a visit to fremantle's maritime museum

A couple of weeks back, while I was still having the holiday mood here, I suggested to my friends that we visit WA’s Maritime Museum located at Victoria Quay, Fremantle. As the name suggests, the museum houses a collections of boats/yachts as well as telling the stories of WA’s early explorers, trading routes etc, in general the maritime past of Western Australia.

Western Australia Maritime Museum - link

Paying a discounted rate of $8 for the museum entrance(student rate using one of our University metric cards, cause technically we were are still students,right?), we were also given a guided tour of the highlight of this visit, the Oberon class HMAS Ovens Submarine which was docked beside the museum.

Our Australian guide, who incidentally used to stay in Sunset Way, in Clementi, a couple of years back, was very professional and detailed in his tour. Throughout the entire tour, no effort was spared in letting us know the mechanism of how certain elements of the submarine works. I think his name is Gary, and if you do happen to drop by for a visit to the museum & so happened to meet him as the guide for that day, help me commend him for a job well done ya?



Gary did a good job explaining how a submarine sinks and surfaces as we walked along the perimeter of the submarine. The submarine has ballast tanks and auxiliary tanks, that can be alternately filled with water or air to control its buoyancy. To float on the surface, the ballast tanks are filled with air such that the submarine's overall density is less than that of the surrounding water. To dive, the ballast tanks are flooded with water and the air in the ballast tanks is pushed out from the submarine, with air bubbles seen in the starboard and portside of the submarine, like what you see in the movies. When its overall density is greater than the surrounding water, the submarine will have attained a state of negative buoyancy and start to sink. The compressed air available, both for human consumption and surfacing, is maintained aboard the submarine in air flasks. As such, the air is rarely pumped intensively into the ballast tanks, thus decreasing the rate of ascend.

However, sometimes for emergency surface drills or dramatic/showoff effect, the pressurized air is pumped into the ballast tanks at a greater rate such that the submarine will literally pop up onto the surface seemingly out of nowhere. A good periscope lookout and sonar sweep are required to ascertain no boats will be in the area where the submarine will surface, however accidents still occurred in recent history of which the case of the American submarine USS Greeneville which you might recall. In 2001 the USS Greeneville was demostrating to members of the public onboard it an emergency surface drill. Unfortunately when it surfaced, the submarine struck and sank a Japanese ship, killing 9 aboard the ship.

this is how the sonar of a submarine looks like

the bow of the submarine

All this time while listening to Gary’s explanation on the working mechanism of the submarine and accidents that had occured, we were still standing on the docks of the submarine. Personally I was feeling a bit impatiently already, as I can’t wait to play hide-and-seek explore the submarine.

The 90m long HMAS Ovens

at the entrance on top of the submarine

view from bow of submarine

To get into the submarine, we had to climb a flight of stairs, roughly 4 storeys high. The entrance was at the bow of the vessel which was quite narrow, but it was to be expected for a submarine. There wasn’t much room width-wise, even though it was the main deck. The sleeping area was pathetically crammed, with beds line up one on top of another. The captain’s quarter, though much more spacious compared to that of the crew’s, wasn’t very luxurious either, but at least he didn’t have to put up with the snores of his crewmates.

Crew quarters - Economy class


Captain's Cabin - Raffles Class?

Circular hatches separated each section, and we really had to bend down and go over carefully to avoid hitting our heads on the solid bulkhead. In one of the section, there were 16 cylinder diesels, which are used to drive electric motors. The electric -motored meant that the submarine was truly a silent vessel. The Oberon class submarines were considered state of the art conventional subs of its time, despite being based on a late-WWII German hull design. Its dimensions were generally 90m x 8.1m x 5.5m with a top submerged speed of 31km/hr.

i just noticed there's a padding at the top of the circular hatch - probably just in case u whack ur head on the solid bulkhead

Diesel-electric generator room

The control room is where the main operations of a submarine occur. The torpedo guidance system, allows at a single time several torpedoes to be fired and guided on to the desired target.

