Old and New in the Land Down Under

An old friend came to Oz for her holiday recently. Cik Lina was one of my many Microbiologist friends (undergraduate's major). Fun times! :-) She came with her friend, Zila. I've met Zila before but this time around, it just gave us more time to get acquainted. And I also met a new friend. It's a Malaysian family living in Oakley near Brisbane City. Kak Mar's doing her PhD and there's also her husband, Mr. Zie who's quite active within the Malaysian society in Queensland. They have two wonderful boys; 8 and 6 years old. Love them! I've heard of them before from Cik Lina, spoke on the phone once or twice but not until Cik Lina came that we finally met. I just spent a night with them due to limited time but it was great! I almost cancel my plans to catch up with Cik Lina but glad I didn't. Just realized I only have a few photos taken then. But I guess it's more than enough.

From left: Cik Lina, Kak Mar, the boys, Zila and me.

The next day (last week Thursday), another old friend, Jaja, came to visit. She's currently studying in Melbourne and is on her summer holidays. She came with one of her friends, Zan. They are currently living together in Malaysian Hall in Melbourne. They arrived at Sunshine Coast Airport at 10 am and I was just in time. I took the bus to the airport. The buses now stop in front of the airport entrance. Cool! We decided to have to rent a car due to the bus strike announced to be taken place on Friday and Saturday. Not cool!!! Although having a car is definitely handy. :-) After having some fried rice & fried chicken at my place, I went to Uni and Jaja and Zan embarked on their Mooloolaba and Caloundra exploration. Neither of them expected to be caught up in a hailstorm later that afternoon. Once in a lifetime experience? There was however a beautiful rainbow afterwards. 

The very few hail stones after the storm.

The grass field was at one point white: covered in ice... Huhuhuhu..

The rainbow after the rain. :-)

They made it safely to Uni to pick me up before heading home. The next few days were full of sightseeing and shopping at Montville, Maleny, Sunshine Plaza (Maroochydore), Eumundi Markets, Noosa and Brisbane City. They headed home for Melbourne Monday morning.

Zan and Jaja having Turkish kebabs at Sunshine Plaza

 I hope they had a pleasant stay. I really enjoyed having them here. Thanks for putting up with this pregnant lady at times. Still not used to being pregnant. Will I ever be? Huhuhu... 

Oh yes, Jaja and Zan also had a chance to go to a Xmas party. My landlady invited us to her party. A Xmas party; complete with Santa Claus! I didn't managed a photo of Santa but there's also the clown. ;-)

Love watching the kids! So much fun!

I'm heading to Sydney today. Yeay! Ooppsss!! Better get ready now. Happy holidays peeps!

Cheers!