Thank god I finally made it. I did this post just for you, and for my friends who doesn't have a Facebook account, so that they can view the pictures here.
And speaking of Facebook, yes, I've yet to upload these pictures. The size of each picture is simply way too huge and it's taking forever to upload. So, I'll upload them when I'm patient enough to wait. Let's just say, when the time is right.
Well then, enjoy this entry!
P/s; Till now, I'm still having jet lags! And I miss Tasmania!
Note to self: Please wait for all the pictures to load first. This is a picture heavy entry!
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Day 1
Previously on a Monday, March 29, all of the band members were released early. We reported back to school in the bandroom at 1430 hours.
Prolly around 1600 hours or so, we were already at the airport. At 1945 hours, the plane departed from the airport.
That was our menu for the flight (as above) to Melbourne. Magnificient. And I almost puke at that very moment. Oh! Did you know?! BT sat beside me! Sweet niblets. I think he saw Andrew and my reaction the moment he was coming. He then said, "I know you want to refund your tickets after you found out I sit here, right? Don't worry, we can go through your parts throughout this journey, especially your timpani and bass clarinet part." Yeah right, I was ignoring him most of the time by watching some movies on the entertainment system.
I didn't really had a good sleep in the plane though. I was leaning against Andrew most of the time because I wanted to stay away from BT.
Day 2
Breakfast was... Fine. Well, what do you expect? It's plane food!
So once we reached Melbourne, we shopped for a bit during the transit before our next flight to Hobart, Tasmania.
A few hours later, we checked in and flew off from there!
Lunch wasn't that good. We had sandwiches and it was full of vegetables.
After lunch, we boarded our coaches and we went to Cadbury "Chocolate Factory"! We had to pay 4 bucks for the entry. But! We were given so many chocolate bars for free! I'm speaking of those huge ones by the way. I didn't expect myself to buy tons, and tonnnnnnnnns of chocolates too.
Headed to out hotel next, which is The Old Woolstore Apartment Hotel. I think we were the only one who've gotten the Two Bedroom Apartments. Yay!
I seriously had no idea what Amanda was up to at that point of time.
Yes, you're seeing double. This is a combination of mine, plus Eilen's! But majority of them were mine though.
Dinner was at some Chinese restaurant. I was separated from my section and was asked to sit with the Muslim and vegetarian students. It wasn't a bad dinner though, despite the sucky food. I got to know the younger ones and I was the oldest among all. But I got the privilege to take the food first since I'm the oldest! Yay!
That was my how my first day was like at Tasmania.
Day 3
Day started off with walking in the air via Tahune Airwalk. I kept yawning upteen times, as you know, nature wasn't my thing.
And this was where we had lunch at. As usual, sandwiches for lunch, followed by awesome platters. The ham and cheese sandwiches tasted so good.
Once we were done, we quickly hopped on into our coaches and rushed back to our hotel as we already late for the band exchange with AJC. There were traffic jams, thus causing us to have very limited free time. Changed into our band tee and headed down straightaway with our instruments.
We then had band practice which lasted for awhile due to time constraint.
Dinner was good. We had buffet at Pizza Hut! Can you actually believe it if I were to tell you that this buffet only costed AUD9.95? It is cheap indeed!
Day 4
We had band practice in the morning, which was for the Symphonic Band. Lunch was provided. And yes, we had sandwiches, like again. Well, what do you expect? It's Australia! We didn't had a peaceful lunch as they kept asking us to move our Percussion instruments here and there.
Right after lunch, we continued with band practice for the Wind Band. Ended prolly around 1645 hours, quickly packed our instruments in minutes and headed off back to our apartment hotel.
This time round, we had dinner at Mures! It was near Hotel Grand Chancellor.
Fish and Chips was tempting enough, but there was no chilli sauce! So I just ate it cum whatever. Eilen, Jan and I practically laughed throughout our dinner as we were disturbing Xueqi, the anti-saliva girl. Epic moment I tell you!
Gotten free ice-cream too. Cheers for that!
Camwhored for a bit before each of us headed for the shower.
Piyo (a.k.a Pigu) VS Hannah Montana. Who will win?
*drumroll*... HANNAH MONTANA! (DUH)
Day 5
Thursday was the full day tour around Tasmania. We started the day by going to Port Arthur!
Proceeded to Harbour Cruise, which offers a unique interpretation. The cooling wind was literally smacking right onto my face! But it was a good feeling though.
We learnt about Australia's richest heritages and the history on convict labour, and it's impressive architecture, delightful gardens and chilling prison facilities.
