earlier in the year, crish asked me if i would like to go on a trip to tasmania. she was planning a trip with a couple of friends, she said. there was a rough date, no solid itinerary, and i said i would think about it. a couple of months later, i agreed, though a little hesitant. never in my 24 years of life would i think that i would go to tasmania - i had never even been to australia before. i pictured myself on holidays to korea, japan, or taiwan, not on a road trip in tasmania. as time passed, crish planned the itinerary with her friends whom i did not know. there were a couple of calls, but i didn't join cos i was awkward. the trip was starting to form, but i knew nothing about the itinerary nor places we were planning to go to. "what are you gonna do for 10 days in tassie?" my friends would ask me. "i dunno," i shrugged, "my friend is planning everything". pre-trip, all i did was transfer her the money crish requested to book the airbnbs - i was that useless. 

in the afternoon of 13th october, i found myself stress packing to minimise my luggage weight and squeeze everything i could in my carryon. our kpop dance cover group, amethyx, had done our busking performance earlier that afternoon before seventeen's be the sun concert in singapore, and i had decided not to go for the concert. back home, my luggage was still laying on my living room floor, empty, with clothes strewn all over. though rushed, i somehow managed to get everything together, took a quick trip to exchange more aud, and the next moment, i was headed to the airport all nervous and anxious if i could actually check in - which i eventually did. in my mind, i just had to reach the airport by 11 because that was the time crish gave me, but she kept texting and calling me half an hour before asking me where i was - on the way! four years later, i met bosco again at the place we said bode farewell at, but this time, we were travelling together with crish, my first trip with her. with a couple of hours to spare, bosco bought his favourite bengawan solo whole pandan cake (spoiler - we never finished the cake and left it in the scoot flight, oops), which we sat on the floor in the middle of terminal 3 munching while robbie checked in for his trip to korea. somehow someone dropped the knife and when bosco wanted to go get a new one, the store had closed. as we headed in and cleared immigration, that was when it hit me that i was actually going to tasmania! though i was uncertain of how the next 12 days would unfold, i was excited for the trip ahead, my first road trip with "friends", my first trip post-covid, my first holiday after graduation - this was going to be a good break for me. as ours was a red-eye flight, we spent most of our eight-hour flight sleeping - bosco had his flight delayed from hong kong to singapore, crish had stayed up the whole night packing and doing her handovers, and i had tired myself out at the busking performance earlier. we did get $6 cup noodles for our breakfast, though, and saw daylight. 

by the time we arrived in melbourne, it was noon of the the 14th of october. i was in australia! with about seven hours till our next flight to tasmania, we freshened ourselves up and bosco took his shower which he had wanted to take since the previous night - we had walked around the whole terminal at changi airport looking for his shower! the three of us were in one cubicle as we glammed up and with our luggages dropped off, we were headed to melbourne city! we were headed to a cafe well known for their mochi icecream, but once we alighted the uber, the first thing we did was take photos at a cool graffiti wall, then we got the mochi ice cream which was really really good. it wasn't a flavour i would typically go for, as i'm a basic c&c girl, but i think that sesame-flavoured mochi icecream was really good. gemmill from the melbourne church came, and the three of them had their catch up session as we walked the streets of melbourne and sat at a cafe for more chit chat. melbourne's weather though, was bipolar. when we walked into the aquarium, it was raining outside, and 10 minutes later when we walked out, it was like the rain never happened. after saying goodbye to gemmill, crish got her kiehl's facial wash, bosco got his bonds, and we were in search of a korean fried chicken place for our early dinner to satisfy crish's cravings. time was ticking and we were sliiightly behind our planned schedule, so we ordered fried chicken and kimbap, gobbled them down in 10 minutes as the staff watched us weirdly, and we were still chewing on our food as we ran out of the restaurant to catch the uber to the airport. turns out, there was no crowd at the airport and we didn't have to rush. but we checked in and headed to our gate to fly to tasmania. i was actually heading to tasmania! it was a short flight, barely an hour long, and we managed to catch the sunset from the sky - it was beautiful. khuong and henry (crish's and bosco's friends, my friends-to-be) were supposed to pick us up from the airport but when we touched down and contacted them, they were still grocery shopping at woolies and so crish told them that we had picked up our luggages and were waiting in the cold, just so they would rush. eventually though, they were still waiting for us after we collected our luggages and headed to the drop off area. our first airbnb was really nice, but it was so secluded that the location was not in google maps, we had to go into some mountains and drive on a gravel road - thank goodness khuong and henry had arrived earlier in the day to locate the house, else it would be difficult to navigate in the dark. we made ourselves comfortable in our airbnb for the night as khuong and henry had their dinner and we had our second dinner at 10.30pm - khuong cooked carbonara! i thought that we would call it a night afterwards, as we were tired after a long day and will officially begin our road trip the next day, but we had a maccas run that night before hitting the sack. 

