Love is Crazy

I was reading a post by one of my favourite blogger and it got me smiling. She is humorous and holds back no punches on what she wants and wants to say. I always love someone with a little wicked humour and a bit “siaw”.

Anyway it got me drifting back to my teenage years. I am like her every now and then wondering or should I say dreaming about my future life partner. You wonder what she will be like, when will she come into my life and how will we get along?

I do have many "girlfriends" but not steady ones. While schooling, I get to know my sister’s classmates but they don’t seems to attract me and I was shy to get to know them better anyway.

After I left school and went out to work, living with my Aunty in Klang, I got to meet more girls in the church youth group. But I was rather shy to get to know them better. I would blushed if one of the girls would speak to me, I would be lost for words and stammered in my reply. That was how shy I was.

My friends used to tell me “faint heart wins no fair lady”. To overcome my shyness, my friends would organize outing in groups and slowly my shyness begin to dissipate. Slowly, I overcame my fear. Going out in a group had it advantage. People tends to lose their guards when they are relax and among their peers. It gives you opportunities to gauge their real behaviour and see the real person when their guards were down.

Going out in group is one thing but going out steady is another story. Trying to get the girl you like out on a date is a different story. There was always a “no” and it hurts. My house mates use to tease each other when there is a rejection. It was a standing joke to say “Long Piak” (hitting a brick wall). The irony was, we live in a rented double storey house opposite a retaining wall divided by the road, making it easy to “Long Piak”.

Slowly my confidence began to ebb away and began to wonder whether you will slowly withered away alone. Off course, I, being a Christian began to seek divine help. Every night, I would pray to God to give me a wonderful girl. As I pass 25 I began to wonder whether God heard my prayer or whether he is so busy doing other more important things than to hear pittance request. One of my house mates chided me for wasting God’s time. By then, I was pissed off and told my house mate about Abraham sending his servant back to his kampong to look for a wife for his son, Isaac. It was a tall order trying to find a good wife for the Master’s son. What if he is unable to find a wife or manage to find a “Chair Kai” woman for his master’s son, surely his master will punished him. The servant prayed and turned to God for help and asked for a sign. God heard him and found Isaac a wonderful wife.

By then, after a few broken, shattered heart, especially by the Girl from Kampar, I was resigned to live a single life and decide to live my life to the fullest as possible without a life partner. Hey, was I choosy? I don’t think so. I don’t like girls who are loud, smokes, swears, rough and selfish. I want my future partner to be humorous yet can be serious, sweet and serene, soft spoken yet confident, kind and gentle, who will accept me wart and all for who I am. And most all she must be a Christian and love the Lord with all her heart. Was that too much to ask? Oh, if she is beautiful, that will be an asset!

So merrily I went my way but the good Lord seems to have a good sense of humour. He moved me to another job and it was at this new place I found a girl of my dream. She is what I wanted her to be and she is beautiful, too. With his wicked sense of humour, the good Lord added a twist to this love story but I won’t be telling you. It has to wait for another day. After 2 years of “Pak Tor” we got married. The moral of the story is don’t look too hard, do not worry about tomorrow, live each day and out of the blue your dream partner will appear when the time is right.

Here is another irony. When I got married, some of the girls from my church which I used to be interested complained to my friend’s wife, why do all our young men from the church marrying girls from other churches? My friend’s wife later confide in me. These very same girls who complained, rejected my approach because I was poor, not a uni graduate and was not holding a highly paid post, got no car and see no future in me.

It was in the later years I asked my wife, a secretary to the managing director, why she married me, a poor design draftman, when she could have married someone with higher position and offered her security. She replied, “It is because I see a good man in you and that was all it mattered to me.” That was enough for me, after all love is crazy, isn’t it?

Salamanca Market, Tesellated Pavement,Port Arthur, Eaglehawk Neck, Richmond, Pontville and Sorell market – Tasmanian Trip Day 7 and 8

The initial plan was to visit Port Arthur in the early morning. It was agreed we will give Salamanca the miss but my SIL changed her mind and wanted to visit the Salamanca Market. It was supposed to be a quick visit. There was no much to see and even with quick browse here and there, we were there for 2 hours.

