Stephen, Pat and Abigail came to stay with us from 12th to 20th June. We really enjoyed their company and we brought them to various places.

On the very day of their arrival, they were invited to dinner by the Chongs, who were celebrating both Connie and Louie’s birthdays. Then on Sunday night, it was dinner at the Chias’ togther with Chongs and Kuangs. Then on Monday, we took the opportunity to visit Hanging Rock, a place which we ourselves had not been to before. The next evening, the Chuas’ treated us to dinner at Sakata-ya, which was previously known as Sakata and had just reopened at a new location. Over the next few days the Chuas spent time visiting some universities, schools and we also brought them to our favourite tea-place, Miss Marples, up in  Sassafras.

Before we knew it, Sunday arrived and it was time for them to depart. We had a great time together and we look forward to more visits from our friends in Singapore.

Photos can be found here.

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The party went very well and the kids had a great time. Mary was great at organising the games and Melissa and Wen helped lead the kids in the games too. The magic show didn’t go too bad either, from the feedback I received. It seems some of the kids were even inspired enough to want to become future magicians themselves!

Ren of course, was thrilled with the company and the presents he received. We had no regrets organising the party, but considering the amount of preparation we put into the party, and the amount of cleaning up after, I think it will be some years till his next big party! 

Oh we must express our thanks to Cecilia, an old friend of Mary’s with whom we recently met up again after many years, for baking Ren’s Ben Ten cake. It was really an excellent cake!

Photos can be found here.

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So we’ve been doing about 60 to 80 km each ride about once a week. Each member of the group (4 of us at present) had fallen at least once, and some more often, with the exception of myself (up till last Tuesday). In fact, Tony had even broken his collar bone in a rather nasty spill.

So last Tuesday, there I was, pretty smug in being the only one who had not fallen. I even recall some rides back when Frank told me it wasn’t a matter of if, but when, I would fall, and I had told him that “I’m pretty skilled, so I’m not so sure about that prediction”. Well Tuesday morning, Joo Ann was commenting about how he had damaged his cycle computer in a fall and how he did not want to get another one. I smugly quipped “Well, don’t fall so often”.  I was joking of course, but the man upstairs has his own brand of humour; because 2 mins later, I found myself sprawled on the ground, with some painful cuts and abrasions!

The whole thing was quite funny, but when something like that happens to you; it actually strengthens your faith in an almighty yet very personal God. Yes, I was joking about being the only one who hadn’t fallen, but deep down, there was some pride and arrogance about that fact too. So when He took me down a notch, it was actually quite a faith experience. And I realised that there was a lot of care taken in his ’strike’. I was hurt just enough to suffer some pain and to realise my arrogance, but not enough to cause serious injury or permanent damage, which could have easily happened as well!

The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

Respective birthday photos below:

Ming

Jie

Wen

Mary prepared tea and the ladies had a very good time.

In the classroom

Ren attended traffic school at Kew last week.

The kids started the day with a short lecture in the classroom, where they learnt some basic rules about cycling and walking on the streets. They also learnt how to put on their helmets properly and how to adjust and tighten them.

After that, it was off onto their bikes and a ride around the simulated streets and pedestrian walkways. I’m happy to say that Ren learnt to obey the lights and traffic signs and had a good time.

The route was set in the State Forest just south of Warburton.

We set off around 8.50am in the morning and reached Noojee town around 9.15am.

 From Noojee we went north into the forest. The tracks on this leg were quite easy and were mainly gravelled. After about 45 mins we exited the forest and proceeded for a short break at Warburton town. From there, we entered the forest again, this time travelling south and here the tracks were a bit more muddy and wet. There were some changes to the actual tracks compared to the map and we had to backtrack about 2 to 3 km at one point.

We reached Starlings Gap and had our lunch there. The picnic ground was really nice and the view was quite scenic. It was quite amazing to find such a lovely spot in the middle of the forest. Tony, Henry and I went off for a short walk along a forest trail, to try and find a fishing spot, but we realised that we were too high up in the ranges. Louie and Ren in the meantime were enjoying themselves playing with the hand held radios.

After lunch, we set off south again through the forest in search of a good fishing spot, but according to our resident expert Henry, there weren’t any along the way. 

So when we exited the forest, we decided to head for a stretch of the Yara river at a place called Doon Reserve, just west of Warburton town. We found a nice spot there and set up three lines, but unfortunately, the fish were just not biting that day. Still, we had a good time fishing, especially Louie and Ren.

All in, I thought it was quite an enjoyable outing, although feedback from my cousin and wife was that the drive through the forest was just too long. We had driven about 70km of forest tracks.  I think I agree with them, and will plan shorter off road drives for future trips!

More photos can be found here.

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Jeya enjoyed browsing through all the quaint shop houses at Sassafras and bought quite a few souvenir items. All too soon, the visit was over and we drove them to the airport for their flight back to Singapore.

Some photos can be found here.

On the 2nd day, we all drove to Cape Jervis and took the Sealink ferry to Penneshaw on Kangaroo island. We spent a day there, and saw the seals on Seal Bay. We also visited a bee farm and took a look at the inland sand dune on Kangaroo island. We weren’t able to do too much as we had to catch the ferry back to the mainland, and considering the cost of the ferry, we should really have stayed at least 3 days if we wanted to see everything on Kangaroo island and make the trip worthwhile. Well we plan to bring the rest of the family on a future trip and will definitely spend more days on this lovely island. The Prado was fully at home on the gravel and dirt tracks of the island.

On the third day, we did a bit of shopping and also visited an authentic German town called Hahndorf where we had a very nice lunch. And in the evening, we met up with Sr. Elizabeth and her mum, and we had a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Citi Zen Chinese restaurant.

We drove back on the 4th day, and again, we made quite good time.

Photos can be found here.

The story line was good, the songs chosen were lively and the dancing was really good. Some of the singers could have done better and were slightly off key, but considering that these were very difficult songs to sing, they could be forgiven.  Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Video recording was not allowed, so I had to record only the scenes where Wen was featured, and I did so surreptitiously, without being able to look through the viewfinder.

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