<The Offical Port Vila Dreamer>

Monday, October 23, 2006

SYDNEY!!!!!

After getting back to Canberra from Swan Hill, i had exactly an hour to get to the bus station to get on the bus to Sydney. On the way to Sydney, i sat next to this lovely Indian girl who goes to ANU. We're going to catch up sometime...so i got to make a new friend on my way to meet my old friends!

Anyway, as i stopped off at the bus stop, which doubles as the train and tram station at Sydney Central, i looked out the tinted windows and saw a curly haired girl and long haired boy. It took me a while to registar that these were actually my friends Melissa and Chris! They had changed so much in three months, i couldn't believe it, and for the better as well! Melissa looked gorgeous (not that she didn't before) but she seemed to have so much more confidence which seemed to radiate from within her!! Chris has got the most beautiful mop of hair and the highest cheek bones thanks to his asian parentage! I was just so excited to see them that i couldn't help admire how awesome my friends are!!!

We walked to the hotel, with Chris tugging my heavily loaded suitcase and me wiht my boss' big camera bag on my back.

Fast forward to the important bits.

We went on the monorail...twice.

We walked around the city and acted stupid...heaps of times.

It was absolutely awesome! Sydney is the best...the biggest city i had really ever been to for more than a day would have been Brisbane, so Sydney was a real eye opener for me!!

On Saturday, me, Chris, Jeremy and Melissa went to Toronga Zoo! It was awesome fun! WE got to see the harbour bridge and the opera house as well as lions and tigers and bears (oh my!)

My favourite animals were the gorillas!! They were like hairy humans and reminded me a bit of Hayley (haha just kidding!) Thnks to Jeremy's comprehensive directions, we managed to see most of the animals in one day! Then we rode the cable car back to the ferry to take us bck to Darling Harbour. I never realized that Chris was scared of heights but despite Jeremy's teasing about possible injuries cable cars could cause, we made it to the ground safely and much to Chris' relief!

I really like Jeremy, he's deadly awesome.

Chris and Melissa also gave me a book on India ( called "with the kama sutra under my arm") and an Indian movie about lesbianism that was banned in India ( called 'fire') I started reading the book but i haven't started the movie yet!!

We had to say goodbye to Chris on Saturday night cause me and Melissa were leaving the next day. It sucked but i knew we were leaving Chris in safe hands cause Jeremy is awesome. Melissa and I woke up the next morning not wanting to leave but excited about our next adventure. We were going to take a sightseeing tour through Sydney on a double decker bus with no top! So after breakfast we got on the bus (after a bit of waiting) and rode around the city wiht our hair blowing every which way!!!

It sucked saying good bye to Melissa as well but i know i'll see Chris and Melissa in Rocky in December. So excited. And we now have unofficial plans to go to either Sydney again or Melbourne.

Chris and Melissa, thanks for the great weekend in Sydney! IT was awesome! And Chris, i still have to get your birthday pressie but i'm doubling it up as a chrissy pressy so i can save and get you something really nice!!

On other news, i was talking to my boss Chris and i will probably be taking 5 weeks off in December!! I'm so excited. 5 weeks in rockhampton would have usually had me crying into my cereal but once your away from a place you can't wait to go back! I have visions of me taking my brothers up to the gardens and eating ice cream by the playground, going with my family to swim in the beach and then eating fish and chips afterwards, going to melissa's to make "A flat to myself 3" with Chris, Melissa and Kate, catching up with my awesome school buddies and closest things to soul mates i have (Lisa, Becky, Liz, Sophie, Jess, Niq, Alli, Bonnie, Tash, Keish,Rita, Calman and all the girls!), just giving my parents a hug and having a big argument wiht my sister even sounds good!

Anywy, i'll cyas all later!
Luv Amy

posted by Lidia @ 7:45 PM 8 comments

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Hey all!

Right now I am in Swan Hill in Victoria. It's been a nice stay, it's a normal little town three hours drive from Melbourne. I didn't get to see much of Melbourne unfortunately but i don't think i'll have to worry that much about it cause i'm sure to visit it sometime in my lifetime! I was just thinking of how many plane trips i've made this year and i came up with a sum. 34. Thirty four plane trips so far. And now i am getting a bit sick of Qantas food! But i love travelling. I think life without travel would be incredibly dull. Even travelling to the next town, which may only be a half an hour away, is exciting. I remember going down to Yeppoon ( a coastal town right near Rockhampton) with my family and just enjoying life. There is nothing better than fish and chips on the beach with the people you love most!

