Procrastination ttm! Wrote this post ages ago but couldn’t upload the photos. Anyway that’s the last of the backlogged posts!

Over the weekend, 20th-23rd April, b and I stayed in Gold Coast! Had a fantastic time with b! A part of me just can’t believe what a great time I have been having with him. Kinda too-good-to-be-true type of feel. But I shall enjoy this happiness and not doubt it because I really think what we have is real. ^^

Left my car at b’s place on 20th April, Friday. He stays near uni which is so convenient!

Finished lab which reminded me of Her Royal Fluffiness, Yuki because we were cutting up hay and everything.

Dropped by the city to pick up Krispy Kreme donuts and off to the coast we go!

Suppose to stop for lunch but the place I wanted to go was closed for lunch by the time we reached there. We headed to the hotel instead, Meriton Serviced Apartments. I love that place! We were upgraded to the Ocean View 2 Bedroom Apartment! :D 2 bedrooms, 2 toilets, one fully equipped kitchen, a living room, study area and dining area.

Dinner at Chiangmai Thai. Really like their food! It amazes me how much b can eat for someone his size. Lolol.

We went to the shooting range later at the Australia Shooting Academy. Fired a .22 Calibre Colt handgun and .45 Calibre Semi Automatic Pistol. B was good! I was pretty alright! Fared much better with the .22, recoil on the .45 was kinda too much for me. Still think my love is with the rifle. Much more precise for me!

Took a few photos for funsies with my front facing cam on my iPad. Really pixelated under low light conditions :(

On Saturday we drove to Movieworld! We caught the sunrise from our apartment but it was too cloudy :(

Not sure if it’s me or the presence of b but my apprehension for those extreme thrill rides seem to have dissipated a fair bit (:

Took the Green Lantern ride twice. With the crazy drop.

But I have to say the Superman ride is the sickest ride I have sat by far. First part was 0-100kmh in 2 seconds followed by a 90 degrees drop. And just when you start to recover from the shock, there are two more crazy drops.

I have always refused to sit the ride but somehow with b’s persuasion and my sense of adventure, we went for it. No regrets except at the apex of the first drop. Hahaha! Whole body was shaking after from the adrenaline rush!

Seafood dinner at George’s Paragon! Yay!

We drove to Natural Bridge at Springbrook National Park. They have glow worms there which are so pretty :D Worth the scary ride there in the darkness. Lots of high beaming!

Seaworld on Sunday! Lovely breakfast at this quaint cafe before that!

I believe one of the most breath-taking creatures has to be the bottlenose dolphins. Incredibly graceful in the water. Seeing them leap out of the water is really amazing. Makes me want to work with animals so much!

B and I swam at the indoor swimming pool of the hotel. Forgot how much I love swimming! :D

Dropped by Jupiters where we spent a grand total of $1 on slots. We are both super cheapo! Hahaha!

Had an early night because we had to get up early to come back to Brisbane for uni!

Checked out the hotel on Monday morning and we drove back to Brissy. B had to rush to go back to his lab!

I had the greatest time with b! Thank you for bringing me to Gold Coast baby!

Next week is the last teaching week of sem 1. There has been a mad rush in terms of assignments due.  I’m not done with them!

The latest group work for ecology has been a killer though. Lots of undone or shoddy work, typical of a group assignment. This one was particularly hard though. Gah!

Grocery shopping with bestie and b last Tuesday. B just carries everything at one go 0_O Usually takes me 3 trips from the car to my house for the same amount. Lol.

B and I went climbing after. I like climbing! Although I do suffer from nerves which causes my sweaty palms. Always need to chalk up like crazy else I can’t get a good grip on the tiles.

I also have about 10 rather large bruises from climbing. I don’t remember conking my knees while climbing but I must have done that. Bet I climb as gracefully as a hippo! Hahaha!

I am helping Rena promote a club event called Bamboo Fridays. They have an event once a month, combining two clubs into one. Friday, 18th May was their opening event! They hit max capacity which is 1500 people. Super crazy!

B and I took a train to Magic City/Electric Playground from my house. Did not expect it to be so cold! Ended up huddling up against b on the journey there. Hahaha :D

Met our friends there! Epic person of the night has to be Emma. She was such a happy high person!

