Yes, that's right! At long last, I'm in Australia, the land of my many past dreams, of kangaroos, jolly swagmen, billybong, pretty sheilas ... and so many other greats! Yeah, I'm in Perth, enjoying the warm --nay-- scotching sunshine at this time of the year! Here's a list of wonderful folks I would love to meet: my dearest loving foster "parents" Nigel and Pamela Heyward of Tasmania and their two sons, one of whom Philip was my best childhood mate ... and my all-time favorite teacher/principal, Leonie Kathleen Armour, Revd. John Yapp, my late uncle Chong Yuk Min's widow ... and yes, my own dearest eldest sister, Mary Chong who's a law practictioner and lecturer here ... someone whom I would love to spend time with!
Back to Perth .... It was not my first choice as I was thinking of dropping by Australia enroute to New Zealand and outwards to Canada. Of course, spending time with my dear sis is important and besides, the air fare to Perth seemed fairly low compared to others. I imagined Perth would be an easy access point to other cities... Nothing could be further than the truth -- it is expensive to travel elseway from here!
Anyway, being out here is marvelous. What a big city it is! It's clean and well-maintained. The folks here are friendly ... they can give proper, clear and concise directions unlike, if I may admit it, so many Malaysians in the cities and towns of Malaysia!
Some fascinating things I've learnt so far ... seasoned traveler that I am ...
I was strolling along Beaufort Street when something caught my eye --a quite ordinary road sign that made me stop and stare ...huh?! "Toilets" it says! Yup, I have since learnt that the clean Aussies have special single toilets ... a fella goes in a nice rectangular loo that has a whooshing sound door--wah! Auto-door... just press a red button &just imagine yourself in a Star Wars space machine as the door slides open!
Wonderful ... but I had an interesting experience at a Chinese food court in a nearby shopping mall ... We had to queue up to use the toilet! Quite a lot of fellas understandably couldn't stomach it and walked off ...
More from the bright side ... it's 7:25 pm here and I've been sitting and blogging outside the State Library of Western Australia since 5 pm. Nothing like free Aussie wifi! Thanks, mate! Cheerio!
Coming later--Bedding with the Germans, glasses and glasses of free wine from a young English fella with a love problem ... so Camrose guys ... the peer counseling training helped!
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