Wednesday, September 23, 2015

AOE: First time seeing a real Koala and Kangaroo.

Once we hear about Australia; Opera House, Kangaroo, and Koala are suddenly appeared on our mind. That's exactly what happen to me when I was planning to go to Sydney. Since I have visited the Opera House on the second day of my Sydney trip, I kept saying to myself "I must see real Koala and Kangaroo!" almost every single day. Guess what? I spent few dollars to fulfill my desire. Instead of going to general zoo, I prefer to go to Koala Park Sanctuary. Almost all of Australia's authentic animals can be seen in this place.

Forest look-like makes this park remarkable.
Animals map. See, no giraffes, no lions, no tigers, and no other common animals that zoos used to have.
I am not interested with small birds, but this one, Budgerigars, just got my intention.
Dingo. I think I have heard its name, but I don't remember where I heard that name.
Hi there, I found you! This Koala was not in the cage. I found it when I was looking around.
I walked into an open-land caged by some woods. I could see some Kangaroos relaxing their *ss on the dirt. Guess what? I had no courage to take a selfie with the Kangaroos. Haha.. I was afraid they would kick my DSLR camera which is not mine but my gf's. So, I just played safe. Haha...
Kangaroo A: Hey, someone is staring at us.
Kangaroo B: It seems he wants to take a selfie with us.
Kangaroo C: Man, we have no time for that. We are sunbathing.
Cassowary. If you see the real Cassowary, you would be amazed of its size which is almost as big as Emu or Ostrich. 
Hi, my name is Emu! This Emu walked toward me and starred at me when I was aiming my camera to it. What a clever Emu!
Shaun the sheep (?)
The officer showed us to do sheep shearing.
He also taught us how to use boomerang. The boomerang hovers curving triangle. So, you have to throw it to the front and catch it back at your left or right side depends on how you throw it.
Fact 1: Koalas spend their lifetime mostly for sleeping.
Fact 2: New-born baby Koala is 2 cm long which is shorter than adult fingers.
These penguins don't need 'cold' weather to live. WOW!
And the last but not least. Wombat! like "Mortal Wombat"? Haha..
Actually, there are still more animals that I haven't showed here. That's no matter since the authentic animals have been showed in this post. So, I have fulfilled my desire finally. 

Authentic animals, places, foods, cultures, etc; become my traveling desire/passion since first time I went out of my original environment. I am pretty excited if I can meet my passion. Not for showing off but for sharing with other people. See you on another journey!

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

AOE: Come on join me to visit Darling Harbour! (bahasa)

Pada suatu hari, saya mendengar suara mesin yang sedang berjalan dengan kencang.....
Angin sepoi-sepoi menerpa wajah......
Suara burung camar yang sedang terbang menenangkan pikiran.....
Terdengar juga banyak orang yang sedang berbincang.....
Saya mendengar perbincangan mereka secara tidak sengaja, "Look at that!". Pikiran saya langsung bertanya-tanya, "Apa sebelah saya bule ya? Tunggu, saya sedang dimana ya?". Secara langsung saya menyadari bahwa saya sedang berada di negara orang yaitu Australia, tepatnya Sydney dan juga sedang berada di atas kapal feri menuju Darling Harbour.

Saya melihat ke sebelah kiri saya, "Wow, disana ada Harbour Bridge yang terkenal itu!"

Dan juga saya melihat ke sebelah kanan saya. Saya pun terpana "OMG, itu Sydney Opera House yang terkenal itu? Saya sedang melewati 2 icon Sydney!! Can't believe it!!"

Beberapa menit kemudian, kapal feri yang saya tumpangi berhenti di sebuah pelabuhan. Saya mengintip karena penasaran kenapa kapal feri ini berhenti, apakah sudah sampai atau belum. Seketika saya melihat taman bermain yang berwarna-warni menyejukan hati. Ternyata taman bermain itu adalah LUNA PARK! Salah satu taman bermain yang dilindungi oleh perundang-undangan pemerintah setempat dan hanya ada 2 di dunia (yang dilindungi perundang-undangan pemerintah). Saya semakin senang dan menikmati perjalanan ini. Belum lama saya melihat-lihat Luna Park, kapal feri tiba-tiba berjalan kembali meninggalkan pelabuhan dekat Luna Park. "Yahhh, baru beberapa menit tapi udah pergi lagi aja, padahal mau poto-poto." Kekecewaan saya pun tidak dapat dihindari.

Sembari agak kecewa karena belum puas poto-poto di Luna Park, saya merencanakan untuk kembali lagi ke taman bermain itu. "Harus kesitu lagi, gamau tau!". Saya berpikir bagaimana caranya untuk dapat mengunjungi Luna Park lagi.

1 menit berlalu.....
2 menit berlalu.....
3 menit berla........

Sebelum menit ketiga berlalu, saya kemudian terpana (lagi). Emang mungkin dasarnya stress setiap hari, jadi sedikit ada yang enak dipandang, langsung terpana. Saya melihat ke belakang saya, ada pemandangan yang lumayan bisa dipoto. Jepret weh!

Kemudian saya lihat ke samping. Jepret lagi!

Dan ke depan. Jepret juga!

Saya: Banyak juga ya pelabuhan disini!
Saya lagi: Ya iyalah, makanya ada transportasi umum kapal feri!
Saya juga: Bener juga ya.

