Oyster farm Trip

Well.. this post is going to take a long time to load.

Just to keep you guys updated about my life in Tassie.
I'm doing fine. I've just submitted part 1 of my essay assignment
and sat for my zoology pract. test. I has been so far so good kind of mentality for me. Haha.. Therewere some mistakes here and there but overall, should be fine.

Aside with boring things:
The students doing the module on "Introduction to Aquaculture"
were scheduled for an "Oyster Farm visit on Friday." However, I'm exempted
on this module and wouldn't be able to go. So I decided to write an email
to the lecturer in-charge and guess what? He agreed to have me along for the tour.

And so the story goes...


Dr Ryan (the lecturer) was also the driver for the day. This guy simply looks too young to have a phD. Anyway, we make our way to Little Swan port on a van and upon alighting I had to jump back on the van to put on my Gortex jacket. The wind was simply too strong for me to take. Seriously, I find myself being pushed by the wind and I had to re-balanced myself every few minutes.

After putting on our wind-breaker and life jacket, we were all set to enter the speed boat. Regarding the life jacket that I'm wearing, I think they run out of adult sized ones.

Sarah and I

Boarding the speed boat.


You could feel the wind slapping across your face as the boat moves. These are just some basic infrastructure of the farm.


I know you guys might be bored with all the explanations of oyster farming. But trust me, you wouldn't get to experience it personally. It is not open to public.

Where the oyster seed stocks are raised. In between the bi-layer of wood, you will have around 1 million oyster seed-stock. Each individual seed will grow up to 1 full adult oyster.



This is how they look like after 6 weeks old. The whitish area is how big they were when the farmers initially start them from.


Oysters are filter-feeders meaning they take in micro particle food like algae. Little Swan port is an estaury (where fresh river water meets oceanic water)The change in density between the 2 water bodies will stir up nutrients-rich deep water from the sediments. These nutrients will then promote various types of algae bloom which serves as food for the oysters.

These oysters are close to maturation and have been harvested, graded and put back to the ocean for raising. A few more months and they will be ready for the plates.


This is where they are raised at:


Pete explaining to us how they were raised and harvested. Fresh oysters were pryed open and given to students for sampling. Nah.. I don't like raw oysters.






I was looking at the oysters and the thought of having "Or-Jian" came into my mind. Hmmmm. I asked Pete how much he sells 10 oysters for. "$5 for a dozen" he said.
Cool.. Sure. I will like to have a dozen.


After bringing up 2 trays.. He said "You wouldn't have to pay for them." It's for you to share. Cool..

On the way back to Launnie, we stopped at Swansea for a toilet break. There were interesting bricks on the floor.



A man who chose the right path in the end.


Never steal rabbits:


And if you ever want to steal... Choose silverwares:


Finally... Do not receive stolen fats from someone. Take mine instead. It's free!


There were many other bricks, those featured were only 1% of them.

Bear getting grumpy because I refuse to sit near him.


Nah.. He is alright!




And so we made "Or-Jian" (Oyster Omelette) for dinner. It was delicious and the best I've tasted so far. I never really like oyster cause they usually come with a fishy smell, but these were perfect. Sarah and I had to open up the oysters personally and I cancelled my gym session for the day cause I felt that I had enough exercise from it.

Tata..

Till then...

Church on sunday was interesting. The guest speaker is a scientist and was the man behind all the synthesizer and musical instrument invention. He gave a sermon on workship (infact it was a whole seminar, but I was too busy to attend all the 3 days) This guy really knows alot and the amazing thing is that he uses his knowledge of the Bible to prove scientific theories wrong.

There was some sort of lunch fellowship after the whole service. The battered fish was simply delicious that I had to find out what kind of fish it was.



It turns out to be "Tasmanian Tiger Shark" meat and was caught by one of the member. Wow!
Hahaa. ..

I thank God for sending Brent to pick me up to church and for Thelmi for sending me back.

.... Arghh.. My throat hurts.. It think it's some kind of infection.

