Swee Cheng's Fun Stay at Ballina Byron

20 June 06

7.15pm to 9.15pm: two hours of the most boringest flight. It was jetstar (El cheapo airline with el cheapo tickets), boring because of the "no food/drinks" unless you pay for it routine (I guess something has to give in these types of airlines). On the plus side – I had 3 seats to myself.

21 June 06

Woke up to a raining day. The first person I saw was - Adrian, my nephew, having his breakkie - and heard was Lauren, my niece crooning away.





I looked out for the kookaburras (4 or 5) of them but did not see any. I heard their maniacal laughter though. Glad they laugh only in the day – they would be scary at night. By the way, nights are dark – really dark in country towns.

Kookas are the kingfisher family birds – large beaks and have claws. They are the size of a juvenile duck and can be scary.

Let me share a story about my Mom and the kookas. According to my sis, the birds (all 4/5) like to perch on her pool safety fence, they like to forage for grub in her garden, every morning. My mom thinks they are going to claw and peck her darling cucu, when he is playing in the yard. So one day, she decided to do something. They were perched on the fence as usual – all 4 with 2 facing the pool and 2 facing house. Mom went to get her broom, slides open the fly screen and door, the birds (all 4) turn to face and stare at her – she beat a hasty retreat into the dining room.

According to my sis and mom, there is a burung hantu around but I didn't see or hear it. There is some wild animal out on the roof though – I hear it every night. Probably just an ole possum.
That is rural/sua ku life for you.

22 June 2006

After breakfast, in between showers, I took my nephew out for a wonder in the back yard – the neighbours' that is. There is this huge custard apple plantation behind.

My sis wanted to buy some of the custard apples, but they said not to worry. After picking, they sent a huge crate over – it was not in tip top condition eg size too small, not nice, cracked etc – for my sis and mom, and refused payment because they could not sell them in the market. I had some too. I liked the way the lorikeets were eating the fruits on the tree and ground!

Did you know that bananas are A$12 a kg?

Still raining today, but the sun came out mid morning. We went to the beach. This was just great. That was really fun. The water was cold though.

23 June 2006

It was a lot more mundane today. We went shopping but didn't buy much – just groceries. Not much variety but then it is country NSW - sometimes I forget how large Australia is. I actually brought indomie noodles for my sis - I didn't see any here, but the seafood is just so cheap – prawns ($12 a kg) and fish, crab and scallops are all fresh and good.

24 June 2006

Last day, how I will miss the little ones. We went to the beach again today because the sun came out. It drizzled a little later but not before we had our Domino pizza picnic accompanied by my nephew's favourite word when it comes to food - "more, more".

Adrian likes to play vacuum cleaners too – he will actually vacuum his biscuit crumbs off the floor after he finishes.

Another boring flight home. The flight left at 9.30pm and I arrived in Melbourne at 12.15am on Sunday.

sweecheng

27 Jun 2006 11:28 AM