Short note: Haha. I am back from Thailand. God why is Thailand so amazing! Never fails to amaze me!

Please continue to vote for me for Best Travel Blog. Even if you have done so two or three times. Apparently you can vote like every 2 hours. :D Out goes all modesty.


So after visiting the oldest brewery in Australia, we went on our journey.




We arrived at the foot of the mountain in no time (with all the chats and stuff, one hardly felt time passed) and proceeded to drive up Mount Wellington.





Spotted an RV on the way up


Halfway up the mountain we stumbled across this spectacular view and decided to hop off the car to take a few good shots of Hobart from atop (well, semi).

Now Mount Wellington is the 23rd tallest peak on the Tasman Island (1271 meters above sea level), hardly a peak that's worth a mention.

But the reason it's famous because it's the closest mountain to Hobart, over-looking the city like a protective guardian, the mountain is close to the hearts of the locals.




And I heard that it can get pretty cold up there. At time you'll experience icy strong wind that can pierce your skin, so I brought extra jacket for precaution.

But thank god sun was on my side when we reached the top.




Here are some of the shots I took on the mountain.


Transmitter tower



wooden bridge for walking








There were ample parking space, probably because it wasn't the weekend.








Uh.. I swallowed a tower. Yum


There were only two buildings on the summit of Mount Wellington. One being the transmitter tower which you have seen in the photo above, the other, was the lookout building.




Here you can see the directions of different mountains on the Tasman Island(s) and a few stories of the mountain itself.




It's also a great place to hide from the cold wind and snow.




But I was lucky, as not only there was no snow (meant no coldness), there wasn't any strong wind. It was all sunny, chilly, serene and peaceful.

Over the platform I saw a patch of snow, probably the last remanoir of the winter.




Folks, I present to you... Greater Hobart.







The view was so breathtaking up here I could just bring a mattress, a picnic basket, two flutes & a bottle of champagne and spend the rest of my day listening to my ipod up here.








Dixon, my guide and driver of the day.


Here's a video of the views from Mount Wellington. And me talking.




Beautiful isn't it?

In fact, I have saved the best for last. You haven't seen nothing yet.

I've compiled a list of wallpapers taken from atop and will publish them and share with you guys the beauty of Hobart and Mount Wellington in my next entry.

Come back to download your Tasman Wallpapers. :D

Things you'll read in a Tassie's Newspaper classified/advertisement section.




Dude! If I were you, I would just keep it!

Why bother pay for an ad space to return it. The owner probably had already bought a new one. -.-

But then again, if I a dude, and a lame one at that, I probably wouldn't need a PINK Ipod cover and WOULD pay for an ad to meet a said owner who could be a pretty blonde and use it as an excuse to her my girlfriend

Then again, I'm not lame. Nor am I a guy. Thank god.

Opps. It's a lost Iphone Cover. Haha. Read wrongly.

But really, what are the chances that the person who might pick up the over would read that section of the paper.

Do you believe in fate?


Then you flip the next page and you see this.




38D.

Mmmmmm....


Wait a minute?

QUICKIE?

Finally my episodes are out!!

Project Alpha! What else?!

And since I'm in Cha-Am, Thailand, and internet here is a bitch, I don't have time to sit and load and watch all of them, so I guess I'll just have to watch them when I get back on Tuesday.

In the mean time, I'll just quickly embed them up there for you all to see.

First, there's the first episode which doesn't have my appearance at all. (I watched this before I flew)




I was pretty disappointed that I didn't see myself in it. It's like, it's only six episodes of me instead of seven. :( :(

But Jojo did a good show without me. Bantal busuk, haha!

Here's me!! Finally!




And then the third episode!




And the fourth!!




All of which I have yet to watch (except for the first one).

So enjoy it before I find out anything embarrassing when I actually DO get to watch it and remove it from my blog forever. >_<

Please ignore my wetsuit tan too. It's bound to be in there. I'm so sure.


Sorry I haven't been blogging much about travels. I wanted to. Trust me. I so wanted to. There are just TOO many things and places to talk about.

But with all these projects going on, what with Project Alpha and the Blog Award (which reminds me, vote for me!!!) and me being at least a thousand kilometers away in some god forsaken but surely a paradise place, just makes everything difficult, you know.

But the travel entries will be back very very shortly. I have SO MUCH TO SHARE!

You will be amazed!!!


(Catch the remaining three episodes here)

I am now in Cha-Am. Bet you don't know where that is. Hehe...

It's not too far from Hua Hin, Thailand.

Just had a great aromatic massage today.

Anyway, I figured by now the price for Curve 8520 should be out two days ago, since I've been traveling for the past few days, I was wondering if anyone found out the price for the phone already. Ermm...




Am now accessing the internet from this really nice Tara Mantra Resort, the rate is so expensive (100 baht for 70 minutes), but considering I was paying 51 baht for three minutes of broadband in Bangkok a few days ago, this rate is luxury.

I'm staying in this mini suite all alone by myself, sigh, how I wish I have somebody special with me right now.

It's no fun staying in a 7500 baht (that's a near RM800 per night) suite all alone, sharing a queen size bed all alone, swimming in one of the three swimming pools all alone, well, not exactly alone, was chilling out by the pool with this really sweet girl Cecelia. :D

I haven't uploaded any of my pics yet. So no pics to show now. Hehe...

Just keep a look out for more updates that's to come. So many travel entries to blog about. @_@

Now I've seen everything.

An MTV-alike grand award for best blogs in Asia Pacific. (Ironic they categorize such a big region when the nominees and attendees consist of mainly Malaysians and Singaporeans)




Nuffnang has done it again. This time they really throw me off the hooks by actually pulling this off!


I'm blogging about this I've been nominated and selected as the one of the top five finalists for Best Travel Blog Award Category in Asia-Pacific!!!!

