fishing in lake benalla

while visiting benalla in north east victoria, i noticed this man fishing with a rod and reel by the lakeside. the next day i got to talking with him and he educated me on the types of fish that abound in the lake and the river. most of the time he fishes in the lake but sometimes he moves to the lower reaches of the river. lake benalla is a man-made lake, created by the damming of the broken river.
golden perch, trench and carp are the common types found in the lake and that part of the river. in the faster flowing upper reaches of the river, the brown trout can be found. there are also murray cod in the broken river.




in some states in australia, you cannot take your fishing tackle and go fishing in the lakes, rivers or seas without a licence. a two-day victoria state fishing licence costs $5.50; a one-month, $11.00; a one-year, $22.00; and a three-year, $60. i understand there is also a minimum legal size for some fish that you catch with a rod and reel and other devices. different size limits apply to different fish. again, this may vary from state to state. if your catch does not meet the minimum size, you have to release it.




the lone angler caught four fish that morning. he told me that the day before he had landed twenty fish. what did he use as bait? i was surprised to learn that he used bread as bait. he broke off a small piece of white bread and pressed it onto the small hook. the small fish would nibble at the bread but the big ones would grab the whole thing and that was how they would be caught. as he did not have a marker or indicator on the line outside the water, on windy days, it was difficult to ascertain the movements of the line.

when asked what he would do with the bigger fish, the two carps, the solitary fisherman told me that he would bin them. i thought it was a waste until i found out later that carps were not supposed to be returned to the water. the state of victoria has declared the carp a noxious fish "which makes it an offence to possess, transport or release live carp, or use live carp as fishing bait". the declaration of 'noxious' fish does not mean that the species cannot be fished for, or eaten.

later in the evening, when i mentioned that we had been to the mornington peninsula, a friend told me that we should have tried fishing in the sea off portsea. according to him, you could catch whiting, flathead and snapper in that part of the sea. however, the experience of ian, my son-in-law, and some of his church friends, did not suggest that it was a fruitful (or fishful) or interesting activity. they had spent the whole night shivering in the chilly condition and the next morning, returned home empty handed.

market experience in melbourne

unlike markets in singapore, those in melbourne or, for that matter, in australia are not conveniently open 7 days a week. even queen victoria market - the one known to most visitors to melbourne - is closed on wednesdays and thursdays. some markets are held weekly, some, monthly and there are the 3, 4 or 5 day-a week markets.

the once-a-month market at red hill in the mornington peninsula, which i visited, has the atmosphere of a food-cum-fun fair. although billed as a craft market, the number of food stalls clearly outnumber the number of craft stalls.



the casual and colourful atmosphere lend itself to attract people who come in their heritage cars and some who come with their canine friends, even though there is an explicit notice stating that dogs are not allowed. not all, however, come with the intention of buying something; some are there just to browse and to soak in the atmosphere.

besides food, clothing and household stuff, you can also get potted plants and colourful flowers from this market. the prices of these garden organisms are generally lower than those at the nurseries.

like a fair, you have people, in the form of acrobats, jugglers or musicians, providing almost free entertainment.

the interest, need and education of young children are also taken care of. apart from the usual farm animals and pets, there were also some unusual animals on display at the red hill market.



how can a market in australia be complete without some spirits or booze? as this is a community market, a lot of the local produce is on sale at the market. you can get products like strawberries and jams which come from the well-known sunnyrise strawberry farm nearby as well as wine from the wineries in that district like red hill and t'gallant.

wineries at yarra valley

wine-drinking tourists to melbourne would have designated the yarra valley as one of the must visit places in melbourne. as for me, a social drinker, who has visited melbourne at least a dozen times, i made my first visit to the yarra valley wineries today. my original plan was to go to miss marples in sassafras for tea but my friend chris suggested yarra glen as i had been to saafraas and olinda a few times already.

