(I came i saw i…)

This post, is about the fears/phobias i have overcome, and the challenges i have conquered during my trip in Australia.

Keju and i like different things. i like shopping and erm, a relaxing walk in the park and erm… cheese? And he likes all the adventure stuff and maybe  throwing his life away. And so we had a couple of travel consultants from Australia  to prepare a specially tailored itinerary for the both of us, and we were absolutely impressed by how much research they have done to find out what we are like and what we like. And we were absolutely happy with the arrangement we are given.

So while Keju go do the flying fox thing, i will be treated to a spa and while he climbs the Sydney Bridge i will be going on a 3-hour exclusive shopping in the city! How perfect!

Except that it is not.

Even though i have mentioned in my profile that i am afraid of heights, and they have avoided most of the activities that involve me hanging mid-air with a string in my hand, there were a few things i couldn’t not do. Because it would be silly not to. (Well it would be sillier if i died of an exploded heart but i reckoned maybe it is worth dying for wtf.)

And i guess people on holiday are just more open to new ideas, and they give themselves that extra push.

Or they get pushed by people like Keju.

Onto the world’s steepest railway fml.

1. Katoomba Scenic Railway (Blue Mountain, NSW)

Katoomba is my fav place in NSW purely because of its amusing name. Don’t you think it sounds like some traditional tribal dance? Keju and I created this Katoomba dance that goes “Tumba tumba tumba (ka ka ka, ka ka ka) Tumba tumba tumba (ka ka ka, ka ka ka)”, but that’s another story altogether.

It is not called the Katoomba Scenic Railway for no reason but obviously it might not be that scenic for me cuz all i would be seeing is my own palms  in front of my eyes.

But i opened my eyes anyway.

And actually took some pictures. (or maybe i took them with my eyes closed. I can’t remember.)

Look at the arrow. It is that steep. It’s on the edge of a 200 metre cliff. It’s like a roller coaster on a REAL mountain.

And it comes to an abrupt stop like this. I kept having horrible thoughts that what if the train didn’t break on time O.o

But look at the scenery!!!! THE BLUE MOUNTAINS!

It is all worth dying for.

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2. Scenic Skyway (Blue Mountain, NSW)

Ok. I know you will laugh at me, but i am afraid of cable car. I really am.

I cannot comprehend the concept of a few thin lines (in relative to the great universe) supporting a metal box with fat people in it hanging across two mountains. I cannot.

So i always think that the strings will break and i will fall down. And as if holding my dear life tightly onto the rails inside the skyway helps a great deal, i refused to let go while Keju sneered at me liddis fml.

And there’s this glass panel on the floor that allows you to look underneath and admire the whole beautiful forest. I refused to step on it and the most i could do was sit by the side.

While Keju admire his jungle underneath lolol. Btw do you know that the green thingie beneath is called Man Lern? Keju likes his Man fern LOLOL.

(Spot the Mickey jeans? That’s me sitting by the side)

And i survived.

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3. Eagle Hang Gliding (Tasmania)

So Keju loved his flying fox thing at Hollybank (and i obviously loved my spa), and we came to the Tahune Forest. My lovely host Di from Tourism Tasmania said to me, no pressure, we can just watch him glide (and maybe fall into the jungle during the process). So i was relieved.

He acting macho and all.

(can’t help but digress) There were two little pugs!

WA LOOKS SO MASSIVE

But this one is like omfg cute! Why so different one!!!!!! And everytime i look at this picture i just can’t stop laughing.

Another pug. Father and son wtf.

So, he did his Eagle Hang Gliding (erm, without the pugs, in case you are wondering)

SCARY ANOT YOU TELL ME!

He just cheesappeared into this tiny dot into the jungle!

I WILL NEVER RISK MY LIFE AWAY LIKE THIS!

Except that maybe i would?