Dinner..

Some photos of our international dinner. Muahaaha.
We have Malaysians, Singaporeans and Koreans that night.





(top left-right) Seki, Er Li, Bernice and Me!!!
(Bottom left-right) Huo Jin, Meya, Sarah, Nuriani

Overwhelmed.

Overwhelmed. I have 2 assignments due next week and 1 test on monday. Currently, nothing is close to completion. I'm suppose to attend a conference in church for the next 3 days but I guess I have to give it a miss. Sigh...
We are having a "banquet" tonight. (That's what the Aussies call it) Actually, it is just a get to together meal. I wanted to cook but I really can't afford the time so Seki and Sarah are the chefs for tonight. Yum Yum!
Got to go .. Laundry is ready ..

Tata.

Wheee..

Well.... I had my 2nd try at driving yesterday. I will like to thank Sarah and Er Li for being so courageous to sit in my car. We went to fill up petrol at Woolies and I happily parked my car at the wrong side of the petrol inlet. Haha.
Well... today was much better. I had Seki and Sarah with me to the city. We pop by asian grocery store, Young's veggie shed (Sarah bought alot of vegetables this time round), animal tucker box, Woolies (again) and headed back to campus. The road in city wasn't really welcoming today. There were plenty of road works and I had to drive around to get to the other destination. But it is a good way to "clock-up" the hours. Total hours thus far is 1hr plus.
Well for those who are not familiar with the Australian road system. A learner will need to clock up 50 hours of driving time under supervision by a full-driving license holder before he/she is allowed to sit for a driving test. Yeah..
Wheee...

Well. I know

Well I know that I've been cutting down on my posts due to other commitments. Just a quick update on what's going on in my life.
I got myself a 2nd hand Daihatsu Applause. (yeah. Happiness! Bleah!! )
I received my working permit (finally!! Yeah, Double happiness, Car plus work permit means can work)

However............... I tried driving today and the car keep stalling and I discovered that I have lost most of my driving techniques. It was never so bad. Sarah, Jun Ming and Yoke Chye could drive without problem. (They have many years of driving experience) Haha...But I have to stop every 50cm. Yeah. cm. ..
I'm considering whether to go through formal training again. I feel so lousy. I'm always wasting money. It seems that I always have trouble at practical stuff.. What's wrong with me?
Arghhh..... I think I deserved to fail the driving test in Singapore. Shame on me to think that the tester was against me. Shame on me...

That's it

That's it! My complexion is a gonner. The dark spots have changed to craters and the sight of it just gives me goose pimples all over my hand.
"Oh Lord.. Please teach me how to look beyond outer beauty"

No flu

It's close to a month since I last had a flu, running nose or congested nose. People who know me well can testify to those horrible problems I had with my nose back then. It's amazing and it feels good to breathe freely. I recalled the decision to go for an operation on my nose late last year. Thank God for wise aunty that prayed and seek the counsel of her fellow colleagues. I was adviced not to go. Thinking about it, I have been eating healthily and omitting all food that has MSG, flavour enhancers or artificial flavours. (apart from preservatives which I can't since most food have them. i.e. bread) Even the sauces I have are "nonsense free". I go through the extend of scrutinizing the ingredient label of different brands carefully and making sure that they are alright even if I have to pay more.
So far so good.. haha.

On a side note, the only times in Singapore where I'm flu-free for a month was those times in P.Tekong. Hmmm..

Field Trip

We had our first field trip to the estuarine section of the Tamar River today. The Tamar river runs all the way from the Launceston city to the Bass Strait. Our location was at Hillwood, where all the berries farm and wineries were located. Here are some pictures of our adventures.

Students standing on top of the floating wharf, collecting samples using the planktonic net.


Dr Chris demonstrating how phytoplankton are collected:


Dr Chris demonstrating how to use the equipment for collecting water samples from different depth of water. The water samples can be tested for level of oxygen, temperature, organism count and other various factors.



