I Am Back And Ready To Move On In Life . .
Was still thinking should i like write the entire diary of events i had over there in this blogsite but i guess its worth sharing . . and maybe years later when i revisit my blogsite and see this archived entry of mine, it might bring back the good memories of yester-years.
ok now folks, brace yourself for this is one long lengthy entry . . but i will try to skip the trivial details. (I don't think i will have the patience to type every single thing i wrote there as well, Hee :p ) You can get a can of coke or something coz this is gonna be long, i do mean really long, those who cannot sit for a long time please remember to strap yourself to the chair or something like that . . Hee :) . . Oh u might be lost with my timing, but if its not stated please treat it as aussie time :)
i think i might need a few days to write all down . . haha.
Ok Here We Goooooo .......
22th Nov
Woke up @ 4.45am SG and left for the airport @ 5.20am SG to catch the 7.45am SG flight. Took cab there which costed me $23.50 don't know can claim anot, Hee ;p . . . There wasn't much stuff to be done on board, majority of slept thru'out the entire flight . . well for me, i could never sleep in a plane in a seated position unless i am dead tired . . so i watch a couple of movies that was avaliable on the on-board entertainment sys.
Finally touched down in Rockhampton, Australia around 4-5pm AU timing and we hanged around and waited for the kitbag inspection by the local authorities for dirt and contraband items that we might have brought in . . they are really serious about their environment and stuff. . .
When all is done, it was about 7-8pm already, and we all dragged our weary body and head for SAMUEL HILL CAMP. Wanted to catch some sleep on the bus but when i saw the night sky that was overcasted with stars as i rode on the bus . . . i just couldn't help it but stare at them blankly . . so much for catching up with some rest . . . Upon reaching the camp site at around 10pm we were all thrown straight into action, had to do alot of unpacking coz the exercise officially starts tomorrow . . finally when all was done its was already 3am . . was too tired to even take a bath and went straight to bed . .
Home for the next few weeks, :'(
23th Nov
woke up early in the freezing morning bec there was going to be a parade in the morning to signify the start of this exercise . . had to dawn on my LVD(SBO) and helmet, how long has it been since i last wore something like that ??
Haha . . Next up was to familirize myself witht the surrounding around and also my jobscope there. But later got news that i also need to go outfield for EX. Diamond Warrior (our exercise code name) on a rotation basis with ZY . . But this wasn't what boss promised me leh . . he said i will be staying in camp all the time leh . . But i am glad i was sent outfield which u will know why later ..
after lunch, most of the guys headed outfield to Diao Camp for the start of what was to be a 10 days exercise. Well for me, i was left in camp to "mann" the ops room which basically needs no manning at all lor. Well for lunch i wouldn't be to hopeful and as always i was so right . . After lunch, i basically sat down and took out my book to read.
Oh Ya, the afternoon there is a killer, even hotter than singapore's. Its like a sauna in my tentage, hot hot. But something good happened, i met ALTON who was my bmtc section-mate that i haven meet for ages . . he's a now LTA, think he signed on, if only i didn't downgrade and OOC from OCS, i could be a LTA as well, but thats in the past now, no point thinking back on what if . . Oh Ya i also saw JOEL who was a section-mate back in OCS . . talk about conincidence, the world works in a strange way doesn't it, Hee :)
24th Nov
Woke up early at around 5am but the sun was already shinning damm bright, its similar to how the morning would looked like 10am in SG. But strangely it was freezing cold, had to put on my jacket to keep warm. Ok now i am really regreting that i didn't bring my MP3 along . . and i didn't even thought about borrowing PSP from my frens . . Drats, coz reading all the time can really get me bored. As usual the suana-like conditions that was coming on was a killer, lucky the occasional breese cooled me down a little.
