Jia Huey and Kean Chern

Wine harvest festival

2009-04-03T23:05:00.000-07:00

We went to 2 vineyard (Pialligo and Mt. Majura) near Canberra (about 15min from Canberra).

There was an event at Pialligo Vineyard at 10am - Grapes picking and Grapes stomping.

We went early to take a tour at the vineyard.

The grapes in the photos are cabernet sauvignon. It tasted very sweet.

Video of JiaHuey eating fresh grapes on the spot... hahahaha... It was sweet and juicy.

Photos of Carbonet Sauvignon - grapes for making red wine

Workers were busy picking grapes box by box while we were busy taking photos...

View of Pialligo Vineyard

The Event started!!!!!!
Each of us took a bucket, our aim is to fill up the 2 buckets - Handpick riped grapes. :)
See Videos below:

There were some unriped grapes as well which looked very beatiful..

Two full bucket of fresh grapes that we picked.. :) It was a great harvest. We managed to fill our buckets by picking grapes from 2 or 3 trees.

We carried the 2 buckets along the path back for the stomping event.

We poured the 2 bucket of grapes in to a big container for stomping.

Both of us took off our shoes,
rinsed our leg (they provided a bucket of water),
step into the container
and
started to stomp the grapes...

It is really a cool experience, stepping on the freshly picked grapes. Short video of grapes stomping:

After we got out of the container. Unexpectedly, the vineyard owner asked us to drink the fresh grapes juice (the 1 we stompped) ... I thought she was kidding.. but she took out cups for us...

OOOoooooo NOooooooooooo....... It was really like the TV program "fear factor"

End up,... We DRANK IT!!!!!! See the Video of 2 of us drinking it.. hahaha... :)

It was DISGUSTING!!!.... But infact.. it tasted good. No machine-squeezed fruit juice can beat it. KC drank twice.... hahahaha... But he feel stomache after that..
hm... i think it is psycological effect, because i am fine.... hehe...

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We went to next wineyard after the event finished - Mt Majura wineyard.

We bought a lunch hamper and had our lunch there.

After lunch, We went for a wineyard GUMBOOT Tour.

We had to wear the gumboot provided by the wineyard to prevent bugs that might destroy the plant.

KC is the 1 who chose the pink color boot. Not me!!! hahaha.....

All the grapes trees were covered by net to prevent Birds from eating.

But we saw some birds were trapped in the net.. haha...

We saw different type of grapes... Pinot Noir, Riesling, cabernet sauvignon and so on...

We saw alot of spiders 'hanging on air' at the middle of the path between 2 rows of grapes plant.. We nearly crashed them.

It was really fun to join the harvest festival at the wineyard in Canberra. :) And suprisingly, it only took us 15min to get to the destination. We should go there more often.. hehehe... :)

Beijing - The Great Wall

2008-11-30T23:36:00.000-08:00

Mutianyu 慕田峪 is a section of the Great Wall in China located in Huairou County 70km northeast of Beijing, about 1.5 hour driving distance from Beijing.

The Mutianyu Great Wall has the largest construction scale and best quality among all sections of Great Wall.

We hired a taxi there and took cable car to get straight to the great wall.

we walk to the left for few KM and turns into a very steep climb to its highest point.

The views from this section were really amazing!

Built mainly with granite, the wall is 7-8 meters high and the top is 4-5 meters wide.

Compared with other sections of Great Wall, Mutianyu Great Wall possesses unique characteristics in its construction

There are total 22 watchtowers on this 2,250-meter-long great wall section.

We put our ear to the wall, listened to the shouting of million of workers who had dead while building this wall.. :p
KC did it the funny way hahaha...

The steepest part of the great wall.

It was quite scary to look back while walking up the steep staircase..

The view is amazing when you get up there.. There are villages at the inward of great wall.

Another side of great wall is the mountains

2 Videos we captured:

We climbed up to 1 of the tower. It is quite hard to find the entrance.. :) The broken staircase is quite steep as well.

Both the outer and inner parapets are crenelated with merlons, so that shots could be fired at the enemy on both sides - a feature very rare on other parts of the Great Wall.

Some parapets are saw- tooth shaped instead of the regular rectangular form.

Below the parapets, there are square embrasures the top of which are designed in an arc structure, different from the traditional round embrasures.

It is used by soldiers to shot at the besiegers.

We brought some cookies, biscuits and fruits we bought a day b4 at Beijing local supermarket for lunch there. :)

We found a section with best great wall view, sit down and had our lunch while enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Another part of the great wall, leaves are red or yellow, touching the mountain tops with gold.

This gave us a totally different feeling of the great wall compare to the previous view.

Mutianyu is less crowded, so we managed to enjoy the scenery and capture a lot of nice photos.

Treking along the great wall towards the toboggan area, trees dress the hillside green at this part of great wall.

This section of great wall were built mainly with granite, the wall is 7-8 meters high

We took wheeled toboggan ride down from the wall on a winding metal track to the foot of the wall. It was exciting!!

