie. they dont eat red meat but can eat fish) and were quite happy to do without meat, Sharmeen and I, the omnivores thought it necessary to drive 30 mins to Colac to the nearest Coles.

We picked up our groceries and then did a little window shopping around Colac before all the shops closed. I saw something really cute for Nick so i bought it haha. And then we had fish and chips in this little park. After tea, we went on a major photoshooting rampage where we basically took a million photos with Sharmeen's trusty little canon and then all piled into Shona's car and headed back to our cottage.

That night, Sharmeen and Shona started this awesome 750 piece puzzle which was ridiculously hard and they continued into the night while me and Jess went to sleep in our loft.


TUESDAY
One thing you should know about Jess is that she is massively a morning person, which not only means that she gets up early and is super chirpy and happy in the morning but also means that she needs to get things done in the morning. One thing you should know about Shona, Sharmeen and I are that we are super lazy in the morning. So we started the day really really slow and Jess was understandably quite frustrated. Eventually we all decided to go on a walk down the road. And then Shona suggested we walk through this national park. And then we kept walking until somebody suggested we walk to this river.  So we kept on walking for ages and ages and kept taking photos. At one point, we threaded some dandelions through Jess's hair and made her pose for various photos. After that, we kept walking until we finally reached the river where again, we stopped for more photos filled with pouts, duckfaces and jump shots. We chilled for a bit and then we finally decided to head back.

When we got back we were super hungry so we made some fried egg sandwiches and then just relaxed for a bit. Then, we decided to go to Apollo Bay to swim because we were really hot. We drove on winding roads through thick forest terrain listening to various hip hop and R&B tracks, occasionally paradise by coldplay and finally Hillsong while we marvelled at God's awesome creation. It was so beautiful and unless you're there, you won't really know just how beautiful.

After we swam for a bit in Apollo Bay and ate these really weird confectionary called strawberry clouds, we finally headed back to the cottage.

We prepped for dinner by making these mini pizzas on pita bread with spinach, diced ham, pizza sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes and tasty cheese. It was sooo yum and we were really full afterward.

At night, we decided to chill out a bit by watching 'the Help'. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD MOVIE. unfortunately, we did not chill out though because half of us were crying by the end. After that, we worked on the puzzle some more until we were too tired to stay awake.


WEDNESDAY
We woke up, had breakfast and then headed out to Colac Station where we had to drop Jess off at Colac station to go home for an interview. :( Jess bought her ticket and then we wondered around town for a bit until it was time for Jess to go and then we headed back to the station where we waited until Jess left for Melbourne on the Vline train.
After that, Shona, Sharmeen and I headed to Red Rock scenic lookout which was basically a high peak overlooking these volcanic craters. It was breathtaking! Except that there were all these little bugs, the really gross kind where if you squish them there is orange and yellow goo oozing everywhere. Anyway we took a bunch of photos as per usual and then headed back home through Colac.
In Colac we filled up for petrol, got a couple more groceries and then we were about to head home when Shona spotted a KFC family dinner deal on the back of the Coles docket. Because Jess, our voice of reason was gone, we all decided that we would pig out on KFC for lunch, including Shona, the vegeaquarian. "But Shona, aren't you a vegetarian?" "...Yeah, but I can not be?" HAHA.
We brought the KFC back to the cottage to eat. It was so  yum, but then we felt sooooo full afterward, it almost wasn't worth it. Almost.

Because Jess, the super-active one in our group was gone, any motivation to do stuff was also gone. Shona, Sharmeen and I stayed in the cottage all arvo and night doing the 750 piece puzzle until 1am while watching Down with Love, Shrek and the Breakup until we finally finished the puzzle, and retired to sleep.

THURSDAY
We got up at 9:15 after pressing the snooze button a million times and then started packing and cleaning the cottage ready for our checkout at 11am.
At 11am on the dot, we were out of Forrest and heading back to Melbourne. On the way home, we passed through some roadworks, and one of the construction workers after seeing our green P's sign i guess and a car full of girls was just staring and smiling at us. When we drove past, he said "hello there..." in a wierd way, and we kind of just chuckled nervously and drove through. CREEPY.
We drove to Harbour Town, Docklands where Jess was supposed to meet us. Although Jess wasn't there yet, we started shopping. I bought some sandals!! :) An hour later, we drove out to find and pick up Jess. At a random traffic light, Sharmeen suddenly spots Jess and we wind down the window to yell at her to get in the car. She sprints towards the car before the lights turn green and for some reason, Jess's presence instantly re-energises the group and we feel like shopping again. So we go back to Harbour Town and try to find some dresses for Jess' 19th. At the end of the shopping trip, Sharmeen buys shoes, I buy shoes, Shona buys cute polka dot shorts, and Jess finds two beautiful dresses.

We drive back from Melbourne to the suburbs and then they drop me home.

It was such a cool trip. I'm so blessed to have these wonderful people in my life. :)

PHOTOS COMING SOON.

To save a life

OK so you all know those posters you see around your neighborhood about missing pets and stuff?? Well during my lifetime I think I've seen about a million of those, and never really cared to do anything about it....AS IF I'm going to run around looking like an idiot trying to find a stray dog or cat?? yeah no! 