Decided to take a nap but it wasn't possible with the intense heat and the stupid flies that was flying around all the time . . and this just got me more tired. Well the temperature finally cooled down from 4pm on . . and the night come pretty early too, around 6.30 and sky would almost be dark already. Well since there was nothing to do, and i have done a considerable amount of reading today already. . i decided to turn in a bit earlier. Good Nitez :)
25th Nov
Well the day started pretty much the same as yesterday along with the daily chores that i have to do. Today was the last day i would stay in camp because come evening i would have to go outfield to replace ZY so that he can come back to base camp to rest. But somehow or rather he came back around 10am with the morning ration tonner that was returning to camp. Well since he is back, i couldn't do much either but to pack up and prepare for what might be first and last outfield since returning to the service to fufil my obligations to the country.
The trip to Diao Camp took a good 2 hours or so . . simply because the training area was 4x the size of singapore, so it would be like traveling from the east side of singapore to the west side for 2 times. Travelling in a tonner in the area is the last thing u would want to do coz the sand and dust is all gonna come on you and you would looked like u have rolled in sand till u turn yellow or something like that . . .
Upon reaching, i was in time for lunch, well i really shouldn't be complaining about the food but at least i had fresh raiton instead of combat rations, phew. But wat was consoling was that they acutally had proper bathing and sanitary facilities there. Oh i have to mention this, their toilet uses no water to flush, they simply built toilets on holes and i do mean deep, deep holes that was dug into the ground. So when u go for your business, the waste just drop straight down all the way into the deep, deep holes . . i heard that they use worms and stuff to break down the waste, but considering the amount that was going down, i wonder if they are "stuffed" to death a not . . LoLZ.
As the heat got going, me and a couple of the guys decided to hide in the HMCT and man was it cooling inside. Only bad thing for the day was that i have to drink from my waterbag . . which tasted rubber. I should have really washed it before bringing it to australia. Yucky but no choice, i didn't had water bottle and stuff . . haiz. Well since there was nothing to do over there, coz planning was done by all the bosses which meant we had no part in it, we could only wonder about whats for dinner . . . the feeling of not knowing what was going around was simply sucky but don't think we had a choice did we :(
Night came pretty fast and heard a news that we are moving out to a new camp site called Tigerhill tomorrow. So we spent the night packing up loose items into the crates that we brought along so tomorrow we would have a easier time. Well at night, i was once again staring at the night sky that was overcast with stars and i do mean plenty of stars . . was really regreting that i didn't bring my camera out with me when i left base camp. The words i can use to describe the scenary was . . "Breathtaking, awesome and beautiful". When all was done, it was time to turn in and a couple of us decided to snooze in the HMCT instead of out there in the field thinking that it might be less freezing but we were soooo sooo wrong. It basically the same, if not more freezing than outside.
26th Nov
Rise and Shine @ 5am. Had breakfast and took a short rest from the aching of the back from sleeping on cold hard benches in the HMCT last night. After that, all the guys proceeded to dismantle the HMCT to prepare for deployment to the next training area.
Well there were some glitches before moving off which once again brought us to a halt, apparantly we had to wait for the vehicle which was unable to start due to some brake problems but this was settled soon enough and what was to come was a another 2 hours of ridding in tonner before reaching the designated area. Upon reaching Tigerhill, we had to unload all the stores and set up the HMCT again . . Haiz. When everything was done up, we had our rest once again and wondering what was for dinner again, a bit pathetic huh . . always wondering what was for meals later. . . haiz.
Heard a good piece of new later in the day. Apparantly COMD has decided to let us go to Camp Growl which was in the vincinity to let us take a bath . . Yahoo. Well camp growl was in fact the camp that i was staying in the very first time i came here in 2002. Feels so great to be there again, memories of that time came back to me, my frens then and the stuff we did. After being revatalised from the show, we headed to the canteen to have some food before going back to Tigerhill.
This time round me and guys decided to sleep out in the field instead of the HMCT, and i didn't regret making that decision. The night sky was once again that ever alleuring and my eyes were afixed on it the whole night, somehow or rather this has become like a routine thing i must do before i go to sleep at night. i saw a shooting star but it ended too fast for me to do anything. It ended like in less than even a second, but i am glad i was fortunate enuough to catch it.
oh great tomorrow would be my turn to go back and ZY's turn to come back. Time to finish staring at the stars and head for dreamland.
