Mansfield Mount Buller High Country Festival

Its the high country festival this weekend which actually began on Friday with fireworks, opening of an art exhibition and a torchlight parade around town. Phill and I stayed home on Friday night and watched the fireworks in the backyard of our new place. That was fun. It also gave me a chance to rest from my cold and flu.

Today, however, it was my day to work cos Steve worked on Friday evening and Saturday. I went to take pics of a floral festival at a local church, open gardens around town (people opened their gardens for public viewing for a nominal fee that goes towards the maintenance of a nursing home's garden). One of the beautiful gardens below.




















I was also meant to go and cover an event, "Story of Horse and High Country". However, when Phill and I drove up, a few people were speaking to cars in front of us and they were turning away. When it came to our turn, a lady apologised and said the event has been cancelled because of the soft ground due to the wet weather. There was going to be stunts on horseback, some whip-cracking stuff and some other fantastic action.

So what was going to be a long afternoon ended up with us heading home, giving me even more time to rest my head.

And we confirmed purchasing the more expensive mattress which we hope will last us more than 20 years when the Sleepmaker one we had originally decided on may only last us 10 years. Yeah!!! =O) Now, waiting for the mattress to arrive.

Bush Market, Parade and Mattress

We went to the bush market and the town parade this morning. It was fun! There were quite a few stalls and good variety too. Phill and I got a sausage sandwich cooked by the local rotary club which was yummy. I also had a cappuccino which smelt really good but didn't taste that great. It was too bitter for me.

Phill and I also went to a local furniture shop to speak to a sales representative from Sealy (brand name) about what to look out for when we buy a mattress. We had initially set our eyes on a Sleepmaker branded mattress but after listening to the sales representative and cos we want our mattress to last as long as possible, we decided to go home and do our sums on a more expensive mattress than we had planned to buy.

In the afternoon, we went back to my in laws place to retrieve more stuff and met our family friends, Joan and George, there too. We only stayed for a while cos we had to head home before 3pm.

My colleague, Lynn, and her husband, Steve, were lending us their lounge suite. They moved it in and boy, did it make a difference to the place. It looked so much more homely and decent where previously, it looked quite pitiful. We were very grateful. And we did the tour of the house for them. They thought the house was well set out and the location was good and quiet.

Later, Joan and George also came with the coffee table which they helped us move from my in-laws' place. And they stayed and talked to us for abit, which was nice. We did the grand tour with them too and they liked our place.

My in-laws came later and we had a fish and chips dinner. It was yum!

What a busy day it's been and I was still sick, snuffly and a sore throat - yikes!

And Phill and I still feel like we're staying in a strange house, like as if it belonged to someone else. Well, it does since we're renting from the owners but I suppose it takes time to make it our own place.
















Look at our empty fridge - haha!

Moving house!!!! =O)

Phill and I moved into our new house at Parwanoff Street today. I brought quite alot of things over in the morning when I drove to my workplace. And then throughout the day, I was running in and out the office doing my interviews, covering events, and arranging the delivery of our fridge, washing machine, toaster, rice cooker and microwave oven. I was also sorting out the time when I could collect the key from the real estate agent cos she did the house inspection yesterday and was not happy with it so she arranged for a major clean-up. So, it was abit of a chaotic morning for me.

And finally, evening came and after Phill's karate class (he did karate for most of his teenage years but the classes stopped and I think classes have now resumed), he moved the rest of the stuff he brought over and we settled in abit. The house feels strange, like we've moved into someone else's house. It's abit bare too. But my colleague, Lyn and her husband, Stephen, are lending us their old lounge suite so there will be somewhere to sit on tomorrow. For now, we are just lying on our stomachs on small square cushions we got from my in-laws and watching tv.

Group Editor spoke to me

My group editor came to our Mansfield office today and spoke to me. He also asked me if I'm still interested in journalism. When I replied in the affirmative, he passed me a contract which basically moved me upwards from an editorial assistant post to a 2nd year cadet journalist post. He then went on to tell me what I needed to look out for in my work, as well as how the head office work and for me to send over my articles asap rather than hang onto it for too long. It was a really good meeting and one which helped me understand the company's style of working better. I was grateful and happy too that they appreciated my work. I was on a high for the rest of the day.

