Saturday, March 26, 2011

Last day of conference, Manly Beach & The Congress Party




Hello again,

Wednesday was the last day of the APAO conference (for me at least), and I decided to stay in for the whole morning sessions. The day was sunny & beautiful, and I decided to wear my new orange dress that I bought 2 days before I left Malaysia for Sydney.

The appeal and temptation of taking a stroll under the shining sun was proven to be too much to me that I walked out of an orbital injury lecture at 12 noon sharp. I knew there were only half hour left for the lecture, but hey, life's too short to be stuck in a lecture hall :)

I walked down to the exhibition hall, took a look at my digital posters, then a quick lunch (which was far from appetizing), then walked to the Darling Harbour


I took a tour bus to the Manly Beach which cost me AUD$45 but totally worth every penny. I met a few nice Malaysian on the tour, gave them a few tips on shopping in Sydney & took a few photos with them

The bus stopped at Killibiri, where we had an oppoturnity to take photo of the 2 famous Sydney landmarks from across the channel.


Then off to a vintage point where we could see the whole of Sydney Harbour, the blue ocean with specks of white which were hundreds of sailboats, yachts & ferries.


Next off to The Arabanoo National Park, which was named after an auborgine man who was abducted by the European man, for them to learn about his culture. To me it was a cruel act even though the intention was fair, as the man was chained to his foot & was forcefully dressed in European outfit. Even though Arabanoo adapted well to the life he was forced into, he eventually died of smallpox as he was not vaccinated & he contracted the disease from one of the European man who abducted him



I got a few nice photo shots here as well, thanks to a new friend called Lulu from Romania & his gorgeous Indonesian girlfriend.


We stopped at the Freshwater Beach which was the final stop before we reached the Manly beach. Freshwater beach was the first place where surfing started, and it was known as the birthplace of surfing


The Manly beach was totally awesome, with a lot of people just lazying under the sun & surfing, with white sandy beaches & full packed of friendly Aussie, who was very helpful in taking few shots of myself.

Shopping isn't too bad here as well, and the fish & chips tasted superfine, what with the "panoramic view" of the beach, and the surfers of course ;)

I took a ferry back to the city from the Manly Wharf, and got one of the most amazing view of Sydney Harbour, with the sailboats at sunset. The only thing missing from the picture-perfect view was my other half... (yes I do think of him all the time even though I was having so much fun on my own)


Straight from the Circular Quay, I took a cab to the Fox Studio in Moore's Park, stopping by on the way to pick up my friends Faizal & Hajar, to go our Congress Party. To our surprise, we were welcomed by a few man in traditional Singkh outfit, complete with their "banggara". The view in the hall was just out of this world! There were snakes, koala, plenty of drinks & endless stalls of cuisine from all over the world! South-east Asian, Japanese, Chinese, Aussie, Indian.... the list just go on & on.. and the food was fantastic!


There were entertainment all through the night with dancers from India, Bali, China, Ireland & there were models walking around in pretty impressive dresses, including a table-for-a gown, serving calamaris!


The night ends on a high note with some Irish dance and by the time we reached Darling Harbour, we were so ecstatic that we couldn't stop laughing while taking photos of the beautiful Darling Harbour by the nightlights. Eventful day is just not the word to describe my day! It was fan-freakin'-tastic!


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