we were so tired we did not manage to catch the sunrise on our first morning in tasmania on the 15th, but the view from our first airbnb overlooked the city with mountains in the background - a sight we don't get to see here in singapore. barely half a day at our first airbnb, we checked out, miraculously managed to load five huge luggages and bunch of carryons in the boot of the car, and headed to salamanca market. a variety of food, jewellery, gifts and wine stores greeted us as we arrived and we took a walk around the market, sharing a few donuts and puffs and looking at the what the different stalls offered. we caught a few busking performances, and i had a taste of the ocean as i slurped on one freshly-opened oyster. on our way to the city area, we dropped by a museum, where we witnessed an artist live-drawing some of the animals that were going extinct. hobart was a cute, small city - we roamed around and had hotstar (similar to shilin) before doing our grocery runs at an asian mart and woolies. grocery runs would be something that we will be doing on an almost daily basis in tasmania as we prepped our own dinner. it was a 1.5 hour drive to our next airbnb, where i think other than khuong and henry, crish bosco and i took a nap. the thing about tasmania is that we would have no connections most times on the road, so we kinda drove past our airbnb and had to chuck a uey to get to our airbnb which crish told us was located near a cemetry - you didn't have to tell me that! with no time to lose, we dropped our luggages and groceries in the airbnb before heading out to our first hike at cape hauy... or should i say attempt. the estimated time for the hike was two hours but with our physical capabilities (or lack thereof), we gave ourselves three to four hours, but we were unsure if we could make it to the end of the hike as we started late, at around 4pm. nonetheless, we started off... tracks, steps... a couple of rest stops, photos and hours later, bosco crish and i saw the end of cape hauy but could not make it till the end as we were afraid that it was getting dark. as we were heading back, we saw a road block made with sticks, found it a lil weird and scary, but crossed it from the side thinking it was put up by a random guy to close the park, but later found out that khuong and henry had "used physics" to put that up in an attempt to scare us - nice try, guys. we stopped by the beach to catch a bit of the sunset before heading back to our airbnb for dinner. for some reason, i was struggling to get my contacts out - maybe because it was too dry, or because of the cold or something, but it took me awhile to get it out. crish khuong and henry cooked dinner - steak, chips and veggies! we had wintermelon tea in wine glasses because #extra and tried torching the steak with a lighter... as bosco and i did not help with dinner prep at all, we were tasked to do the dishes which we had lil bit of argument about that crish said she did not know it was that hard to do the dishes. that evening, we played a couple of card games - 21, and bluff (which we called bs), and the winner (crish) would have a free lunch the next day. crish was a little afraid of the room we were in, so we combined our two single beds together that night. maybe it was the vibes of the airbnb, or the beds were too soft, but neither of us got a good night's sleep that night. 