On Sick Leave

I was really sick today with a sore throat, headache, and bad flu and took a day off work. I spent last night not sleeping but blowing my nose. I think I used up nearly an entire box of tissues. =P

On Tuesday, I took 0.5 day off work. It was then I realised, on Tuesday, that in Australia, the sick leave system works differently. I can take days off for sick leave without having to produce a medical certificate as long as its not more than 2 days and if its not taken on Monday or Friday. I didn't know about it prior to taking sick leave on Tues, until my colleagues told me and seeing how sick I was, told me to go home. How nice! I prefer this system, cos sometimes all I need is a good rest and not spend more money seeing the doctor for something he/ she can't really help me.

Our day at a winery

As part of work, I had to take photos of several artists who had set up their easels and were painting at one of the wineries in our district (part of Spring Arts event). Coincidentally, the winery is just next door to where we are living right now, my in-laws place.

So, after a trip this morning to Mansfield to pick up my spectacles I had accidentally left at my office, take a few pics of an open day at Rudolf Steiner school, put a deposit on a dining table we were thinking about for a while, we proceeded to the winery.

Once there, I took a couple of pics, then settled down to my cappucino & chocolate mud cake while Phill had iced chocolate and tiramisu. The bill came to $22!!! heehee....talk about indulgence! =P

Our office window art display

Tonight is the Opening of a 10-day art event called Spring Arts. To open the event, everyone is invited to an arts walk this evening around several venues in town that are showcasing various artworks that are also for sale.

One of the events that take place during Spring Arts is the window art display and every local business in town could decorate their window display and be part of the competition. So, my 2 colleagues, Di and Carmel, worked at home for about 2-3 weeks and came out with this artpiece! I love it! Especially seeing the faces of people who walk past and when they notice our window display, they break out in smiles. It's classic and wonderful to know it brings joy to their hearts!
















And yes, that's real vegemite toast..... ;O)

p.s. vegemite - in Singapore, the equivalent will be Bovril though I prefer Bovril over vegemite. =P

Colleague Leaving....sob! sob!

I came to work this morning and my colleague, D, was telling us about a confrontation that happened to her at the supermarket over the weekend.

It was a confrontation by the mother of one of our colleagues and apparently, quite an agressive one.

This upsetted D so much, she tendered her resignation this morning........sob! sob! She's not withdrawing it because she is tired of having to deal with this, among other things.

I'm sad to see her go.

We won a bid!

Phill and I won a bid for a photographic print of the Mansfield Balloon Festival that takes place in March every year. This was one of 2 prints I was initially interested in. The other was one of cattlemen and I knew it was going to be expensive. Turned out, the person who successfully bidded for that cattlemen print paid $500 for it.

This balloon festival print is gorgeous and I can't believe we were successful! This was also the lowest priced print out of the 23 prints in the auction that was organised to raise funds for cancer research.

We're going to hang it at our new place when we move in on Friday, 28 October. Yippeeee!

Major Break in Mystery?

My colleague, Lynn, came into the office this morning and told Steve and I that she heard on the radio that the state government is offering a $2 million reward for information on who murdered two people in our area.

Out of the two, one was a young mother, Jennifer Tanner, who was found dead in 1984 with a rifle in her hand and at the 1st inquest in 1985, it was concluded that she had committed suicide. At the 2nd inquest in 1998, the state coroner found that her brother-in-law (her husband's brother), Denis Tanner, was the murderer. Apparently, he had gone to his brother's house the night before Jennifer was killed to borrow the rifle and said something to her that made her worried enough to confide in a friend. It was reported in the papers that the subsequent police investigation bungled up alot of the evidence. The suicide theory also fell flat later on when it was revealed that Jennifer was shot twice and had bullet wounds to her hands (supposedly defending herself while the killer was shooting her).

