< Lala's Australian Adventures - Part 2 >

LALA'S AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURES - PART 2

from DreamWorld to Toowoomba, from Spongebob to rainbows to a certain Sheree Murphy (Mrs Harry Kewell)... watching tv all the time, and Lala was laughing all the way.

17 June 2006 (Saturday)

905AM:
Well, yesterday's Dream World trip was kinda fun, and I didn't even like, got scared the hell out of me. All the rides had a certain rating, so we didn't take those that were obviously scary, but took all the "moderate-thrill" ones onwards. I think I like the mini-coaster one the most. It looked a little scary, but really wasn't. Just fast, that's all. And I'm fine with high-speed rides. The boat one down the rapids was fun too. In fact, we took it 3 times. You can get pretty wet from that, and it's fun to ride as a family since each boat can have up to 6 people in it. My father needed much convincing to take that ride with us after the 3 of us rode it once. He was apparently traumatised from the Movie World Spooky Coaster experience.

Of course we didn't take the rollercoaster rides and the Tower of Terror rides. The Tower of Terror cars were making a hell of a noise. Dream World park was like so damn big, but you would hear the Tower of Terror rides from any corner. The noise the cars make as they zoomed up and down the tower sounded like a rocket taking off if you were near, or like a fighter plane zooming over if you were elsewhere. Just hearing it scares me.

Dream World is really big. Not only do they have the rides, they also have animals. Yeah, we saw the kangaroos and koalas. Spongebob can be found in DreamWorld too. DreamWorld just comprises of many "worlds", like "Australian Wildlife Experience", "Gold Rush County", "Tiger Island", "Nickelodean Central", etc. In fact we just didn't have enough time to explore all the places. Yes, 7 hours wasn't enough to finish the entire park!

(spongebob, patrick and us!/don't ask me what the kangaroos are doing..)

After dinner at the Chinese restaurant at the hotel lobby, it was TV time again. For the past few days, 8pm onwards is TV time for me and my brother. Hm... we watched 'Shallow Hal', 'Fifa Fever' (some football documentary), 'Big Brother' (some reality show), 'Song for the Socceroos'. Oh well, we just kept surfing channels that's why we watched so many shows. Around this time, the SBS channel always seems to show football-related shows, thus 'Fifa Fever' & 'Song for the Socceroos'. I can't believe they actually have a competition to find a song for the socceroos! The one with the top score for this episode was this one called "Here comes the Socceroos", and you know, the guy who composed the song said he was from Liverpool, UK, and the hosts and audience immediately went "Wow". Haha. I was like, "Wow", too. (note: it was actually a repeat telecast... the competition ended some time ago, and the winning song was called "Green and Gold". I've heard it, sounds like of weird to me though.)

Then... I saw more of those Nike commercials about Australia v Brazil! Besides the Bresciano one, there's at least 2 more ('cause I've seen two more) where that ugly man (he looks more like an alien) talking about how great Brazil is. Aye, it was quite funny to see Aussies dissing themselves, talking about how shit they are compared to Brazil! I'm sure it's really some Aussie humour thing though. You see, for example, the man/alien was saying how the socceroos will never beat Brazil, 'cause they're "ranked 42nd in the world".

"Sure you've beaten Uruguay.... on penalties"

"And who? Solomon Islands? They're 140th in the world!"

Then he switches on the TV, and there's Ronaldinho showing off some tricks.

And he starts gushing, "Ahhh... joga bonito Ronaldinho...."

Then like at the end of every such Nike commercial, the words "History is against us", "Stuff History" appears

(note: apparently that man/alien thing is called 'History')


(should be this, I think. may differ slightly though.)

To be honest, I think the general feeling among Aussie fans is that they don't think the Socceroos can win Brazil, but then again, they aren't going to write them off completely. It's just that, they have pretty low expectations of the team. To them, it's like, qualifying for the WC is already an achievement. Anything more than that is just a bonus. That's why the Japan result was like so great for them. I can't count how many times I've seen the replays of Cahill's goals on TV during the commercial breaks.