crish had volunteered me to prepare breakfast on the 16th, so despite the lack of sleep, i woke up early and washed up and when i attempted to wake crish up, she just kept pushing back the time... typical... but we eventually did cook up mie goreng and fried eggs for breakfast that morning. it was an early morning for all of us, as we had to set off for the tasman peninsula cruises early in the morning - apparently crish had told us that we needed to be there by 9.15, when we actually had to be there by 9.30, but it was a good way to get all of us up and out asap! fast forward the briefings and bosco being overly enthusiastic wearing his red coat when we were told to wear it only when on the boat, we took a bus to eaglehawk neck jetty where we boarded the boat... and sat first two rows - don't ask me why. from cape hauy to whales, migrating dolphins to albatrosses and sea lions, the three-hour boat ride brought us down to near port arthur. it was extremely shaky and windy, but i think i enjoyed the boat trip the most - from me unknowingly expressing my amazement in the most singlish way possible, to bosco dropping his camera cap and a fellow singaporean helping to pick it up - thank you! the funny thing was - all of us were charging to the toilet first thing we alighted! starving, we drove to the nearby port arthur lavender restaurant for lunch - and it was a good one. of course, we had to try the lavender-flavoured ice cream while we were there as well! after eating our fill, we visited port arthur historic site, once a prison, and took the 20-minute harbour cruise which passed by isle of the dead and point puer boys' prison. i was interested in the history of the place as a commentary played in the background - there were prisoners as young as seven years old. also, we kinda passed out in the last 10 minutes of the cruise ride - food coma or fatigue, i think both. in the limited amount of time that we had, we walked around as much as we could around port arthur, looking at how old prison cells used to look like, the police stations and the most haunted house in australia, pilgrimage and church. we took pictures, and had a good laugh as bosco and khuong stepped on poop. while heading to our next airbnb, we stopped by iga for a grocery run, and had to return to the tasman peninsula cruises places because apparently bosco left his camera bag there... khuong had received a phone call during lunch saying that we left something on the boat and when he denied, the caller said "there was a guy at the front who was really noisy" - we all knew who the caller was referring to! it was a three-hour drive to our airbnb. crish and bosco took a nap, but i barely slept as i just absorbed the view that was around and in front of me. as the only non-driver in the group, i had decided that my permanent seat in the car would be the back middle seat, though uncomfortable. there was an hour left when the two woke up from their nap, and so we started jamming and that was when we nicknamed henry and khuong our two dads of the trip, while the three of us are the kids at the back making a mess. it was also on this drive that we accidentally hit a kangaroo. after a hearty diner of pasta and pizza for the evening, we padded ourselves up and took a short walk out to look at the stars which filled the sky as it was really dark out. when we returned to the airbnb, bosco realised that he had left a part of the tripod on the table that we were sitting at, and so he drove out to retrieve it while i took a poop - and this was the beginning of poop sessions for me (and the rest of us) on the trip. as it had been a long day for all of us, we slept really well that night - the airbnb was really nice as well! 

every morning on our first few days were a mad rush as we had to check out of our airbnb, and the morning of the 17th was no different. we wake up, wash up, pack, load the car, do a sweep around the airbnb, and were off to a nearby cafe where bosco got his coffee fix and khuong had his breakfast. it was a funny scene when khuong and henry were trying to tape the car - the part which hit the kangaroo, while bosco was standing at the side sipping his coffee. lunch was at lobster shack - we sat outdoors and had seafood overlooking the sea. bosco ordered beer, saying it was "just like water" and he tried to scare the birds away but more of them came and he was the one that got scared - really a joke! after lunch, we headed to wineglass bay and attempted to hike to the beach lookout but we were unable to find the direction to the beach and so we hiked halfway and gave up, soaked in the view from wherever we were and took a couple of pictures as well. we were then on our way to st helen's, but stopped by a pretty beach we saw on the way for more photos. bosco and crish drove us up to st helen's, where we took a walk around the town, did our grocery run, and bosco bought wine. our airbnb was a cute, vintage house and it was there that we did our first load of laundry as well. crish and i spent a bit of time walking around, and all of us drove up to the city to get something we forgot to buy. i think we had some beef for dinner - khuong headed the kitchen, and corn soup as well and it was really good! the living room was a huge mess, as we hung our laundry in the living room and at this point of time, all of us had given up and unpacked our luggages in living room instead of the rooms. we had movie night with bosco's wine before lights out. crish bosco and khuong had plans to hike mount amos in the morning, so they would have to wake up at 3am. as for me, i decided that the hike was not something i was physically capable of, so i decided to just stay in and maybe catch the sunrise from our area. 