My favourite place in the whole wide world is a creek in Port Vila ,Vanuatu. It just has such a nice feeling about it and when you go there you feel like your transported back in time. When my family went over at the start of the year my sister and me begged our friend to take us down there. He couldn't really see the fun in it cause it's not new or foreign to him. He barely ever goes down. I remember thinking that if i lived where he lived i would go down there every afternoon and swim or journal or dream under the trees! It seriously looks like a scene from lord of the rings, only prettier and with a distinct island flavour.

The creek winds through lush greeness, past grazing cows and large bunyan trees. It keeps going past plantations and little houses with children running out the front. In the Bible it says that in Heaven there are many mansions. I've always heard pastors talking about how God will fufill your every desire in heaven and will give you whatever your heart wants. I've heard them say that everytime we do something right, God adds another treasure to our mansion. It may not be literal and not entirely biblical, but if it's true, i would love to have a small house by the side of this creek in Heaven.

And if there are animals in Heaven i would have an Asian elephant and heaps of monkeys in my backyard. I would even have snakes cause i like snakes but i would never ever ever have spiders. Spiders freak me out. I hate all their legs that scuttle about. Just thinking of them gives me the shivers! I don't even like crabs because they remind me of spiders. i call them the spiders of the ocean.

They say that if you like snakes you'll hate spiders and vice versa. I think this is true because i've never been scared of snakes but i have a terrible phobia of spiders. My friend elizabeth once told me I had a spider on my arm and i screamed. The stupid thing about that was she told me over the phone. It didn't occur to me that she couldn't see me so therefore couldn't see if there was a spider on my arm or not.

I wonder why some people are scared of somethings and others aren't. It may come down to a bad experience but i've never had a bad experience with a spider, i just hate them. My friend can't go in water where she can't see the bottom. We went to the Cotter the other day, which is a river near Canberra, and i waded out into the deep bits but because she couldn't see the bottom she stayed in the shallow. But she's not scared of the things i'm scared of although she doesn' t particularly have a fondness for spiders.

But anyway, by tomorrow afternoon i will be in Sydney with my friends Melissa and chris. AESM REUNION! YAY!! I'm so incredibly excited!!!

Luv amy

posted by Lidia @ 2:02 PM 3 comments

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Dogs are weird creatures. I recently moved in with a new girl, Arika and her mum Tjanara. Both are awesome but they've been having little trouble with the three dogs. One dog, Amp, jumps the fence and steals the other dog's food. Another dog, Charlie, burrows under the fence and barks at innocent children and elderly people on scooters who go by our house. The last dog, Sam, is an old sweetie who never does a thing wrong in our eyes.

But Amp left a very smelly surprise in the lounge room the other day and Charlie peed all over my bed!! So guess who Arika called? A dog tech, a certified dog tech. He sat us both down and told us exactly how we should be treating the dogs. Rule number one. Make them know who's boss. We have to show them that we control their lives, it is only through us that they get fed, it is only through us that they are able to live their carefree doggy dog lives. All other rules stem from this rule. Arika and I have to ignore the dogs for two weeks, only feed them at night, never pat them, refrain from playing games with them and teach them how to sit.

After one day we have had limited success. Charlie now sits on command. Amp no longer jumps up on us. Sam is the same old sweetie he always was. But Charlie still burrows under the fence and Amp still jumps it. Today i had to run down a busy road in my pyjamas and drag Charlie back!!!

Dogs are just weird!!!

On other news, today hs been a good day. Arika is cleaning out her closet and she has given me a whole stack of clothes, most of which is designer and stuff she has only worn a few times! Gotta love that girl!

WE also went to the circus the other night. It was fun. We were laughing at one of the "hungarian acrobats" ( who spoke in an Aussie accent) because he kept on casting glnces and flirtacious smiles at this blonde girl in the front row..who happenned to be around sixteen! We were just like, you old perve! They had lions and elephants and monkeys and ponies and clowns and donuts and fairy floss and fans that lit up with pretty colours which Arika just had to buy!

Arika's dad had travelled aroudn with the same circus ages ago so he knew all the behind the scenes stuff. He said that the performers never talk to the stage crew and that the animals aren't very well treated. that's why everyone looks so unhappy during their performances. He also said the reason that we aren't aloud to take photos in side was becuse they didn't want people to see how badly they treated the animals and use it against them or something along those lines. It kind of hurts your perception of the circus when you hear all that stuff. I've been obsessed with the circus for a while cause i like the whole mystique surrounding the art form. But it's not so much as an art form - it's really just become a tacky commercial travelling dump...it's lost it's mystique, but that's probably because i'm growing up.