27th Nov
Wanted to catch the sunrise . . woke up at 4.30am but on second tots . . sleeping would be a better option . . Hee, Lazy me :)
Well this day is almost the same as the previous considering that the bosses were still planning . . So i had to wait and wait and wait for things to do . . once again the sucky feeling of not knowing whats going on around can really drive me crazy.
Oh i heard a bad news that my returning to base camp has been postphoned . . because there isn't any transport going back to base camp . . and i might have a chance of staying put here . . outfield . . away from the tentage and a proper bed, although its only a safari bed which look like its gonna give way under my weight. . . . totally shell-shocked and stuff, i only brought 2 sets of uniform outfield because i didnt expect to increase my outfield stay . . some more the uniform is smelly lor . . almost puked (>.<'') . . . boss just told me to wait for the next avaliable transport back lor . . haiz what can i do ... lucky ZY .. . .
For the rest of the day . . crapping around and chatting was all we could ever do . . but in the evening got news that i can go back tomorrow morning . .\(^-^)/ . . . So its officially last nite out for me, i am sure gonna miss the night sky with all the stars.
28th Nov
Time to go back lor . . . hopped on the transport at 7am and reached camp at around 8am. Dropped all my stuff and gave ZY a briefing on wat to do out there. Took shower immediately after that . . and then i knocked out unconcious for the rest of the day . . untill the afternoon heat set in . . and hence off to the canteen. Took some photos of myself in SBO and rifle considering that this might be my last time in this attire . . LoLz.
a shot of the shower area.
Hoisting the Bag Up for ShowerIng . . . HAHA
29th Nov
Today's water tasted really strange .. either its my bottle or someone over-did the chlorine in the water . . . but no choice i can't keep going to the canteen to buy mineral water . . so only alternative is to drop my vitamin C pills into the water to change the taste coz its orange flavoured. Did a bit of sunthaning while i was reading my book.
Alarming fact of the day . . the freaking flies actually bites people and it hurted a great deal . . . Now Its War My Frens !!! . . Took some pics of the sunset around the camp site.
How The Sunset Looked Over there . .
30th Nov
Woke up feeling really sucky, have a bit of sore throat and some signs of phlem. Hope it doesn't magnifest into something serious . . crossing my fingers. Excepetionally windy and cloudy today .. hmm i wonder why. Later in the day there was a broadcast that a thunderstorm was heading my way . . NoooOOooo . . have to secure everyone's stuff . . just in case it gets flooded, "touchwood". . . Its afternoon already, the clouds have started to gather but still no sign of rain or thunder but the strong wind kept blowing, please don't let it rain in the middle of the night . . oh ya . . i am starting to have running nose . . darn it . . the guys coming back in 2 days time . . hurray, companionship . . i am getting bored here being alone already . . but i managed to complete a book, hee :)
1st Dec
Hurray . . . in few days time i will be out of SAMUEL HILL Camp and back in SG, I can almost smell it . . Laksa, Bar Chor Mee, Carrot Cake . . Yummilicious . . Ok no more running nose from yesterday . . but somehow i am feeling more sick than ever, its as thou the fever is coming on and i started coughing too . . . if this persist i think i have to go report sick . . Been gulping down bottles of water after bottles . . . think it aint helping leh . . oh, saw some pepz from my unit returning but i think the whole lot of them won't be returning back till the 2nd Dec ba . . Well for the time being, there is more life around i guess :) . . . oh i am looking forward to tomorrow when they are all back .
Mosquito suddenly invested my area . . in the day i have to fend off horseflies and now i have to fend off mosquito . . haizz . . whats next ????? Noah u shud have killed the mosquito and the horseflies . . . Urgh !!!!! Now Its War !!!!
2nd Dec
Woke up feeling much much better now . . . think the bottles of water i have forced down my throat is working its effect on me now . . thank goodness. Finally all the guys are coming back today . . no more lonliness. . . hee :) . .
Woke up and found numerous mosquito bites . .. strangely enuough i actually don't feel itchness until i saw the bumps . . this reminds me of a qoute, "the severity of an itch is inversely proportional to the ability to scratch it" . . haha, a bit of no link but it just came to me . . LoLZ. All the Guys Came Back at Around . . 3-4 Plus. And sO the Packing starts . . did till quite late again because we want to get everything into the container on the same day . . and then we can seal the containers and sent it back to singapore.