i woke up at 5.45am on the 18th in an attempt to catch the sunrise but unfortunately, it was cloudy morning. every time i saw locals, i wondered if they're accustomed to the cold - because i was wearing three layers and i passed by a local walking her dog in a pair of shorts. well. i returned to the airbnb after nature-watching for about an hour, took a short nap and started packing up before the three returned from their mount amos hike. it was a rush when they returned as some of the laundry were not dry yet, so i was using the hairdryer to dry them. crish also informed me after i had packed and loaded my luggage in the car, that we would need a change of clothes as we will swimming in lake derby - this led to us casually unpacking outside the house at the boot, right in front of the open gate where any passer by could see us. we had breakfast at a cafe serving fusion japanese cuisine - waffle and ice cream, wrap and lots of veggies, eating to our hearts content. the first destination of the day was bay of fires, and we were blessed with the best weather to get really beautiful pictures. we had to climb a bit of rocks, but khuong was casually hopping across. though it was just a place with rocks at the sea, it was a really great view and there were funny moments, especially when bosco decided to take the route less travelled and he got stuck and scared for nothing - he literally has the longest legs amongst us! we were then on our way to lake derby, but stopped by little blue lake for five minutes and a couple of photos. the view at little blue lake was simply breathtaking - the water was turquoise in colour and it was so so pretty. the next thing we knew, we were back in the car buckled up, navigating to lake derby using gps with no connection, and running late. we were a mess when we arrived at lake derby - carrying a whole bag of change of clothes, bosco with his wine, but the owner was really nice and agreed to let us use the floating sauna for a whole hour. before we could take a dip in the 10 degrees lake, we had to sit in the sauna for a bit and the guy wanted to go get firewood to increase the temperature and told us to wait - we were near boiling point and... sweaty. after around 10 minutes, we could get out and into lake derby. it was quite an experience swimming in lake derby, knowing its 30 metres deep, 10 degrees cold in aircon weather. crish bosco and khuong went in and out of the sauna as it was too cold for them, but i stayed in the lake the whole time. not gonna lie, i was actually afraid that there would be some sort of animal in the lake, but it was a really chill time nonetheless and i enjoyed myself. we went back into the sauna a few minutes before time was up, just to warm up our bodies, before we got changed, took more photos and left for our next destination. the car boot a big mess, clothes strewn all over the car, we were launceston-bound, another city which seemed to have more varieties of foods and stalls around. we were late for our next schedule, the low head penguin tour, so we gobbled down kfc (the kfc fries were salty and good) (crish later told me they were sprinkled with chicken salt), and we were driving beside the sunset on the way to lowhead. there was something we obviously had to work on for the day - tardiness. at the lowhead penguin tour, the guide led us to some seats near the beach, where she told us about how the penguins would come on land, how they mated etc. we waited a good 20 to 30 minutes by the beach with the wind blowing. i was clothed in two or three layers but that was clearly not enough for me. after some time, the guide shone a yellow (or special) kind of light towards the rocks. maybe because i had been wearing my contacts for the whole day that they were dry, or maybe because it was dark, but i vaguely saw some small movements, and soon enough, a colony of penguins emerged and started waddling away. apparently there was a male penguin who "sacrificed" himself to do a site recce before the whole group came. i'd thought my whole life all penguins look the same but these were different from the ones i remember seeing at the singapore zoo. we were then brought to a different area behind, which apparently was the route the penguins would take, and there, we had a closer view of the penguins where more pictures and videos were taken. the time that we got to see the penguins was not long, but nonetheless an unforgettable experience with the wind constantly blowing at us - bosco and khuong were wearing slippers! we headed to our airbnb for the night where we got confused because we could not find our house. turns out it was all the way in. as it had been a long day for us, even more so for the three who went for the mount amos hike, we just washed up and headed to bed for the night. 

the sound of someone opening the blinds woke me up on the 19th - it was crish, and it was barely 6am. even so, a ray of light streamed into the room. "i want to catch the sunrise," she said, and that got me rolling out of bed and getting my padded jacket on to brave the six degrees outside. the backdoor of the airbnb led to river tamar, and we walked to a jetty-like place to attempt to catch the sunrise, but a few trees were blocking the way. two ducks that we saw at the jetty probably assumed that we were gonna feed them, that they followed us all the way back to our airbnb. just like any other mornings, we were packed up and cleaned the carpet floor that was slightly soiled because of the mud when we went out. we searched for bosco's phone which turned out to be in his bag, stuffed everything we could in the boot of the car, a bag with lost & found items included, and we were on our way to launceston for a chill day. the first order of business was to find food - khuong and henry were starving, but as we wandered around, we kept getting distracted by different things - from thrift stores to bookstores, a busker playing to worship songs, and anything in between. while bosco was getting his coffee fix, i was contemplating if i should get a c&c milkshake, early in the morning. "you're on holiday, you can do anything you want," crish and bosco said, and i was... sold. much to khuong and henry's relief, we arrived at a ramen restaurant for brunch, turned lunch. bosco was wearing a white shirt, so he used napkins to make himself a bib. it seemed like we were all hungry, because we slurped the ramen in no time, and continued shopping. i wished we could shop for the whole day - especially thrift shopping! there were a couple of thrift shops there with a whole bunch of clothes, but time would not allow us to sift through every piece. even so, i got myself a midi skirt and a pair of adidas continental stripes, my only non-perishable loots from tasmania. khuong had two cups of bubble tea - and he clearly knows what that will do to his body. we did our grocery shopping at an asian mart and woolies, and chilled at another bubble tea store and shared egg waffles (my first time trying!) before we left for our next destination. self-proclaimed city boy, bosco drove us out of the city and to table cape tulip farm, near a small town called wynyard. a mistake we made was not checking the opening hours of the farm, because we only found out that the farm had closed when we arrived there. nonetheless, we explored the area and did a little hike from table cape lookout to table cape lighthouse. it was golden hour, and the view of the vast bass strait was insane. khuong also started taking pictures of the scenery - a first time. on the way back to the airbnb, we stopped by a macs to get nuggets - road trip essentials only! that evening, we attempted to have hotpot for dinner, but we did not think through as we did not have an electric stove that we could put in the middle of the dining table, and so we made do. this was also the one night me and crish had our own rooms for the night. it was also at this airbnb i think we did five loads of laundry, or more, because there was a dryer so we simply had to do it! it was also a nice spacious house - loved this pretty airbnb and lucky it was our stay for two nights! 