There were hundreds of small fishes swimming close to the surface of water. I'm not sure about the species and Dr Chris couldn't identify it either. I think my grandpa will call them "Ikan Bilis".





Yeah..you just saw a jelly fish. I didn't dive in to take this photo. There were a whole shoal of them and some were close enough to the surface that you can actually touch them, which of course I didn't.

Another picture of a jelly fish with some other small fish.



Some pictures of the coastal shore line.





On some of the rocks, you can actually pick tons of oysters during low tide. I wanted to take some pictures of it but forgotten to. Anyway, Jun Ming and group were here on Monday to pick them.

8 Hours Day

Monday was a holiday, whereby Tasmania commemorate "Eight Hours day". Since there were no lessons. I brought Sarah and Er Li to the city for a walk. They have never been to the city and wanted to take a look at it. Quite a number of shops were closed on that day and we were left with Myer mall and a few other boutiques. It was refreshing to see a young lad busking under the shelther of the mall. He was playing the guitar and singing "To the ends of the earth" in an unplugged style. Our next destination was to the Chinese Grocery store down Tamar Rd. Sarah and Er Li got some stuff that they wanted but were lazy to carry them since we are visiting a few other places. Our next destination was to seaport where the famous fish and chips were. (Yes! I went there again. Simply couldn't resist) We had battered cod with fries and I had Tasmanian Ice Cream. Mmmmmmmm.




I was thinking Launceston wouldn't be complete without the Cataract Gorge so I brought the both of them there. This time round, there were different activities going on. (Remember the pictures of students doing river-kayaking previously)Well... This time we have people doing rock-climbing.


(Not sure whether you are able to see them on these pictures)
There was also another group of high school boys doing cliff-diving. I'm serious. I thought this was only possible in movies. Haha.. I didn't take their pictures cause it was illegal to dive and they might think I'm trying to take the photos as evidence. It was really dangerous and the rocks were really slippery. I start to understand why this "Ang Moh" kids are so fit and strong while our Singaporean kids are so chubby and cute. Haha...
It took us quite a while to get over to the pool side. All of us were tired and reluctant to walk back. Thank God for our fellow Leprena mates! Maddy and her group of Leprena mates were there and were about to go home. I started asking them for directions and they offered to send us back. They even waited for us at the Chinese Grocery store while Sarah and Er Li collected their stuff before making our way to Andy's Gelato (It was not my fault, they wanted to go and I thought since they are driving, they make the choice) Of course, I could resist the ice cream but I didn't. So the three of us shared 3 different flavours. I chose Strawberry sorbet, Sarah chose Peppermint and Er Li chose Fruit Forest Yoghurt. The verdict was strawberry is the best! Hahaa.I have better taste and foresight la. It was a wonderful experience. Tata..!
Till then.

Haunted flat

I had a nightmare again. It seems that most of the nightmares I had are somehow linked to flats. In the dream were Karen, Lester and myself. We were trapped in this haunted block of flat. We were running around via stairs and were finding our way out of it. There were no lifts and there were no other options. We had to knock different doors, trying out luck to get out of it. Each unit has a surprise of it's own. Some were normal beings while some were witches, spirits, vampires and what have you. We just ran away whenever we see one. Haha.. We were actually enjoying ourselves and having lots of fun. (Well... as least I am) To be honest, I like to run in my dream, cause it is the only time where I will never feel breathless or tired. I know it will be the same in heaven.
On the other hand, I hate having dreams. It disrupts my beauty sleep and prevents me from having perfect slumber. Hehee..