And yeah, the Aussies sure know they're major underdogs against Brazil, and these ads poking fun of themselves are just meant to lighten the mood, and perhaps making the fans realise how any kind of result against Brazil should be viewed as a major success for Aussie football, or soccer, as they call it. Yah, now I recall how there was one part where the man/alien was saying, "You guys are nothing in football, oh wait a minute, you guys call it soccer." (and then he cackles wickedly. Haha)

On the other hand, it can also be said that these commercials could have been trying to fire up the socceroos. You know, like letting them know how everyone else in the world sees them, thinking they have no chance against the Brazilians, and trying to do some reverse psychology thing. Well, anyway, I know we won't have these kind of commercials in Singapore (everyone would complain!) so I find them rather interesting.

Today, we'll be going around with my elder brother and sis-in-law at last. No idea where we're going exactly. I think it's just around Gold Coast or Brisbane.

831PM:

Right now, they're showing the different sports on TV. One's rugby (Australia v England) & another's AFL (Australian football league). My brother tried explaining the difference between rugby, Aussie football & American football to me, but seriously I just don't really get it. Anyway, what's so interesting about these sports?!! All 3 involve guys tumbling on top of each other, and I just don't see the fun in it.

I think people here have actually seen rugby and Aussie football as their main sports all the while. As for the real football (soccer), they're only starting to warm up to it now. Today I heard this radio phone-in which was quite funny. The caller said something about how the fastest-selling vehicle recently is the (some particular brand I can't remember) bandwagon, because everyone's suddenly saying, "Oh, we love the socceroos!" and "Harry Kewell is so great!" The way he said it was really hilarious. I saw this letter in the papers once from this reader, about how the media (except SBS) is suddenly saying how they've "always loved the Socceroos", when no one really used to give a damn. And when they had this article about rugby in the newspaper front page, the headline had to start with "While we were distracted by the other sport..." (obviously referring to soccer as "the other sport"). Oh well, I seriously don't understand what's so good about rugby! But for the newly-coverted socceroos fans, I guess it's okay to jump onto the bandwagon this time! After all, I can also be considered one of them... Only that I've realised Kewell is great much earlier...

Do you know the Australian rugby team are called the Wallabies? I wonder who're the Koalas then...

Anyway, today our elder brother was pretty late in picking us up. He only turned up at around 12pm. He then drove us to Byron Bay. It's apparently in a different state, in New South Wales. It's at the most easterly point of Australia, so I suppose it was the Pacific Ocean we were looking at up there at the lighthouse area. It was super windy and cold. But it was still quite an experience.

(most easterly point of Australia!/rainbow from inside the car)

Today, we also saw many rainbows! There were times we actually saw 2 rainbows at the same time, though I'm not sure how that was possible. Some reflection thing? But it's the frist time I really saw such clear and big rainbows. On numerous occasions, we could actually see both ends of the rainbow. They always seem to end in the water. It was really just a beautiful, beautiful sight.

(a video of a rainbow I took while in the car. not very well-taken since the car was moving! haha. and there's no sound. my cheap digicam doesn't come with sound, and in this case, it wasn't needed anyway)

Oh, and yah, I went to the casino today! Haha, just to see what it was like inside. Of course I didn't gamble. None of us did. And needless to say, the guard asked to see my identity card. I knew he'd ask for it. It gets pretty tiring sometimes though. I suppose I like looking young... and I behave like a kid anyway...

Oh, and I heard I'm like 6th or 7th in the fantasy league already. Apparently even my brother has overtaken me.

18 June 2006 (Sunday)

705AM:

Haha, the Italy v USA match was so funny. 3 players sent off! 1 disallowed goal for both sides too. And yeah, the final score was 1-1. Ahh.. why Luca Toni got subbed off early. Grr, he was my captain I think. But you know something? The Italians are really hot. Hmm... I always thought they're like the sexiest team. Maybe it's because of their tight shirts... but haha, I've seen them without shirts on more than one occasion too. They often do those calendar shots you know. I remember seeing one pic of Cannavaro with nothing else on except a ball to cover THERE. Hahahaha, sorry... I just wish they can produce a similar Liverpool calendar too. Haha. But you know, there used to be this poll on the worst football jersey, and at the top of the list was Italy's. I didn't understand why at first, but I read the article, and here's food for thought: Yeah, the footballers look hot in the tight shirts, but what about those fans with beer bellies? Haha, just imagine.