i had set a late alarm for the 20th because we were not leaving for cradle till late morning, but the sound of someone (bosco) going out to the backyard and closing the door (which made a really loud banging sound) woke me up. as i was washing up, bosco popped by and said that he wanted to go to a cafe to get his coffee fix. and that was how we went out for a very short morning drive - bosco driving, i rode shotgun and henry was at the back. we went to a nearby cafe which was literally walking distance, not sure why we drove, but i got myself a hot chocolate and we headed back to the airbnb to prepare for the day. we had breakfast at another nearby cafe where we were accompanied by some animal friends - a chicken, and a llama - dropped by iga at rosebery to get groceries for dinner (because the shops in australia close quite early) before we headed to cradle mountain. the view at cradle mountain seemed like it came out of a postcard - we took really short routes around and didn't even hike, captured some photos, chilled for a bit, and attempted to look for wombats, which we did! luckily for us, we were able to see the wombats at the very end of the trail - they were larger than i expected and really really cute! we'd wanted to go on another trail to try to see more wombats but the park was closing soon so we did not manage to do that. by that time, it was close to dinner time, but before heading back to our airbnb, we dropped by iga to get more fried food for dinner. it was fried food night - we had cordon bleu, chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, fried egg, chips, garlic bread, mushroom soup, sweet potato chips and we couldn't miss out on some veges. before we went to bed, we had a movie night where we watched two movies - the hospital and the grudge, but crish and bosco were sleeping. i was sooo sleepy but somehow i managed to stay awake through the two movies. 

we checked out on the 21st, bidding farewell to one of our most comfortable airbnbs, and crish drove us to table cape. the weather wasn't the best - it was drizzling very very lightly and really foggy. at wynyard, we went through a few antique stores, coffee shops and more thrift stores before heading to a thai restaurant for brunch. i shared a pad thai, massamun curry and tom yum soup with crish and bosco - the food was really really good and we ate our fill. after lunch and despite the cold, we popped by a really cute cafe where bosco got his second cup of coffee and the rest of them got an ice chocolate, and talked for a bit before we headed up to table cape. let's just say the fog was a vibe. we had to wear boots as it was muddy and were also imagining how it would have been if we went a day or two earlier when the weather was nice. even with the drizzle, it was still a sight seeing the whole field of tulips of different colours. before heading to our next airbnb, we did a grocery run at woolies and stopped by lake plimsoll for a few quick pictures. bosco tried skipping rocks but to no avail, so we all had a good laugh. queenstown was a very quiet town, but we made ourselves comfortable at our airbnb for the next two nights. dinner for that night was beef stroganoff and pizza - which was really good. we had movie night and crish finally managed to get to me to bake brownies using a brownie mix. disclaimer: i've always been baking brownies from scratch and not from brownie mixes! and i think i wasn't using my brain because i mixed both the brownie and icing mixes to make the brownie - and bosco had to fix my mess up when its usually the other way round - it was pretty hilarious when i realised what i'd done but it was too late. we ended up adding some milk and the brownie came out not too bad! movie night before we bedtime but i didn't go to bed straight away because i video called my sister who was video calling TAN, and i got to meet some of them through the video call as well! 

