OSIP

✈ Good-bye, Singapore; Hello, Brisbane!

After going through thick and thin, and thick and thin, and thick and thin again, I'm finally flying off to Australia.

You've no idea how much I've gone through over this period of 3months, making arrangements to fly over.

But finally, my efforts have paid off. So does all the rest who'd helped me loads - Ms Chua, Ms Cindy, Mr Nelson.

It was pretty last minute for us as everything was only confirmed on Thursday. 

That left me with Friday to settle all the air tickets, travel insurance etc. 

And the weekend's for packing my luggage and farewells.

(P/S; So glad that I am still able to attend Mel's 21st birthday and Grandma's 92nd birthday before I leave :D)

On Sunday morning, Vasantham Stars organized a farewell yum cha for me at NEX's Ding Tai Fung.

I'm so touched that its so last minute and everyone made the effort to wake up early for me. Thank you guys! ♥
Dan and Mel even bought a Nike pull-over for me as a gift. It's the one I almost bought some time ago! 

The afternoon was spent doing some last minute packing.

I was close to going insane as my luggage weighs almost 30kg when the weight limit is only 20kg!!!

I'm a little reluctant to throw out some of my clothes but I've learnt to prioritize :/

In the evening, family sent me off to the airport and we had farewell dinner first at Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe.

Aftermath, its almost time to check-in. Babies were here to send me off too. Aww...

The most surprising thing was, 7 Wonders were also here! It was a surprise planned by Huijie, my evil twin bro.

He told me that all of them had something on and can't send me off. But all of them came, just in time! So touched!

Babies bought me flowers as a farewell gift. Aww...

I know very rude to talk on phone and take photo but I was on the phone with Axel, Sis's boyfriend. 

I'll be flying with 2 other students from IITSc - Rina and Shalom. 

We'll be attached to the same Uni - Queensland University and Technology (QUT) and living together! (:

I WILL MISS YOU GUYS!

So we bid our final farewell and went into the departure hall.
Everyone was standing at the departure gate, waiting for us to enter.
I told myself not to cry. And although there's many instances where I have teary eyes, I fought them back.
At the end of it all, I did it. All the way to the departure gate, all the way to the plane, all the way to Brisbane.

I bought a little bit of love from home...

We flew SQ. How I hope we flew Emirates. Save that additional S$378 from my pocket ):

WELCOME TO BRISBANE!

Here we are, arriving at a beautiful country - Australia. Capital: Queensland.

I swear the Australian custom is mf strict. They confiscated my flower. As well as Rina's sweets. BOO!

After we passed the custom, a driver arranged by QUT came to pick us up.

Lovin' QUT cause they made all the arrangements for us. From picking us up, to accommodation to EVERYTHING!

Cute little blue lorry we saw on the way to our share-house.

Upon arrival of our share-house, the owner of the house was already inside preparing everything for us.

She said she washed the linens herself, changed the light bulbs etc etc etc.

When we entered the house, it was beautiful! I mean, the house looks good and comfortable.

Initially we thought it's a little expensive to pay AUD$200/week each for this share-house, but now to think of it, its actually pretty reasonable, cheap to be exact. 

Everything was included. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING!

The house was fully furnished, kitchen with kitchen ware, toilet with toilet paper, towels etc, ironing board, cupboard, study table etc etc etc.

Most importantly, the amount is inclusive of electricity and water bill, as well as wireless! Whoop! :D

She went through the house rules with us and even offered to bring us to the supermarket to get some groceries!

Australians are very environmentally friendly. They bring grocery bags with them even when plastic bags are provided.

Also, the made they effort to separate their trash from waste to recyclables. 

Not only that! They save water by keeping their bath-time below 4mins! And I mean EVERYONE!

Spent >AUD$50 for the 1st grocery shopping. Getting mostly shared-items like toilet paper etc.

Rina posing with the detergent we use to do our laundry.

Me, posing with the first meal we intend to cook for this trip.

Not that we're pathetic, but we reached home at around 130pm and our L.O., Mr Nelson, is coming at 230pm.

Mr Nelson came to check that we've settled down, and left.

We thought he'd be bringing us out or something so we didn't dare to cook -.-"

But since we have the whole afternoon to ourselves, we decided to bring you guys around our lovely share-house!

The street we're living in - Camona Street. 

Its really safe and there's a few family living here. A few of the houses were also owned by our landlord.

Therefore, there's also lots of students like us renting the house on this street.

Yes, that's right. Our address - 16 Camona St. Write me letter! (:

There is a basement as well, but there is 2 couples living there right now. They're taking their PHD.

Below is also where we do our laundry using the washing machine and hang our clothes.

2 dustbins. Yellow lid for the recyclables and black for the normal waste.

Actually I have 2 bins back at home in Singapore too, to separate the trash. But not in HDB flats.

An arc thing at the pathway to our main door. I think it took years to do it.

The door to our house. But this is not the main door.

It leads you into this balcony place thingy, which is right outside my room. Hehehe.

Since the balcony is right outside my room, it is also connected. But I locked it up. Lol.

"WELCOME, MY FRIENDS!"

Yep! So the first room you'll see is my room! 

Ikr, it looks so cosy! I chose it cos it looks cosy and comfortable, even though its the smallest room.

Their cupboard is huge! I mean, almost the same as the one I have back at home, but this is much spacious.

They have fan and heater provided and stored in the cupboard.

This is not part of my room, but this is right opposite my room across the entrance corridor. 

Its the store room where all the stuff are kept.

At the end of the other side is Shalom's bedroom. It is the biggest room, for the guy. Haha.

In the middle is the toilet, which is right beside the store room. The toilet is humongous! Almost twice my room!

At the other end is Rina's bedroom. It is the only room with sunlight coming in.

Moving in, is the next half of the house. 

The kitchen is really big too!

We also have another balcony at the back which is overlooking the greens.
It is said that there'll be lots of animals there. We already saw chicken, turkeys & even possums! So cute!

Since we're living in level 2, we don't have to worry about burglars or animals coming in.

In the balcony is another dining table and a traditional Western BBQ pit! 

The kitchen window opens out to the balcony.

After we packed our stuff and settle down, we decided to walk to the other supermarket behind our house.

We have to walk down to a playground and pass a bridge then across some houses before hitting the main road.

We tried very hard to follow the map and asked for directions many times. People here are super friendly.

Playground behind our house.

This is the little lake where we have to walk pass on the bridge.

Saw another playgound. And check out the beautiful purple flowers!

Its almost everywhere here in Brisbane. And the whole tree is PURPLE! My favourite colour!!

Good thing always comes to an end. The tree only blooms on the start of spring and can only last for 1 month.

Finally on the main road. We saw a bicycle shop and very tempted to buy/rent a bike cos we need to walk to school everyday for 20-30mins. And the thing is, this place is very hilly T_T

FINALLY! Coles supermarket! We asked a total for 3 strangers on the direction -.-"

There are 2 main supermarket here, Coles and WoolWorth (the people call it Woolies).

Coke is sb expensive here. Sprite cost AUD$5 for 2 bottles. AUD$2.50/bottle! Convert to SGD$ is???

Giant pumpkin in preparation for Halloween.

Some sunset artsy shot while on the way home. The sun sets at around 6pm everyday.

Home and whipped up a meal of Spaghetti with chicken breast and mushroom!

P/S; Photo credits to Layhoe, Rina and Shalom. Thank you!