Operation Overlord

Write to live, live to write.

AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY Tuesday, June 16, 2009

I'm back
On the flight I watched the Pink Panther two which was hilarious, I guess. I also watched the original Pink Panther but only managed to finish one hour of it before the flight ended.
The airport was...to put it nicely, not what we expected. I think my parents were expecting something Changi Airport standard, and let me tell you now I know why Changi Airport is the best in the world. I would give more details, but it wouldn't be polite.
When we began to drive to Tooyay, our first stop, we got lost and went around in circles until we stopped at Caltex and asked for directions. The directions we downloaded from Google were apparently bogus - for the first day, at least. We drove down the wrong bloody road for at least ten bloody minutes before asking some locals who set us on the right road. By the time we got to the Black Wattle Retreat, it was pitch dark and you could already see the stars. Mind you, it's winter there so five o'clock looks like eight. It was only six.
The owner (called Lynda) prepared a beautiful dinner for us. Carbonara with bacon and mushroom. Then we went to the absolutely delightful log cabin and watched Epic Movie.
Second day - great breakfast, set out for York, which is a delightful small historical town (great for me) and stayed in this quaint cottage called Robin's Welcome and watched Laurel and Hardy. Had a microwave dinner - lasagna for me, fried rice for mom and dad, fish for Jason.
Third day - the longest drive with four and a half odd hours to Albany. Albany rocks. We went to visit the gap and the natural bridge, but you should have seen the wind! It nearly blew Jason off his feet. And water was everywhere. Not rain water, but the wind was so strong it was blowing seawater into our faces. And the guy who had come up with us was sitting in his car chortling away.
So we went to Whale World and saw a real whaler ship, harpoons, a funny hologram video thinggum, whale skeletons, but no real whales, of course.
We found the motel after that in roughly one minute - turns out we were already at the correct place. Not as nice as those cottages, but okay.
Bought Spiderman 3 wii game for Jason and this WWII DVD Trivia for me at Toyworld. It was only fourteen dollars - mine, I mean. The poor salesgirl was kinda confused because she misread WWII as "wii" and thought there was a problem.
Fourth day - went to the Princess Royal Fortress! Bloody awesome. Artillery, AA guns, displays, they have everything there. And the caretaker was really nice to us, apparently because he saw that we were really interested and knew how to appreciate these things. He showed us a picture of one of the antique cannons firing not too long ago. They don't seal their guns, they just put a stopper on them. So they can still use it if war comes. And us? We seal them.
After that we drove to Denmark for pies (great pies) and then to Walpole, a really small town with one street and all the shops along that street. Stayed at a place called Bayside Villas - one sort of terrace house with everything there. I played my DVD trivia game (got most of it correct) while Jason played with the toy soldiers that come with it while my parents went shopping for another microwave dinner.
Fifth Day - From Walpole to Pemberton. Pemberton is the place of giant trees. Really, really big. We went to treetop walk and walked forty metres above the ground. And we found out the name of that blue bird seen all over the place - the Splendid Fairy Wren. Yay. Jason fell sick on the way and vomited when we reached Pemberton. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but the police have a suspicion it could be the Nachos. We went tree climbing at the Gloucester Tree and the Bicentennial Tree, visited the cascades (where sheep supposedly go to commit suicide - don't ask me how that happened. We were talking about it and suddenly this came up and everybody started to go baaaaaa...thud.) and went back to the Gloucester Motel where Jason vomited all over his shoes. We watched Doctor Dolittle - the original one - which my dad has been searching for for ages.
Sixth day - Margaret River. Beautiful place. We went to the Glass Pot Melting Studio where you get to watch real glass get blown and shaped, but there weren't any demonstrations on Sunday. Come back on Tuesday. Okay. SO we went to Xanadu Vineyard but there wasn't much there, just a heckuva lot of grapes. So we checked in.
Margaret River Hideaway is a fantastic place. Farmstay. Huge cottage, funny animals, your own backyard (though it's covered in poo). The owner even set up a mini football field for us complete with the small goals and the football. We fed the animals and I got pecked by the hens, bitten by the geese, and slobbered by the cows. Watched Trading Places, which is a funny comedy. Then again, comedies are meant to be funny.
Seventh day - went to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. One of the most dangerous capes in the world because this is where the Southern and Indian oceans meet and their currents clash together. We went on a tour of the lighthouse and let me tell you a story. One day the lighthouse keeper went outside to the balcony, but left the door leading back into the lighthouse open. What happens? His cat jumps out, perches itself onto the railing, and gets blown off by the wind which can reach up to 150mph or something like that. Lucky for it it landed in some trees and survived.