The souvenir store really earned a lot on that particular day. Our school and AJC was there on the same day! So, we pretty much bought the whole store, I think.
The wombat lovers.
Reiko, a.k.a Keiko, was on the newspaper! Or rather to say, our band was. But her picture was way bigger than the band's.
The Devils Kitchen!
Steamboat for dinner! It wasn't a really good one, but I still had a good time.
Went back to our apartment hotel, bathed and got changed, then we reported at Wei Xiang's room to sing through our parts. Wind band was first, followed by Symphonic Band.
Day 6
It was finally our big day, our competition day that is! It was held at Hotel Grand Chancellor which is nearby to our apartment hotel. The Symphonic Band (Sec 2s-3s, but Sec2s-5s for Percussion) had it first, in the morning. We then had Subway for lunch.
Results? We've emerged second placing!
For the Wind Band, we were the last one to perform so that was why we had a longer break. But the disadvantage was, we weren't able to watch other bands' performances. We were then called to report at Wei Xiang's room so as to sing through our parts at the very last minute. Once we were done, we headed back to Hotel Grand Chancellor with our instruments.
Great to know that we emerged third place for this. And also, first place for our marching piece!
Dinner was held in our apartment hotel's ballroom. I finally got to eat rice, after so long! Together along with... Beef!
Disgusted by this? Oh well, Stanley did that.
Throughout the dinner, Stanley was making a fool out of himself. He took a plate full of pineapples! And what was that for you ask me? To flush down his "baby" that was in his tummy all along! He even asked the waitress whether he was thin or not. That made the whole section laugh continuously and not let us eat our dinner peacefully. What a junior we have.
So, before we leave from the ballroom, we collected out Wind Band photograph that was taken earlier on. Another 12 bucks gone.
And this is the Symphonic Band's.
Poor Stanley.
Day 7
It was Easter Sunday! Each rooms were given a box of chocolate eggs from the hotel management.
Day started off having to watch the Open Brass Bands at Hotel Grand Chancellor. Can you imagine watching brass bands early in the morning?! I know right. I was snoozing halfway. And Jan has a nice nap on my shoulder, leaving her saliva on my outwear!
After about 4 hours, it ended and we headed to Bonorong Wildlife Centre next.
Had lunch there as well. And yeah, I bet you've guessed what we had for lunch, don't you?
Cute animals we have in this world.
Headed back to our hotel apartment to have dinner in the ballroom. Apart from the buffet we had, both BT and De Souza cooked spaghetti for us! Weird, but true. It wasn't that good, not bad. So I shall say it was... Just fine.
Gotten snacks from the nearest convenient store.
Then, we went to Hotel Grand Chancellor, again, to watch the Gala Concert which was held at Federation Concert Hall.
The concert last till midnight. Rushed back and we started packing our luggage the moment we stepped into our room. Showered before going to bed. Everything was done right before it was 0100 hours.
Day 8
Had a last minute shopping of souvenirs at Hobart Airport.
Journey to Sydney was only a few hours. My special meal consist of chicken sandwiches, which was for breakfast. But I wanted the ham and cheese sandwiches instead!
So once we reached Sydney Airport, I was tempted to shop again, another last minute shopping that is. Apparently, we must go to the International Airport instead, which is a huge one. Walked rounds and rounds around the airport and gotten many last minute souvenirs and gifts, be it for friends, families or myself.
We went into this store and Xueqi spotted this drumstick pencil! Without hesitation, each of us bought it. It's really cute, I swear!
Walked around a couple of rounds. Reported back at our meeting point and found out that our flight was delayed by about 2 hours? I supposed. So, we had prolly around another 2 hours to walk around. Instead, we had a meal each at McDonald's. Trust me, we were all famished from all the walking.
When it was time, we reported back and it was time to check in. Good to know that my whole row was Caucasians, and I was the only one there, with no other band members sitting on the same row as me. I like.
Basically, throughout the flight, it was pretty much an enjoyable one compared to the rest of them, eventhough I had no one to talk to. I played games on the entertainment system, watched Just For Laughs, which I almost laughed out loud. Not forgetting, Hannah Montana, Mr Bean, The Lovely Bones, Avatar and a couple lot more. Most of the time, I was occupied by these and without knowing, we've already landed in Singapore, which was at midnight, on a Tuesday!
Day 9
Headed back to school. Good thing was, we need not bring back all of our instruments back into the bandroom, yet. Instead, we've got to privilege to put it in the P.E room instead.
My parents picked me up. Bought my supper from McDonald's and then it was home sweet home!
Went online for an hour or so, washed up and slept throughout the day! No school for us on Tuesday as we were excused! Oh yippee.
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