Denis has always maintained his innocence and has not been charged with the murder because the law here is such that if he's charged and found not guilty, he would not be able to be charged in future.

Anyway, I needed to chase up the story and had to speak to Jennifer's mother. I find that quite a difficult part of the job. If I was the mother, all these media hounding whenever new developments happen must be very tiring. But I had to do it so I called her and fortunately, she was nice enough but declined to do any interviews, only willing to say a few words.

I am now trying to get in touch with Denis Tanner, and abit worried about having to speak to a murder suspect, especially reading on news that a witness in the 2nd inquest was sent daggers, and things to stop her from talking. Not that I think I'll get any of that but its the first time in my job I have to speak to people like that and it un-nerves me abit.

Surprisingly Painless

Phill and I went to see his accountant today to file our tax returns. Considering the deadline is 31 October, we were really late. Most of our friends and colleagues had already done theirs in August, when they received their group certificate (a summary of your year's salary and tax payments issued by your company).

When I saw her, the accountant, I liked her. She was very bubbly and very efficient. She asked Phill and I alot of questions so she could help us claim as much tax reliefs as we are entitled. And she gave very good advice in terms of buying our first home. She said to try and buy a reasonably priced one and not to buy one beyond our means cos we'll have a tough time servicing our loan, which is true. In all, the appointment went better than I thought cos I'm unsure about the tax system here and was quite overwhelmed by it. I sure am glad we have an accountant to deal with it (the fee we pay the accountant could also be claimed under our tax return!).

One thing different about Australia, as compared to Singapore, is we don't have the CPF system here so everything is paid by cash. If we want to buy a house, we have to cough up at least a 20% cash deposit to the value of the house and take out a commercial bank loan. So everything is basically dealt in cash. Our superannuation, similar to CPF except its handled by private companies not the government, is not like the CPF, where if you don't touch it, it'll at least increase because of the interest earned. In superannuation, our money can decrease because of the annual fee, and many other charges that deplete the total amount.

I had a total amount of $80 in one superannuation account that a part-time company I worked for had applied for me. I just received the statement and it shrunk down to $50!!! Arrgghhh! Makes me angry!

Helicopter Experience

No, unfortunately, the experience did not involve me getting into a helicopter but interviewing the boss of a business that does aerial spraying over rural properties to help farmers get rid of weeds. And after interviewing him, he was going to spread some fertilisers over his property so I had the chance to take a few photos of him chugging his helicopter up.

What I did not expect was how dirty I was going to be from the sand, dust and dirt the helicopter kicked up. I have never been near a helicopter so I was unprepared for that as well as the noise. Fortunately, one of his staff kindly lent me a muffler to wear and with my sunnies, I was suitably protected. It was definitely a new experience for me and even with sand in my clothes and all, I'll say its worth it!

It also solved the myth I held that standing too close to a helicopter will suck you into it...hahahaha! How silly I was. One of the staff there had to help rig the fertiliser to the helicopter and he was very near to the helicopter and was not sucked in. I knew then the myth was busted (quoted from one of my fav shows: Mythbusters)!

Shopping...for the house!!!

Both Phill and I woke up really early today...about 7.30am cos we wanted to be in time for the garage sale. Even though I am a Singaporean and can be fairly kiasu (worried about losing out) on things I love and care for (Camper shoes, Aldo shoes, etc), I was quite blase about wanting to be on time for one of 2 garage sales happening this morning. One was at 9am and the other at 10am.

But Phill educated me on the finer points of how important it was to be on time so we don't miss out on any good buys that may be snapped up....hahaha.....how disappointed we were going to be.

After a quick breakfast and my attempt at being fast in the bathroom but I still made it in 30 mins which includes skincare routine and drying my hair and picking up my hair on the bathroom floor, we made it to the first garage sale in Mansfield.

It was quite a run-down, simple sort of house and looking through the stuff, there wasn't very much that we wanted from there. But then I saw it! And I wondered if that's what it was used for..... A marble chopping board! It was only selling for $3. Apparently, that's the best type of material for a chopping board. I told Phill I wanted it and he carried it to the owner of the house which was an older lady, older than us, who gave us a toothy grin and accepted our money.