She’s one of my group members for the Ecology lab paper so I met her on Friday before clubbing, where we actually drove to our tutor’s place because we were stuck on the damn paper for the longest time.

Clubbing was super fun! Had such a good time with my lovely Yide <3 and my awesome friends! Although I must say, I really don’t like ABC shots!

Scott gave us a lift to my house after! Emma stays really near to me so it was on the way!

Anyway, it’s probably my last clubbing session before my exams. Oh! In exactly a month’s time, my exams will be over!

Continued group work at Emma’s house on Saturday. She cooked fried rice for me! :D

Then one of Scott’s friend’s, Daniel, hit my car which was parked outside :(

I now have a busted tail light. He was really apologetic! I just feel sorry for him because the repairs may be pretty expensive :(

Drove to Sunnybank with baby yesterday for dinner and dessert. I love the mango ice at Meetfresh! :D I also like having b around when I buy groceries. He helps me carry them all. Heehee (>.<)V

Anyway, with all the late nights plus assignment rushing, I have fallen ill. Sore throat again! My immune system has to toughen up! I keep falling sick every 2 months or so. Think it will be good to take vitamin C on a regular basis.

I only finished my assignment at 6am today! Freda, Emma and I were rushing it like crazy. We have two other problematic group mates that made our lives so much harder :(

I was supposed to meet my supervisor at 12pm but I felt ill and wanted to postponed it. As luck would have it, he fell sick too and had to reschedule the meeting. Hahaha!

And it’s so funny that an angmoh contestant on MasterchefAU won the challenge with murtabak. Makes me feel like making some roti prata of my own but I think it would be a much better idea to leave it to the pros back in Singapore!

I read one of the best books ever, The Elephant Whisperer. Written by an award-winning conservationist, Lawrence Anthony who has recently passed on. Amazing book!

I am pretty stressed by the amount of work that I have yet I don’t feel it as much as I normally would. Think it’s because of b! He tries his best to help me and make me happy! Super love the boyfriend ♥

Celebrated one month with b on 7th May. Just gave each other a present though I had to refund his and wait for the new stock to come in. Hahaha. So it’s a pseudo gift. Lol.

Thank you for the car boot organiser and the sweetest note, b :D

Lots to recap over the past few weeks of non-blogging from me. BBQ at b’s house on 25th April with his friends. Started playing a drinking game with the girls and ended up being tipsy on wine. Really not a drinker!

The BBQ food was fantastic! B made a really nice roast chicken which he painstakingly de-boned and stuffed few days before. Nomnom :D

First two diving lessons over the weekend on 28th and 29th April. We had our theory lesson on Saturday, 28th. That went by pretty slowly and I finished the test fast which was great.

Pool dive on Sunday to teach us diving skills. Pretty unreal breathing underwater. Great experience!

Made scones and muffins to fatten b up during the weekends too. In return he has been making me exercise. We have been running and he makes me do exercise sets too. I now have my very own personal trainer! Lol.

ERTH1000 field trip on Monday 30th April at Scarborough. Didn’t do much. Made friends and was sent back to uni in a car instead of having to wait for the bus which would have taken ages. Yay to new friends who send you! :P

Collected my laptop on 1st of May, Tuesday. So good to get it back.

Went to Urbanclimb for rock climbing on Wednesday. B is in love with climbing which I was apprehensive to do because my upper body strength is weak. But I had so much fun climbing with him! Also spotted my friend Lennard who is an instructor there.

B brought me running from his house near uni on Thursday to the Green bridge at uni and back. Stopped to do push ups, crunches and leg raises. Saw the cutest caterpillar and possums!

In order to get my open water certification I have to do 4 dives in open waters. I did my first three over last weekend, 5th and 6th May. I went to Tweed River for my first two dives on the 5th. The currents were pretty strong and I had my moment of being swept away but was rescued by my instructor. Completed some skills which was good.

We went to Cook Island on the 6th. I was seasick which sucked. Water was really choppy and incredibly rough for the area. The current was crazy strong at the beginning of the second dive. Nearly got swept under the boat. That’s when they cancelled the dive. So I am not certified yet.

