Summer trip, New Zealand

إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ وَاخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ‌ وَالْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِ‌ي فِي الْبَحْرِ‌ بِمَا يَنفَعُ النَّاسَ وَمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّـهُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مِن مَّاءٍ فَأَحْيَا بِهِ الْأَرْ‌ضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا وَبَثَّ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَتَصْرِ‌يفِ الرِّ‌يَاحِ وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ‌ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْ‌ضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ      

Lo! In the creation of the heavens and earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which ran upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah send down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and (in) the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are signs (of Allah's sovereignty) for people who have sense.

Sesungguhnya dalam penciptaan langit dan bumi, silih bergantinya malam dan siang, bahtera yang berlayar di laut membawa apa yang berguna bagi manusia, dan apa yang Allah turunkan dari langit berupa air, lalu dengan air itu Allah hidupkan bumi sesudah mati (keringnya) dan Allah sebarkan di bumi itu segala jenis haiwan, dan pengisaran angin dan awan yang dikendalikan antara langit dan bumi; sesungguhnya terdapat tanda-tanda kebesaran Allah bagi kaum yang memikirkannya. [2:164]

Bismillah,

Summer trip to Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ) gave us a breath taking picturesque sceneries. Alhamdulillah praise be to Allah that we had a chance to discover New Zealand and reflect upon the Allah All Mighty through His creatures. 

The lakes, the sky, the mountains, the glacier melting, the cute animals we encountered both naturally and in wildlife sanctuary, the beaches, the soft sand, the wind, the trees. Eveything, like everything you looked at show the signs of Allah for those who ponder and reflect upon.

Rugilah sesiapa yang travel selalu, sampai NZ ni rasa kehambaan dan kekerdilan tu tiada. Hanya untuk tangkap gambar dan beli cenderahati je, pastu balik. -.- 

The nature

Lake Tekapo scenery from our backpackers accommodation. 

Look at the blue colour of the lake and the sky. Then we say, Allahuakhbar.

Lake Pukaki also has its water source from melting glacier nearby. 

Hence, the turquoise water. Same goes to Lake Tekapo.

I want to keep the sound that I've listened on that day, thus I recorded it using iPod. Try to close your eyes. You will feel peaceful. 

View of Lake Pukaki from where I sat on that day. Cantik sangat sampai rasa tak nak balik. Nak duduk situ lama-lama sambil dengan bunyi air memukul pinggir batu. :')

Nampak view cantik sikit sepanjang perjalanan nak ke Queenstown, kami berhenti sekejap. Snap snap! (Credit picture to Ernnie) 

Ini bukan lukisan. Sila percaya. :)

Bungy jumping

No no no! We were reluctant enough to give away our money for the bungy jumping just like that. Mahal kot! It was as if, "Bila terjun tu, rasa macam terjun (melayang) jugaklah duit" (Quote: Kak Zatil). 

Yeah yeah, chicken us. Say whatever.

Again, I recorded the view from the top deck. Just so I remember how high the jumping can be. Please bear with the squeeze size of the video!

Air Force Museum

Having a time traveller journey (ewah) since the war time to the current aviation. Plus, the admission fee is free!

Sempat bergambar dengan insan-insan yang pernah menyertai perang. Uncle yang sebelah kiri tu sempat berkhidmat untuk WW2. 

Such an honour to meet them in person. And they were volunteering at Air Force Museum! I really love how the volunteers shared their passion and experiences on the battle field with us. Applause!

The end. :)

End of year symptom

Bismillah,

Looking at the Daisypath counter on the top left side, I realised that it's been almost two years since my first arrival at Australia. Soon, I'll be completing my study insyAllah. Nearly there!

Yesterday was the last day of exam week at UQ. And now it's time for packing for some of us. Some are going to go back to Malaysia for good, some are for the duration of 3 months summer break, and some are packing for only a short-10-days visit. Which ever you are, I believe packing is the most thrill part.

You started to do the countdown of reaching Malaysia, you started to do list of souvenirs to be given away to the relatives, you started to think of a way to cram all those stuffs you have shopped in a luggage that can only fit up to 20kg. That's packing, packing with excitement. 

Itu kisah orang yang balik Malaysia, insan-insan yang tak pulang pulak?

Looking at friends who are packing for Malaysia, there is definitely one thing that we feel.

Home sick.

Well, I can say that I'm not severely affected by this home sickness albeit I'm not going home this summer. Thanks to Skype and my father's iPad 2 I bought as a birthday gift. The distance between Australia and Malaysia seems closer. Even my mother said,

"Tak rasa macam jauh la Yun. Hari-hari duk video call je"

Hopefully my family are not bored with me video calling frequently. Heheh..