I'm goign to Victoria on Tuesday then i'm going to Sydney to see Chris and Melissa! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!! I seriously can't wait!!!! Chris and his other half is going to take me and melissa to Toronga Zoo! And i want to see the Harbour bridge nd the Opera House and everything! It's gonna be awesome fun!!

Luv Amy

posted by Lidia @ 9:22 PM 7 comments

Saturday, October 07, 2006

I am not a SELLOUT!

Contrary to public opinion…well Chris’ opinion…I am not a sellout! This is my response to claims that my half Chinese half Australian, anatomical vocabulary obsessed friend has made about me to bloggerworld.

1. Amy is a sell out
My response: I am not a sell out. Because I shunned hair straighteners throughout high school, did not grow my fringe like all the other girls in grade 3 and stuck by my morals that I don’t have to wear yellow just because it’s the new black…practically my whole life. I also did not give in to pressure to conform to the stereotypical view of ‘teenager’ and did not once let myself touch any clothing that was heinously overpriced because of its designer name tag. Therefore, I am not a sell out.

2. I make stuff up
My response: Chris didn’t actually accuse me of making stuff up, but his persistence in wearing that shirt made me believe that there was an ulterior motive behind just wanting to look good. We first all noticed that shirt in Journalism class and we all had a good laugh. I’m pretty sure that he wore that shirt on our first day as AESM. I’m also sure he wore that shirt on all of our frequent rendezvous on the top floor of the library. Ok, maybe he didn’t. And maybe he wasn’t insinuating that I make stuff up. But the simple fact of the matter is I don’t. I don’t make stuff up. Only Melissa does.

3. I am really a mutant ninja alien turtle from Uranus.
My response: You are.

I have been having a grand old time lately. It is only two months before December…that means two months until Christmas, two months until my mothers birthday, two months until we begin the month’s countdown to new years eve but most importantly, it’ll be two months until I get to return home! Because however gammon Rockhampton is, you still miss it when you leave it!

Down to this blog business. I deleted my other blog in a moment of lunacy in which I just decided that I was sick of it and therefore wanted to delete it. However, I can still find it in cache version so I’m not too worried.

My new blog is exactly the same title as my old one. In fact, there is nothing different to it besides a new layout and the fact I deleted all the entries in the old one.

Lately I have been missing Vanuatu with a passion. This is due to three factors. 1. My uncle from Tanna rang the other day. 2. I’ve been listening to Vanuatu music on my mp3 player. 3. My mum sent me photos from when she was over there earlier this year.

Melissa is in a very happy stage of life right now. I’m not going to comment very much on it but I hope everything works out. I also want Melissa to marry an Australian man so she can stay in Australia forever!! Mwahahaha…to steal her catchphrase web laugh which she doesn’t actually do in person.

Now onto some important Australian history.

Here is the South Sea Islander Flag:

The South Sea Islanders were only recognised in the year 2000 as a distinct ethnic group. The Australian South Sea Islanders are the descendents of Pacific Islanders who were taken from their homelands and taken to Queensland during the late 19th Century, to work as labourers in prosperous industries like sugar cane. This practise bordered and even became downright slavery. As a black minority living in the days of the White Australia Policy, the South Sea Islander people endured racial prejudice and cultural belittlement. Now, after many years, some South Sea Islander people are returning to their ancestral homelands to reconnect with their own families.

Here is the Aboriginal Flag:

The Aboriginal flag was designed by Harold Thomas, a Luritja man from Central Australia and is recognized around the world as a symbol for Aboriginal Australia’s fight for recognition and justice in this predominately white Australian biased country. Waving this flag and acknowledging it is more than just saying “I am Aboriginal”, it is about confirming your identity and making a public statement saying that you are proud of what you are and you will continue to fight against the powers that continually try to dampen the spirit of Aboriginal Australia.

The colours of the Aboriginal flag are symbolic. Black represents the Aboriginal people, red represents the red earth and a spiritual relation to the land, and yellow represents the sun – the giver of life. (www.vibe.com.au)

I think it is extremely important to know your identity and recognize where you came from. I am Australian but I am a South Sea Islander and an Aboriginal girl foremost. I think it is important to understand your own history in order to move forward.

Luv Amy

posted by Lidia @ 4:44 PM 7 comments

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