Think my experience with diving has been unfortunate. Really strong currents both days with cold water. Brrrr. Have yet to do my last dive and receive my certification! After that I will only dive in calm warm water. Lol.

I did see a Wobbegong shark! Super awesome seeing wildlife in the sea. Would have appreciated it more had I not been cold/seasick/tired.

Labour Day holiday for Queensland on the 7th, which is my one month with b. Happy one month! YAY! :D

B and I went climbing again yesterday and are going again today. He accompanied me for the Climbing 101 lessons even though yide knows all the stuff already. He knew the instructor who taught us yesterday. Lol.

Yide is so pro at climbing! Super impressed by him. Pity he has such a super fail girlfriend who can’t climb! Like a rhinoceros. Hahaha xD

Exams are coming up in a months’ time. My exam timetable is pretty sucky. 3 consecutive papers over 2 days on the 20th and 21st of June.

Looking forward to flying off to Singapore on the 29th of June before going to Japan on the 5th of July. The only sad part is that I’m leaving bestie and b in Aus :(

To be completely random, I love walking pass UQ lakes because of the amount of wildlife they have. One of my favourites are the parrots that make me feel like I am at Jurong Bird Park. Super adorable and noisy!

Finally the last part of my Ecology field trip which was a month back. Been really lazy about blogging. But here it is! Look below for part one of my post!

Day 4: 12th April 2012, Thursday
Most slack day of the 4 activities in terms of being out in the field.

Took a short walk from Dilli Village to the beach to count crab holes and ground cover along the transect among other things. Saw a python just chilling under a tree. It slowly slithered away as we probably disturbed it.

The wind was pretty strong and the sand is really fine so I had sand in my bag and in my stuff. Needless to say, my shoes were full of sand and still is!

Some of the crab holes were really big, like 15cm in diameter. However we didn’t see any of the Ghost Crabs which was a pity.

Had a lift back to the village while we waited for the rest to finish. Took my iPad and chatted with b.

Lots of data analysis after. We finished pretty late so I didn’t get much time to sit around.

They brought us to see the carcass of a humpback whale. While we were there, it was raining yet sunny and we saw a rainbow! Pretty!

Asian dinner that night. So yummy. Can’t get over how good the food is!!!

Day 5: 13th April 2012, Friday
The most tiring day of all because we trekked for 14km, to and fro. It’s the Lake Boomanjin walk. The walk to the lake was pretty alright because we kept stopping as Susanne showed us different plants.

We also did a soil profile so I was there using the soil borer to dig 4m into the ground. I actually had sore muscles after lolol.

Had a close shave with wasps! Was bashing through this tree when the guy behind me shouted “WASP!” and I ran forward while the 3 of them behind me ran backward, down the path. Two of them were stung but I was lucky because the wasps chased them but not me.

Climbed up a sand blow which was pretty steep. Nice view up there!

Lake Boomanjin is really cold. Went in to my waist before climbing onto a tree. I believe there are some photos of me nearly falling into the lake from the tree. I am so clumsy! Hahaha!

Our group separated, some people ran 7km back, some people strolled. These two other girls and I decided to brisk walk back. I set the pace and whacked through the bush and some parts. Got stabbed by this branch and tripped a fair bit. But I reckon we made really good time, 1 hour and 15 minutes for 7km through the bush.

Last dinner of the trip, we were all feeling sad because the food is super yummy! Mexican night with enchiladas and guacamole. Nom nom :D

Gave the chefs a standing ovation with thunderous applause because the food was that good.

Tutors said ours was the best batch for the field trip by far. Think we were pretty enthusiastic!

Night of celebration with a fair amount of alcohol. We have to complete a workbook which I was busy rushing while everyone was celebrating. Joined in when I was done. Val and I ended having to look after Lewis because he was drunk.

Crawled to bed at 4am and overslept! Hahaha.

Day 6: 14th April 2012, Saturday
Val and I were up at 7am! We managed to get the hot breakfast so it was all good. Cleared up our bunks and got in the 4WDs back to the barge onto the mainland.

3 hours bus ride back. Everyone was sleeping but I just couldn’t get to sleep. Used my iPad to catch up with civilisation. Hahaha!