What do we up to?

Thus to fight or diminish the home sickness feeling, there are several things that we do over the 3 months summer break. 

1. Summer research - Scholarship, volunteering, or counted as a credit hour. Last year I did summer research as both scholarship and credit hour. You got the money, as well as invaluable experience working side by side with well-known scientist.
2. Travelling - It is my mission to finish travelling around big cities in Australia and New Zealand by the time I'm graduating. My last year summer trip was playing with sandboarding at Newcastle. This year we will be enjoying a breath taking road trip scenery at New Zealand. Will update the story later. ;)
3. Working part time - I have friends did fruit picking and packing as their part time. And they managed to earn almost AUD3k! Balik Brisbane pun muka burn dan tangan calar balar sebab kerja dekat ladang. And others did baby sitting or house cleaning. Nampak kerja macam hina je kan? But those who worked hard really were making money by the end of the summer break. The salary's quite good. 

Regardless you are going back for Malaysia or not this summer break, use your time wisely. 3 months of summer break is a great time to finish up some non-academical reading such as personal development or general knowledge books. Or perhaps do some volunteering works and engage in beneficial programs. Making an extra income and go travelling are sure good things too!

Life as a student is not about facing the books and try to digest the contents. It's about you collecting the life experiences along the way and apply the soft skills you've learned. :)     

Post final exam

Bismillah,

Alhamdulillah, I finished my final exam last Tuesday. It was only one written paper. I managed to finish it on time. I even giggled at my drawing in the booklet answer because I thought it was cute. Menyempat pulak kan nak main gelak-gelak kecil waktu exam. Semua orang tengah tense dan serius kot. Heh.

Last week of semester

Anyway. Some people were a bit 'envy' with us (referring to students majoring in plant biotechnology) as we only have one written paper for final exam. Well, I think that compensate back our tight scheduling of our last week on semester (24th-28th October). We were fully occupied with back to back submissions on that week. Don't believe? See my October iCal. I even put the percentage of each submission so that I know how to prioritise.    

Plus, my father pay me  a visit a week before those submissions due date (highlighted with purple bar). Fuh. Memang mencabar nak bahagi masa elok-elok. But I used that period of time to get lose and go easy with myself aka meronggeng. Hehhe. But still, on top of my head, I kept on thinking about my assignments.

So, it was a fair game right? :) Kami bersibuk-sibuk dahulu, kami bersenang-senang kemudian. Eh?

Post exam

Okay, back to the topic. Post final exam. Provided that some of the Jacaranda's flowers are still blooming, we went straight to UQ lake for camwhoring.

Muka-muka puas dah habis exam.

With Natsumi Maruta, our Japanese friend. I love the way the yellow flowers covered the green grass.

Kena marah dengan Mazni sebab tak mahu masuk formasi 'kipas'. Hehe.

P/s: To all my friends who will be sitting for exam next week, may Allah be with you and ease your way. InsyAllah. ^_^

[Credit to Diana and Mazni for the pictures]

Jacaranda season comes again

Bismillah,

This year I managed to capture the chronology of blooming Jacaranda from William Dart Park. Look at how the transition went!

 Initially, most of the leaves fell of the tree.  

Few weeks after that, the young purple flowers started to emerge. 

And soon, covering almost the whole tree.

Now, the fully bloomed Jacaranda.

Below are few other pictures of Jacaranda. Some of the pictures are mine, or taken from Azzah's album, or juniors. So credit for her and those juniors.

P/s: I personally like the 4th last picture. :)

Jaulah Spring, Canberra

Bismillah,

End of September, ahlul Musfirah (my usrah) had a jaulah to Canberra. The main attraction during Spring season at Canberra is their tulip festival, Floriade. 

Subhanallah subhanallah, the tulips were beautiful. The pictures give no justice to the real beauty of Allah's creations when you saw it with your own eyes. Credit to Hawa A. Latip, Fairuz Izyan, Jehan Sahid and me for the pictures. :D (saya punya yang gambar cikai-cikai tu okay)

We also got the chance to visit Australian National University (ANU). The ANU area was way bigger than UQ. You need to have at least bicycle to move around within the uni area. 

And on the last day, we had dinner at Nando's with the Canberranians. Depa belanja! 

P/s: Jika ada umur yang panjang (dan tiket flight yang murah), nak pergi ziarah Canberra lagi. Ameen.

Autumn in My Heart, Tasmania

Bismillah,

Again, I'm updating about my holidays. :D Hence my travel log. Nanti bole cerita dekat cucu cicit, masa muda-muda nenek pernah travel sampai mana. Lagi-lagi kalau dah kurang ingatan, atau samar-samar je memori, blog ini sangat membantu. Ewah!