However, after a chill-axed session in Shona's house, we went out to walk each other home (Shona and I live in the same neighborhood), anyway we do this really funny thing all the time, where we walk each other half way across the distance to our houses and then disperse by ourselves to walk the other half way alone - just coz we're super lazy to walk the whole way =P

BUT anyway, during our walk home, I saw this cat lurking around and instantly remembered one of the posters I saw a few days ago about a missing cat! huzzah! 

I told Shona and she ran to get the cat that was hiding in the bushes somewhere. I'm not a big fan of cats, so I left the manual handling to Shona while I rang up the cat's owners. Over the phone the owners sounded superrr excited and I was getting equally excited too coz we possibly might have found the right cat - therefore being a step closer to getting a REWARD! yeahh baby! 

After a lot of meowing from Shona and I the cat finally warmed up to us, we called Shona's sister who was inside the house to bring us a bowl of milk so that we could persuade the cat to stay by our sides till the owner arrived. After a few minutes, the Asian owners came by and recognized the cat as theirs, somehow the cat really wasn't happy to see them, so it bolted again! 

However, Shona being a great cat whisperer that she is, managed to get the cat sane again :D 

So our reward was 100 bucks!!!! we split it $50 each. Shona's sister, Hannah thought she deserved 10% just coz she brought out the milk...ummm no! she didn't even pour the milk out?? We were quite defensive with out money! HAHAHA

So yes! even though we did save the cat for the money, we still saved a life! so there! You guys should try it out some time :D

The Secret of Sydney

Soooooooo way way back in the day when we still went to school, had braces, did homework and boring stuff altogether, Shona and I decided to do something super cool!  wait for it........................ we decided to fly to Sydney right after our final VCE exam for a day, without telling anyone...so it was kinda a massive secret for both of us. NO parents, NO friends, NO one could know about it...or else it wouldn't be fun or impulsive. 

It was super stressful not letting anyone know, especially the awesome foursome, coz we rarely kept  secrets from one another. It was even harder seeing Kim-anh and Jess everyday at school and not mentioning anything about our awesome trip to them :( 

BUT we booked the flight tickets flying on Tiger Airways...AND everything was set :D

so when our last exam finished, we rushed home and started packing (talk about last minute packing) haha...our flight was around midnight. Shona's sister drove us to the airport after we told her some (white lie) about why and where we were going! ooops..  

BEFORE I add the pictures, let me just say we don't look 100% coz it's been over a year and a bit...so no judging..haha

Being tourists at the ferry dock in Sydney

All I can remember bout Sydney is that I had a lot of fun hanging with Shona and Hannah (Shona's sister who studies in Sydney)

Sydney Opera House

Shopping

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie from Masterchef

So after all the fun...we had to go back :'( I was feeling extra nervous coz I didn't know if my parents found out or not (they're asians so they practically know everything) hahaha...doorbell rings and no one's home! yay we got away with it! ......not till we came out about it to Kim-anh and Jess a few weeks after (who took it graciously i might add) yay for friends :D 

Anyway as an end note: GO on impulsive trips coz they're always so much funner than planned ones ;) and make sure you tell people where you're going because you don't wanna die from guilt :S

XOXO

you know you're in rural when they start teasing the asians

Not too long ago Jess, Chris, Hannah and I headed off to Jess' grandad's farm. It's situated about 20 minutes from Benalla in... Warrenbayne.. I think :D haha!

Anyway, the day that we set off for the farm the whole gang except Chris & Sharm went for boxing class. Once again it was INTENSE! After we had lunchie at my place. It consisted of fried eggs, cucumbers, cheese and bread. YUM

After we had lunch, washed and finalised our packings, we headed to Balwyn to pick Chris. The whole time Chris was driving while Hannah & I (the other green P-platers) were dozing in the back. HAHAHA! so slack we were! I think the drive up was around.. 2.5 hours.

At the farm, we met Jess' Pa and Whiskey, their resident super awesome dog :) We had dinner, watched a movie (shanghai knights) and headed off to bed :D

Before heading off!

At the farm

After dinner chat on the lawn

Taking a night stroll

nyawh sho cute

Whiskey

Our sleeping places <3

Second day we had a pretty cool agenda :D

We tie-dyed some shirts and dresses that we brought up from Melbourne :D IT WAS THE BEST!! The whole experience was so enlightening! enchanting! exquisit! HAHAHA jokes! BUT STILL, it was ZE BEST!

We bought dye from Lincraft.. it was around $7.50/pack. So, we got two packs: blue and purples. In the end we just used half a pack each.. and that was even too much for the 6 pieces of clothing! Here are some pics.

Jess weighing our items = not successful

Our materials for tie dying: rubber bands, gloves, dye, salt, hot water, pail & fabric 

shirt's all rolled up and ready!

dunked blue & now purple

Chris our washer

First products made 

now, working on the dresses

water to wash the dye

After dying, we went for lunch and later a walk to pick apples and visit the waterfall :D

walnuts

sho cute

At the waterfall

dragon flies! there were TONNNES around the waterfall

After our afternoon 'adventure' we headed home, watched Treasure Planet and made dinner.

cutting apples for the crumble

vegie patties

stewing the apples & later peaches

grilling dinner

blurry picture of us playing cluedo

the apples & peach crumbles was ready! SOOH YUM!

Last day! We planned to head home around 12:30ish. So, we cleaned, packed, lounged then drove off :D

saying bye to whiskey :(

Altogether I had a pretty awesome trip! It was great hanging around with another! Hannah & I learned more of the Australian culture. Def good trip, def would do it again :D