After that, we went to Retravision to look at electrical appliances and decided to strike a deal but when we looked at our watches, it was 10am! So we hopped into the car and raced to the 2nd destination!

This was a garage sale of items from an old man's estate after his recent passing. When we entered the house, we overheard some old folks saying the deceased, a Mr Cummins, was a nice man. We were not spooked by it but rather sad at the fact we were rummaging what many people might think is junk but was once an old man's treasure. The things were nicer at this house which was simple but look really well-kept from the outside. The things on sale was displayed in the garage and the area outside it. It was nicer than the previous house but then again, nothing that we wanted, except for a set of butter plates and dinner plates that were selling for $10. It had nice rose patterns on it and I wanted to buy it but Phill said no.

We were in that 2nd garage sale out in less than 5 mins and then we returned to Retravision. We spoke to a sales assistant and asked for a good deal for the Simpson 390L fridge, 5.5kg Simpson washing machine, toaster, Sharp microwave oven, and rice cooker. Ended up we only got less than a $100 discount but that was cos the original price was like $200 more than they were advertising and the fridge was the last one they had so it was very much reduced. We had intended to get a slightly smaller fridge initially, about 250L but after much discussion, agreed that as fridges last longer, when we do have a baby in the short term (abt 2-3 years time), we would need a bigger fridge and should get one now. Rather than buy a small one and then in 2-3 years time, have to buy another small one.

We went to 2 furniture shops and saw a lounge suit we like (cost $1999 though so we'll get it much, much later) and a dining table which was about the same price too (at the 2nd furniture shop we went to, we saw a similar type dining table for $999 so we may get that instead). And we saw the bed we wanted, a Sleepmaker Chiropractic range, but we'll be shopping around for a good price before we decide whom we want to buy it from.

After the morning's shopping in Mansfield, we drove about 1 hour away to Wangaratta, had McDonalds for lunch. Phill had a Big Mac which was yummy and I had a chilli quarter pounder that wasn't as good, fresh but not as tasty as the Big Mac. We managed to get 3 short sleeve work shirts for Phill at Rivers. One blue and 2 red. I like Phill in red, my fav colour! =O)

In all, a rather exhausting but fun and exhilarating day.

Snippets of Opera

Phill and I went to watch an opera performance today. We weren't too enthusiastic initially cos it was the end of the week and we were quite tired but I had to cover it, for work.

There weren't that many people around, probably about 50 in a performing arts centre that holds almost 200.

When I read the programme, I was glad that I knew at least some of the songs or the musicals the songs were from. The organiser had arranged this concert performed by 2 sopranos from the Melbourne opera company to raise funds for the Cancer Council of Victoria. They are one of the many relay for life teams in town.

When the concert began and the 2 sopranos sang "The Flower Duet" from Lakme by Leo Delibes, I think I was sitting there gobsmacked cos they had such beautiful and strong voices. And I didn't recognise the song from its title but when they sang it, I knew it was a popular and dramatic one, a tune I heard used in ads, etc. And from then on, it was a great concert and one which I was glad we did not miss.

On the drive home, I told Phill that one of the things I was concerned about was that living in the country would not give me access to wonderful art performances such as the one we saw tonight. But now that I've been to one, I'm glad its a possibility and w/o the high cost cos the ticket was $20 per person although I was given one complimentary one, sort of like a media pass, I suppose.

Learning about moving out...

Ever since I received the confirmation from the real estate agency that our application to rent the 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house not far from my workplace (and previously occupied by Steve) was approved, Phill and I have been thinking about the things we'll need for the place.

One was the purchase of furniture - washing machine, microwave oven, fridge, etc - and what we do not need at present and probably could obtain over time - a dryer, dining table and chairs, etc.

Also, the amount of little things we need such as plugs for the sink, towels, mop, pail, cleaning cloths...

I've also been very touched by the many gestures of help from friends at my workplace.

