the great barrier reef road trip

the best pics are censored and haram-ed by my two enjoyable travel kakis ally and surein. so there's not many for you to see XD

surein with his D90 took the honor to be the cameraman of the trip and ally's retro camera which i really cant remember wot brand and model now caught most of the fun trio shots~

the reef trio at brisbane domestic airport, waiting for the flight to MacKay~

approaching whitehaven beach, where the sand is of pure white silica and the only party who can legally take sand away from the beach is NASA, at the rate of 1tonne a year, to melt it and make their telescope lenses.

at whitehaven beach



the Big Fury that got us there :)

continue with the beach~





the cove entry

corals!!!

airlie beach~

ally with miss ellie at airlie beach!

sunset at port something at airlie beach :P




rotary club lookout between airlie beach and townsville. got us illusions of african savannas :)


and that's all folks~ might post some of ally's and surein's pics here when they are ready :) all in all, road trips are fun to have, but don't forget to check your fuel level!!

changes

home alone, yet again.

waiting for the hydrogen content on my experiment to get to the targeted wt%. shouldn't take more than half an hour now. before that, i have nothing else to do as all previous results has already been incorporated into the report. a second program has been completed early this week and now there's only this one on my desk. had a glance that marc's tests on the technosystems had finished running, shall do the post test processings for him as he's caught a cold and taken leave for the day. all in all, i miss the never ending workload in favco, where u can choose to work on another thing when u are fed up with one.

home alone, as in i'm literally alone in our tree sheltered UQ office by the Brisbane river. different measures had to be taken now. the doors are shut and i put a sign on it for visitors to call in for access. for my frequent travels between the two offices, i continue to be the mail girl and delivery person, but at least cleaning service resumed so that is now stroke off my job scope ^^

the jacarandas of brisbanian spring are blooming so magnificiently it matches the famous sakuras. will definitely do a post on them after coming back from cairns :)

the overdue mt. coot-tha hike

high wind and splendid sun for brisbane~ LL voiced her concerns on slippery tracks from the down pour last night but this weather is too good to miss :) however it was indeed a good foresight as mt. coot-tha wasn't spared by the recent flooding events in queensland. however, it was still a good 4hrs hike overall, combining various roads and tracks over a few creeks and falls :)

sigh, god does delay things for good reasons... first of all i would not have found my way across Simpson's falls today to a well hidden alternative for the closed down track if it isn't for the track maps that i had only foraged from the GardenCity library two weeks ago; and the trip wouldn't be as appreciated if a tropical wind hasn't blown colours back into my otherwise placid life just the nite before :)

an hour's travel on train and bus brought asa from Sunnybank to the Brisbane Botanic Garden at the foot of mt. coot-tha.

but nay, as much as my scholarly brother xuan might appreciate this place, today's destination is the hiking tracks that webbed all over the 287m mountain which happens to be the most Northern part of Australia to record snow. sit back and enjoy :)

lyrics: The Carpenters "Top of the world"

such a feeling's coming over me

there is wonder in most everything i see

not a cloud in the sky got the sun in my eyes

and I won't be surprised if it's a dream

Everything I want the world to be

Is now coming true especially for me

and the reason is clear It's because you are here

You're the nearest thing to heaven that I've seen

I'm on the top of the world lookin' down on creation

and the only explanation I can find

Is the love that I've found

Every since you've been around

your love put me at the top of the world

Something in the wind has learned my name

And it's tellin' me that things are not the same

In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze

There's a pleasin' sense of happiness for me

There is only one wish on my mind

When this day is through I hope that I will find

that tomorrow will be just the same for you and me

All I need will be mine if you are here


Sekian :)

bits and pieces from busking

it was amusing to see the brisbane river swelled and swelled in the endless spring rain. until it finally caused a flood in a suburb neighbouring our yeerongpilly office. the river had flowed reversely and the flows joined head on just off the elanor schonell bridge less than half a kilometer away from our UQ office. The waterline had risen so much that part of the trees and bushes on the banks are now under water. and i kept on amusing myself watching the nature works.

hydrexia had officially moved to yeerongpilly. the UQ office is now quite deserted, except for mornings when fellow scientist marc and i need to tend our experiments in the hydrogen lab. being the sole figure in the office is a good experience for one to see the fuller operational expects of a small company. i greeted the mailman who is a familiar face, the delivery guy who's gutted with the weather, the fruitbox lady who marveled at the discrete location of our office; directed phone calls to each person in yeerongpilly; and now that most of the dirty animals a.k.a. "blokes" are gone, i've also cleaned part of the kitchen. the cleaning would need to be extended to the workshop, hydrogen lab and the office...

oh, and i've adopted the neglected hydrexia football. a good size 4 which we use for futsal :)

the shed in yeerongpilly that is to be our future hydrogen lab has been transformed into a jamming studio, equipped with instruments, amplifiers, electronic mixers and stuffs... the guys had been convincing me to pick up bass again, and there is one just lying in the shed as i type on. i'm forcing them to learn "海阔天空" from the hongkong band Beyond as a condition ^^ they are also trying to convince my boss andrew to bring his air rifle, and to make dave bring over his dirt bike so that ppl can jump ramps in the factory ="= the board members are coming for a visit in two weeks time, not sure that they'll be too thrilled with it...

these, are the weird, funny and good people of hydrexia :)
LL, now tell me my first impressions of ppl is not accurate ^^
and yet i come...
:)

mails

as usual, a light storm and gust had tumbled our battered mailbox yesterday and the contents spilled allover and were all wet. a mail that is supposed to be delivered to 67 Breton street was among others. the address is one that is along my jogging track, so it was easy to just have a short walk and drop it at its supposed destination.

suppose that tiny deed had brought me a non-proportional reward in the form of a mail from karin this evening, with Poseidon, Gothenburg's guardian, proudly stamped on it ^^ so she hasn't move to the north as mentioned in her last mail I received in Malaysia. guess that would mean that the move will not happen soon, as winter closes in up north there in Sweden. in this era, it is probably a bit strange to know someone who you can only correspond with by traditional pen and paper mails ^^ information is delayed by a certain period and people talk about things that are a few months old~ imagine that a soldier writes to his wife, and said everything is fine, but when his wife receives his mail a month later, he's actually X_X already :P

all those thoughts passed me as I tear open the bright yellow envelope. kinda glad she hadn't use a stamped seal or i'll really let my imagination bring me back to ancient times ^^

a birthday card? hasnt been expecting that! not yet in the correct season of the year afterall... equally elating anyway :D

it's probably the joy i feel when receiving physical mails from private acquaintances that motivates me to continue sending them out myself :) though it is also ever a pleasure to mindfully word the sentences, carefully design the decorations, and thoughtfully consider the attachments. each of those is almost a work of art and creativity. mails is probably the one and only thing that i never discard and bring along no matter which bit of the world comes under my feet.

no, email can be fast and effective, but it can never replace the posts :)

continue busking

每朝一剂的生命泉源--咖啡，午餐后的奶茶，和晚上呷着喝的herbal tea，不知不觉变成生活的规律了 :)
peppermint也取代了大学时代喝惯的chamomile，成了俺滴最爱 ^^

here another month begins.
as suggested there --->
yup, right there --->
over the right hand end, it says i should find the right balance of this place and start to build the foundation of a home. as indicated in a few posts down, it seems like a simple but sturdy shelter would do the job. so i started to work on the frame of a tree house, in reaching for more light and wind, while closer to nature and sky and further from earth, where simplicity is the essence, and creativity the charm.

and i felt more solid.