3rd Dec
Today was basically quite slack coz we have all done the work yesterday. Heard that there is a live firing for some tanks and apache but all the spectator slots were taken up so we cant go . . finally had some real work to do . . . but wasnt too much of a task and it was completed shortly. hmm, almost spent the whole day in canteen today . . i thinked i watched all the movies the canteen was screening in the day itself. I saw MI-1, MI-2, COllateral, Resident Evil 1, 2, Dawn of the Dead( Basically all zombies going around feeding) . . Had quite an amount of junk food also, the kabana, the kebab, the coke, the chips . . wahhh . . think i spent quite an amount today. .
Kebab In One Hand, Coke in tHe Other, ThIs iS LiFe . . Hee :)
4th Dec
Finally the long awaited rain came . . but it didn't lasted for long . . but it came and went away frequently . . well for once, the tentage aint like a oven during the noon . . thank goodness for the rain. After the rain subsided, me and the guys were off to the canteen again . this time i saw Big Momma 1, 2 and also white chicks. Oh Ya, heard that tomorrow our brigade is having our happy hour in the evening. There's alot of decent food going around and also beer and wine for everyone . . but boss told me that they have ordered a cake to celebrate the birthday of those who had to spent their bday during this period of time and i am tasked to represent the Dec Bday babbies . . . in cutting up the cake and serving the rest. . . . diaoz (-.-'')
In the night, some of the branches had their own small little celebrations, and some of the guys came back a bit tipsy and drunk . . wenjie was so funny, coz i think he couldnt think straight and was blabbering nonsense . . . haha . . dennis was rather quiet but i think he puked a couple of times . . . haha.
5th Dec.
Nothing special happend in the day . . we were all waiting for tonite's happy hour but i heard that each person was only entitled to a can of beer and wine would be on avaliable basis . . kinda sianz lor . . its the time to get all high man . . but i heard some of the guys are going to buy more beer at the canteen.
We had roast lamp and also kangeroo meat for the meals. Hmm . . the kangeroo meat tasted a bit like lamp's but without the smell that comes along with lamp . . the QM guys were cooking the kangeroo meat on a hot plate and i must appluade them for a job well done, i kinda like the way it taste. . yummilicious.
Well as mentioned there was some bday boys celebrating their bday so how could we let them off without some good old cake smashing and wine drinking . .. thomas was the first to get drunk followed by prash ( oh, ya we got him drunk and had to look after him and chase after him when he goes on his short little sprints, haha) another highlight would be when everyone was high on the alcohol, we began splashing water all over and soon enough we began to target even the hight ranking officiers. . it was a night where rank and age didnt matter, we all have fun :) . .
But that was until i found out i lost one of my SD card which contain some pics which i would really treasure . . . haiz. Lucky i had another one by my side. . . after that was cleaning up, showering and headed off to bed :)
One Foto Before everyone gets drunk . . hee :)
Bottom Up Mates :)
Cakes Anyone ????
6-7th Dec
Ok, today must be the most relaxing and slack day coz all the regulars apart form a few have all left Samuel Hill camP for their R&R . . Hmm, not another day of watching DVD in the canteen ba??? Well later in the day, me and some of the guys decided to go to the nearby airfield and try to catch some nice sunset pics and maybe hope to see some kangeroos there . . .
Went to the airfield at around 4-5pm. took some pics with the surroundings along the way . . when we got there, there wasnt much of a sunset bec some dark clouds were glooming around. . . but then we saw something moving in the distance. it was the kangeroos, not those in zoo . .but those in the wild . . armed with our camera's we decided to get forward to take some pics . . but we didnt dared just approaching them . . in order to make them feel secure we were on all fours and some even doing leopard crawl just to make ourselves look smaller than them . . . the closest i got was like maybe 30metres . . only prash manage to get the closest . . say maybe 25metres ??