Tidak lama kemudian, kapal feri mencapai pelabuhan terakhirnya, sekaligus tempat tujuan saya, Darling Harbour. 
Saya: Ternyata Darling Harbour itu kayak tempatnya "Pirates of the Caribbean" atau "Pearl Harbor" ya!
Saya lagi: "Pearl Harbor" mah di Amrik kali -____-
Saya juga: Protes mulu lo!

Setelah sampai Darling Harbour, saya turun bersama penumpang lainnya. Saya pun culang-cileung, tidak memiliki rencana mau kemana. Terpaksa saya jalan mengikuti kata hati. Saya masuk ke museum maritim nasional Australia. Ternyata untuk masuk, harus bayar. Saya pun kembali keluar dari museum tersebut karena saya tidak mempunyai uang. Tidak sengaja, saya sampai pada jembatan Darling Harbour yang dikhususkan untuk pejalan kaki atau pesepeda.

Saya pun melihat ke arah pelabuhan. Ternyata (lagi) disini ada beberapa tempat atraksi yang memang terkenal seperti Madame Tussauds, Wildlife Sydney Zoo, dan Sealife Sydney Aquarium tapi sayangnya di dalam cerita ini saya berperan sebagai pelancong kismin (aslinya juga suka gitu deng) Haha..

Dan setelah saya menikmati jalan kaki di jembatan Darling Harbour, akhirnya saya memutuskan untuk pergi dari Darling Harbour melalui jalur darat.

Baru beberapa langkah saya keluar dari Darling Harbour, tiba-tiba saya mendengar suara telepon. Dering telepon tersebut tidak berhenti dan malahan semakin keras. Seketika saya terbangun dan sadar bahwa saya tadi sedang bermimpi. Mimpi yang sangat indah. Agak menyesal karena itu hanyalah mimpi. Langsung saja saya menuju kamar mandi untuk membuang air kecil. Ketika kembali ke kasur, saya terpana (lagi-lagi) kepada sebuah foto yang saya temukan di kasur saya. Saya pun langsung tersenyum-senyum.

Monday, August 3, 2015

AOE: Birthday Party in "Kota Tua".

In celebrating my birthday, I and my gf, Nanda, went to "Kota Tua", Jakarta. That was Nanda's first visit to Kota Tua. We spent our time for hunting some pictures and eating some foods at a famous cafe in there, Batavia cafe. We did it like a tourist from unknown, LOL. We set apart our problems. We didn't let our problems ruin our day. We just enjoyed our trip, didn't think about budget, and of course act like a tourist. Haha.. Here are the result of our hunt.

In the middlee of the crowd. Haha.. The child in front of me was staring to the camera.
Candid is always be the best.
There is a music performance inside Batavia cafe.
And this cafe was filled by domestic and international tourists.
We had this Chinese tea called Pu-erh.
We also had this Classic Caesar Salad as well.
And also this Seafood-filled tofu.
This is the main bar at second level of the Batavia cafe.
Its wall is full of photos and pictures.
Its lamp is classic like Jakarta before information era.
In the area of Kota tua, we can see this colorful bicycles.
The lady from previous century (?) LOL
Ondel-Ondel, Giant dancing puppets originally from Betawi.
There was a cost-play of some ghosts and heroes of Indonesia.
This is cost-play of Miss K.
This is the famous dancing dolls from Kota Tua. Mr. Mochtar made all of the dolls by himself. We can see him in some medias.
There is also old cars in old city.
And this old city is always full of crowd every day!
Happy birthday to me and See you on the next journey!!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

AOE: Castle in Sydney.

Vintage building will always be interesting for many people in the world. It has an unique form that usually represent its own history. In this modern world, we hardly find vintage building around us. That's why it will always be interesting for us (?)

When I was in Sydney, I had a doubt that there is a vintage building around the city. I never knew until I found it inadvertently (and also until I saw some vintage buildings around the city. I'll post it later). I was on my planning to go to Darling Harbour from the Harbour Bridge. I walked through the way that my GPS showed me. But, in the half way to the place, I found the direction to the Botanical garden. I followed it because I thought I could visit both places in one day. But, you know what? It is quite far. In my way to the Botanical garden, I saw 2 people were practicing parkour in the grass field with many stones. They jumped from one stone to another. I stopped to watch them for a while until I realized it was afternoon already. So, I continued my walk to the direction. After several minutes walk from the parkour guys, I arrived at a place that makes me feel amazed. It is the Government house. It's like a kingdom castle from previous centuries. Seriously, It looks like a kingdom castle for real. I think it is kingdom castle. I was completely stunned. I couldn't hold myself from taking a picture around it. I had my own trip to the Government House Grounds. There is also an awesome garden in the backyard. It felt like I was in the movie haha.. I can't write it in words. So, here are some pictures of it. Help yourself. :D



How is it? Maybe for person like me who rarely find vintage building as unique as this Government house and beautiful garden as amazing as its garden, this occasion is a God's gift. I feel blessed that I could get that occasion at least once even though I still haven't tried house tours. If you want to visit the Government house, it is open daily from 10 a.m to 4 p.m for the Government House Grounds and Friday to Sunday from 10.30 a.m to 3 p.m for House Tours. And as you can see from the pictures above, it is FREE!

See ya !