T___________T

Honestly, i did it 100% on my own will. Maybe i found some courage in the spirits of the jungle, whatever. I thought, hey, it looks manageable. I don’t think i will die. The river helps. The thought of dropping into the river is not as scary as falling 200 meters out of a cable car. Even though i can’t swim.

So yea, i said, “OKAY I WILL GO TOO!”

And before they finished cheering for my new found (and rapidly losing) courage, i freaked out.

But before i could properly freak out, i flew. lol.

Away. (And started to freak out properly)

and away.

and away….

(And cheesappeared into the jungle forever)

Just kidding.

I actually did it 3 times! By the second time, i was able to release my hands from the metal thingie i gripped tightly on, and even turned a little sideway to wave at my camera man.

Of course when i came back i received a big applause from everyone. (You have to know that i am really, REALLY afraid of height)

Honestly, it was actually fun. I think i don’t mind doing it again!!! 😀

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3. Tahune Forest AirWalk (Tasmania)

Challenge after challenge! So after flying on a giant kite, we had to walk on this bridge!!!

Ok not this, but…

THIS.

Nah. I give you a bigger picture and a better view of the universe.

Hmmm. I absolutely love all the caution signs that help freak you out before you even take your first step.

*takes deep breath*

*wobbly* Maybe i should just give up T_____________T

And you know what i said about pushing yourself or you will be pushed (die die both ways)? Keju found it amusing that i freaked out and i swear that he wanted to do something funny to me!!!!!! (Maybe like carry me and dangle me at the edge of the bridge or something)I SWEAR!!!  I COULD SEE IT IN HIS EYES! .

Luckily Michael from Tahune Airwalk was a total sweetheart.

He let me hold his arm and slowly walked me along the bridge (and promised me that he will throw Keju over if he attempts anything funny).

The final challenge came when i had to walk towards the end of the bridge to the look out point.

Ok this picture totally doesn’t justify how scary it was.

I COULD FEEL THE PLATFORM SWAYING WITH THE WIND.

I reckoned if my 62-year-old guide could almost skip and sing song on it, i’d better not lose out T_T

i made it to the big pillar (which is prolly the only thing supporting the bridge T___T), and that’s Keju mocking me T___T

Quickly but very slowly (if you know what i mean, but i don’t think you do) budged over the edge…

Grabbed a picture, and walked back. *sweats*

And i did it!

And the scenery?

It was all worth dying for.

Two times.

And this is my hero Michael.

After i walked back to the other side and felt secure, this is what they did.

THEY JUMPED LIKE IT WAS A TRAMPOLINE!!!!!!!

And that’s not the end. I had to walk across this thing called the “Swaying Bridge”. Self explanatory.

But it was easy.

🙂

I guess i’m slowly conquering my fear. 🙂

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4. Wine Tasting (Tasmania)

It may sound like the best thing on earth to you, but to someone who is hopeless at any type of alcohol like me, this was another challenge.

We arrived at Josef Chromy Wines, Tasmania’s very own estate grown wine. We were overlooking just an iceberg of the 61-hectare vineyard.

Our wine tasting menu.

We have ze… 2009 Riesling, which has a hint of lemon and lime with great length and acidity. Then we have ze…2008 pinot noir that has ze rich, wild raspberry characters… and of course we have ze… Gewurztraminer, with the two dot dot on top of the “u”…

Ok enough.

I am obviously flipping between my wordpress and picasa copying from the picture of the menu word by word. -_-

Look, i will be honest. This looks absolutely amazing but i have no idea how a chardonnay is different from a sauvignon blanc. And i don’t understand how anyone could describe a wine as “dry” when it is obviously wet wtf. (Ok i meant it as a joke.)

But i tried. (Sitting next to me is Josef Chromy’s grandson O.o, don’t try also kenot)

Unlike certain people who pretend that they are a wine connoisseur after having stayed in Australia for like, 5 days (deliberately dropping all the  wine names during blogger dinner, absolutely kenot tahan), i still can’t say that i know how to appreciate wine, but i tried.

It helps that they serve super yummy tasting plate.

