orange alert, sydney!

i was awakened early this morning with a truly unusual sight of sydney. i looked out the window from the 42nd floor of the hotel (see picture) i was staying in the heart of the city; what i saw the entire city was blanketed with a glowing orange tint. initially, i weren't sure if it was the window tinting on the hotel building playing tricks on me, or that the sun's glow at dawn is overwhelming or that i am simply still sleepy.
as i continued to be awed by the sight, i realized it was dust when i switched on the tv and the local headline news explained the phenomenon. it was a surreal sight, and for a moment, i weren't sure if i should just stay in or if it's safe to go outside.
from then on, it wrecked havoc to what would have been another typical busy working wednesday in sydney. health alert went out to those with respiratory problems to stay indoor. those driving took extra precaution as visibility on the road plummeted. it didn't dawn on me that flight will also be impacted. i have a scheduled 2pm flight back to melbourne the same afternoon.
after my work in the morning, i decided to leave slightly earlier to the airport after a colleague wagered that i will not be able to make the flight. a chaotic scene greeted me at the airport. since i was early, i was able to check in an `earlier' flight even though it is delayed. information from the airport on flights schedule was few and far between. many flights were either delayed or cancelled. as only one runway was used at the domestic terminal for safety reason, flights that are scheduled to take-off have to endure a long queue. my flight finally got the green light to take off at about 4.45pm. as i was waiting at my gate to board the flight, i overheard the announcement that my flight that i was originally scheduled to fly out to melbourne was cancelled. i thanked my lucky stars that i was allocated a seat on an earlier flight.
the flight was bumpy through-out due to the strong winds but when dj842 landed in melbourne at 6.10pm today, i was a tired but happy man. i made it to melbourne by the skin of my teeth.

p.s. i read in reports later that the dust storm is the worst ever pollution that hit sydney. it was 1500 times the normal pollution level in sydney. the dust storm travelled 1500km to hit new south wales and covered almost 600km across the coast of the state. it dumped about 75000 tonnes of dust every hour! it dust storm eventually hit brisbane.

chesterfield farm

school holidays' here again. it is the spring break and the kids have 2 weeks away from school to chill out. we decided to do something fun for them on saturday since weekdays are bad for me. we shortlisted a few places where we can take the kids out for a bit of fun; and after speaking with them, we narrow it down to the melbourne zoo or a farm visit. we decided on the latter since they enjoyed their last farm visit in adelaide.

chesterfield farm is actually not too far away from where we lived. it is located in scoresby and is about 15mins drive from where we live. it sits on an expansive 58 hectares of land. there are many facilities there including picnic areas where visitors can bring their picnic basket and spend a leisurely late morning or early afternoon just soaking in the wonderful spring sunshine. of course, things wouldn't be complete without bbq pits. you can find that too at chesterfield farm!

we arrived at 10am and being the first day of school holiday, there are a decent numbers of visitors already. the demographics are all too similar, young families with young kids in tow.

the animal playpen is the favourite place for all as they get to play & cuddle with lambs, rabbits and goats. in fact, that's where she spent most of her time. we stayed for the animal show too where fagan bravely milked a cow. there was also an interesting demonstration showing how a sheep dog herd and guard sheeps from the vast enclosed field.

we stayed till the weather turned gloomy in the early afternoon and decided to called it a day and return to our familiar urban domain.
we rounded up our trip with a `yum cha' session at knox city. (interestingly, it is my first `yum cha' since i got here)

you (really) can't hurry love in australia

of late, i was very perturbed by the manner and the efficiency level on how things are done here. while i appreciate the thorough manner in which things are processed here, there are also some that borders on sheer indifference and the complete lack of urgency in sorting out matters. this is really getting onto my nerves of late.
last week, i called a state agency to clarify a business matter. not only is the officer is non-committal in his answer (i guess to safeguard himself against any wrongful advise given), i was asked to make an appointment for a face to face meeting to clarify the matter. the problem is they can only accomodate a time/date 3 weeks later. i am not sure why it needed such a long time for them to help clarify on what i feel is a straight forward clarification i sought.
another thing which i quote can't grasp is that one needs to make an appointment to see a doctor. what i don't understand is getting sick is not something we plan for, hence making a doctor's appointment prior is something i still don't quite get it. however, this is something i have to manage regardless.
lastly, i was most unimpressed with the pace of the renovation work i am doing on a home we bought. we engaged a drafter to draw the house extension and the elevation plan that we need to submit to the municipal council for approval. to date, which is almost 3 months to the day we appointed the drafting service company, there is no progress at all. we are still waiting for the drawings to be completed. by no means are we building the next empire state building, it is just a simple extension on a few corners of the house. it is exasperating dealing with them. i resorted to daily calls in the last 2 weeks hoping that they will get their act together, but to no avail. today, they told me plain a simple that they will need `more time' to finish their work. getting a completion date commitment from them is next to impossible. so this begs the question, are they not keen to collect the payment from me quicker so they can move on with the business? i was told the only reason for the delay is due to them having too many jobs on hand. they pick and choose which one they wanted done first, and because of my relentless pounding on them in the last 2 weeks, they may have move my job to the back of their queue.
many sage told me patience is a virtue.
i think they have not been to australia yet.

shimun and shiqi getting older

shimun and shiqi both reach a new milestone in their age this month. shimun turns 5 last sunday and shiqi will be 10 in a couple of days.
as always, we kept the celebration a small family affair where we got them a small cake and enjoyed the moment.
both received presents too from their aunt in singapore and nanny.
time flies. how they've grown!

p.s. yes, we do have a cluster of birthdays in sept. my mum turned 70 yesterday as well. i would like to wish her a belated birthday and may she stays happy and healthy for many years to come.