Eighth day - Back to the Melting Pot Glass Studio. We watched the glass melt, how it was shaped, and bought a paperweight worth $75 for $50. The owner let us have a discount 'cause we were the lucky first sale. We stopped at Busselton and walked the Busselton Jetty which is roughly 2.5? km long, but we only walked 500m because the wind was bloody strong and disturbing Jason. We visited the Big Swamp Wildlife Park next, and it was great. Got to feed the animals. The ducks were so bloody greedy. And the emus were bloody greedy too. My dad was a distance away from the emu, carrying the white bag where the food is, and suddenly the emu reaches its long neck out and rips the white bag in half. There goes half the food.
We also went into the aviary where I had a parrot sit on my shoulder for the first time. No, I didn't start singing Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. I moved the white bag into my other hand and the parrot crawled over me to get to the other shoulder. Intelligent chaps. We also met a parrot who says, "Hello", "Who's there" and "Bye bye". And I hand-fed a kangaroo. What was not so amusing was that it gripped my hand with both claws and scratched me. Then we went to Bunbury and stayed in the Austrian Chalet which is a nice place. One night in Bunbury, nothing much to do there I think. We bought Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and tried to watch it but the DVD player was wonky.
Ninth Day - On to Perth and we visited Kings Park - beautiful place, plenty of memorials, especially this big State Memorial which has the First World War and Second World War's battles inscribed on it. Gallipoli, Somme, El Alamein, Tobruk. Then we went to visit my dad's old university - The University of Western Australia - which hasn't changed much since he was there what, thirty years ago. Except for the parking which used to be free and now costs two dollars.
Then we went to Cottesloe, and couldn't find it, and we drove straight through it down all the way to Fremantle. So we backtracked, looking for stupid Eric Street, and found it. Ironically there was a big ERIC STREET on a signpost nearby. Stayed near the beach, went down and built a fortress while our parents went to take a walk. Had Fish and Chips for dinner and boy, you should have seen it. And eaten it. Mind you, I wouldn't have given you any. It was the best fish and chips I've ever tasted.
Tenth day - 11th of June now. (You won't believe how many times I've counted the days just to see whether I'm correct.)Today was the worst day. We went on a vintage train ride - that was okay, the conductor even had one of those machines that printed out your tickets - but then I dropped the camera. In the toilet. Then I switched it on while it was dripping wet. SHORT CIRCUIT! Thankfully all the pictures were saved, although I didn't know it at the time. Bloody upsetting. Then we went to Perth. I didn't like Perth. After all the beautiful big houses in the countryside, we get these cramped hotel rooms. Finally returned the car - bit sad to see it go after ten days with us - and walked to the mint museum. Nice place, lots of gold. Couldn't steal any, though. Went out for dinner and ended up eating KFC.
Eleventh day - Bought a new camera especially for the Fremantle trip. Rode a train down to Fremantle and visited the Maritime Museum which is pretty cool. And then the Army Museum - the best place we visited during this trip save the Fort. I loved it and I bet Jason did too. Outside were the mandatory artillery pieces, tanks, big guns, and Jason impressed everyone by identifying an M3 Grant from 500m away without looking at the sign, before doing that with the M3 Stuart next to it. Scary boy. Then we went in and all the caretakers (volunteers, probably) were very eager looking. I don't think they got a lot of visitors. We were the wrong type of visitors, though. They probably want interested but ignorant visitors so that they can give all sorts of information. We were interested and informed, so they couldn't tell us anything we didn't already know. Poor them.
Had lunch then went to the markets. Didn't buy anything there.
And then we went to Fremantle Prison. Boy, that place is cool. It would be pretty creepy by night. It's like a haunted house. You should've seen the defences put up to keep the prisoners in - walls studded with glass, barbed wire, gun towers. Only six people have ever escaped. It was used all the way until 1991 - can you imagine that? The prisoners were still using rusty buckets as toilets in 1991. The guide was very funny, but I can't exactly remember what he said.
We went home and ate dinner while our parents went shopping.
Twelfth day - Last day. Didn't do much. Just went and shopped, and bought Jason a new Tiger I for his birthday which was yesterday 15 June. Ate KFC for dinner again and squeezed in two hours of sleep because the flight was at 0000. At the airport, the flight got delayed and we sat at a bookshop reading books. I finished Raven's Gate in around half an hour. The plane still hadn't arrived yet. When it did it was around 1am.
On the flight back I slept for one hour, played who wants to be a millionaire for half an hour, watched this movie called Paper Moon which is an old (1973) movie but it's a really nice one, and finished up the Pink Panther.
Got back to Singapore at around six, ate breakfast, got home at around eight.
It was a fantastic holiday. And the first thing I did when I got home? Stubbed my toe on the chair. The nail broke off.
A great welcome home.

~Today in History~
1940: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Premier of Vichy France.

~Quote of the Day~
Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
-Winston Churchill. Eight 'never's in all. This guy loves them.

>>Forgotten by00:18