Church

Getting to church has been getting harder each day. Transport is the major issue and infact the only so far. Thank God for Brent that faithfully picks me up every sunday morning! However, going back home is another issue since most of them prefer to fellowship after service. Their fellowship is pretty different from ours as in the duration of it. Each fellowship session can last up to 3-4 hours and I being a student, finds it ridiculous to be spending that amount of time.
The hopeless transport system didn't help much either. The frequency of weekend buses are much lower. I was caught in such a situation today. Jenny dropped me in the city today and the earliest bus was at 3pm. I was hungry and hopeless. I tried calling people that I know but none was free to pick me up. Moreover, I'm sure they are starting to get tired of me being stuck all the time. (I'll be, if I'm them) So once again, I had to rely on God's intervention. I was about to walk back when Jun Ming called and asked me to wait at one of the shops in the city. Thank God for May to the rescue. She was making her way to Jun Ming's place (close to where I'm staying) and picked me up. I can't imagine my day without her. Option 1: Wait till 3.10pm. or Option 2: Walk back (which will take me an hour or more)

Hobart SSA

The committee members of Hobart SSA( Singapore student association) were here for a visit on Saturday. They sounded really professional as their president introduced the various department heads. A bunch of out-standing people I must say:

Random

The difference between Goliath's and David's garlic:



The trap which I fell into:



Yeah.. It's a Venus Fly Trap var. "Big Trap".

Monday

Sarah and I went to K-Mart yesterday afternoon to get "Gum boots" for our course field trip. We were briefed about collecting samples from the Tamar river and will need to go as a class excursion on one of the saturdays. We couldn't resist to get more vegetables when we pass by"Young's Veggie shed" I was tempted to get the potatoes which were going for $6.95 per 20kg. This is by far the cheapest I've ever came across. Imagine all the shepherd pies I can make if that is happening in Singapore. Muahaha! Well.. I didn't get them in the end. I got myself some bananas, blue berries, tau gay (yes!!!) and garlics. The garlics.. I can't stop grumbling about the garlics. They cost me $5 for 2 large cloves. (though they were like the Goliath's, compared to the David's I get in Woolsworth) We also pop by "Animal Tucker Box" to take a look at the fishes and birds. Animal Tucker Box is this huge warehouse that devotes to animals and stuff.
After all our shopping, we had to walk back to the city area to catch the bus. It was quite a distance and the weight of the wares didn't help much either. Sarah reminded me that I really need to get a car soon. I was feeling exhausted from all the carrying and "had to" stop by Andy's Gelato" to get some ice cream. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we forgotten about the last bus. We rushed down to the side road to discover that it was the wrong one. We rush up to the one and saw the bus leaving right infront of our eyes. Arghhhh.... There were no more bus and I told Sarah that we had to walk back. She nearly fainted! I called Jun Ming and hinted to him that we need to get a car and that we are trapped. Thank God for Jun Ming and his sensitivity. He came right down to picked both of us up. And that's for the day.. I shan't write further, cause I realized that my digital camera has problem reading the memory card. Oh.. no.. Please pray.. Till then..

Nothing much really.

Monday was a boring day. Had lecture and practical lessons on Aquatic Zoology throughout. It covers topics like taxonomy and all. Bernice came over to take a look at Leprena settings. She mentioned that the bed at Kerslake is much longer and they are able to receive the campus wireless access. Ohhhhhhhh.... This is so unfair! How I wish they will do the same for us. I'm not fussy about the bed length since I can always curl up myself and sleep like a squirrel but the wireless access.. Arghhhh...
Anyway, I had to attend accomodation meeting and had no time to fix up dinner so I just cut up some potatoes, large onions, mushrooms and cooked them in the microwave, with the intention to make some mashed potatoes. Somehow the spinning mechanism didn't work and to my surprise my potatoes were browned like chips. They were crunchy and tasty.. Cool!
Tuesday is the busiest day of my week. One reason simply because it is area cleaning day. I just came out of the army and had to enter another area cleaning organization altogether again. It is not that I hate cleaning up or what but I just don't like the fact that I am scheduled to clean up. I do that all the time after I'm done with the kitchen and all. What's all the fuss! Sigh...
Today's module on Aquatic Ecology was really hard and I still have problem understanding. I will need to get them right before I sleep tonight. Well. I got to sign off now.. By the way, Sarah made "Bi Bim Bab" (a Korean dish) tonight and I boiled some cabbage soil. Er Li just went around both side to help out. We were so full after all the food. We rested and went jogging after that. Ok.. I think I should really sign off now. Tata.. till then.

