My new workplace!

It's nice to be in a stand-alone Children's Hospital again. And everyone is so super nice!



I have already discovered so much about the Australian medical training here - so much nicer in many ways compared to the USA! They realize that 80 hour work weeks are still not very humane. The registrars (like a resident+) work 40 hours a week, get paid OVERTIME!, have most weekends off, 4 week vacations, and most importantly, have NEVER HEARD OF q4 call (I had to explain!). WTF??!!!???

I'll get a better picture soon!

Land of the Barbie!

I've arrived! OK, technically, I have been here for DAYS, but I've been held up in posting by 1) the gimpy right ankle, 2) jetlag, 3) jetlag, and 4) a frightful lack of photos. Mostly no photos because I just go to work everyday and back (that gimpy right leg!) and also because I just don't have the asian tourist in me which will photograph anything at any time!

So. Here's my place! I didn't photograph the outside yet, but you can see it on the website: 55 Yurong Street

It started off not so great as I was on crutches and arrived and NO one was around to let me know. Thankfully, after asking 5 random strangers to help a girl on crutches out by calling the management for me, a nice man came to my rescue! 15 minutes later, the manager came to let me in and I proceeded to hand over $1760 in AUD. Man!

But here is my place:






Ok, will tell you more later! Well, in a new blog entry. :)

Up, up and away!!!

Day 4:

Today was the day we explored Abel Tasman National Park. It started off with me going on my Paragliding adventure, and boy did I luck out – the weather was in ideal conditions for the flight, good temp, little wind. In short, perfect! I was still sad that mom didn’t want to go, but oh well! I tried a couple more times before I went up, to no avail.

The flight in one word was spectacular. We flew around the mountains over Khangerei Park to the left and Abel Tasman on the right. From there, after seeing the famous sinkholes, we flew to the coast and started down the coastline. The park from the air on a clear day was awesome. The water was clear and a lovely azure, teal, it changed depending on the depth of water. We saw stingrays below the water and some black dots that were maybe the fur seals? But basically saw the beautiful beaches and got stories. A Bark Bay, there was the 85-yo man who back in the day squatted on the land and now has a lovely house with a new roof just replaced last year. How sad that when he dies, the house will then be owned by the National Park who plans to tear the house down. We flew over Split Apple Rock – cute! – and then back to the hangar… where, what a surprise, mom all dressed up in a flight suit! Yippee! Mom decided that she just couldn’t pass up on the beautiful weather and the content faces of the people who went before her (there was a German guy who went up before me). She had a lovely time and is glad she went!



After that experience, we decided to go on the scenic boat tour along the coastline. It afforded us views completely different from the flight which was great. And this time we saw a seal! Ok, maybe we saw TWO seals. After that, we decided to make it a restful day and just head back to the hostel to make ourselves a delicious dinner on the grill then bed! Tomorrow we head off to see some pancake rocks and some glaciers. I think.

Land of the Hobbits… and Sheep

Mom, Dad, and I have arrived in New Zealand! Well, we’ve been here a couple days and it’s definitely been busy starting from day 1. I arrived after my 14 hour flight (complete with crying baby) and met up with Mom and Dad at Christchurch airport. From there, we rented our hatchback and then we were off!

Left, left, left – this has become our daily chant as we drive around South Island. Along with Baa, Baa, Baa… and Moo, Moo, Moo… you can guess what our most frequent sightings have been.

Day One:

We drove from Christchurch to Kaikoura where we had a lovely lunch (dad chose the best thing that day, the black cod). We stopped by one Marlborough winery, Montana Winery, which also produces Brancott wines. I bought a lovely Sauvignon Blanc. From there, we went to the Queen Charlotte Sounds area where we stayed at Anakiwa at a lovely Hostel. It was definitely not your typical hostel and was very very nice. We drove to Havelock for dinner where, since they are famous for their green lipped mussels, we had, yup, you guessed it, green lipped mussels for dinner! Delicious! And also delicious were the Nelson scallops which had the muscle-thingy still attached – it was beautiful looking and delicious!


Day Two:

The theme of the day: Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath…

So we opted to head out to try and find Sawcut Gorge which, from pictures seen in a tour guide, was AWESOME – stand at the entrance of a narrow gorge and then walk in ankle deep water within the gorge. We looked it up, and according to the directions on the NZ DOC website, drive 12 km on gravelly road, go thru private land (so leave the gates as found) and then from there, it would be a 1.5 hour one-way trip to the Gorge. It would require Waima River crossing. With these detailed directions, we started on our trek and all was going well until we hit a fork in the road… and yup, you guessed it, we chose POORLY. So, we went for quite a few km driving through lots of tall grass and brush up until we hit the big drop off in the road that would require a 4WD car – which we didn’t have. So we turned around, sad that we chose the wrong road. We decided to drive out to the main Hwy to make sure we were even at the right river (we were!) and on this detour, we went to the beautiful beach and had our picnic sandwich lunch out of the hatchback. Refueled, we decided to try again for Sawcut Gorge.

We drove out and made it and despite the not-so-excited (not so impressed with the Gorge apparently) caretaker of the visitor log, we headed out on our hike! After several river crossings where Mom and Dad faithfully took off and re-put on their hiking shoes, they finally, fed up, decided to hike the remaining crossings in their hiking shoes. I finally caved too. Pants hiked to above our knees, we crossed the river at least 12 times, climbed up a rocky path, endured Mom getting stabbed in her shin by a dead branch, but we finally made it to… a lovely view. We were so exhausted by this point, and after dad and I went off on a scouting mission and found that the Gorge itself was still at least a good 20-30min hike over many boulders, we decided to forgo the Gorge itself.