Amaran: Entry kali ni mempunyai banyak gambar. Harap tidak melambatkan browser anda. Kalau lambat jugak nak loading, boleh la baca entry lain dulu sementara menunggu tu. ;p

It was on last Autumn. Boleh consider cerita ni dah basi. Hew hew hew. The trip was between me and Azzah. Any beautiful and sharp pictures in this entry are hers. The rest of the pictures, with some blurry or shaky effect (efek konon nya), those are from my BB camera.

So Tasmania is a small island situated on the south side of Australia. It has two main towns, Hobart and Launceston. We managed to cover both. Alhamdulillah :) 

Our rent car. It was supposed to be a Hyundai Getz but for some reason they

 replaced it with Nissan Micra. 

I can't really recall which places we went first. So the activities I'm about to share won't follow the correct order okay? Let's start.. 

Tasmazia

This place is where you can play hide and seek! The major attraction is the mazes. Referring to their webpage, they claim that they are the largest maze complex in the world. It is divided into three main section; the mazes (8 different mazes with different themes for each), lavender farm and the cubby town. We were a bit disappointed as the lavender were not blooming at that time. It was autumn remember? Owh well. The mazes were enough to make us excited and forgot about the lavender farm! Hehhe

 In the Great Maze, the biggest in Tasmazia. Tinggi tak tinggi maze yang ni. Tetibe rase macam maze dalam Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire.

Another maze. We sort of cheated in reaching the final post as we guide 

each other from higher place. :P  

Finally, the cubby town!

Where cute little house are ^^  

Tinggi kami je rumah-rumah comel ni.

House of Evolution. Like really??!

                                       Mushroom house.                                                               Inverted.

Burny Island

Initially, Burny Island was not in our plan. But everyone we met in Tasmania seems to recommend this Burny Island. So we thought, okay let's give it a try! In the end, we were glad to make the correct decision. ;)

The most recommended place, The Neck!

The scenic look out point from the top view of The Neck. They said it's the meeting of 2 seas. 

Yang sebelah kiri berombak, yang sebelah kanan tenang je. Cantik kan? Cantik kan? :D

View from the driveway. Berkabus-kabus gitu. :') Allahuakhbar Allahuakhbar.

Next pit stop, strawberry farm. Owh, the boysenberry ice cream was delicious!

We went to lots of other places and the last stop was to have a taste of fresh oyster. 

See, I told you the oysters were FRESH. =.=' 

Nasib baik ada lemon. Tapi bila makan, laa boleh terima je..

And it's tradition to leave your testimony if you like the oysters. 

Siap tulis Nurul, Malaysia-UQ lagi. Sebelah kiri tu Azzah punya. Heheh

The oyster, hand made souvenir from Burny Island.

Cadbury Chocolate Factory

Ada bunyi macam melawat Willy Wonka Chocolate factory tak? :p Our visit to chocolate factory was started with a presentation about the history of Cadbury factory. Then, they shared with us the step-by-step on how they make the chocolate and the difference between white, dark and the normal chocolate.  

Shop till you drop! Eh, takde la sampai macam tu. 

It just that, all of the Cadbury products sold here were really cheap. Seriously.

Free chocolates!

Dan lagi sekali, kami tidak lupa meninggalkan jejak. Ours were the last two.

Mount Wellington

Mount Wellington is one of the highest peak located very close with Hobart city. We drove all the way up just to enjoy the scenic view. 

The beautiful view from top of Mount Wellington made you ponder of the great creation of Allah Almighty. You reflect on how small creature you really are if compared to the blue sky and the green nature. Subhanallah Allahuakhbar.

Lepas tu baca doa melihat alam ni dari surah Ali Imran [3:191]:

Tu dia bandar Hobart.

Cataract Gorge

They call it as nature within a city. They still preserve the area as it can act as carbon sink for Launceston city. Remember my BIOL1030 project about Bukit Gasing years ago? It about the same concept too, carbon sink. ;)  

The chairlift, so that you can see the whole area from top. Very panoramic. 

Allah Maha Besar kan? :')

Masa ambil gambar ni Azzah cakap, 'Depan sikit Wana, daun-daun kuning tu kena masuk jugak'. 

Hence the autumn theme. :D

Top view of the bridge.

Tak dapat canopy walk, jambatan gantung ni pun boleh la.

Belakang tu jambatan gantung yang tadi. Assume I'm not in the photo, dah layak buat gambar poskad kan latar belakang dia? Cantik sangat! Thanks to Azzah's Nikon.

The Tassie people

Senyum, tak perlu kata apa-apa. :)