Hobart trip.

Sat Morning.
Woke up at 6.15am to get ready for the Hobart trip. Yoke Chye and Edwin were there to picked Sarah and I up at 7am. Vicky's place was the next destination as we made our way to her house. The journey down to Hobart were full of surprises and delights. The landscapes were simply amazing and it really make you meditate on the wonders of God's handcraft. It somehow makes you feel like praising Him as you stand in awe of His creation. "Lord of all creation". There were sights of farms filled with sheeps, goats, cows and horses. Vineyard and orchards were also some of the frequent sights. As we draw nearer to Hobart, we could see a river filled with black swans. Seriously, there was not even a single white one. Haha! The journey took us around 2.5 hours and our first destination was to the Salamanca Market.





There were plenty of things on sale at the market ranging from clothes, souvenirs, plants, food and all. As usual, my focus were only on certain things. Hahaha. I took the tasmanian homemade ice cream, tried the food samples at the food fan-fare and shared tempura mushrooms with Sarah. I missed the Masala Thosai so much that I immediately took the chance to buy the thosai mix as well as the masala paste when I saw them at the spices tent. Cool.. And the best of all they contain no MSG, artificial flavours or colours. Haha. The buy of the day was of course the Venus Fly trap I bought from one of the stores. It cost me only $6 Aussie dollars. Can you beat that in Singapore? Haha.. Sarah went around buying peaches, nectarines and all and gave me one of the peaches. I was reluctant to eat them at first since they were not washed but gave in after much persusion. These were not all for there were also street performances such as live bands, Strings quartets, life statue and plenty more. The coolest of all were the Irish group with their bag pipes.

We had Vietnamese food for lunch and carried on with our adventures.

The harbour located opposite Salamanca market.






Just as we were about to leave for the city. This little Osh Kosh cutie pie caught my eye. He/she was running around, laying on the grass and sleeping by the pavement. Simply adorable. Ohhh.........
We named her "Baby by the road".

Casper, May, Sarah and I went to the city to get Casper and May's Optus line done. Even before we could make our way to the Optus shop, I sensed something brewing in my stomach. I was feeling terrible and had to make my way to the toilet. (I wouldn't elaborate further).
After the wiped down and flush, we continued our journey to the one and only Optus Shop in Tasmania. Yeah! And we passed by the one and only Starbucks in Tasmania too. Haha.

Please do not be mistaken that Tassie is so "Ulu" that they don't even have coffee houses. It is just that the Aussie endorse their homebrand "Gloria Jeans" more than any others. Yeah..

After the short city tour, we divided into different destination. Sarah, Vicky, Edwin and Yoke Chye went to Mount Weillington. (sp?), while Junming, Li Lin, Casper, May and I went to the Island Market. There were so many types of vegetables and meat on sale. I got myself some red snapper fillet and plenty of vegetables. After it, we made our way to "Big W" supermart and I was told that a "Big W"branch will be opened at Launceston at the end of this year. Yeah! "Big W" is this supermart that sells almost every thing at super cheap prices. Literally cheaper than any other departmental stores. The best deal was of course the connecting green house stores with its wide range of plants. Haha...

We joined the other group for dinner at one of the Korean restaurant. And since the restaurant was next to Wing & Co; an Asian grocery store. We bought all that we ever need before we proceed on with dinner. Dinner was really good and I enjoyed my "Kim chi fried rice" with the extremely delicious side dishes. I finally got to eat my first "tau gay" after 3 weeks. Yeah.. My favourite.. hahaa..


And no.. No giddy spells after eating the Korean food. It was good. Authentic Korean food. Yummy!

As we make our way home, I took a car-eye view snapshot of the full moon that night.


