Tuen's Blog

I’ve been considering getting a four wheel drive vehicle for quite some time now; with a view to eventually going off road and to places in Victoria and other states where normal vehicles would not be able to go. Well, last Saturday, Tony decided to go test drive a BMW X5, which is a sort of ’soft roader’. It’s a 4 wheel drive, but is not meant for very rough terrain or climbing boulders and crossing rivers, but good enough for some off road driving and for pulling say a camper trailer or caravan. After the test drive, he decided to buy it. We were there together with them when the decision and purchase was made, and that sort of ‘inspired’ me to test drive the Prado. I’d test driven the X5 with my cousin, and even joked about buying one as well; but was met with a very interesting comment from him. Basically (insultingly) he felt that an X5 would be wasted on me because I could not appreciate the finer points of driving a superior car. To me, a car was a means of transportation, and I wasn’t too concerned about the ‘driving experience’. Well, he was right that to me a car was just a means of transportation. But a 4WD car was a slightly different proposition. It’s like my motorbike to me. The bike is not just a means of transport, like a car, but a vehicle on which I could enjoy riding on 2 wheels (or 3 in my case). So too, the 4WD would be a vehicle which I would enjoy driving off road. And that is the main reason why I decided to test drive the Prado instead of the X5. The Prado is a true off road machine, capable of tackling steep climbs and rough terrain and even some river crossings.

Well, the next day, we went to test drive the Prado (a 2nd hand model), and Tony came along as well. And just like him, we decided to purchase it. I am now waiting for delivery.

I’ve been spending the past few days reading up on 4w driving and looking up clubs which I could join. I shall be attending some of the club meetings and see where we go from there.

We could never have done this in Singapore…

On Monday, Ren’s playschool organised a visit to Chesterfield farm, a small farm not far from where we live. I think they cater specially to tourists and kids.

This is not the first time we brought Ren to a farm. The first time was when we visited the Lims in New Zealand, and Jean brought us to a farm which was quite a bit larger than Chesterfield.

Anyway, Ren had a good time with his schoolmates and because this was not his first time, he had no fear at all in approaching the animals to feed them.

There was also a short and interesting farm show, and it was the first time we saw a sheepdog in action rounding up sheep. It was really fascinating!

Some photos here. Video below:

Download Video

On Sunday night, Mary and I finally made use of the Village cinema gift voucher that our kids had given Mary for Mother’s day (or was it for her birthday, I forget).  We decided to try out the Gold Class cinema, which we had heard about but never tried before.  The movie was “Mao’s Last Dancer”, which was about a Chinese ballet dancer who defected to the United States.

The movie was pretty good, but what really impressed me was the “Gold Class” experience.  The seats were arranged in couples and were huge, comfortable and you could lower and raise the back and the foot rest so that it almost turned into a bed.  There was a table where you could eat snacks, put your cocktails or even have a full 3 course meal (extra cost of course).  There was a service button where you could press anytime during the show, and a wait staff will come to you and take your orders.

Wow!  I don’t think I will ever be satisfied with watching movies in an ordinary cinema after this.  It’s a pity the experience is so expensive.

I’ve finally completed and lodged our tax returns, one day before the submission deadine.  Hooray!

As I’ve written elsewhere on this blog, Australian tax returns, compared to Singapore ones, are a real pain in the butt.  But I must say that this year’s etax software has much clearer and better help and guidance as compared to previous years.

Let’s hope next year’s is even easier!

We attended Ian’s valedictory mass and dinner last night. Officially, it was Ian’s graduation and he is now no longer a student of St. Kevin’s, although he will still have to sit for his exams at the school. The mass and dinner went well and was much the same as Jie’s valedictory (click here). What was interesting this time around, was that the priest celebrating the mass, Fr. Gerarld Sullivan, was an old boy of St. Kevin’s who was there from 1931 to 1933!  He’s 93 years old today, but you couldn’t tell that from the way he celebrated mass and gave the sermon.

Also, Mary and I were calculating and figured out that if all goes to plan, we will still be attending a valedictory at St. Kevin’s in about 14 years’ time, when Ren graduates. I would be a doddering 61 year old by then! 

Some photos here.

I’ve finally completed my shoe cabinet for Mary, after 3.5 months of on and off work. I must say this has been a tough project, because of the size of the cabinet, which is generally larger than my equipment can handle comfortably. As a result there are a list of errors which I will detail in the page which describes the building process (click here).

Overall, I’m about 65% satisfied with the finished cabinet. The main error is that the cabinet depth is too shallow, because of the limited space available, and also because when I did initial measurements, I forgot to take into account the thickness of the rails. As a result, large shoes can’t sit properly and have to be sort of slanted and stacked in order to close the cabinet doors. Well, what’s hidden won’t bother too much I hope!

I learned a lot from the mistakes made though, and the next thing I build will hopefully have less errors. Mary’s quite happy with the final product and I guess that’s what matters.

Since it was the school hols, we decided to do something together as a family. Except for Wen, the rest of us had not been to Eureka Towers in the city, so we decided to make a family outing there. A good description of the day is given by Mary in her email to my parents…

… 

Today, the family (except for Yanjie who had to submit an assignment by today & then work in the evening & Gern also wanted to do her work)went up the Skydeck in Eureka Towers.  The building is 88 storeys high & is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere.  We took the train down, had lunch at Singapore Chom Chom before proceeding to the Skydeck.  The view up there was magnificent & before heading home, we stopped by The Pancake Parlour  for dessert & an early dinner.  All in, it was an enjoyable outing, with Ren enjoying the most…

Some photos can be found here.

Download Video

I found this story to be very sad, but inspiring:

http www.theage.com

I’ve just installed a new plug-in which should allow automatic cross posting between my Wordpress blog and my facebook account. I had previously resisted getting an account on facebook because I already published my own Wordpress blog, and didn’t want  to have to update another site. But the pressure to get a facebook account was quite significant because almost everyone I knew (and their dog) had a facebook account. I finally caved in and got a facebook account in part because I was trying to repair my daughter’s computer and needed facebook access to check her facebook home page, which was the site giving her problems.

This new plug-in solves my double posting issues. This is the first post that ought to be automatically cross posted to my facebook account.

Incidentally, my daughter ‘unfriended’ me soon after her system was repaired! 

I’m trying out a new theme, called “The Scenery”, with some minor modifications.

Comments anyone? Is it too slow?