My brother is like, taking a bath right now. And it's really all because he wants to create that 'mist' on the mirror so he can write on it. It didn't work for him as it did for me over the past few days, you see. But I told him the best method to create it is by taking a hot shower. Hot air condensing on cold surface thing...


(a message written by me on the mirror in the bathroom)

After breakfast, we'll be checking out of our hotel, before our brother pick us up. I got a little car sick yesterday. Can't stand long car rides really, so hopefully today will be better. But Toowoomba's really... far. About 300km away from here I think.

753PM:

Hahaha, so funny. I just saw an interview involving Cahill, Aloisi and some Brazil coach (not the main one though), and... Sheree and Harry! Separately though. Sheree was so funny. She was asked about Harry's hair, and she was saying how he really loved his hair, and it reached an awkward point when he was asking whether he should cut his hair. She told him to cut it, but he was reluctant to. She also said how now that he's cut it, he looks so young, like an 18-year-old, which was bad for her. Haha. She really does look like an old woman. Yeah, if I'm not wrong, she's actually slightly older than him anyway. Hmm... I thought she was English, but seems like she's supporting Australia. She said she hoped Harry would get a goal, but she doesn't really care. She just wants them to score! And she says she hasn't seen Harry in nearly a month already... Hmm...

Right now, I'm in Toowoomba, which is really on top of a mountain or hill. My brother said we're like 700m above sea level? Yeah. It's colder here too. To be honest, I don't think I can really live here. Yeah, sure it is quiet and peaceful, but to me, it's really... too quiet. I can like, film Silent Hill here or something. There're many houses here, but I've hardly seen anyone so far. And there's really hardly anything else here! No buses, passenger trains, shopping malls, nothing!

Tonight will be Brazil v Australia, but even though I'm in Australia, sometimes I don't feel like I'm here at all! The only socceroos fans I'm seeing are still on the TV, in Sydney or Germany, on the news. Sigh, only bonus is that I definitely get more Socceroos news here than in S'pore. But yeah, it's all in the NEWS! Radio, papers, TV... I get lots of news about the WC campaign, seen many interviews, saw many pictures and all. But no, I don't see fans jumping up and down the streets, the only ones I see are all on TV.

Oh well, it's okay I guess. But I've been so tempted to buy every newspaper I see whenever they have pics of the players in them. And you know, there're quite a lot of papers. I only bought 3 so far, but they already fill my luggage to the brim. And I don't want to look like a karung guni...

(more newspapers for souvenirs...)

Oh yeah, they have some WC spectacular show right now. 'Live' from Germany. I saw the list of special guests, and there was Harry!

10PM:

Boo. Harry wasn't there 'live' (ok, don't tell me it's obvious since he has a match later). It was a pre-recorded interview. But Sheree was there. Haha, in the interview with Harry, he was asked whether he was more worried about Sheree being on the show, and he was like, "She'll be fine. She always speaks her mind. She'll be a great laugh." And yeah, she was a great laugh indeed. They spent quite some time discussing about Harry's groin. They asked her if Harry's groin had anything to do with her, and she was like, "I don't know..." When asked about what's wrong with Harry's groin, she started, "One moment it's okay, and...", and immediately everyone burst into laughter.

Haha, she can say some pretty embarrassing things about Harry sometimes, but I think I like her enough. I just wish she'll stop hurting Harry's groin! She also mentioned about having met Posh, Stevie's girlfriend, and Wayne's girlfriend. Heh, it's a long time I've heard anyone mentioned something about Liverpool, so hearing Sheree mention Stevie's girlfriend and Harry mentioning about currently "working under 2 great managers" made me feel a little strange, in a good way though.

Ok, this show is actually something like a concert over at Munich for all the Socceroos fans there. There're quite a few celebrities, though I admit I only know Sheree & Ronan Keating... Their cricketeer (this Shane Warne guy who the crowd seem to love), some Rugby Union guy, Sydney FC chairman... I don't really know them... but okay, how I know them! They look like they're enjoying themselves, but only problem is, it's like an Aussie thing. I can't really understand their jokes! Grr... they're laughing again. Oh well, that's why I like Sheree. At least I understand her. Think I'll go catch some sleep before the match later first.

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part 3 will be the last part... where the socceroos get defeated by the Brazilians, Lala ends her search for the inflatable kangaroo and leaves behind a lovely place where she'll always have wonderful memories of...