But later some guys came along with totally no idea what they are doing . . and they scared the kangeroos away. . . dumbos !!!!! Well after that we took somemore fotos . . and then headed back to base camp . . tomorrow is my turn to leave !!!!!
Look Carefully At thE WorDs , Wahahaha . . .
Kangeroo Alert, I repeat, Kangeroo Alert . . *siren wailing ;p
EMbracing Mother NatUre :)
8th dec . .
Left camp at around 10am, and we proceed straight in the iternary prepared for us . . we were going to the cultural centre of the aboriginals. When we got there we treated to a traditional dance as well as the guide playing the didjeridoos for us . . very smoothing music, got a bit of boom in it but it was nice. Next Up was Boomerang throwing, didnt know till that day that there is a difference in the a boomerang for left-handers and right-handers . . haha . . threw the boomerang 2 times . . and i was the first to throw also . . hee :)
After that went to the local mall for lunch and shopping. . bought about 70+ dollars (AU) worth of chocolate at a local chocolate stall. . my mum is going to screw me on this . . after that went to Big W(something like our cold storage) and bought . . . even more chocolate, titbits and also drinks.
Finally i got some Xmas present and then headed for the hotel. Dinner was at CQU(central queensland university) and the food wasnt bad at all considering we were eating in the staff cafeteria instead of a restuarant or something. After that some of us went to the local pub for more drinks while some others went to another supermart to shop . . took some drinks with the guys in the hotel before turning . . tomorrow morning and prash are going to roam round the local area to take some fotos. heard that the area around has some buildings that has been around since the WWII time. And ROckhampton has quite an amount of Historical Buildings . . well nitez out, tomorrow have to wake up at 6.00am . . Oh the soft bed, the nice hot shower and the soak in the bath-tub. . . total enjoyment :)
First Up tHe LocAL Dance
Next BooMerAng ThrOwing . . DanieL, CAn I ThroW AlreAdy ???
The Cathedral besIde Our HotEL . . V Nice Architecture.The Inside Is even more spectacular witht the tainted glass and stuff . . but i decided not to take a pic
9th Dec
Woke Up and felt the morning cool breese blowing in your face when me and the guys were heading out on our little expediton. There was alot of nice buildings that has been around since WWII time which had very strong english influence.
We also went to the Fritzoy river . . and the view there in the morning was nice .. especially when it also had a bit of going to rain kinda feeling with grey clouds gathering in the distance. its was nice, very soothing. Just wanted to relax and sit down . . but we were pressing for time since we have to rush back to the hotel for breakfast or else we have to starve . . . haha.
Had one big hearty breakfast and i do mean One Big Hearty Breakfast. Check out of our rooms at around 10am and headed straight for the airport. Boarded the plane at about 1.30pm but dont know why . . we finally took off at around2.30pm.
Next Destination, HOME SWEET HOME.
the School For Arts
The Walter Reid Company Building
The Fritzoy River On a CHilly Glooomy Morning:)
A Shot of the Chapel From My Hotel Room :)
Well, time to Head Home :) . . ThanKU Australia For aLL the Memories,
ThankU ROckHamptom :)
well i have come to the end of this entry of the wallaby trip for me . . its was interesting and definitely memorable, thou we all complained about leaving home and coming here to "suffer" but i guess it was all worth it . . every single min and sec has been totally enjoyable . . even when we were outfield :) , this has gotta be the best one ever :)
Every event has a good side and bad side to it . . . it all depends on how u view it, you make the choice :) Well another plus point is that i have bonded more closely to these new frens of mine but sad to say i am ORD-ing soon . . isn't it a pity that i am leaving them just when i have gotten to known them better . . haiz.
oh ya . . i have a couple of videos to post also . . but wait till i find out about the html codes . . . maybe you can see it in the next video . . most prob its one of the guides playing the traditional musical instrutment and also a video of the kangeroos .. :)
wow i cant believe i wrote so much stuff . . hee :)
Oh well, just nice time to sleep . . my eyes are already trying to clos e. . Hee :)
NitezZZzZzzZzz . . (^-^)v
Till next time . .
RT
posted by ChunHong at 5:43 PM
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