Strahan

Yeah.. I am back from the Strahan trip. I must really thank God for His provision and blessings throughout the trip.
Our initial target of 25 people was expanded to 30 people due to the overwhelming response. Sadly, we had to turn away people due to limited accomodation.
Everyone on this trip were very cooperative (nah... there always got to be one or two). We had to wait for one student who actually stayed on campus and had overslept.
Well.. I am not going to give a description for each photo, cause that is going to take too long. Just enjoy the photos :)

Strahan town










Macquarie Head





Unripe black berries (that's why they are still pink)


On board "Lady Jane Franklin II"

















Farming of salmon using sea cages; pressurized spray feeding


























On the board walk:






Lichen, Linzi???












Pink berries


Sarah's island An island used for holding notorious convicts from England. We soon realized that some of them had criminal records such as stealing of parsley and bread. Hmmmm..



Shipyard built by the convicts:


Water holding area


Punishment cells (6 cells altogether; double storey. The current structure was of course, torn down.


Penitentiary (another holding area for convicts)






My beloved housemates and I at Henty Sand dunes. Would not trade anything else for such housemates... :)

Scholarship dinner

I thought I must just as well blog this while waiting for my hair to dry.
Today's Scholarship Dinner was held at Wrestpoint casino, Hobart. I got to end class early today because of it. The journey to Hobart was a long one and I felt super uncomfortable, perhaps due to the heat and crampy seat.



Prior to dinner, we had our cocktail reception which lasted from 6.30 to almost 8pm!!!!! Beer, wine and orange juice were served and guess what I chose?
Our entree dish was superb and was served with Tempura-fried Oyster, smoked chicken in pomegranate dressing, Huon mushrooms salad in honey mustard vinaigrette and Laska with fresh coriander and mussels. Never knew tempura oysters tasted so good.. Yummmmmmm...







As usual, there were a couple of speech given and a performance by the Convervatorium chamber ensemble. I must say the String esemble is the highlist of the whole dinner. The whole peformance was so skillfully engineered and crafted, that it sounded like it was played off a cd.

Next in line is our main course, where we were given a choice of Crispy skin Atlantic Salmon or Tenderloin of beef. In order to impress my scholarship sponsor which is sitting on the same table as me (Tassal salmon farm), I chose salmon of course... hehehe..




Dinner ended off with a dessert. I make the perfect choice of having "summer berry pudding with double cream and raspberry coulis". (I can almost hear Clay screaming for it) Hmmmmm. What a night.. ..



I reached home approximately 2am in the morning, took my bath and here am I typing away..

I will be leaving for Strahan on Friday morning and will return on Sat evening. Kindly keep us in prayer.. :) Thanks!

3:17am

He is here

Having just finished my bath, sitting on my bed, I sensed the feeling again, the familiar presence. This time round, it was Him that made the approach. Its amazing how He can sit me down inspite of my busy life and schedule. I knew He was trying to say something to me, something important.

Yes. This is the very reason why I am blogging right now. He is reminding us of the hectic and over-whelmed life that many of us are experiencing.

"Lord, forgive me for just going through the normal routine of reading your word, for just praying the same things over and over again and for being too busy to visit the secret place we both knew".

It seems that many a times, we are just contented with reading a few chapters of the bible, interpret a few truths, pray a short prayer and live by with it. Many of us are overwhelmed with our daily stuff, so much so that we forget that it is our commitment and time that He desires. Isn't commitment and time a major part of any relationship?

"Lord, thank you for speaking to me and for reminding of Your love. It was never me that matters, it is You. Let my walk on earth be as close as to you as Enoch".

Even as I was getting busy during the past few weeks, the Lord never seems to give me the attention I deserved. Instead, He showered upon me blessings that I do not deserved and all the perks that makes my life interesting and abundant. Truly, His promises are real, a life of abundance for those that choose to follow Him and to seek Him daily.

"Lord, I commit my life into Your hands, my will into Your heart and my emotions into the healing balance of Your Holy Spirit".

Thank you Lord!

12:45am

Heat Waves

It has been pretty hot in Tassie recently (not something common during Autumn). Usually by noon, my room would have been converted into a mini oven. And that brings my main point for this post. Karen's fan DID came to good use !!!! Yeah.

A pretty green fan that she bought from Taiwan. I was abit "Duh" when I recieved it from the parcel during winter. Now I am the envy of my housemates' eye. Hehehee...