22nd was a chill day around queenstown. we had a hearty breakfast at tracks cafe - burger, nasi goreng, and of course some cnc milkshake! the cafe was aesthetic and we ate outside beside the tracks, unlike other customers. we didn't have strict plans for the day so we rented bikes from an elderly couple - they were so cute and friendly! i was slightly dazed while the rest were adjusting their bikes and the lady asked if i was okay - what a sweet gesture of hers! we spent a couple of hours riding around town. it was not a very big town but the buildings had their own aesthetic so we enjoyed the time that passed. after the exercise, we headed to woolies at rosebery to get some campfire essentials because we were going to have a campfire at lake burberry! they held conversations with another family that was there travelling around, we had fake hot chocolate, marshmallows, reeses and fruits, took plenty of pictures, soaked in the scenery around us and had a chill time there. we stopped by horsetail falls before heading back to the airbnb for a very short hike, and khuong was saying how the place was supposed to be wheelchair-friendly but there were still steps around. this place was scenic as well - there was a mini waterfall that was streaming down, and we took more pictures. a short hike later, we were back at our airbnb. it's may 2023 as i type this and i cannot remember what we had for dinner, but i'm pretty sure it was a good homecooked meal, no thanks to me. crish and khuong were in charge of cooking dinner while bosco and henry attempted to dye my hair. result: no difference. we had a movie night after dinner and we finally! settled! our! expenses! the last time we did was the second day of our trip. 

woke up on the 23rd and it was our last full day in tasmania - seriously, how did time pass by so quickly? after checking out at our airbnb - as always, leaving it a mess, we had breakfast at a cafe in rosebery and still wondered how is this town so quiet. we headed to bonorong wildlife sanctuary but that was not without a quick snack stop where crish got cup noodles from ga and eating it with chips, and also a quick pit stop at a unesco heritage site (sorry i forgot the name). bonorong was also another core memory of the trip, especially feeding the kangaroos! being in an open field with hundreds of kangaroos and feeding them is definitely a must-do when in australia. i have to admit i was pretty wary and cautious that i might accidentally step on their tails and/or offend some of them unknowingly. we went on a short tour and were introduced to some species of birds - one of which greeted us, as well as saw more wombats and tasmanian devils. after we were done at bonorong, we headed back to where we came from - hobart. nine days and 15,000km around tasmania later, we were back at hobart. we drove up to mount wellington and it was not the view you saw on tiktok. it was a foggy day, our view was literally white and it was 3 degrees at the peak - we were freezing but i guess you could say it was a vibe and the coldest weather i would ever experience for now. unable to stay for too long, we headed to our airbnb and prepared for our last dinner. the trip was too eventful the whole time so we kinda got locked out of our airbnb - crisis! we knew the key was on top of the refrigerator but nobody took it and yeah we kinda got locked out. but we still had to eat dinner so we went to get ice cream first before heading to some fancy restaurant for dinner. that was when things went haywire. i will not go into details because what happens in tasmania stays in tasmania, but we were being served the course one at a time and suddenly bosco agreed to have this wine tasting thing and maybe two glasses of wine was a little too much for crish bosco and myself. but anyway we finished dinner up and headed to the airbnb where khuong and henry tried to get ourselves in because the rest of us were not in a stable state to be able to help. i was heaving a headache but thankfully we managed to get back into the airbnb! not sure what they did but thanks guys! but for me, it was too early to be back at the airbnb so we had a short drive around town! the rest of them rode the e-scooter while i just,, stayed in the car, video called my friends and sister and cried some more because i didn't want the holiday to end. i sobered up after got back to our airbnb and fell asleep because it had been a long night. 

i think we all woke up maybe an hour before we had to check out on the last morning, and since it was the day we were flying back, you could imagine the scene. five of us stress packing our staff, weighing our luggages. we ate and shopped and chilled at hobart to kill time, finally took a proper group picture before we headed to the airport. packing at the airport was such an Asian thing to do, and before we know it, we were checked in. henry and khuong came too, even though their flight to brisbane was a couple of hours after ours to melbourne. we said our last goodbyes and that was when the tears festival started - from bidding farewell to khuong and henry, walking to the plane, and even in our seats. it was quiet trip back to melbourne, i suspect we were drained from crying. we had macdonalds during our short stopover - our last meal with bosco - before me and crish checked in to head back to singapore while bosco stayed another two nights in melbourne. and that was another emotional trip back for me.

10 days in tasmania. with people i didn't know prior to the trip. i really did not know what to think about going to tasmania but i'm so glad i agreed to go with crish.