Phill and I are going to 2 garage sales tomorrow at Mansfield and I was asking Lyn yesterday how she moved the stuff she bought from a garage sale previously and if it fitted in her car and she said it did. But she also said if we needed her help to move stuff, we could call her on her mobile because she has a trailer. And today, she said she'll lend us a lounge suite that has been sitting in her shed because she has just bought a new one. How sweet! I was so touched!

And my other colleague, Di, offered to help me purchase a mattress through her because she owns an accommodation place and can obtain better prices from shops.

Right now, we have a guy at our workplace working on creating a window for our office and he overheard our conversation about me needing to purchase a fridge and washing machine. He suggested that if I found a better price, I should just go to the shop in Mansfield and tell them about it and see if they'll counter offer. He said he got a good deal doing that in Mansfield and even received a further $100 off the price! What a great tip!

I'm going to tell Phill!

All these ways of negotiating and stuff - so much more we need to learn.

One of those days

Today is one of those days when I don't feel like doing anything but recovering from a week's worth of work. Yesterday, in the morning, I reckon I was running around like a headless chicken trying to get my work sorted out and my articles written. I don't think I've felt more stressed than I was yesterday.

Last Friday, I only had very few articles written up and worried about filling up the newspaper this week. But yesterday, suddenly, I had quite a few new appointments/ requests for more stuff to be included in the papers so I ended up writing about 5 new articles in a day!

I counted and I had about 9 articles written for this week's paper which I thought was an achievement. Whether they're good is quite another matter. Some days I just feel like getting them out of my hands while others, I'll hold on til the possible last minute so I could revise, revise, revise. Probably more of the former than the latter. =P

Attached is a pic of a beautiful rainbow which Carmel spotted last week and that made me run out to the back of the office to take a pic of it for our paper's Mansfield Moments (which captures offbeat moments around town).

5 Pups!

Okay, they're not my pups but my cousin, Nick, called me earlier to say his dog, Wawa, has given birth to 5 puppies!!! Yeah!!! I'm so happy for him and Wawa sure gave birth much earlier than we thought. Some of Nick's friends said she was 4 weeks away from giving birth while others said 2 weeks away when Phill and I were there. But Wawa ended up giving birth a mere 6 days later.

Nick held his mobile close to the puppies so I could hear their voices and oohhhh, they're so cute even over the phone. Anyway, Nick will be taking 3 puppies with him when he goes to Singapore next, one for his parents, one for our aunt (whom I didn't remember had a dog before but Nick said she did have an Alsatian cross) and another for Nick's friend. I'm so excited for them and glad I can still visit the puppies/ dogs when I visit my aunts, uncle and grandma! =O)

Reeling from Bali

This morning, one of the topics we talked about in the office was about Bali. It began when Steve said he got a call from our chief editor wanting him to do a story on the Bali bombings. But Steve said he didn't know anything about it cos he was playing playstation the entire weekend and didn't tune in to the news. I smiled and replied that it wasn't a bad way to spend the weekend seeing how addicted guys can be about such games and how it helps to destress.

Then Lyn said she had called one of her close girlfriends whose son is in Bali now. Her girlfriend said the son called and said he was okay yesterday and as soon as the friend said that, she broke down over the phone cos of what could have happened.

I was so shocked when I came out of the shower yesterday and Phill said Bali was bombed AGAIN. I asked him if he was kidding and he said not.

When I went to church that morning, I felt compelled to pray for the people, for their livelihood and that they will not give up hope.

The Sound of Music!

I got to watch my favourite movie of all time, The Sound of Music, today. It was a surprise screening at 8.30pm cos it wasn't reflected in the TV guide. I wouldn't have seen it if not for Phill and his channel surfing.

I had a good time singing to the songs and knowing what comes next although the ads interrupt the flow of the movie somewhat. I also realised how good-looking both Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are, much more so than I remembered when I first watched this movie.

And no, Phill didn't watch it with me. I went to our room to watch it instead and he watched a boring comedy movie in the living room which he said wasn't that good anyway.