Headed back, we were doing well but a little hypoglycemic. I should have eaten the darn powerbar in my bag, but I kept telling myself, “I’m fine, it’s just a little longer.” Well, as I waded through the mid-calf clear river water, I could feel myself starting to lose my balance. Everything moved in slow motion, and as I kept taking steps left to try and prevent the inevitable fall, I had only one thought in my head, “SAVE THE CAMERA AND CAMERA BAG!” Which, as I landed flat on my butt in the river, in JEANS mind you, I waved my Rebel and camera bag in the air and yelled at mom and dad, “Forget me, SAVE THE CAMERA!!!!!” Repeatedly. Mom and Dad, as a mom and dad, were of course more concerned with getting me out of the water. And, of course, by this time I was laughing my wet ass off which didn’t help matters. Poor mom, she got pulled into the river too trying to pull me out of the water. Sorry Mom! Luckily, my camera and its attachments survived, and I walked around in wet jeans the rest of the day. :) Too bad there wasn’t a video or camera of these events!


**Audrey, after the jump. Or rather, the slip, fall, whatever.**

Day Three:

We drove from Anakiwa to Motueka in anticipation of our Abel Tasman National Park explorations. We arrived around 11:30 AM and decided to drive up to Totaranui and the Pupu Springs. After a nice curvy mountain road (apparently 365 turns!), we ended up at the Mussel Inn and had an all-organic lunch (they even make their own sodas – and beer!) and then off to Totaranui! The beach was lovely and we arrived there safely despite crazy 4WD-driving maniacs who drive WAY too insanely on gravel unsealed roads with sheer cliffs on one side. Home-made dinner at the hostel and our day was done…


On a side note, I LOVE my Canon Rebel XSi. Best purchase EVER. And so is the telephoto zoom lens. And my filter. I think I may have converted my parents. :)

Hawaii...

Much needed relaxation and rest in the wonderful state of Hawai'i! I'd like to believe I am Kama`aina but let's be honest, I'm a malihini!

The first week on the big island was wonderful not only for all the stuff we saw, but all the wonderful people I got to see again after moving away 28 years ago!!! Most of call, Auntie Nishimoto and her daughter (and our wonderful host), Bev:



Uploading is slow, so only a couple more pics for now... This first one is for my sis!

Green Sand Beach:



The beautiful water of Southpoint:



Shannon and me!

The Great Feast

Yesterday, we went to visit the graves of my paternal grandma and grandpa. My half-aunt (2nd Gu-Gu) came and picked us up, we got some flowers and together, we all went to the cemetery. It was a new cemetery I had been to and it was an interesting drive to it - a golf course on the way to the cemetery, and what looks to be a new apartment complex nearby. And, luckily for us, this time the cemetery was well maintained meaning we didn't have to cut down grass to get to the 2 sites. Here's Grandma's site:



And here is Grandpa's site with Dad's and my shadows.



The only problem is, the mosquitoes went in a frenzy when they realized that for 5 minutes, they had new, imported blood - me!!! In the span of 5-8 min, I had over 15 bites. Itchy!!!

We then went back to town and wandered - all the beautiful open air markets and spices! I wish this is what I could see everyday...



It then started to pour rain, but thank goodness, well, at least for a little bit as it certainly cooled off the weather.



We went to the Sarawak Museum, then back to the hotel to get out of the returned hot, humid weather. No wonder the siesta exists - so hot in the early afternoon!!! At night, we went out for some seafood - sooooo tasty!!! Here they are before the frying pan (check out the size of those freshwater prawns!!!!):




And here's us before eating all the yumminess:



Je? You reading this? :D

Leavin', on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

OK, not really. I know when I'll have to be back to work. 2 weeks, baby. But 2 wonderful weeks of no work!!!! Yay!!!

So, thanks to the wonderful world of the internet and wireless connections, you'll get updated on this trip!

I landed in Singapore late Monday 4/27 after 17 hours total in air and after reading the first 3 Twilight novels (quite good, I'll save that for another blog) and another book, I was tired!!! Hong Kong security seemed confused by my epi-pen and Singapore was thermal scanning anyone for fever in concern of swine flu. I was a bit scared they would hone in on me, being from California and all, but reading the news, looks like New York is worse off!

We slept at the Airport Singapore Crowne Plaza - very modern and chic! - ate some cha siu gan lo mein for breakfast - yum! - then headed off for Johor Bahru to catch our flight for Kuching!

Je - this one's for you! I got to see the pretty airport flower wall! They got mad at me for taking pictures of the flowers; apparently, it's forbidden, so here is a so-so shot (but still so pretty!!):



We then got on the plane and before landing in Kuching, here is what we saw from the plane. Lots of silt upturned!



It was quite hot in Kuching and after cooling off in our hotel for a bit, we ventured off to look for sweets, shrimp chips (sorry je, no colorful ones!), and fruit. The fruit was so pretty...



To top off the lazy hot day, we had some dinner which, drumroll please, included the infamous pinwheels!!!! :D They sure were tasty. Dad thought they look starved and said that he would have ignored those pinwheels when he hunted them down to eat as a child. :)



I woke up this morning to the prayers - it was quite lovely and relaxing, I must say.