Sunday, March 25, 2007

What i did for the weekend- i FLEW!

Saturday, 0630 hours. We woke up to go to Margaret River, north of Perth, which is 6 hours drive away.

Preparation, calculations.
Waiting, it is reeeally cold that morning!!

Doing instrument checks, fuel and all that boring stuff.

He seems more worried than me in taking off.

Normal people drive 6 hours, we fly in 1.5 hours. How do pilots know their way up in the air? There aren't road signs...its based on calculations and a keen eye. On other nights, i had to help the boyfriend colour landmarks on his map before he laminates the map. That is how a pilot notes his location. It aint easy though, when everything from 2000 feet above looks the same!

Margaret River's air field which we landed in. Super deserted, i even pee in the mobile toilet without bothering to close the door! The door is full of cobwebs and closing it will make it even smaller to pee in. So my head was stuck out of the door, while i pee.

I saw wild kangaroos and wild emus crossing the roads!

We had NO planning for this day trip. It was on Friday that the boyfriend told me he booked the plane for Saturday and we are flying to Margaret River. Upon arrival, i took charge being a tour guide. So i hired us a 4WD Suzuki to take us around. Its more worth it than getting a cab to taxi us around. And there is absolutely NO public transport in this countryside.

And so, i became the tour guide and navigator on site. I did a pretty good job considering i had no prior preparation. Although, i fell asleep a couple of times during the car ride when i was supposed to be navigating.

The winery has rose gardens and we were the only two people who walked on the beautiful grass because we thought it was faster to make way to the restuarant. And yes, we got stared at.


The boyfriend can't drink. He has to drive (it was a manual jeep, i cant drive), AND fly. It was white wine i ordered, but nothing spectacular. Or perhaps i wasnt the wine conisseur.

I ordered for him RABBIT's meat with macademia pasta!! Adventurous mah.

While i had caramelised sze chuan beef fillet with crushed pumpkins and pistachios. Hahahaa...

The car rental guy gave us the suggestion to head to Hamelin Bay to see Steve Irwin's killer. Stingrays!!! A school of them, just feet away from the shore! Its so exciting to see, because they are huge!! And they are actually tame. They swim so near the shore to get fed. I wonder which part of the stingray that we usually eat.


Then we visited the chocolate and cheese factories and ate lots of free samples!! Didn't buy anything, although i thought of. Being very typical tourist. A pity we didnt had time to see the nuts and cereal factory and the organic fruit and vegetables farm (all was sold out by the time we got there).



And so, as i thought of my mother..i bought her favourite carrot cake. It looks yucky here, because the cream on the side has melted, but it was really yummy.

And as we leave Margaret River and head back to the city, the sun sets. Just staring out of the window made me marvel at God's creations and it was a geography lesson! All the meanders, plateus and trotting farm animals.

How to scoop out an avacado. It will be easier if it is ripe. Which means soft. And how to tell? You can push the part that the stem usually is, if u press it down, the stem pops up, it means its ripe.


Then cut around, spilt into half, use the knife to wedge out the core. and Use a spoon, dig into the rounded part and the skin should come off easily!

Then slice as desired. So now, mum's avacado salads should look nicer.


Then nectar, yogurt, soy milk and avacado = milkshake!

Vietnamse rolls...oil free!! I made them.

The mini steamboat i brought over was finally put to use.

2 comments:

RaGe FuRy said...

Yay! Learn more dishes! So there will be variation at home... LOL

Da Niu said...

oh man!! you are having TOO much fun wooman!! Grrrr... Car... Plane... Food... What a dream...

-dan-