The Twelve Apostles, Victoria, Australia (23rd-26th Jan 2010)

Flight No: CX135/CX168 (HKG-MEL-HKG)
Date: 23rd Jan - 26th Jan 2010
Flying Hours: 9 hours 15 mins
(GMT +1100)

It was my short stay in Melbourne arriving 0830 at Sofitel Melbourne on 24th Jan and leaving on 25th Jan at 2325. I did some research at home before I flew there and there're few places that I wanted to go which includes the Twelve Apostles (my top priority), Rialto Towers Observation Deck, Melbourne Zoo, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Parliament House of Victoria, Phillip Island, Puffing Billy Steam Train and Skydeck 88.
I checked the Great Ocean Road Tour which includes the visit to the Twelve Apostles online costs AUD100 over and it's gonna take approximately 13 hours, departing Melbourne at 0700 and arriving at 2000, since my pickup time from the hotel will be 2325, I kept thinking whether I should go and worrying at the same time whether am I able to come back on time, knowing it's gonna be 4 hours drive from Melbourne, any possible delays or unexpectations will gonna cause me MISS my duty.
After sleeping for few hours until 1500, I woke up and decided to walk around the Melbourne downtown to hunt for food. After eating, I walked on the Chinatown area and passed by Extragreen Tour Agency and saw the poster of the Twelve Apostles, and the AUD45 caught my eyes. I went in to check for more information about the tour and the AUD45 special promotion rate is only for tour departing on every Saturday, sadly the day I wanna join will be a Monday and the price is AUD69, but it's still way cheaper than what I checked from the internet. After they told me the latest the van will drop us back in Melbourne at 1930, I decided to join the tour.
It was a sleepless night for me and I did not know why, I slept at 2230 and woke up at 0100, from then onwards I couldn't sleep at all only until 0430, then I fell asleep and my alarm clock rang at 0630 as I need to be at the entrance of Extragreen Tour Agency by 0745 for my tour pickup.

Extragreen Travel Agency Website: http://extragreen.com.au/index.htm

Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town has a population of 1777.
It now makes an income from tourism, though it is smaller and quieter than other tourist destinations such as Lorne. It is also host to the annual Apollo Bay Music Festival and the Great Ocean Sports Festival.

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia. Their proximity to one another has made the site a popular tourist attraction. Originally the site was called the Sow and Piglets. Muttonbird Island near Loch And Gorge was the ‘Sow’ and the smaller rock stacks the 'Piglets'. The name was changed in the 1950s to present the name recalling the biblical The Twelve Apostles. This was done to lure more visitors to the state. Despite the name there are not twelve individual stacks visible in any one location.
The stacks have been formed by erosion, and are all different heights and thicknesses. A number have fallen over entirely as waves continually erode their bases.A 50-metre tall Apostle collapsed on July 3, 2005. Although it was initially thought that one of the Twelve Apostles fell on September 25, 2009 it was later revealed that it was one of the smaller stacks knowns as The Three Sisters. Other well-known features in Port Campbell National Park created by erosion are the London Arch, Loch Ard Gorge and the Island Archway. The rate of erosion at the base of the limestone pillars is approximately 2 cm per year. Unfortunately after years of erosion, it has only 7 apostles left when I visited this time. This is a heavenly beautiful place that one must visit before all the stacks collapse.

This is by far the most spectacular and facsinating view which I have ever seen in my entire life, I was blown away totally.A worthwhile 4 hours of tiring journey from MelbourneThe scenic lookout of The Amazing Twelve ApostlesA jump shot to show my excitement of reaching this place
If it's not of the extremely limited time given by my tour guide, I would have jumped into the water just like the 2 caucasians behind. Of course, I would love to tan for an hour or two. But those were just IF ....London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down ~~~

Some clips which I have recorded, click PLAY below:

TVB Actress 邵美琪 was on my flight

It was my 2nd Kuala Lumpur(KUL) turnaround flight in the month, a long day for me as I operated CX725 HKG-KUL, and then operated CX724 KUL-HKG on the same day. This flight is wellknown to be a tough flight as passengers are mostly very demanding and we as the crew will be working crazily to satisfy them. It's too bad that I wasn't able to swap away this flight for other better one, but fortunately I was being positioned in business class for this flight and there're only 14 passengers on CX725 and 26 passengers on CX724, the loading was really nice for us to work comfortably without any rush, most importantly, they're all very well-educated and easy passengers. I felt sorry for the crew who worked in economy class, it's really tough for them with almost full loading.
I still remembered months ago when I did the same flight on the way back to Hong Kong, TVB actress 李司琪 was travelling on my flight but I didn't take any picture with her seeing her sitting on her seat quietly, she needed her privacy apparently. This morning before I went out for duty, I brought my camera which I don't usually bring for turnaround flight, I sensed that I might be using it, and this time on CX724 coming back to HKG, I saw another TVB actress 邵美琪 on my flight, she was very friendly and approachable, I was doing collection in business class and when I walked to door 2 galley, I saw her standing there and I recognised her right away. I went up to my door 1 galley and informed my colleagues asking does anyone wanna take picture with her. As a result, all of us including Inflight Service Manager, Senior Purser and Galley Purser rushed to door 2 to take turns taking picture with this beautiful celebrity, she's really gorgeous and not arrogant at all, we talked to her for quite a while and she talked a little bit about her new series asking us to watch.

