i'm back here from victoria, australia!! i just got back on monday night. after complaining about the heat in singapore for weeks, i go away to la-la-2degree-heaven. also known as melbourne. then i come back here to this crazy heat. as i stepped out of the airport and walked towards the carpark, the heat just hit me like a tidal wave. it's insane. this humidity really stinks.
well well, lots of photos from victoria. so, long post up ahead. OOPS!! a personal apology to markiv. sorry, another 2mile post... but i'm long-winded and can't shut up. heh heh.
i haven't been to australia for many years. my sister used to study in sydney, so i've been there about 5, 6 times to visit. but i've only every been to melbourne once, but that was like 10 years ago, so it was almost like the first time for me.
so. this trip to victoria was part of a training tour with the crescent hockey club. we turn 5 this coming october!!! time has passed so quickly and i can't believe 5 years has passed since i set this club up with nordin, my coach, and rilaini. well, being really old (in comparison) and almost jaded at 24, i have a lot of juniors now whom i don't really know. well, some i do know, but having been away for so long, i just haven't had the chance to get to know them better. so when nordin told me they were heading to victoria for this trip, i jumped at the chance. (yeah, big thanks to me parents who paid for everything! woohoo.)
june 10th
the 20 of us (16 players and 4 officials. i am an official, ni-eh ni-eh) leave for melbourne. but about hundred people (ok much less) come see us off at changi airport. my luggage ALREADY weighs 21kg. OH NO!! already hitting the limit and leaving like zero allowance for shopping!!
not very clever, gilda!
june 11th
we arrive early morning. i didn't manage to sleep onboard the plane. lack of sleep = low immunity = sneezing and sniffles. yeah, i get that all the time. so my body had like zero energy to keep myself warm. we head straight to footscray from the airport, because there was a hockey carnival so we went to watch. also because check-in was at 3 and we had nowhere else to go. boo.
we watched some games that day and had an early night. after 2 nights of not sleeping, i seriously K.O.ed and fell asleep once i hit the pillow. i think i slept at like 10! but apparently some of my girls went to bed at 8! how's that for healthy living!
june 12th
after much requests, we decided to let the girls have their way and took them to the anarchy fairy park.
err, we were the only adults in that place. everyone else were... like 4 year old kids with teachers screaming at them to stop running. it was quite funny. well, kinda. everything was so small and cute, except that the dolls, the robot-thingies, were all super scary. but i hear that the entire place was built by its owners, which i must say is really amazing.
that night, we played our first friendly against geelong. they were really good, but we let in one really stupid goal and lost 0-1. they had cooked some pasta for us, which we had after the game. it was really yummy. then we played some super retarded games together but had a ball of a time. they also laughed at us when we told them we went to the fairy park. just great.
June 13th
we head to ballarat, and go to the wildlife park after lunch and shopping. yeah, wildlife park. we really went through the whole tourist route. you know, feeding the kangaroos and stuff.
i took this picture from a distance. the little boy had put his beanie on the kangaroo and i just thought it was so funny, i couldn't stop laughing.
this particular old dude was kinda gross and refused to stop scratching his balls!! like, hello!
we played our second friendly against ballarat. drew 2-2. then rilaini and i got interviewed for the local news.
blimey! i totally freaked out!
june 14th
the girls had a homestay with our ballarat hosts and we picked them up in the morning.
for the rest of the day, i hear endless stories about gorgeous australian country houses with rubber duckies in the bath, horses and sheep in farms, delicious breakfasts.... we officials stayed in a motor inn with zero breakfast and i got grumpy. heh heh.
we pass chocolate mill on our way to bendigo. once inside my day gets a lot brighter. the smell of rich, very rich chocolate lingered in the air and i could almost imagine willy wonka coming out from nowhere. i stole sips of hot chocolate from some of the girls who bought it, and it was so good, i danced the oompa-loompa dance. yummy!!! chocolate mill makes hot chocolate from REAL chocolate, and it really is so different!! for the rest of the trip, no matter how much hot chocolate i drank, nothing was good enough!!
that night, we played a friendly with the bendigo team. their coach, vicky, was the former national womens' coach for singapore. nordin, who's the assistant coach, spent hours talking and catching up with her. well, we drew again. we played well but we need to win!!
june 15th
on our way to shepparton, we dropped by this place called confectionary capers. it's this really kinda corny, but ultimately pretty amazing place. its owner built it all by himself, and the place is just filled to the ceiling (literally) with hundreds of little machinery thingies.
we were early for our friendly and i spent much time lying on a bench looking up at the sky. it was so blue!! a really pretty, clear blue.
then i couldn't get enough of my shadow. i was wearing penguin pants and it just looked hilarious.
shepparton was our 2nd last friendly. our last would be against the melbourne/victoria country team, and they would be our strongest opponents. having lost a game and drawn two, we really needed to win this match to lift our spirits. it was hard playings against all the different conditions. some of the girls were still not used to the weather, and we were playing on sand-based pitches. we used to have a sand-based pitch in singapore, but that was like 8 years or so ago, and some of my juniors had never even seen one before. but we did well tonight, and won the game 3-0. yippee!
our shepparton hosts also cooked us a fantastic meal of fish and chips, and dessert!! the dessert was fabulous!! there were 2 different kinds of cake and some thick cream. i loved it. the girls went off on another homestay and i get slightly jealous.
june 16th
we pick our girls up in the morning and head to melbourne!!! yeah~~!! the city, the city! i'd been "saving" myself for the city. we've been going to all these smaller towns and to their malls and all, but i had been stopping myself from shopping. i was dying to shop! itching to shop! i told my juniors that when i would finally shop, i might break out in allergies from resisting too much!
psst. more in part2.
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