We really enjoyed the descent by toboggan which rounded off an amazing and memorable experience.

We bought some dried fruit from the market at the foot of the wall before going back to hotel.

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Beijing - Summer Palace

2008-11-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

We had been to Beijing from 1Nov to 7 Nov 2008. KC represented his school to promote ANU at University of beijing. We took the oportunity to tour Beijing together. :) Our first trip overseas together.

The Summer Palace 颐和园 is the largest and best preserved imperial garden in China. The Summer Palace is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill 万寿山(60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake 昆明湖 .

Before entering Summer Palace, we had our early lunch at a noodel stall in front of the Summer Palace.
The noodle called 刀削面. The noodle's texture is same as Pan Mee in Malaysia.

The gardent can be historically divided into 3 parts, namely : administration, residence and scenery browsing area.

The administraion area, taking in the Halls of Benevolence and Longevity 仁寿殿 as its principal part

This is the place where the Qing dynasty's dowager empress CiXi dealt with state affairs and received officials.

You'll find alot of bronze statues of dragon and phoenix in front of each important building.

This photo was taken right in front of Halls of Benevolence and Longevity 仁寿殿

Glasses were put on at each door of the main building to avoid tourist from entering. It is very hard to see through since they didn't put on light inside.

Below were what we saw through glasses.

There are alot of Holes at the lower part of each building.

Firewood was burned to keep the floor of the building warm during winter time.

We spent alot of time slowly enjoying the architecture of the buildings and materials which were used to build the buildings.

The residence area mainly consists of the Hall of Jade Billows玉澜堂, the Garden of Virtue and Harmony德和园, and the Hall of Joyful Longevity乐寿堂.

Garden of Virtue and Harmony 德和园 was designed as a threatre for the Empress Dowager CiXi, and consists of a theater building, and two halls, Yiledian(Hall of Nartured Joy) and Qingshantang(Hall of Celebrating Benevolence)

This is the three storey theater buidling 大戏楼. There was performance on the day.

Take a look at the video below:

The 2 halls were used as exibition rooms. You might be interested to know how Cixi looks like. :p
All Pictures below are the original photos which were taken during Qing dinasty.

Kunming Lake 昆明湖 and Longevity Hill 万寿山 form the scenery browsing area.

From the photo, you may see Tower of Buddhist Incense 佛香阁.

The Long Corridor (Changlang), 728 meters (796 yards) in length, is the longest of its kind not only in China but also in the world.

The corridor wanders westward from the Court Area, along the north bank of the Kunming Lake, at the foot of the Longevity Hill.

We walk all the way to Tower of Buddhist Incense 佛香阁.

Below are the view From the Tower area.

We walked all the way to the back of the Hill to Suzhou Market street 苏州街.
The Summer Palace is simply too big and we lost our way to get to Suzhou Market Street.

Luckily we met an old uncle aged around 70. He brought us to the market. Along the way, he kept telling us the history behind each building in Summer Palace.

The Suzhou Market Street (Suzhoujie), located behind Longevity Hill.

Suzhou Market Street 苏州街 was built originally during the reign of Emperor Qianglong to give the emperor and his empress and concubines the experience of shopping in the Water Town in Su Zhou.

The Market is great fun, because the lake serves as the street with the stalls and shops on its banks.

It has all the features of other market streets in Suzhou, a famous 'Water Town' in China.

We had our dinner at SuZhou street and enjoy the scenery and atmosphere there while having our dinner.

We also went to see Marble boat before going back to hotel.

Summer Palace is a great place to go. But you need to be very fit because you'll need to walk alot. haha.... :p

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Kangaroos Fighting - close up!!

2008-10-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

This is the house we stay in Canberra. There are
bushes beside the house and a family of kangaroo are believe to stay in this particular bush.

We often jog along the path beside the house. Hence, we always see THEM --> Kangaroos!!

In fact, i dont dare to go near the kangaroos, but KC always ask me to go closer.
Video below was so interesting, KC was so scared while taking the video because the kangaroo seems to coming toward us... hahaha... :p
I like this video so much!!!!

Another Saturday, the family of kangaroo went out of the bush... resting right beside the path we used to jog, in fact was right beside our house....

This Video took right beside the house we stay. Well, this prove that KC was not lying... hehehe.... a lot of ppl dont believe that we saw kangaroos beside our house.. haha..

We went closer to capture the video.. :) this video last about 1 min plus. If your connection is slow, just forget about it.. it basically shows how near the kangaroos were gathered near our house.

And we are so lucky to see kangaroos fighting,.. but KC shouted too loud "Tendang Dia!!" which means "Kick him" until the kangaroo stop fighting and looking at us.. hehe... Somehow, if you see clearly in the video, the timing of KC shouting "Tendang Dia" is perfect with the actual kick... Wow!! It was amazing!! This 1 must see!!!

