The Ride Of My Life!

I signed up for the Great Ocean Road ride since last October to kick start some training when here but still feeling a bit slack. Only Adam, my Aussie classmate is sieow enough to join me in the 145km ride.


We met in Melbourne and drove down to Torquay (start point) in the middle of the night. Students = Poor. So we saved on our accommodation and slept in the car park instead...together with our two bikes of course.


I must say it wasn't the best sleep that night. However it was a welcoming sight when the sun rises.


My 'partner in crime' and me ready for the long ride ahead...until we realised that we did not plan for breakfast!


The organisers were sending out bush fire warnings the whole week prior to the ride and the temperature was ranging from 38 to 40 degrees. But thank God it turned out all good and cool that whole day. The turn out was about 3000 riders in different shapes and sizes.


And of course its a smart choice to draft behind the bigger ones...


Oh ya...remember the part that we did not have breakfast before the ride? After close to 70km into the ride, we beh tahan any more and stopped over at a cafe to get some food. I found out that we were not the only ones.


This is the how the elevation of the whole ride looks like. So imagine a really heavy Aussie breakfast got into my stomach just at the 70 km mark...can guess what happened next!


Going down after that big climb was thrilling and scary. Its like going down 20 times the length of South Buona Vista Road (near NUH) on a bike doing close to 60kmh. Riders were breaking so hard that you can smell burning rubber from the breaks!


Its great feeling once I got to the sea. I think I will be able to do 145km comfortably if it is back home where its all flat but the hills here really killed me. I drafted Adam for the last 20km. I never felt so siong after a bike ride before and the thought of never to ride again actually crossed my mind! I can't put it in any better words than this:
"I am glad I did it, partly because it was well worth it, and chiefly because I shall never have to do it again."- Mark Twain

Back To The River

Yet another trip earlier this month. It was to Lake Eldon, Goulburn River to do some Risk Assessment Management (RAMs) in water activities such as canoeing and white water rafting. Since the drought, the water level of the lake has been low. This is about 20 percent of its full capacity.


We canoed, played some water games and did some group management scenarios.


Sometimes its not easy to tell the difference between lecturers and students. Here is Dingers acting cute and to think that he is 60!


Time to get the white water experience in...


We were trying to surf in the rapid...not so easy with a raft. We flipped a couple of times trying to stay in it. As a result, one of my big size ang moh classmates landed on me, sending me underwater and I ended up with a bloody mouth. Wasted! No photo of that!


Sean (one of the lecturers) showing how its done with a Caption canoe. With great ease...


As usual, you get more people watching than people in boats. The water still gets rather cold cos it runs down from the mountains.


The other highlight of the trip was to drive the uni's mini-bus towing a trailer behind. Got the hang of it after a while but it gets tricky when it comes to reversing. At first most of the ang mohs ran to the other bus cos they don't trust the Asian on the wheel. Too bad! They got to get use to seeing me driving them around more in future cos they are too young and I am now a official uni bus driver on trips!

This Is Arapiles

Welcome to my classroom at Mt Arapiles. This semester, Rock Environments is one of the units I am doing. What is it all about? Simple....its all about climbing! During this trip, we were getting used to doing traditional climbing where we place our own protection as we climb...gets a bit more technical compared to sports climbing back home.


"The Organ Pipes" is a popular spot for all climbers who visit the area. Mostly single and double pitches from grade seven to 21 which is a 6b+ under french grading.


After a couple of days of intro climbs, we were told to pair up and and go climb on our own. Rachel and me chose this climb called Arachnus which goes up four pitches.


We took turns to lead and second. Here is the start of her turn to lead on the third pitch.


The view from 110 meters up and after three hours. Look down carefully, you can see my classmates having lunch after their first pitch...slackers!


Here I am after another successful accent. The wind chill makes it cold even though it looks hot. Can't say the same for the climber...ha!


We will have to do more climbing on our own after this trip to clock in more experience and that will be part of our assessment for this unit. That means the more I climb, the better grades I get! Shiok man!

Settling Down...

It has been almost a month and I am still having issues with my new place that are not settled. It doesn't help when my trips this semester are coming in thick and fast. The good thing is that I am really occupied and time is passing really fast now. The bad thing is I don't have any internet connection at my place and have to do frequent runs to the uni library when I am free to get online...life always gets interesting when I am here...


'A compass on a plaque looks good but thats not what a compass is built for' -Daniel Goh
Sorry, only ex-OBS staff who got one of these will only understand.


So when my housemate came back, we started shifting all our stuff to the new place. Can see that we have limited space in my Deawoo. So the bulkier stuff like mattresses and tables have to go up on the roof... pretty fun driving around with heaps of things on top of the car!


Here is the simple bouldering wall in school. I miss the routine Tuesdays climbing sessions back home. So I try to climb here every Tuesdays...usually alone.


Went down to Lake Eppalock one of those days before uni started with some church people to have a simple barbecue and to check out how much water was left in the lake... more like puddle to me.


Here they are... the Koreans, Vietnamese, PRC and the Singaporean taking this photo.


Oh yah...the departmental store's shelves here look something like that. Apparently its the doing of shoppers! If you think this is bad, should check out the shoes department if you get a chance.


The only two free days I had were the first two since I got here. Got so much time until I literally pah bang (kill mozzies)! But its all busy now... hope my internet at my place will be up soon...whenever that will be.

The Return Of The Goh (Season 2)

I am back! Before I start, these were the things I did back home...


The first thing when I got back was to get rid of my "Dragonball" hairstyle. Cannot take it any more...wasting so much shampoo and so hot!


Got down to Ramunia to do some kayak surfing...something I don't get a chance to do during those years I was in OBS.


And of cos...the climbing sessions...but this shot is taken some time back during one of those climbing trips to Krabi.


Having a simple meal with friends like that are the things I only dream of when I am eating alone when here.


I went to my first and last Chingay parade with some of my Korean friends and ex-colleagues. Boring man...wonder why people want to pay to watch it.


How can I don't go back to Ubin when I'm around? but only to attend my Wilderness Medical First Responder re-certification. With some ex-colleagues on Symphony on the way out.


I always manage to find time to disturb the little ABC when both of us are at home.


My last ride before packing my bike again. Miss the roads back home, though the traffic is heavier. Great to ride with good company also.


Okay...the send off...yet again. At first I was not sure how it would be like going back home but after it all, its all worth it. The familiar settings, good company, family, tying up loose ends, catching up with kahkis, meeting new people...thanks to all of you who made my time back home that much more meaningful!