Torpedoes guidance control

Torpedoes launch hatch


Torpedoes - Mk 48 Torpedo i think

Helm station

The entire experience inside the submarine took about 30-40 minutes, which surprisingly wasn’t too stuffy or hot (probably because the kind folks from the museum installed fans and improved the ventilation system before opening the submarine to public viewing). For just $8, I got to step into a submarine for the first time in my life, with an experienced guide who knows what he’s saying. It was definitely worth every penny.

exit via stern of submarine

more jap stuff

It's just some balls and levers and stuff, nowhere as spectacular as some dominoes setup, but i'm still completely bowled over by the creativity and precision of these japanese minds. The whole jap lifestyle and culture is so unique, and i hope one of these days i can afford to stay in japan for a few days/weeks to experience it firsthand.

via YouTube

funny jap video (not porn)

These japanese pple are really one of a kind..dont know if it's really meant to be an instructional video for dirty talking in english or a parody of jap porn. Nonetheless it is still uniquely funny. It contains crude language (but no nudity) though, so if u feel uncomfortable, please don't click play.







Let's all learn english!



via YouTube

the uncertainty n the wait

After 3 months of waiting, my student license finally arrived about 3 weeks ago, and with that, a real need to be serious in my work also set in. Unfortunately, for the last 2 weeks, work has not been all too well, hence the lack of updates here. The stress that i've talked about earlier, is evident not just within myself, but also within some of my fellow coursemates here. It has been said that this phase of the training is the toughest, what with the limited hours provided for us to grapse the correct landing technique, n the rustiness associated with not flying regularly. Of course, skills differ person to person, instructor to instructor, and i do not shy away from the fact that i have not been as up to standard as some of the other trainees here. N if no further improvement is made to the point where the instructor feels i'm capable to fly on my own, the inevitable will occur, and i can kiss this fantasy life away for good. Its really not a good feeling knowing your career is decided by just a few hours of performance (good or bad), but that is just the way it goes around here. In fact, and i do agree with several comments made by others, most of the time it is just self-induced stress. Confidence is a weird thing; one moment you can feel capable of landing the aircraft, but it just takes a few bad landings for it to be totally erased out of your mind,and back to square one again.

On a positive side, i'm given another chance, like many of my fellow trainees before me, to get it right. I'm sure everyone is capable of getting it sooner or later, it's just a question of whether how soon it'll be. It has to be soon though, dont want to pack my bags too early n go back home without accomplishing anything.

Anyway,things are not that bad (yet). Thankfully, my fellow coursemates have been encouraging each n everyone of us who has not been doing well. It's during such times, that you see people who just 10 months ago were complete strangers, helping each other out. That's the only comfort in this uncertain time for now.....

On a side note, life is not all gloomy or sad. Jokes, games, dinner outings still do occur, though not as frequent as it used to be. The other day, my roommate was just telling us this 欠扁问答题 to us, which he had seen from a taiwanese variety show, n its pretty 欠扁 too! Hopefully the chinese fonts get through, maybe next time i'll try to write a post 作文 entirely in chinese,although it will really suck.

一只白猫不幸掉进了一个又脏又暗的井。 一只路过的黑猫把这只白猫救了上来。
白猫对黑猫说了什么？












白猫 : “meowwwww"


***************************************************



两个人同样掉进了一个又脏又暗的井，其中一个不幸死了。死了的那个人叫做“死人”。
活人叫什么？










他叫“救命啊！救命啊！”

Didnt i tell u it's 欠扁?

a visit to aqwa

The Aquarium of Western Australia, or AQWA, is located in Hilarys Boat Harbour, 20 minutes drive north of Perth City. Just like the Underwater World in Sentosa Singapore, it allows divers to 'dive' in the walkthrough aquarium. Unfortunately (or fortunately for my wallet), the afternoon's "Dive with Sharks" session had only 3 slots available, and my friends had already made plans to try this aquarium dive earlier. It was as well in the end, as I could visit the aquarium and other exhibits while i wait for my friends to finish their dive. Plus i saved $105 (yup that's how much the dive costs, abit pricey isnt it?) and i only had to pay discounted $14 instead of the usual $25 admission price, all thanks to my diving friends.