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Floriade Trip

2008-10-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Floriade is the Australian's celebration of Spring. This yearly event last for 1 month.

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Wild Kangaroo

2008-10-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

Guess what we saw nearby our house?

There were a family of kangaroos gathered at the bush right beside our house.
KC normally take that path to catch a bus to ANU.

We captured some video too... to prove that KC is not lying.. hahaa... we really can see wild kangaroo nearby our house... :)

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

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Australian dinner and Fruit Cocktail

2008-09-10T02:55:00.000-07:00

This is an australian style dinner
- Roasted dinner, steamed broccoli and grilled lamb chop served with red wine.

We roasted phumkin, zucchini and sweet potatoes.

We even bought ready-made mint sauce to serve with lamb chop.

It was really delicious.. Yummy..Yummy... :)

After the dinner.....
We were having fruit cocktail as dessert.

Strawberries and grapes were cut into cube size - easier to be served.

I mixed honey with lemon and a small cup of orange juice to make the cocktail.

It was really enjoyable having so many fruits as dessert.

Wuahahahaha......... :p

Chocolate Fondue

2008-09-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

It was really enjoyable to have chocolate Fondue as dessert after dinner.. :)

We bought this Fondue set at the first week i came Canberra. We had been looking for it for a long time and finally we got it at a kitchenware store in Canberra Market.

Fondue is very easy to prepare. With a little flame underneath it, the chocolate will keep nice and warm, and melted much longer.

We prepare stawberries, bite size bananas and wheat biscuit to be dipped into melt chocolate.

With the lovely Fondoe set we can enjoy the simple play of dipping and eating.

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Trip to Snowy Mountains

2008-08-28T17:09:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful sunny day on 24th August 08, my husband and i went to the Snowy Mountains for a 2 days trip. Snowy Mountains is a region that covers a wide area of the highest mountain ranges in Australia. We drove from canberra to Jindabyne, the gate way to snowfield and ski resorts.

We prepared sandwich for lunch on the night before we departed.
We woke up at 6.30pm, & departed at 7.30am after breakfast.
It took us 3 hours to reach Jindabyne.
We took pictures of the beautiful scenery along the way to Cooma.
In the picture, that's the car we own, Toyota Camry. This is our first time driving so far using this car.. :)

We reached Jindabyne at 10.30am. After renting our equiptments (skis, ski poll and ski boot), we straight away drove to Perisher Ski Tube Center. Skitube is a convenient and innovative train ride from Bullocks Flat to Perisher Valley and then another 7 minutes to Blue Cow Mountain.

Our destination is Blue Cow Mountain which is more suitable for beginners. The ski equipments were really heavy, and we had to take it all the way up to Blue Cow Mountain.
We attended a 2.5 hours beginner class there.
We put ski boots on our feet and speed through the cold while working every muscle in our bodies.
After we tried going down-slope a few times, we became more confident and tried going faster. When we did that, we fell a few times and almost sprained our ankle.

It is really a tiring sport, my hand and leg muscles sore after the skiing activity. haha... Make sure you are fit enough to join this activity.

**********25th August 2008**********

We stayed at Jindabyne LakeView Hotel. It was a freezing cold night. We tried to go out to enjoy beautiful clear night stars, but it was really too cold. See how i wear the next day morning... :)

This is a lake view hotel. There is a walking path surrounding the lake right behind the hotel we stayed. Lake Jindabyne is a man-made lake on the snowy river on the eastern slopes of the Snowy mountain in Southern New South Wales.

The lake is very calm in the morning.. we felt uncomfortable when disturbing the water surface, it gave us a feeling as if monsters would come out from the water or the mist to grab us... hahaha...

Guess what we saw? A frosty spider web.. it's awesome.
hahahaha... :)

We went to the Gaden Trout Hatchery, a centre for breeding and rearing of cold-water sport fish. The hatchery lies along Thredbo River near Jindabyne on Australia’s Snowy Mountains. Unfornutely, the hatchery is closed on Monday.

Suprisingly, we found picnic area nearby, and we decided to have our lunch there. KC was so excited as this is his first time seeing wild fishes in river ever since he came to Australia for his studies. There are alot of trout fishes in Thredbo river.
Lake Jindabyne has the best trout fishing waters on mainland Australia. He took off his shoes and sock, stand inside the shallow river. The water is freezing cold, he cant even stand for half a minute and i was not fast enough to capture that moment.
Here is the video after he jumped out from the water.

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We saw a flock of sheeps crossing the road when we drove towards crackenback Lake resort.

The resort is surrounded by the spectacular Snowy Mountains. Beautiful scenary was captured here. :)

We started our journey back to Canberra after a short coffee break at Gloria Jeans's cafe in Jindebyne town center.
On our way back, we were attracted by blossoms of peach tree. That picture was captured beside a Petrol station. :)

We really had an excellent time there. I am glad that everything went smoothly although we dint plan ahead. This is really an unforgettable snowy mountains trip. Cheers!!

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