LOOK! 😀 😀 😀

I may not know wine but i know my cheese. 😛

This Red Square (a Tasmanian specialty), was absolutely yummy. I almost fainted.

This is one of the 917231638 reasons why i gained 2.5KG.

By the way, i know my favorite wine already. It is ze Rose Sparkling. (I like it for bimbotic reason: it is pink.) If you happen to visit Josef Chromy, this is a must try. *connoisseur mode*

(I am serious)

5. Oyster (Freycinet, Tasmania)

Ok now you must be thinking, are you bloody kidding me? Oyster is a challenge? COME ON.

The Freycinet Marine Farm, serve super great value awesome seafood.

There was a litte mountain of….

Sea shells!!!!!!!

It is just that, unfortunately, i wasn’t too looking forward to it because i hate oyster. I mean, i still love my giant scallops and mussels, but i won’t touch the oyster.

Why? Let me tell you a sad little story.

I used to love Oyster. But i terminated my relationship with it, because I had a really horrible experience with Oyster in KL, and i had a really horrible food poisoning, and a really horrible phobia of oyster ever since. Sad right? I KNOW! One less enjoyment in life. FML indeed.

So to cut the story short, me being on holiday and wanna be adventurous and all that, i tried one of the oysters.

And then just like magic, i found myself eating another.

And another.

And another.

If the oysters weren’t gone in 5 minutes, i would be having yet another and another and so on and so forth.

I don’t know how to explain this, but in a seashell, let’s just say that the oysters were so fresh that they weren’t fishy at all.

And i am proud to say that

I FOUND NEW LOVE FOR OYSTER ALL OVER AGAIN.

unFML.

(It almost became an obsession nao. Maybe i should call my blog Oysterland.com )

And the mussels is don’t play play also. It was damn freaking yummy.

Daughter of husband and wife owner Giles and Julia Fisher (what a perfect last name!), who taught me how to differentiate a female and a male mussel! Super smart girl!

I am so so happy that we dropped by this place. 🙂

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Last but not cheese.

6. Sydney Tower

This, is the view from Sydney Tower.

Indoor.

So the ultimate challenge was, i have to do the skywalk OUTSIDE the tower (880 feet).

Will i do it?

Might as well.

Have to put on the Sky Walk costume, before they completely freak you out by making you sign your death paper and  hooking you up with thick harnesses and spend 30 minutes briefing you about safety.

Met up with a few readers (Jay Jay, Sam, Janice)

So we were all hooked to the rail and we all walked like prisoners with hand cuffs lol it was quite funny

The view

Picture stolen from Janice

HAHA they actually allowed me to keep my giant bow even though it’s really windy up there.

Glass panel again FML. I think i took this pic without looking down.

And they made an exception and allowed us to bring 3 cameras up there, hence the camwhore!

posting another

And another because these pix were taken while i was utterly freaked out and i think i did a good job camwhoring wtf.

But you see,  there’s actually a platform one level down so it wasn’t THAT scary after all. So if the glass really break (choi), you only drop one floor down la.

UNTIL.

Cathy (from Sydney Tower) told us that there was a surprise, and she pressed a button.

The glass panel we were standing on started expanding outwards and now we were actually standing right in the mid air in the center of Sydney night sky.

AND I HID.

(I almost wanted to use escape tricks i learnt from Prison Break, but thought the better of it)

In the end i forced myself to place a foot on the extended glass panel and snapped a picture (prolly with eyes closed too)

With Janice (i miss her alreadyyyyyyyyyyyyy)

And a group picture. HAHAHA look at my hair bow!!!!!! It blends into the night sky lololol

This picture is for Cathy’s boyfriend, Radius. Apparently he is a fan of Keju (dunno is fan of Cheesie anot T__T).

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END.

I have totally conquered my fear.

And I feel so brave nao.

( for having edited 100 pictures and blogged until 1:30AM even though i was sleepy since 3 hours ago T_______T)