Reached back uni around 2.30pm. Cedric picked Emma and I up and dropped me back home.

Did all the necessary cleaning and of course a good hot shower before meeting dearest b! He cooked me a late lunch as we didn’t stop for lunch on the way back.

Really awesome to see him after 6 days!!!

The field trip was an incredible experience. Learnt a lot about Ecology! Really excited because there are more field trips to come if I take another course which I intend to. I love studying Zoology! Yay!

This field trip is part of a course I am taking for this semester! It’s a 6 days, 5 nights trip at Fraser Island which is about 3 hours away from Brisbane.

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world. It is listed as a UNESCO heritage site. And it’s more than twice the size of Singapore. Lol.

Day 1: 9th April 2012, Monday
With a big fat backpack (borrowed from b), I made my way to uni in the morning and met up with Valerie and Lewis and hopped on the bus. Emma came a little later and was in the other bus!

We stopped by this place for lunch which had a freaky giant kangaroo which featured in the Olympics or something like that.

Walked on sand with the backpack to the ferry point for about 600m because it is only accessible by 4 wheel drive (4WD), an off-road vehicle. Took the barge across and waited around to be picked up by a 4WD to get to Dilli Village, our camp/bunk place. Saw dolphins swimming in the water. ^^

Roomed with Val dear! Super fun rooming with her, we were supposed to do work each night but we would talk until 11+pm even though we had to wake up at 5.45am. Hahaha!

Reception at Fraser Island sucked! Had no coverage at all with Vodafone, thank goodness for my iPad which has 3G with Telstra which I could only get at certain places. And also, thank you Val for loaning me your phone!!! :D

We were split into 4 groups to do 4 activities, one each day. I was in the yellow group and our first activity was the dingo activity. So we laid some small mammals trap and hair traps using peanut butter oat balls as bait. Rushed back to do the quiz after!

Dinner was fantastic. This place has the best camp food I have ever had in my life. It’s even better than some food I pay to eat outside! Super yummers. We were so well-fed the entire trip!

We were briefed about the next day before heading back to the bunk. Emma and Lewis popped by!

Day 2: 10th April 2012, Tuesday
Up bright and early at 5.45am to prepare for brekkie at 6.30am. Val and I woke up progressively later each day. Hahaha!

Walked to just outside Dilli Village where we set the traps the previous day. Out of 25 traps, we caught 3 bush rats! These traps don’t harm them in anyway, just leaves them in the box. We even put pillow stuffing in for some degree of comfort. Very cute seeing them scamper away!

Looked for dingo scat and found 2. Scat=poo. Back to the village to do analysis of the hairs and scats.

Drove to Lake Mackenzie for lunch and a swim. Was super jiggled in the 4WD as we bounced over rough roads. Didn’t help that Peter went full speed ahead at some points where I was so sure I would be flung out the window! Dropped by Eurong, which houses one of the few shops around.

Most beautiful lake I have ever seen. The blue gradient of the water is just lovely :D

We saw a Dingo at the car park!

Dropped by Central Station to lay traps for the next group and went back to Dilli Village for dinner! Once again, fantastic food. Think it was roast that day. Yum yum! They even have dessert. So for all the walking we did, the food stopped us from losing any weight. Lol.

Day 3: 11th April 2012, Wednesday
The activity for the day was Mangroves. Trudged around in slippery mud. Was so close to a faceplant at one point but managed to right myself just in time. We did transects and measured height of mangrove plants and stuff like that.

I didn’t know anyone in my group because all my friends are in the other groups :(

But I made many new friends so it worked out great! :)

As afternoon came, the mosquitoes and midges started appearing. Luckily I was wearing Yide’s rain jacket due to intermittent rain and covered myself up! Must really thank b for lending me his stuff :D

First thing I did when we reached back camp was bathe! The mud wasn’t too bad because it was only ankle deep but it’s still nice to be clean!

B left me the cutest letter in the backpack he loaned me♥ Was super touched T.T Missed him so incredibly much during the trip. Nice to see a handwritten letter midway through the trip!

Awesome dinner once again and another chat with Val at night. I think it’s incredibly cool how we are reunited 9 years later. We were from the same primary school! (: