Buying The Car

Sydney has wide range of car running on its road. Any brand or model car you want, the chance is it is here in Sydney (although sometimes it has different name).  Some tips when you buy your first car in Sydney:

1. Set you budget/maximum price
   First thing first, define how much you want tospend on a car. Once you get soaked to it, it’s hard to really limit your budget. Better start with this. There is a car for every budget. Even for $1000.  Around $10,000 will get you a very decent car.
2. Buy from dealership.
   You can buy car from private sale or from dealership. Buying privately will give you better price, roughly $1000 – $2000 cheaper than buying from dealer, but it has no protection for buyer. Buying from dealer will give you 3 months warranty where the dealer need to fix/replace any faulty item – giving you peace of mind.
   Another factor to consider, there is a lot of stolen /rebirth car that being sold via private sale, unless you do thorough title check, you may end up with stolen or non-genuine car.
   Shop around, visit 3-5 car dealer before even consider any car – check some online pricing before start. Beware: Sydney’s car salesman is very very good at its job.
3. Don’t buy brand new car.
   Buying brand you car will cost you premium money. Try to buy a car and as soon as you drive it away from the parking lot, the price has dropped maybe 20% if you re-sell  it immediately. In other word, it has worst depreciation. Also especially if you need to borrow money to buy the car.  It’s much better buy smaller/older/cheaper car but buy  it outright with your savings.
   My recommendation would be buy those 3-5 years old cars with low kms on the odometer. It will last at least another 5 years with proper maintenance and you have the biggest bang for your money.

Some websites to start: RTA website,  http://www.carsales.com.au/, http://www.carpoint.com.au/, http://www.drive.com.au , http://www.autoweb.com.au/

Cost of Car Ownership

Cost of Car Ownership

1. Registration Cost

This is the money that you pay to the government for owing a vehicle. The exact value varies from car to car, but normal family sedan will be around $300 mark. To register, for car that have more than 5 years old age, a safety check call “pink slip” is also compulsory. But the price is not that expensive: around $35 mark only.

You need to own a driver license first. Currently the fee is $47 for a year. (5 year license is $151, but depends on the number of year you have driven, you might not be able to get this one) – The cost to get the driving license (Driver Knowledge Test+ Driving Test) is $83. For for information check RTA website.

2. Compulsory Third Party Insurance (CTP / “Green slip”)

This insurance is compulsory to cover medical cost if you injured somebody on a accident. The cost varies according your driving record, but it will be around $600 – 700 mark every year.

3. Service/Maintenance Cost

Most of the modern car (made at year 2000 or above) will have the requirement to be serviced every 10,000km or 6 months. Unless you drive very long distance, you will only need to service your car twice a year.

The cost of service will vary according your brand of the car and the type of service needed (major service, minor service, 100,000km service etc). But be prepare to pay around $300-$500 for each service. It becomes around $1000 per year.

4. Comprehensive Insurance Cost

This insurance is not compulsory. This basically only to cover the cost of repairing if you have accident for both your card and the other party. It also cover some other liability that may arise from accident. For example: if you hit a house and the house collapse, you are liable to fix the house with all the content. Usually this insurance give you upto $20 million legal liability.

The cost of this insurance is roughly around $800 – $1500 (depending on your driving record, type of card and your address).

It’s actually a small price to pay for your piece of mind. Without insurance, a private car repair (panel beating, painting, etc) can cost you at least $5000. Remember, if you are the driver at fault, you need to fix 2 cars. I strongly recommend this insurance

Some big insurance company that can provide you online quote: AAMI, NRMA, GIO, Budget Direct, Bingle

5. Petrol Cost

Cost of petrol will depend of the type of car (the bigger machine the higher the cost), the way you driving the car, the traffic that you drive and the distance you travel.

But for the purpose of this article, say you have a car that consumed on average 10 liters for every 100km (or 10km for each liter) and travel around 15,000km per year (around 40km per day). The price of petrol is now around $1.10 – $1.40 (vary each day, let use $1.25 as average)

Then, each year cost of petrol =  (15,000 / 10) x $1.25 = $1,875

6 Unexpected / Other Cost

Driving around Sydney with car could induce you with some unexpected cost such as parking fine, speeding camera fine and other infringement. For new driver, it’s very common to het these fine if you are not extra careful.

Also, some big ticketed item for your car from time to time will need replacement: shock absorber, tyres,etc. And although you are insured, every accident you need to pay the “excess” roughly around $600 or more.

You may also consider to become a member of Road Side Assistance at $92 per year. See NRMA motoring website.

Parking ticket also something that you need to consider. Although most shopping center will give you free (or at least 3 hours free) parking, some other premium places such Sydney CBD, Darling Harbour, Airport, Bondi Beach, etc will charge you parking fee ranging from $2 per hour to $15 per hour.

So, prepare to spend at least additional $500-$1000 on average per year.

Summary

So as summary, see below table for your cost of ownership:

Remember, the cost above is after you buy the car itself.

It’s not that cheap to have a car and drive in Sydney, but at least you have prepared.

See you on Sydney road !

For me, the toughest year as parent is when the child is between 1 and 2 years old (12 – 24 months). This is the period when the child start to gain his/her independence: start talking, walking, running and interacting with his/her world.

Before this period, the child is practically 100% dependent to the parent and the interaction will be limited to feeding the milk, carry them around and put them in bed.

On this period, the child starts to develop and explore its curiosity. They want to touch it, they want to hear the sound it’s making and they want to play with it. What make this period a little bit tough is not the curiosity itself, but the limited conversation that can be done with the child.

With the independence of movement and their curiosity as fuel, what a children can do is quite limitless. And actually, the amount that they learn during this period also enourmous. Therefore, what we do or act on what they did become very important as that’s what they will learn about the parents.

What most parents forget is:

the rule and custom as you know it are not embeded into the DNA. They have to be taught and learned by the child.

A little lab experiment...

For example: see the illustration above. That’s a box of tissue being experimented by my 1.5 years old. Imagine what they have in mind, “Oh, cool, a piece of soft paper with nice smell. Let me have one… and oh, there is another one beneath it, let’s take it as well, and another one, and another one… so many… let see where is the bottom of it…”

They don’t know that they supposed to have only 1 piece and leave the box alone. How do they know ? Who teach them? So, screaming and yelling to this little child will not help as they don’t know what’s wrong with it. What they see was that “daddy or mummy often yelling, screaming and say ‘No’ all the time, – almost to all that I did, I don’t know what so specaial about it so that they just say it over and over again”

And the problem for parent is, you cannot really give reasoning and giving lecture to them. What we can do is just to show the correct one. “Monkey see, monkey do” is a good phrase to illustrate it. Try to tell them that that is wrong probably a bit harder. Just try to show the correct one and they will follow you.

Remember, on that age, the child will just follow and mimic anything and everything that they see and hear. So, it is better to reduce that yelling and “No” and show the better way of doing it based on your custom.

Below is some examples of the experimentation done by mine:

• Pouring the whole bag of Doritos (corn chip) all over the carpet. Hmm…imagine the crumbs !
• Turn off the computer while I am on it. Oh, all of those unsaved data…..
• A snake of toilet paper around the home. Yes, I need to roll it back…
• Licking the shoe. Yuck..
• Paste that sticker to TV, computer, wall, table and chair. As long as it stick…
• Pouring that chocolate milk all over the carpet. Lucky I got brown carpet…
• Insert the book into the DVD player. Just like daddy does with the DVD, right?.

Tough, but just laugh it off and give them a lesson of life by showing the correct one, without punishing them.

Enjoy your child, once they pass that period, they will never come back ! Happy parenting !

Living in one of these suburban area, every morning, I am queuing in one of those access road to go to the main road. Here is the illustration:

Turning Right At Intersection

I am in the A2 lane, turning right to go to D3 lane. D1/D2/D3 are the busiest lane as it’s the direction to the city. Perhaps because of that, the Sydney’s RTA (Road Traffic Authority) have made C4 lane to be left turn only to speed up traffic.

So, basically there are 6 streams of traffic when the light turns green, from the busiest to the least busy:

1. From C4 to D1
2. From C3 to B1
3. From A2 to D3
4. From A1 to B3
5. From C3 to A3
6. From A1/A2 to C1/C2

People blocking traffic

The queue in A2 lane during the peak hour is actually not too bad, average maybe only 3-4 cars. And it usually always be clear with only 1 cycle of the traffic light – so wait time approximately 2 – 3 minutes.

But from time to time (say every third day), some times I will have to wait, queuing on this intersection for 20 minutes. Why? Because people is blocking traffic due to having little knowledge or little confidence to handle this problem below.

Most of the mistake for these people is to wait traffic from C4 to D1 to be empty first before they want to turn right from A2 to D3. It will hardly be empty as it’s the busiest stream. So, after 2-3 cycles without moving, with angry motorist beeping their horn, they finally move their vehicle merging to D3 lane while C4-D1 still active.

As long there is no traffic go straight from C3 lane to A3 lane, motorist should merge (turning right) from A2 lane into D3 lane regardless the condition of traffic of C4 to D1.

Is this safe?

Of course it is. The merging road have 3 big lanes (highway standard). The one moving from C4 by road rules have to merge into D1, cannot go to D2 or D3. Then traffic from A2 – as long as there is no traffic from C3 to A3 – can be safely merging into D3 with D2 will be the buffer space . I don’t see any problem with this reasoning. Simple and easy.

There is one caution, though… Sometimes, as C4-D1 is moving fluidly compare to C3 (that need to wait non-turning traffic from A1/A2 and also have to follow separate ‘right turn’ traffic light), people who want to go straight from C3 to A3, is breaking the road rule and use C4 lane to go straight to A4. This could be a problem as the right-turning traffic from A2 will only expect and watch C3 lane for non-turning traffic to A3. But if an accident happen because of this, its very easy to determine who is at fault (of course the driver who breaking ‘left turn’ only rule and making a move from C4 to A4).

Hopefully, this article can help people moving through the intersection safely and confidently, without blocking the traffic.

p.s: The highway above is Cumberland Highway

HP C6180's Paper Bay

What Happen to My Printer?

My 3-years-old HP C6180 multifunction top of the range printer has been quite reliable, until a few weeks ago. Suddenly a paper jammed inside the feeder and there is no way I could access the bay easily without disassembling the chassis.

And immediately my engineer brain starts to whinge: printer and paper jam should be very common and closely connected. Isn’t it ? I mean paper jam in a printer will not be a rare or weird occasions.

But, if it is so, then , how come such a big name like HP does not anticipate such common event? (By making it at least easy to remove the jam when it happen)

A piece of paper jammed inside

And so there I was, on sunny Saturday morning, I ended up spend almost 2 hours fishing a piece paper from a printer with my MacGyver’s tools: a torch, a pair of 30-cm-rulers and sticky tape (Enjoy the pictorial on the right). And to my surprise, the jammed paper is actually a fresh new paper – it’s not even the recycle one

I mean, if HP really care about customer experience, a hinged opening on the chasis will fix the problem in 10 seconds flat. I keep wondering until I got “Eureka!” moment when thinking about the new face of the consumer electronics that hold the answer of this simple problem.

A closer look

What Happen to Consumer Electronics?

I remember vividly when I was in school and the tape player in my house was broken, I and my parents drive half around the town to have it fix to a reputable repairer. Have you ever got that similar experience recently? Probably not.

These days, most of consumer goods, especially electronics one,  are designed for “single use” only. They are not meant to be repaired when they have broken.

Thanks to the low cost of mass production, the true cost of getting a new unit will be cheaper than making it easier to repair, maintain endless supply of spare part, training program for repairer and its support infrastructure.

My sophisticated tools

Yes, companies still offer “warranty period” which is actually simply replacing your faulty unit with brand new one that has been made by mass production – or at most to some modular level that make it easy to just plug and play.

The ages of the product is also has been designed to be quite limited. Three or four year would be an eternity. Why? This is also caused by the rapid advancement of technology which made 3 years old technology significantly obsolete.

But more than that, a repeat purchase will be the ultimate goal for every consumer electronics makers. That is their livelihood.

2 hours later

The modus operandi would be make the customer hunger of features. Then the new model with that features released.

Particular for printer, the real profit model of printer product will be more on the consumable: ink and paper to name a few. Not only because they are consumable (repeat buy while being used) but that consumable will have the highest profit margin. Printer company can literally just give away the printer as long as customer will buy the genuine ink.

For example: Deskjet F2480 Inkjet Printer a multi-function device (print , copy, scan) at this moment still can be purchase at Officework for only $39. Yes, $39. Furthermore, a few weeks back HP is giving away $20 cash back make it practically only $19 to purchase. But…. the combo pack for the ink (black and tri-color) will set you back just under $60. See the pattern ? Economically, once the ink run out, it’s cheaper for you to buy a new unit. Not really ‘normal’, isn’t it ? Well, get used to it…

Look! No more jammed

So, what?

Back to my original problem, making sure paper jam can be easily rectified, probably in the bottom of priority list from printer company (if it makes to the list at all).

If other people who does not a great passion like me (read:have 2 hours to spare and was watching MacGyver movie too much), will take the printer to “repair center”. And I am quite sure, it will not be the things that covered even under warranty.

They probably will categorize this as “misuse” (maybe the paper too thin, too thick, not inserted properly,  misalign,etc) and end up you will pay premium to open the chasis and put it back. Well, good for local business, but if you don’t want to pay the price, it goes back to the question “will you let a piece of paper bring this $300 printer down ?” Frustrating… you betcha…

Hopefully, my mumble about consumer electronics above will ease down your pain as it helps when you understand.

And.. next time you buy a printer, make sure the printer allow for paper jam to be rectified easily !

Well, for one thing, my station of destination in Macquarie University was only finish late 2008. But this is not the major issue, as I can still take the last 10 minutes drive by bus. This is the situation:

1. From Westmead Station to Macquarie University Station, the cheapest return ticket is the retail $10 which cost me $50 weekly for 5 days work. The weekly travel pass cost me more, $57, but it’s fair enough as it covers for 7 days and it is valid for ferry and bus ride as well)
2. The time needed for above ride (from station to station, include waiting time for connecting train) is around 1 hour. Add this with 15 minutes to go to the station and another 10 minutes on the other side. Total time needed is 85 minutes 1 way or 170 minutes return.

Public Transport in NSW

1. The distance between my place to the office is only 15km. So, 5 days return will make me travel 150km weekly. With petrol is currently around $1.25 (fluctuate between $1.10 – $1.40), how much is the cost of petrol weekly? Well, my 2.0 liters family sedan can travel 9km for every 1 liter of petrol. My small car can travel 15km for every liter, therefore:
   - Normal car: (150/9) x $1.25 = $20.83 ==> ($29.17 cheaper than train per week or around $1450 a year/50 weeks work)
   - Small car: (150/15) x $1.25 = $12.5 ==> ($37.5 cheaper than train per week or around $1875 a year/50 weeks work)
2. Now let see the time. At the right of busy peak traffic hour on average it will take less than 1 hour either way. But working a bit smarter, by departing past 8.30am I can reach the office in less than 30 minutes. So, naturally I can only go back after 6pm and took me around 45minutes to go home. So, daily I will spend around 75 minutes for commuting to work. (That’s a saving of time of 95 minutes daily or 4750 minutes per year/50 working weeks) – 4750 minutes are equivalent to just almost 80 hours (2 weeks of working !!)

Who decide differently ?

So after describing the above situation, is there any sane person that still choose public transport over privately driven car ?

Not only saving almost $2000 a year (by driving private car) but also saving almost 2 weeks worth of working hours ! Yes, having a car induce some other cost like maintenance cost and insurance. But, will that cost beyond $2000 a year? No!…  But let say, it cost around $2000, you still well ahead with time savings and not to mention the freedom of movement you enjoy with your own car.

To give you another excuse, City Rail Service is quite notorious with not-so-reliable in term of punctuality and reliability of the train. So, using the service regularly, you would expect to see some lateness (that force you to wait to catch the next connecting train), breakdown and some other inconvenience such as have to stand (no available seat) and the fact that it’s quite jam-packed during peak hours (cannot really move).

So, until the travel time significantly less and the fare drops down to half, or petrol price shoot up 2x, there will be no economical and practical advantage of using public transport, well at least for my situation.

Check yours !

• Note down the odometer of your car before filling up for petrol to get the average usage from your car (fill full tank each time , preferably from the same pump, to give more accuracy – do it several time to get better average)
• Check the up to date fare on 131500.info website.
• You can also always Google Maps to give rough distance between your home and office.

Happy commuting !

It's Australia

Australia is “the lucky country” some people say. But it is indeed true for some extend:

• Global Financial Crisis (“GFC): Australia has suffered only minimal impact from the crisis. Mainly thanks to the abundance mineral resources that always needed by China and India and the fast acting of government to boost confident.Remember, this “GFC” was due to sub prime mortgage crisis in US, so should be no direct impact to the rest of the world. What was shaking is people confidence about banking system, uncertain future post crisis, etc. And Rudd government hit this spot on by handed in litterally thousands of cash money to every Australian. Of course, with everybody suddenly have cash on their pocket, a decen sum, confidence is maintain at high level. People keep spending and businesses can minimize the effect.What this actually means? Well, unemployment was maintain at around 6% not as worse as expected, property price stable and actually keep rising and Aussie Dollar keep rising as well.But there is some side effect for mortgage holder: while everybody else in the world still enjoy the low interest rate to stimulate the economy, Reserve Bank of Australia (hence all the banks) has increase the rate 3 times so far with expectation that this early February there will be another one. Yes, in other world, the reserve bank already try to put a break on economic growth to control inflation.
• Terrorist Attack: Thankfully, up to now, there was no terrorist attack in Australia soil. Not really sure who can take credit of this, but my take on this is that Australia is considered “low profile” in the world. Just a small country with 22 million people. You don’t get the attention that you need to carry such attack, maybe… Touch wood.
• Blessed Isolation: Geographicly isolated with the rest of the world give an unique advantage for Australia.
  • Many diseases and sickness, especially for stocks can be avoided, for example: Australian beef are excellent and healthy meat. Also, do you know that Arab country also buy camel from Australian desert as the camel here free of diseases that they have commonly there.
    This advantage is enforced by very strict quarantine policy in all international airport and seaport.
  • Easier to control the people smuggling into the country. While 2009 was a record where more than 60 boat people try to seek refuge in Australia, but it is actually not that difficult to see that happen compare to if Australia have a few neighboring country with close proximity.
    This advantage is also enforced by strict visa policy. Try to get into Australia from Indonesia for example, even tourist visa is very hard to get.
• Have it all: from snowy mountain to dry dessert, from rain forest, bushes to beautiful beaches; under water, on the water, above the water . Australia have it all. Yes, drought still a problem to some significant area, but everybody just take it on together. During the worst drought: people don’t wash the car, don’t water the garden as it were, just to survive. And we made it.

But on the serious note, don’t underestimate the contribution of this “downunder” country to the world:

• Who can live without Wireless LAN these day ? Well, this IEEE 802.11a and 802.11g Wi-Fi product is Australian invention. Other important invention were: black box flight recorder, electric drill, garage roller door, notepad,  photocopy even dual flush toilet. For more complete list check out this.
• Supply about 20% of world’s nuclear energy fuel, Uranium (just 2nd after Canada)
• Home of the most prolific inventor in the human history, Kia Silverbrook. (Yes, Thomas A Edison is now #3) – See this for more detail.
• Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, Simon Baker are some Australians envoy for Hollywood. Not to mention Prince Mary of Denmark who is an Aussie. “The Wiggles” and “AC/DC” are those for music.
• A saint.
• many still in progress….

Remember, when you say “G’day, Mate!” the pronunciation could give you up (“day” pronounce like “die” , “mate” pronounce as “mite”, check out the pronunciation here to be sure.).

Happy Australia Day 2010 ! (And yes, it’s public holiday today…)

On 20 February 2010, Pope Benedict XVI announced that Mary MacKillop will be canonized in a ceremony at the Vatican on October 17 and she will be known as St Mary of the Cross.

So, this is my dedication to fellow Australian who does extraordinary things for fellow human regardless of their status. Hope the highest recognition from Catholic Church – a sainthood for Mother Mary MacKillop – could at least inspires us to do good deeds for those who less fortunate than us.

How One Become a Saint: Canonization Process

Catholic Church’s Canonization process to name someone a “saint” is incredibly long process and usually takes a century (100 years) or more. The church is not “making” someone a saint but recognize the saint. The process is basically have to overcome 3 main hurdles:

1. Being recommended by local bishop to a panel of cardinal Congregation for Cause of Saints in Vatican which then agreed that the person is a role model of Catholic teaching. The Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal Patrick Francis Moran was the first to inspire a sainthood path for Mary MacKillop on her deathbed. But his successor Cardinal Michael Kelly is the one starting the official effort to make Mary a saint.
2. Beatification: the nominated person have to be proven to be responsible of one miracle. The miracles have to be something that cannot be explained by neither science, medicine or logic, so implied a divine power. This will be investigated and confirmed by Vatican.
   The late Pope John Paul II has beatified Blessed (Mother) Mary MacKillop on 19 January 1995 for healing a woman with deadly leukaemia in 1961.
3. Canonization: the nominated person have to be proven to be responsible of 2nd miracle, after he/she died.Investigated and confirmed by Vatican. (very very tough criteria!)
   Pope Benedict XVI agreed with doctors and theologians’ findings that the cure of a woman suffering inoperable lung cancer in 1993 was indeed a miracle, hence, fulfilling her sainthood requirement. The woman was given only weeks to live as her lung cancer was proven to be untreatable. She carried a small picture of the Blessed (Mother) Mary, with a piece of the nun’s habit attached to it, pinned to her clothes day and night. Ten months after her diagnosis, the woman, then 50, was tested again and no cancer was found. Doctors could find no scientific explanation for her recovery .
   The Congregation of the Causes of Saints issued a papal decree on 19 December 2009 that the Catholic Churs is officially recognizing the second miracle as legitimate and beyond human intervention – making Mary MacKillop the first Australian Saint.
   Although no longer necessary, at least one other miracle of British backpacker David Keohane who recover after being bashed and coma for 8 months was noted. The family and friends of David prayed constantly through the intercession of Mary MacKillop and given the miracle.

About Saint Mary MacKillop

• She was born in Melbourne on 15th January 1842, the eldest of 8 children.
• At age of 16, she started helping at her local parish to teach young children
• At age of 24, she open the first Saint Joseph school on an unused stable. Many young woman then join Mary and so the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart was started. It was in the year of 1866.
• A year later, in 1867, Bishop Sheil ask her to come to Adelaide to start another school. From there, the Sisters spread around Australia and the world. She also opened Orphanages, Providences to care for the homeless and destitute both young and old, and Refuges for ex-prisoners and ex-prostitutes who wished to make a fresh start in life
• Excommunicated from the Church at one stage for allegedly disobeying authorities.
  Before long  there were 17 schools under her care, and the church leaders were bothered by her power.
  In 22nd September 1871, Mary and many other sisters from St Joseph was wrongly excommunicated (expelled from church) by Bishop Sheil, who wanted to have more control of St Josephs Sisters. After five months, when Bishop Sheil lay dying, he realised his mistake and revoked the excommunication.  Despite her ordeal, she never once publicly blamed the church leaders for their actions
• Mary MacKillop died in North Sydney at 67 years old on 8th August 1909 because of ill health.

Many things that seemed unaccountable worries have proved indeed to be hidden blessings – Mary MacKillop – 1870

Small Happening By Prime Minister

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has a little bit incident for supporting Saint Mary MacKillop. Raised as Catholic but currently practicing Anglican, Mr Rudd paid a visit to MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney as soon as the canonization committee indicates that the 2nd miracle of Mother Mary MacKillop is about to be confirmed. No less than opposition leader, a devoted Catholic, Tony Abbot slammed the PM of “exploiting for political gain” of the possible canonisation.

His gesture of respect even tickle Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth to comment “The Prime Minister affects a certain fluidity which perhaps church leaders wouldn’t like to see.” This comment irritates Bishop Michael Putney, chair of the Catholic Bishops Commission for Ecumenism and Inter-religious Relations which replied that it was not really appropriate for a clergy to comment in the press on the religious practice of anyone. “Mr Rudd, like everyone else, should be left alone as he works out his relationship with the Catholic Church”. So a bit of unrest on both churches.

PM Rudd has been known as long time supporter of Mary MacKillop, so does Tony Abbot. He also discussed the matter with Pope Benedict during his visit to Rome July 2009. He insisted all Australians “whether they are Catholic or not, whether they are religious or not” should have a high regard for MacKillop and her achievements.

Getting To Know Further The First Australian Saint

To get to know the Blessed Mother further, you may consider to purchase a book by Paul Gardiner titled “Mary MacKillop: An Extraordinary Australian” – the official biography.

To purchase from Amazon, just click the link on the left. Otherwise you may choose other interesting item covering the first Australian Saint as shown on the right above.

God bless !

Gratitude is the memory of the heart – Mary MacKillop – 1907

Reference: many sources on the net.

I guess, it’s too early in the year to talk about serious thing – so this is a little bit intermezzo: enjoy one of the greatest hit from Michael… It’s about most of us has been, is or will be experiencing… Happy New Year 2010 !

Haven’t Met You Yet

Michael Bublé, photo:http://www.michaelbuble.com

I tried so very hard not to loose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought I thought of every possibility

And I know some day that it’ll all turn out
You’ll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid that I give so much more than I get, mmh..
I just haven’t met you yet.

Mmm ….

I might have to wait
I’ll never give up
I guess it’s half timing, and the other half’s luck
Wherever you are
Whenever it’s right
You’ll come outta nowhere and into my life

I know that we can be so amazing
And baby your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

Mm….

Somehow I know that it’ll all turn out
You’ll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid, I’ll give so much more than I get, mmh..
I just haven’t met you yet.

They say all’s fair
in love and war
But I won’t need to fight it
we’ll get it right
And we’ll be united

Instrumental

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

Mm…

And someday I know it’ll all turn out
And I’ll work to work it out
Promise you kid I’ll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh, you know it’ll all turn out
And you’ll make me work so we can work to work it out
And promise you kid to give so much more than I get, yeah
I just haven’t met you yet

I just haven’t met you yet
Oh, promise you kid
To give so much more than I get

I said love love love love
love love love…..
I just haven’t met you yet
Love love love …..

I just haven’t met you yet!

Located just across Sydney Harbour, Taronga Zoo can easily be reached with short ferry trip from Circular Quay (they even have discounted admission and return trip for it: ask for ‘Zoo pass’). But being near in the central hub of Sydney transportation is not the major advantage. The big advantage is the background that Taronga Zoo has is no less than below:

Magnificent Sydney Skyline as the Zoo's Background (click for bigger picture)

Girrafe at Taronga

I bet, not many zoo in the world is lucky enough to have that magnificent view of beautiful harbour city like Sydney.

Opening Hours and Admission Ticket

The zoo open every day all year (including Christmas) thanks to the troop of volunteer that they have. They open from 9am to 5pm. For the most bang for your buck, come as early as possible cause there are too many to see and too little time you have.

Adults ticket is $41, children $20 and family of 4 (2 adult and 2 children) will need to spend $103,70. It’s magnificent but not cheap! But never pay the full price cause online prepaid ticket will give you off 10%, so does the usual NRMA 10% discount. The easiest to get discount is trough this website: just click here, print the coupon and present it on the cashier boot. I did it before and a significant 15% discount was in order. (Let me know if the link is no longer working!)

Sky Safari, photo: Taronga Zoo's website

Your Day At the Zoo

Although not to big compare with its sister zoo “Western Plain Zoo” in city of Dubbo, 21 hectares of land in the middle of the city is quite challenging to be walked off. So make sure you are at your good condition to walk. Visitor at the zoo can have their complimentary map for free to guide there visit. But usually this map will overwhelm many of them. Not only with so many display, exhibit, keeper talk, and show to attend to, but the route to cover the whole area with the most efficient walk will not be resolve without careful plan.

I would recommend two signature shows as your anchor: The Bird Show (12pm and 3 pm) and The Seal Show (11am and 2pm). You should not miss any of them on your visit. Each show last less than 1 hour but don’t expect to do it consecutively (e.g:Seal at 11 and Bird at 12) because not only there is distant to cover, but the waiting crowd will already fully occupied the viewing platform. Come at least 15 minutes before hand and enjoy the time eating ice cream or take a group photo

Plan for the Zoo Visit - click for bigger image

Once you select your preference, I guess the rest of your day need to be arrange around it. On the right is one of my suggestion how to make the most of your day:

• If you come with car, instead of park at the main parking space, you can driver further down to the end of the road near the ferry wharf. If you are early, you can park just beside the cliff whole day for free (save 415 parking fee)  and then start your zoo journey on Sky Safari. In fact you will start and finish the day with Sky Safari, a wow factor for you and your family.
• Once arrive on the top of the hill at about 9am, start with the black path to visit: Rainforest Aviary, Australian Nightlife , Kangaroo, Emu , Wombat and Platypus and make your way to Kid Zoo where a lot of farm animal and display just for your young one.
• Around 10.30am take the purple path to make a quick stroll or just pay that train ride to make a quick travel to Seal Show.
• Seal Show 11am. You can enjoy your meal while waiting for the show or during the show. Or otherwise buy your lunch after the show in the food market. Don’t forget to visit Luk Chai and the elephants gang just across the food court. You may want to visit the Chimp, Gorilla , and Giraffe doing your blue path.
• From 1pm, you can now follow the red path to visit the Seal, Penguin, Tapir, Deer, Condor, Tortoise, etc before ready for the bird show.
• Bird Show 3pm. Come early to pick you best spot while eating ice cream !
• Follow your last yellow path and to visit Meerkat, Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Tiger, Lion, then African waterhole and its animal such as Zebra, Sun Bear, hippo, Camel before back to Sky Safari terminal on the top.
• Go back to your car with Sky Safari and treasure the day !

Tiger at Taronga Zoo

The above suggestion is – I have to admit – a little bit tiring and require some level of fitness from everybody. For more relax and easy going schedule, you can cut of some of the routes to suit your condition.

Must dos:

• A pram is a must for your young one. Even 5 or 6 years old will love the strolling wheel!
• The best is to choose an overcast day, not raining, but not too much sun shine either. Temperature will be perfect at low 20°C. If it’s too hot, not only will drain your power and spirit, but the animal also will take a rest under shade and not much for you to see.
• Bring your own picnic food and beverages, not only save you from overprice not-so-special menu and its crowded queue, you will save some time to explore more exhibition and display.
• Prepare your trip carefully to make the most of it.