enroute to the yarra valley, we dropped in at lilydale. i have heard of lilydale but i had not seen the place. chris perked my interest when he mentioned some 19th century buildings, including a small theatre and a museum in the town. we did not manage to see the inside of the theatre as it was in total darkness but we managed to get a glimpse of the lobby.

at yarra glen, we stopped to have coffee and pie at a small cafe. that is one aspect of life in australia that appeals to me: you wander to some outlying town and have a light meal on the sidewalk. would have been perfect except for the pesky houseflies that appear in droves in summer. across the road was a brewery. we tried the six types of home brewed beer; rather it was chris who tried most of it while i had the apple cider only.

the first winery we dropped in was the yering, the oldest winery in the valley. this winery was different from those i had visited at the mornington peninsula. it has a fairly long history and the original buildings have been conserved. the other winery - the chandon - conducts daily tour for walk-in visitors. we joined one group at the tail end of their tour and managed to see the wine hall.

although we did not buy any wine, we stayed back to have a light meal at the cafe so as to enjoy the countryside scenery - the vineyard and the mountains in the distance.

bus commuters in melbourne and singapore

when i came back from my last australian trip in april this year, i decided to find out how different singapore bus commuters were from those i met on the buses in melbourne's suburbs. each time i boarded a bus here, i opted to sit near the front door so that i could study closely the behaviour and attitude of the passengers.

i was especially keen to observe the actions of those who would have missed the bus if the bus captain had not stopped to wait for them. this was not something difficult to catch because it seemed to be a common occurence. more often than not, it would be a young man or woman in a hurry.

i have yet to come across one of these passengers thanking the bus captain for having waited for him so that he would not have to wait for the next bus. people here seem to think that because they are paying passengers, bus drivers must stop for them no matter what; it is, therefore, their right to keep the whole bus waiting.

most times these passengers did not even make eye contact with the bus captain; not a word of thanks or a gesture acknowledging the bus driver's action. i also think that our bus drivers are not used to passengers thanking them, so they also do not expect such a gesture.

in australia, in the suburbs where i travelled, it was heart-warming to see how the commuters treated the bus driver. most of them, who tended to alight by the door nearest to the driver, would express their appreciation for the ride. is it because the australians have been taught and brought up differently? they respect a person regardless of his occupation? here, we accord more respect to those who work in certain professions?

i like to think that the situation is like this because we asians tend to be more reticient when it comes to expressing our feelings openly.

hot air ballooning in cairns

i read about seenthisscenethat's two failed attempts at hot air ballooning and decided to write about our experience in cairns in 1999.

the australians are quite experienced when it comes to adventure stuff. we had to get up at about 4.15 a.m. the mini-bus took about 45 minutes to reach mareeba, the site for the ballooning. we did the ballooning over the atherton highlands and after that had champagne breakfast at the anthill restaurant.

tableland balloon flight cost aus$115 for an adult, with children getting 30% discount off the adult price, for a half hour flight. in addition, we had to pay aus$7 aviation fee on the day of travel. the total cost included a chicken and champagne breakfast.

the basket, which could easily carry 15 persons, including the pilot, was laid on its side while they funnelled the hot air into the balloon. when the parachute envelope ballooned out, the basket uprighted itself and we were helped into it.


there were three or four hot air balloons up in the sky at the tableland that morning. by the time the balloon was aloft, it was bright enough for us to take in the sights around and below us. it was a smooth ride and surprisingly, i forgot all my fear for height.

flights are usually carried out early in the morning when the air is still cool which makes maneuvering easier. as the day gets warmer and the warm air rises, controlling the balloon becomes a bit tricky and unpredictable. as it was, even in the morning, our balloon strayed slightly off its target and we landed near a cemetery.

when it finally landed, all of us, especially the men, had to pitched in to help anchor the balloon onto the ground while the pilot and his assistants worked at deflating the balloon and folding the huge piece of parachute material. it was quite a good work-out before we proceeded for our much awaited breakfast.