Surprised call from the CX Marketing Department

I was editing my pictures taken in New York and Facebook-ing as usual yesterday, my phone rang and I answered, it was a call from my company's marketing department. My colleague Yammi first of all congratulated me informing me that I have been chosen by them for the CX Minisite Campaign, they need to arrange time with me for both the interview session and photoshoot session.
I was shocked for seconds before I could make any response, she then explained a little bit more to me. They will first interview me to know more about me and my background and what I can share from my flying experience, and the photoshoot consists of 2 parts, first part they will shoot me in CX uniform which shows the proper and professional look & the second part will be shooting me in smart casual wear which shows my real personality. She asked me to bring my own casual wear and some props if needed.
This is really fun and exciting as I never expect to be able to involve in such event, I will be on the CX Web and magazine, am I dreaming??? But I truly believe that it's gonna be a great experience and I am grateful to be chosen. Finally, she has arranged me the interview session on the 29th Jan, 530pm at the HKIA Starbucks and photoshoot on the 17th Feb, 5pm at one of the studios in Chai-wan, Hong Kong Island. I am supposed to enjoy my leave period during CNY from 9th-19th Feb, and now I have to come back to HKG 2 days earlier for the photoshoot, and I am really looking forward to.
I better workout more before my photoshoot to make sure I am in good condition and take good photos. My 2010 kicked-off with a very good start, more better things coming ~
~ Keep the positive energy burning ~

New York, USA (12th-16th Jan 2010) - III

Flight No: CX840/CX841 (HKG-JFK-HKG)
Date: 12th Jan - 16th Jan 2010
Flying Hours: 15 hours 35 mins
(GMT -0500)

Manhattan is one of the boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York. It consists of Manhattan Island and several small adjacent islands: Roosevelt Island, Randall's Island, Ward's Island, Governors Island, Liberty Island, part of Ellis Island, and U Thant Island; as well as Marble Hill, a small section on the mainland adjacent to the Bronx. The original city of New York began at the southern end of Manhattan, and expanded in 1898 to include surrounding counties. It is the smallest yet most urbanized of the five boroughs.
The County of New York is the most densely populated county in the United States, and one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles (59.47 km²), or 71,201 residents per square mile (27,485/km²). It is also one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, with a 2005 personal income per capita above $100,000. Manhattan is the third-largest of New York's five boroughs in population.
Manhattan is a major commercial, financial, and cultural center of both the United States and the world. Many major radio, television, and telecommunications companies in the United States are based here, as well as many news, magazine, book, and other media publishers. Manhattan has many famous landmarks, tourist attractions, museums, and universities. It is also home to the headquarters of the United Nations. Manhattan has the largest central business district in the United States, is the site of both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ, and is the home to the largest number of corporate headquarters in the country. It is the center of New York City and the New York metropolitan region, hosting the seat of city government and a large portion of the area's employment, business, and entertainment activities.

Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island, is a small uninhabited island in New York Harbor in the United States, best known as the location of the Statue of Liberty. The name Liberty Island has been in use since the early 20th century, although the name was not officially changed until 1956. Before the Statue of Liberty, Bedloe's Island was the home to Fort Wood, an eleven pointed star-shaped fortification made of granite. Because of this, its nickname was "Star Fort".
The island is the property of the federal government and is operated by the National Park Service. It is accessible to the public only by ferry, either from Battery Park in Manhattan or Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is separated from nearby Ellis Island by approximately 1 mi (1.6 km). There is also ferry service between the two islands.
Liberty Island is 2000 feet (600 m) from Liberty State Park in Jersey City. By comparison it is 1-5/8 statute miles (2.6 kilometers) from Battery Park in Manhattan; this makes Liberty Island much closer to Jersey City than to the rest of New York City, of which it is a part. The island has a land area of 59,558 square meters, or 14.717 acres, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Since September 11, 2001, the waters surrounding the island are guarded by around-the-clock patrols of the United States Park Police Marine Patrol Unit.

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located in the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York, USA, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world. Located in park-like grounds, the Museum comprises 25 interconnected buildings that house 46 permanent exhibition halls, research laboratories, and its renowned library.
The collections contain over 32 million specimens, of which only a small fraction can be displayed at any given time. The Museum has a scientific staff of more than 200, and sponsors over 100 special field expeditions each year.My weight of 68KG on earth will be 3886pounds on the Sun, amazing!!!!
Central Park is a large public, urban park that occupies over a square mile (341 hectares) in the heart of Manhattan in New York City. It is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park was opened in 1859, completed in 1873 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
The park was designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the architect Calvert Vaux. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks (one of which is a swimming pool in July and August), the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and the outdoor Delacorte Theater which hosts the "Shakespeare in the Park" summer festivals. Eighty-five percent of the park's operating budget comes from private sources via the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the park pursuant to a contract with New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.