Goodbye Corolla

Our baby Corolla was first diagnosed with a severe radiator overheat and its engine refused to function properly after the first attack.

Chung did him body checkup every morning and that successfully keep Corolla with us for another 2 weeks.

Leaks of coolant and engine oil again started making us worried each day. His temperature keep on rising uncontrollably each time when we started driving. We had no choice but to let Corolla go after a journey of 366,870km he has made proud of his entire life.

Chung took his plate out to return to the Department of Transport and report his death. Before his "coffin car" (the tow truck) arrived, we took some pictures with him . He was then sent to car wreckers for his funeral.



"I thank God that the radiator had problems, because I just noticed that one of the tyres had worn out from the inner side, revealing the steel wires already. The tyre could have exploded while you were driving and made the driver lose control. I wouldn't have seen the wear if I hadn't looked down from under the radiator," Chung told me after.



Looking back at his pictures, I am still fascinated with the big quartz clock on his dashboard. His red skin made him so outstanding among other cars and you could easily spot him at any carparks. I will miss my time spent with him on the road.



Goodbye Corolla.
[...]

Car plates and stickers

Fancy your own personalised car plate? For just a fee of a few hundred dollars, you could have yours customised in Western Australia.

You could put your own name.












Or describe a bit about yourself. I saw this car turning out of the parking lot of a gym.









I never figured this out.*








Take a closer look. We actually chased this car past several traffic lights just to catch this picture.








You could express yourself with car stickers too.
Like this man who boasts about his education level.








Australians are quite proud about anything Australian.








*Tahi is translated as 'shit' in Malay
[...]

Reindeers

Tis' the season to be jolly and I've spotted some of Santa's reindeers on the road.




This one was by the roadside parked near a mall.




Perhaps Santa was shopping for some presents?
[...]

Smashing Pumpkins

On Halloween Day, I was asked to cut pumpkins as part of my regular responsibility as a kitchen hand at the cafe.

The first swings with the big chopper to split the pumpkin can be the most difficult. Not to mention the risk of losing one's fingers in a split second lapse of concentration.

I have worked at a cafe once but this was something new. What I like about the working holiday experience is the chance to do random things that I wouldn't normally do.

And I have cut more pumpkins in the last few months than I have ever cut before. In fact working as a kitchen hand, I have diced more potatoes, chopped more greens, peeled more onions, stabbed more skin (to make roast pork), sliced more chicken, deboned more meat, packed more takeaways, washed more dishes, stacked more plates and broken more cups than I have in my entire life.

I have also managed to pick up a trick or two for my own kitchen.

Something to tell my grandchildren about.
[...]

Deluxe Haircut Kit

It took us two and a half hour for the haircut.

Chung bought himself a deluxe haircut kit with blades never need oiling to save money from going local saloon. FYI, a haircut here is AUD20 per head.

He is quite excited before his hair was cut.

still looking happy.

Getting nervous. This is my first time okay!

OMG! Getting worse you know the cut.

Look at his face, so burnt!

I think he was damn tulan that time.

Lucky in the end, it turns out to be very alright!

This was him at his company's Christmas lunch party!

Anyone dare to let me blade your hair? :D

[...]

if you are interested how our new house is like, read this

OK! It's time to update and upload pictures.

OK! I will not start my blog like "it's been ages I have not blog at my blog". I should start blogging so that you spies will keep spying on us.

Last week, we moved into a new place that we rent at a quiet suburb called Riverton. I don't have the exact word to describe the house. Maybe... dodgy but exciting! It's old and small but has many features that make us love them heaps everyday when we got home from work. This simple house is owned by our landlord - Mr Jim (he's about the grandpa age, 83 to be exact). We heard much about his kindness but have not really met him personally, he sounds like a nice guy over the phone. The story is - he is renting the house out on the purpose so that the house is not spared. Recently his wife just passed away and he invited one of our housemates, James from Sabah to stay with him. Currently only the three musketeers staying in the house - another James from Korea, SC and I. Cool.

Welcome to our house. FYI, most Australian houses are not fenced and will have garage or parking space in front of the house. I seriously cant see where the mailbox is when we first moved in. There is a car wreck outside at the front yard and weeds are all over.

OK if this sounds oh my god to you, keep reading. We have ample space enough to park 4 BMWs at the front yard, 2 at the side probably.

Connecting to the "garage" it's our garden a.k.a. backyard. It can house a basketball court, enormous to me.

Kitchen is normal but we have heaps of cookwares enough for a 15-person-banquet, some looks antique. I personally love the cabinet in the living room

It is at my waist height, with a 2 meters wide wall mirror. The cabinet's key looks like from the English duke generation, gold and engraved into unique shape. So antique!


Our room is just nice, I like the window facing backyard and it has a roll down curtain.

Sunrise is 5.30am now and I woke up from the birds chirping. Like Danum eh!

One morning when I was having breakfast at the dining room, one of the wall pictures caught my eyes.

It is a picture of boats parking at the beach at night with the moon rising behind the mountain range. The picture is simply made up from paper bark (the boats, jetty, mountain range, trees), a shell (the moon) and black cloth (the dark sky and sea). It is a really beautiful art piece to me. At the corner of that picture, it's signed by the artist, J. Briton.

Is it Mr Jim's artwork? I heard he collected 42 antique clocks in different sizes at his 3-storey house. I cant wait for tomorrow's dinner at his place. I think he's a very interesting person, like in the movie we always watch, the old man in the house who a lot of people talk about but never seen before. So we are going to see the lord of our land tomorrow. Excited.

At the distance, lays the Canning River. This neighbourhood homes a lot of the elders, therefore beautiful gardens are all around the house. The jacaranda trees are blooming with purple flowers now, and WA is really a nice wild flowers heaven.

We are good at home and welcome visitors anytime. Or even just throw a Christmas party during this merry season. [...]