Sydney born elephant, Luk Chai

Want More?

• Become “Zoo Friend” for $102.50 per year (first, adult, additional adult:$92.50, children $50) for unlimited zoo entry for 12 months. (A family of 4: 2 adult 2 children, will significantly save money if go to the zoo more than 3 times a year by becoming Zoo Friend)
• Spend the night at the zoo on a luxurious tent ! Check the program call “Roar and Snore” on Taronga Zoo Website.

For current information, latest map and schedule just visit here: Taronga Zoo Website.

Enjoy the trip !

Christmas Stress Among Us

Christmas Stresses Among Us

Here are the most common Christmas Stress in no particular order:

1. Financial Stress: extra budget for those gifts, go out and everything else.
   With Christmas literally about giving, there will be upward pressure on your budget to buy gift for colleague, family, friend, neighbor or even someone you don’t even like. Can you imagine how stressful it is if somebody buy you a present and you don’t do the same ? And not only that, with all those party and gathering, there will be extra transportation cost, extra laundry for clothes, extra parking, tips or even you need to buy that extra party dresses… Fine if you have extra money to spend, but if budget is tight, this can be quite stressful
2. Psychological Stress: burden to always looks happy.
   In the office, school, party or function, during this special holiday season, there will be expectation that people need to be happy. Well like it or not, that the “norm”. So rather than take the risk to get into awkward conversation about what’s wrong with you, some people will just have to put a fake happy face and attitude. Of course this is quite a stress…
3. Convenience Stress: habit that need to be temporary changed.
   Human is a creature of habit and in general will have some resistant for a change. One of the convenience that give you a problem will be child care center / day care. They are closed during the season, either 2 weeks, 3 weeks or few days, the old good child care that you go to every day to drop your young one is no longer there. Or nanny or friends that can help you baby sit for some errand or quick movie time, is not there at these time, they are having their holiday as well. How can you survive without them ?
   And in Sydney in particular, there will be (almost) no shop open on Christmas Day. You have to make sure you have everything you need at home.
4. Fitness Stress: pressure to looks good and fit in Christmas
   Especially in Southern Hemisphere, where Christmas is in summer, everybody want to look not too fat, not too thin and everything in between. Well, depper than that, you recognized that there will be “extra Christmas kilo” that you will pickup along the holiday. And whether you do it preemptively or do it later, you remember how hard to chuck that extra kilos away. Adding the extra stress on your shoulder.
5. Environmental/Cultural Stress: those cultural or environmental pressure that make you do extra things.
   This is getting popular: imagine all of your neighbor put up a xmas-decoration with all those flashy light at night. And only your place doesn’t have one. Hwy, where is your christmast spirit ? All the neighbor scream. Then half hearted you will do the same putting extra work for your self and your wallet. Found something similar ?  Christmas tree too small, no new dresses, no Christmas holiday, not painting the fence, going to church, etc

Some Solutions

Yes, you will say it, the solution will be easier said than done – and I guess I agree with that. But either this year or next year, sooner or later you will have to confront it. So, here some suggestions for your consideration;

• Shop early. Don’t wait until December to start buying those present. Buy online, usually much cheaper but you need to wait for the shipment that’s why you need to shop early.
• Stick with your budget, don’t over spend. It might be awkward that you are not giving a present to certain somebody as last year, but they will live with it. Don’t worry.
• Don’t try to impress everybody. The most important person: your spouse/partner, your children, your parents, and best friends. Buy them some gift but not the rest of the world (unless you have extra money, of course)
• Just do whatever you really want to do (OK, with exception if your boss say so). If you do something, that’s because you want to do it. Otherwise, grump and stress will be all around.
• Control your eating: do not over eat. Don’t pickup those extra kilo so you don’t need to do extra exercise to put that away. Be responsible, if you want extra eating, then extra exercise is the consequences you need to bear.
• But happiness if not a function of money. Happiness is where your expectation is fulfill. If you expect too much and it didn’t come as you wish then you will not be happy. So, how to go about it ? Lower your expectation. This is a teaching from the great Mahatma Gandhi (“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony“), happiness is all about managing your expectation, no more, no less.
• Be smart and prepared most things well in advanced. If you have enough time, you will have some way to outsmart the problem, but if you are in a rush, the solution will be whatever the first think pop up on your head (and that could be expensive)

Okay then. Hope this is not too late to help you with some ideas to overcome your Christmas stress.

Season’s greetings !