Could the heat be due to "Global warming"?? Oooooooo..I am not sure.. BUT I do know that my plants are enjoying it.. yeah.. hahaha..

SSA welcome BBQ

The Singapore Students Association had their first event of the year last Sat. A welcome BBQ was held at the Cataract Gorge for all international students. The event was a success with approximately 60 people turning up. It was also the first event that I am running as a president.



I was pretty nervous while addressing the horde of students. As usual, I still face the struggle of public speaking. Inspite of the well-prepared speech, there were stammers and fillers, interjections and "What have June"... LOL....
Nevertheless, many gave their compliments on the speech.. Yeah..


And to think that that's all... After the event had ended, I realized that I left SSA journal book in the park upon reaching home. I immediately drove back to the park and for this I must really thank God for it.
Dashing towards the BBQ area, I saw an old lady walking towards me with the book saying "Is this yours?" (that was like 30 minutes later after I left the park). I immediately thank her and walked off thankfully for it..
My next hurder was to get out of the Cataract area. Because all the roads were windy and branched, I was afraid of going the wrong directions. How bless I am ... I can never thank God enough.. He sent a tourist bus infront of me, knowing that the bus will be heading towards the city. Yipeee... Without a second thought, I followed ths bus out.

Next thing to be thank ful to God for.. ....I recieved a call from the scholarship office today, saying that Tassal (salmon farm) would be offering a scholarship award to me. I am also offered a fully-paid work experience opportunity and of course, work opportunities after my graduation. Sounds good isn't it? Apparently, it has the highest bursary in terms of value.. Hehehe.. Actually, I can't really say that it is alot as compared to my school fees. Maybe close to half of my school fees? haha...But what matters most.. is that I can call myself a scholar now.. Wahaha.. Sound funny but true! I always wanted to do well for my studies, especially coming from a normal academic background. God had brought me a long way.. ..really long and really to be thankful for. Without Him, I would have given up long ago... Not to forget my aunt.. Hehee.. Actually hor.. I got 2 scholarship, one of them is the "Dr Poh" scholarship award, just like what Ernie said.. LOL!


Well.... still to be thank ful for... I am invited for a dinner at Hobart next Wed.. I will be meeting the manager of the company that day. Pls pray that I will know what to say..

Next event.. SSA will be holding a trip to Strahan, West coast next friday. Kindly keep us in prayer.. This will be the first time that a trip is ever held so far by any international society. Infact, there are only two committee members organizing the trip.. (Usually, we have 4). Pls pray for wisdom.. :)


Taaa.

Bettas

Yeah.. I sold my siamese fighers for $20.. My first sales.. Not a large amount of money, but at least I get my returns. Infact, I got some profit from it.

Well.. life in Tassie is back to its busy state. It might sound contradicting, but I am leaving a "fast-pace" life in a "Slow-pace" environment. My time seems to pass much faster as compared to those few months I spent in Singapore.

Taaa..

Celine dion

Goodness me.. Celine Dion is having a world concert and one of her stop over would be at Melbourne. I am so wanting to see it... She will never visit Singapore..(Dun ask me why)
Arghhh.... The tickets are so expensive. Should I or should I not..?

Lester Balik Kampung

Today marks the day of Lester's last day in Tasmania.. So sad, he balik Kampung liao. It was nice having him for a week. Before we went to the airport, I managed to bring him to Evandale weekend market even though there isn't much things for him to buy. However, it was a nice historical site.

As usual, sweet Lester will leave something back. As much as I guess, I found it under my blanket. It is a card and some lovely lemon dessicated coconut cookies. And as usual, it is the power of his words that really counts.

Bye Lester.. hope you enjoy Tassie and that you would want to visit Tassie again. I will bring you to Wine glass Bay, Bicheno, Maria island and the west coast. That's provided you will come again.

Taaa.

P.S: For those that are interested to come to Tassie... You are most welcome . Pls make booking in advance. Hahaha

Cps

Bought Lester down to Hobart today. We visited Salamanca market, though the main highlight for me is not it. I visited Glenn's place and took a peep at his carnivorous plants collection. Boy.. You can be sure that I was really excited. Hahaha. I picked up a few pots of plants and Glenn's wife wasn't able to name me the price. Glenn was nice enough to send them to Lonnie next Sunday. I'm so looking forward to my Droseras and Sarracenias.


Anyway, here are some photos of his collection. It just makes me want to stay in Australia for a longer time.. Hahaa.