There were so much hand craft work in glass and timber, antiques, books, food – hot baked spuds, organic vegetables, fresh fruits, coffee, croissants, and buskers singing the blue, jazz, classical music or lively folk songs. We have to drag ourselves away from the “evil” place so we will not miss Port Arthur.

As we drove to Port Arthur, we made a stop at Pirated Bay to see the Tesselated Pavement.

This intriguing geological feature is a natural rock platform with an appearance remarkably like paving stones. We then headed to Port Arthur.

Port Arthur has an intriguing history. It has a sad story to tell. The impressive architecture, delightful gardens and chilling prison facilities were created with convicts labour.

Do not be fooled by the serenity of this place. As you walk through each building there are always sad story of pain, misery, torture and death. It was through discipline, punishment, religious and moral instruction, classification and separation, training and education to set the prisoners honest. By today standard, it will be deem cruel.

On entry you will received a playing card which gives you the identity of a real convict. You find your convict and trace his life at Port Arthur.

You have the option to take the introductory walking tour or walk around by yourself. If time is an essence walk around by yourself. The introductory tour takes about 45 minutes.

The entry ticket includes a boat tour passing the Dockyards, Point Puer Boy’s Prison and the Isle of the Dead Cemetery. We were there for 3 hours and you could spend the entire day there reading and reflecting the hard life of this poor people and what hardship they have to endure.

We had a quick cup of coffee and we headed back to Eaglehawk Neck to see the Tasman Blowhole. The blowhole was not the highlight. It was the fishing competition that enthralled us. Boats were coming in with their catches and we have never seen such large fish before. The heaviest fish we saw was a 75Kg yellow fin Tuna caught by a young boy on the fishing trip with his father.

We stopped at Donelley for some food, turning off at Sorell and headed to Richmond, a small historic village, before heading back to the Motor Inn.

The next day we dropped in at Pointville and Sorell Market before heading off to the airport to catch the flight back to Melbourne.

Ok folk, this is the end of my Tasmanian's trip. I have used up my quota for uploading pictures and until I work out how else I can post more pictures in future posting, you have to excuse me if there are no pictures in future posting. Any readers with good suggestion are welcome.

Hobart and Huon Trail – Tasmanian Trip Day 6

The next morning after breakfast, we decided to move closer to Hobart, the Airport and Port Arthur. So we checked out and found a nice little motor inn in Lindisfarne. It is about 5 minutes to Hobart city, 15 minutes to the airport, 30 minutes to Huon Valley and an hour to Port Arthur.

After checking in we cross the Tasman Bridge to Hobart City towards Kingston... Just after Kingston we stopped at the Apple & Heritage Museum.

Apple & Heritage Museum

There was nothing much to see here and disappointing, too. The sceneries along Huon River were scenic.

We passed Hounville, Port Huon, turning into Geeveston for the Tahune Airwalk in Southern Forest.

Tahune Airwalk, a walk in the treetops 40 meter above the ground. It is a 600 meter walk that is gentle with unforgettable views. You get close and learn to identify some Tasmanians; Celery, Top Pine, Sassafrass, King Billy, Leatherwood, Myrtle, Blackwood and the towering Stringybarks.

When we arrived at Tahune Airwalk it was raining and we braved the rain to do this walk.

Yes, we will do anything to bring you the great adventure.

The Cantilever

Braving ourselves, we walked onto the cantilever through the rain for an eagle-eye view of the Picton and Huon Rivers.

The howling wind blowing at the cantilever, swaying it, makes the walk a little frightening. In the end it was worth the scare.

We back tracked to Geeveston and back to Port Huon for lunch. We hope to get some fresh sea foods but were disappointed. There were no sea foods and we landed up in Port Huon Trading Post.

Port Huon Trading Post.

The food served here was fresh and good. It was not only good, the prices were reasonable and the service was superb. If you ever pass there drop in and give them your support.