Half way back, I received a call from Yoke Chye stating that their car is running of petrol. We were hoping that they will be able to make it back to Launceston. The petrol meter went below zero and they were forced to stop at Perth. The closest town to Launceston. Bummer!!!
Junming sent all of us back before making his way to the only 24 hours petrol station in Launceston to get some petrol for the other group. I reached home and was surprised to find Er Li (a chinese from Malaysia) in the living room. He then explained that he had swap room with Yang (the guy from Hobart; read the previous post to know more about him). Sarah was trapped with the rest and could only come back at 11 plus. Poor gal.. what an experience for her!
I was exhausted and had to sleep for church service the next morning. Brent came at 9.30am to picked me even though He had to work after sending me off to church. Such a Saint!

The worship service at church today was excellent. The best I had so far. We had plenty of free praise and worship and I could sense the presence of God filling the place. People starting jumping and dancing in Liberty as God set them free from their burdens.
I took a ride home from a African family today. It was a family of three; husband, wife and 20 month-old son. The husband is a 2nd year student in UTAS doing sociology. They were at least in their late 20s, if not early 30s.

Yoke Chye and Edwin called to ask whether I would like to go to KMart. I didn't have any thing to buy but thought it will be good opportunity to help Er Li get some cockerys and so I asked them whether I could call Er Li along. It was fun as they did their shopping while I gave my advice on the different cockerys and prices. Edwin was wondering why I could remember the prices at different shops. Hahaa. Honestly, it comes naturally. I feel like an aunty.. LOL! "Pa sa kong"! That's what May called me.. Hmmmm. Hahaa.

I cooked fried Tang Hoon for dinner tonight. I thought it was delicious and could be sold in the restaurant. Muahaha. Restaurant standard---- could be improved though.

After dinner Sarah suggested that we explore the indoor swimming pool. Er Li lead the way and to find that it is closed on weekends. We made our way back to the communal room to have a game of table tennis and pool. And here am I rattling on the keyboard to report on my life to you.

So.. till then.. Tata..

Nothing much happen today! Apart from attending morning tea with all the Year 1s and lecturers at 11am. I got also got my wireless settings configured at the library today. This means I can have unlimited access to d/l music, videos and I will be able to do video-conferencing with anyone if I come down to the library or wireless access areas. This is definitely much more economical as compared to the network access I have over at Leprena. That cost me $20 for 500mb of access. I thought it was a pretty ridiculous price. My afternoon adventure was definitely much exciting. I made my way to Petsland at Kingmeadows. Steve recommended that fish shop and told me that they have the widest selection of ornamental fish available. True enough they are, however nothing compared to the ones we have in Singapore. I guess Singaporeans really take the tropical fish industry for granted. The government is constantly closing down our fish farms though knowing how much revenues and incomes it brings per year to her. Sigh. Anyway, I finally could not resist and knew that I have to start somewhere. Bought my first pair of Microgeophagus ramirezi (German Rams). They are still in the juvenile stage, around 3-5cm in length. I recalled the time when I told Lester that I got a pair of rams and he told me "Don't know what rams, I only know one kind of ram." Haha.. Yeah and as usual, he might say he never say that before. But I remember anyway. :p
Going for a day trip to Hobart tomorrow. It's going to be a huge group with Yoke Chye, Edwin, Vicky, Sarah, Jun Ming, Li Lin, Casper, May and me. This will be my first trip to Hobart.. Yeah..

Till then..

An ABC (Australian Born Chinese) just moved into room 18 today. The room is diagonal to my room and I was told earlier on by Er Li (Another Malayisa Chinese guy) that he might be swapping room with this guy from R18. I'm glad because there will be another Asian student staying close to me. Never did I know he is a chinese too. The first impression of him was already thwarted when he came into the kitchen with a F#%# blah blah blah. All my hopes and aspiration of having a nice corridor mate was broken. It didn't help much either when he pasted his FHM poster of an un-clad woman on his door. Why must it be the door which I have to pass through to go to toilet everyday. Not that I have something against him or what.. But so what if he is a local here. Er Li said that he will be going to the accomodation office tomorrow to request for a change of room. I hope it will be successful. Oh. God.. help!