OMG that sounds so grand.




That means I'll be attending First Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards Ceremony in Pan Pacific Singapore on the 23rd October.




I never actually knew any other travel blogger personally so it would be interesting to meet fellow nominees who share the same title as I do.

I don't expect to win anything. Afterall, I didn't expect to be nominated in the first place. It's already such a privilege to be nominated and invited on a 3D2N trip to Singapore to attend this event. :D

But since that I'm here....

Vote for me!! :D


You can cast your votes every two hours, and you have to select a blog for every category before your vote is counted.

So be sure to select NICOLEKISS on the Best Travel Blog Category. ^^




Oh and don't forget to Vote for Redmummy for Best Parenting category ;)

If you want to know how the event is like, you can join the contest and win a pair of invites to the 3D2N event in Singapore yourself.

Anyone want to go to the ceremony with me? I'm going there alone. :(

Xpax is revealing its price tomorrow for Blackberry Curve 8520!!! Finally.




The day has come. Soon I will own my very own Blackberry. *BIG SMILE*

This is your last chance to register at this site for update! (If you fill out your details, you’ll get to enjoy exclusive deals, freebies and bla bla bla)

5 bucks if u can guess how much is the phone.

Short note: I'm on Kosmo yesterday! See the online article here. Ok, someone needs to translate this for me.


Right, Raya's over and my trailer of Project Alpha is out!!!

Chop chop and get back online to check me outttttt!

Go to Nuffnang site to follow me for the rest of the week, one episode for everyday, seven in total.




Love the song they're playing in the background! Awesomeness!

I can't wait to watch the rest!

Will be glued to the net this coming week!

You know that you travel too much when you are getting really good at hand-measuring your luggage weight.

Some budget domestic airlines in Australia, like Jetstar, have a weight limit of 20kg per person.

So I packed and measured my luggage bag briefly in Jerine's apartment before we left for Tasmania Airport.


Thinking" It shouldn't weigh more than 20kg."


Arriving at the airport, I hulled my bag onto the weighing machine at the check-in counter,

the meter showed...




Man I'm GOOD!

I think my weighing machine at home has just lost it's remaining purpose.

Now I've sat a number of taxis in my travels, from the most expensive Tokyo's to the dirt cheap Bangkok's.

But I realized that Tasmania's taxis are comparable to that of Tokyo's. THEY ARE F*$#KING EXPENSIVE.

I secretly recorded a video while sitting in a taxi in Hobart, it was to be a 5 mins ride from pub back home at night (too cold to walk). Just watch it and judge for yourself, then let me know if you think I wasn't hallucinating when the meter was increasing every passing 2.5 seconds!!




And the taxi wasn't even speeding!

A ride to the airport from Hobart (where I stay, god knows if I remember the place) took 15-20 mins and it cost more than 50 OZ Dollars!!

S.H.I.T.


Next time I'm walking even if it meant breaking all my limbs carrying my luggage.

These are a list of priority key features of Blackberry Curve 8520, in case if any of you doubt that it has GPS or if it's Wifi-enabled.


Priority Key Feature List (In order)

Dedicated media keys
Trackpad
Slim, simplified design
Large, bright, colorful screen
Full QWERTY keyboard
Camera with video recording capability
256MB flash, 128 MB Ram
Hot-swappable, microSD up to 16 GB
Wi-Fi support (802.11b/g enabled) supports UMA/GAN
Micro USB support
1150 mAhr removable/rechargeable cryptographic Lithium cell battery

After Port Arthur trip, we returned to Hobart to rest.

Since we picked up our rental car rather late in the day (1-2pm), it meant that we wouldn't need to return the car till the same date the next day.

Hence Dixon decided to take me out a ride out to Mount Wellington, the highest peak in Tasmania.


Spotting Mt Wellington in the distance.


BUT being a beer buff himself, Dixon wouldn't rest till he brought me to a local brewery on the way called the Cascade Brewery.





Dixon


I've been to many wineries, but only a rare few times to breweries.

The last time I went there was years ago visiting the Guinness factory in Ireland (my first solo backpack in Europe back in 2004) and another local unknown brewery in Scotland.




So we parked across the road and walked over.

The first thing that struck me about the Brewery's bar and restaurant was their structure.




The bar was facing a beautiful luscious greenery with transparent glass walls.

It's connected to the restaurant where a British-style white building stood.




Very classy and posh for a Brewery's cafe/restaurant.




They even have a splendid garden which I took a stroll in. How could one resist?




It would have been nicer if it was summer and the flowers were blooming.




Then again it was spring so it wasn't that bad. Seeing that you could catch a whiff of Lavender on the grounds.




Here are a few more pics around the garden.










Spotted a fat cat taking its morning stroll amidst all these.




After enough strolling and photo sessions, we jollily walked back to the bar to order some drinks.




Of course it had nothing to do with the cute bartender at the bar.




*cough*




I ordered a tasting plate that consisted of all the beer varieties of Cascade's to start the day off.







Like since when we ever need a time or reason to drink eh? :p




There were two options when ordering a tasting plate, one was the arranged plate, where they place the beer from light to strong from left to right (or right to left whichever side you're sitting at).




With this they would give you a list of the beer listings in accordance to the arrangement of the beers. So you know which type of beer you are drinking.




The other selection was the random tasting plate.

Where they would, as you'd have guessed, place the beers in random orders, and if you were a loyal drinker and could name each and every name of the beer you drink out correctly, you would win a prize!

Sounds fun, but it was my first time drinking Cascade so I wouldn't want to take the risk.

But here's a video of me drinking and evaluating each and every type on the tasting plate.




One hour went by, and after finishing all the beers on the table (it was time to continue on our journey to Mt Wellington), I only have one thing to say...




*HICK*