Abalone Shell

Fresh Tasmanian Apples

After the hearty lunch, we headed south to Hasting Caves and Thermal Springs. By the time we reach there, it was almost closing time and the person in charge told us by the time we walked to the springs, we have to turn back. Well, there will be another time. Again we back track and headed for Southport.

It was here we decided to head back for Hobart since it was dark and there was not much point driving to Cockle Creek to see Whale Sculpture.

We reach Hobart and decided to stop here for dinner. After a few turn here and there we landed up at Salamanca Place.


After walking around we finished up at La Porchetta for dinner. Dining here is so much expensive than La Porchettas’ in Melbourne. I would say it is about 1½ more expensive and it was not as good as the Melbourne’s outlets. After walking around for a while we decided to call it for a night.

Zeehan, Strahan, Queenstown, Glenorchy - Tasmanian Trip Day 5

After the lunch we headed for Zeehan known as “Silver City”. It is the home to Pioneer’s Memorial Museum which features material from west coast and the numerous ships that have been wrecked in the treacherous seas off the coast. We push on to Strahan as there was nothing much to see or do at Zeehan.

Strahan is a coastal town founded in 1883 for prospectors, miners, piners, millers, fisherman, for railway ships and sailors and today for tourists and travelers. This town carries the smell of Huon pine. This great pines is still a bit of mystery due to its oil, Methyl Eugenol, which impregnates the timber.

The oil protects the timber from insect attack and resists rot and insect attack for 10 thousands of years. Strahan do have places of interest like the fish farm and Sarah Island and all required boat cruises or helicopter ride.

We did a short quick round of the town and could not find suitable accommodations; we gave it a miss and headed for Queenstown.

Queenstown is renowned for its mining heritage. Gold and copper deposit was discovered in 1880’s. Copper are still mined at Mount Lyell. There is an underground mine tour and we were late for the tour. We did drive to the mine and no photography was allowed. Other than the copper mine, the town is a quiet town and mainly tourists on tour were put up a night here before heading for Strahan the next day because of its cheap accommodations and bringing tourists' dollars to this town.

There was not much point putting a night here and we decided to drive to Hobart which was 3½ hour drive away. The road out of the town was through high, steep and winding road with no petrol station for the next 100kms or so. The ladies were scared of the deep gorges and narrow winding road.

When we reach the town of Taraleah, we decided to put up a night here in one of the hotel. But my SIL was put off having to share a common toilet and bathroom with the rest of the lodgers. So we were on the road once again in the dark, wet, scary night for Hobart. We reach Glenorchy at 8.30 and booked into a 2 bedroom lodging. It was late and the restaurant was closed and we have no choice but to survive on instance noodles (which we bought along), cheese, bread, coffee and tea for a night.

Cradle Mountain - Tasmanian Trip Day 5

The morning was bright and pleasant when we got up. We took a short walk from the lodge to the main building for a buffet breakfast which was included. After a hearty breakfast, we went back to the lodge, packed and stuff the luggage into the car. Drove to the reception and checked out.


Then we drove to Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre. To get up to Cradle Mountain you must purchase park passes. You have the choice to drive up, which they discourages because of the narrow roads and limited parking facilities or take the shuttle bus up there. The pass cost $20 for a maximum of 8 persons. We opt for the shuttle bus which runs regularly every 10 minutes and the cost of the shuttle is included in the pass. There are 3 stops along the way and you can hop on and off anytime. The ride to the top takes about 20 minutes.

By the time we reach up there, the weather changed from clear sky to grey sky and started drizzling. The weather is always unpredictable and changes frequently. It can have 4 seasons in a day with condition that include burning sun, driving winds, heavy rain and snow within a single hour.



There are many walks ranging from 10 minutes, overnight and overland walks. We did not walk round the dove lake because of the changing weather condition and the walk is 2 hour long. We did short walk before the cold, windy and wet send us scuttling for cover. We return to the car park just about 1 pm and drove back to Cradle Mountain Lodge and had lunch at the bistro.