dolphin feeding at tangalooma

tangalooma, the wild dolphin resort, is on moreton island. it is similar to pulau redang, tthe island off the coast of terengganu, in a number of ways:

both are one-and-a-half hours by ferry from the mainland; in terms of distance, about 40km. clean, clear water (without doubt, redang's is clearer) and white sand. swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving (redang has richer marine life.) turtles are found in both places. both are designated marine parks. opportunities for nature walks/rambling. accommodation available (redang has a whole range and cheaper).

what are not available at redang: dolphin feeding and sand tobaganning.

they refer to them as wild dolphins but they were far from wild. they were bottlenose dolphins and the researchers there knew each of the by name. every evening, they would return to the same area to play and to be fed. tourists or visitors would pay for the food (fish) that they personally gave to the dolphins.

we each paid aus$17 for the ride down the sand dunes. the sand dunes were the height of a 6-storey building. ivy and ida did 2 runs each. i would have done 3 if i had not been overfilled by the sand. the sand got into all my openings (orifices) and also into my trousers' pockets.

on this trip, we also went to noosa at the sunshine coast, gold coast and the tamborine mountain. at the tamborine mountain, we stayed at the polish place. the owner of the polish place (shown here in the 3rd picture with lay bee, ivy and ida) proudly announced to us that our prime minister (then, he was dpm) had stayed at the polish place with his family. he had been there on a private visit.

nature came right to your doorstep at the polish place. the rainbow lorikeets - very colourful parrots - would come to the balcony to be fed.

at the polish place, we had dinner alfresco so that we could watch the sun setting over the western rim.

then and now in melbourne
































we made the trip at end of 1995, slightly more than 12 years ago. for the drive from sydney to melbourne, we had a 8-seater mitsubishi spacewagon which we rented for aus$224. the exchange rate then was aus$1 = s$1.059. today, the rate is aus$1 = s$1.31.

in 1995, ivy had just completed her primary school leaving education (psle) and awaiting her posting to a secondary school while ida had just completed her first year in pei chun public school. today, ivy is working at franskston hospital in melbourne while ida is completing her first year of study for a bachelor of commerce degree at monah university in melbourne.

those days, when we went to australia, we were usually booked on qantas or british airways. the airfare then was s$1079, inclusive of airport tax. as ida was considered a child, her airfare was s$823. today, with new fuel surcharge and airport tax, the airfare on sia is s$1720.

then, when we visited melbourne with the soons (boon eng & millie), we would stay with the gongs at kew, a choice suburbia in melbourne. dr gong, his wife, who is boon eng's sister, and two children lived in a 9-room 2-storey house. these days, when i go to melbourne, i will squeeze in with my two daughters at their rented 4-room townhouse in clayton.

one of the best australian resorts (for us)





















one of the best resorts we have had the opportunity to stay in is the novotel lake crackenback resort in the snowy mountains of new south wales. it is one of the most beautiful resorts.

nestled in the magnificent snowy mountains high country and on the tranquil shores of lake crackenback, the resort allowed us to relax in style. the chalet that we stayed in was a 2-storey unit with 3 bedrooms and 3 toilets. it was truly self-contained with a washing machine, a drier, a microwave oven, a toaster, a dish-washing machine, a fire-place, heaters and a jacuzzi, among other things.

the place was cold, even in summer. a pair of kangaroos came right up to our unit in the evening. although, we stayed one night only, it was enough to fill us with wonderful memories and to leave a lasting impression on us.

it happened in 1995 when we were on a 19-day self-drive trip from sydney to melbourne. we started on the princes highway, stopping overnight at the tugalong outback station. the next day, we hit the hume higway to head for a one-day stay in canberra. from canberra, we travelled on the monaro highway to cooma. after cooma, it was the alpine highway to lake crackenback.

most australians go the snowy mountains in winter, to the nearby ski resort at thredbo. so, without the crowds, we really got to enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place.