The AQWA, as the name suggests, is mainly a showcase of the marine life found in the entire western australia coast, which stretches to about 12000 km. The coastline is divided into 5 main distinct regions, namely: The far north coast, the coral coast where Ningaloo Reef is found n definitly the best dive region in WA, the shipwreck coast mainly near Geraldton and Kalbarri, the Perth Coast, and the great southern coast where Busselton, Albany and Esperence are located.

the five distinct coastal regions

The trip to AQWA also meant that i could see some of the marine life that i didnt see when i dived here, or had heard so much about. The blue ring octupus for example, is only about a palm size or less, but it packs one of the most lethal poisions found in the marine world.

if u ever see one while diving, run swim for ur lives!!

Of course, the blue ring octupus is just one of the few exceptions n marvels to b avoided. What you would have difficulty finding out in the open water though, would be the leafy sea dragon, n i was glad that for the first time in my life, i managed to see 3 of them in a water tank before me. The leafy sea dragon, as the name suggests, really resemble a leaf, and only upon closer inspection would u be able to spot its head, mouth and fins.

haa... mythical is just the word to describe it

Relative of the leafy sea dragon, but nowhere as spectacular is the common seahorse. Even the name doesnt sound cool enough compared to a 'dragon', still i will post this picture here, for the subject(this seahorse below) was very obedient enough for me to capture this shot. Oh i must mention that for seahorses, the males give birth to the young, with the females depositing her eggs into the males' pouch. It goes to show that it's not always the males that go depositing their stuff into females....

seahorses are fish with bodies covered in bony armour and are not horses, but you know that rite?

The next exhibit would leave you craving for more, and its the gigantic western rock lobsters. These lobsters are one of the most sought after marine animals in WA, n about A$350 million worth of them are harvested each year in Australia. Judging from the size of them, i wouldn't be surprised it's so sought after.

i would very much like to have you n you n you n you ... for dinner

Other marine creatures, such as the moon jelly fish pictured below, are quite a marvellous sight to behold. They sting though but if you had watched one of the episode from F.R.I.E.N.D.S, you would know peeing would relieve the pain, so next time (if) you get stung by a jellyfish, ask your friend to pee on you! It would be a good test of friendship. hahaa

Porcupine fish can inflate themselves into a ball of spines like creature, something like a sea urchin, as a defence mechanism. There's no limit to the number of times they can inflate (n deflate) themselves, however if they are to inflate in the surface, they are likely to ingest air. As such, it would be hard for the fish to deflate, leaving them floating on the surface, ultimately leading to death of the fish. Although cruel to think this, but it does seem comical if a porcupine fish inflates itself on the surface, n find itself unable to deflate, floating around like a ball of spines. I can imagine the poor guy trying to deflate itself in vain. Well, that's a sight only for the comics though.

so cute!

the blackspotted pufferfish and the freckled porcupine fish - cute little fishes

The red firefish, or also known as the butterfly cod and Volitans Lionfish belongs to the family of scorpionfish. They possess stinging spines but still, their beauty and their grace is truely an unique sight.

Lastly, i'll talk about aqwa signature exhibit, the 98-metre long moving walkway aquarium, housing grey nurse sharks, black tip reef sharks, loggerhead turtles, black smooth rays, southern eagle rays, silver trevallies, pink snappers, fiddler ray, giant cods and more.

.

.

.

.

Well, there's really isnt much to talk about, so i'll just post some more pictures here.

'smiling' for the camera

This black smooth ray is the largest stingray in the aquarium. In fact smooth stingrays are one of the largest rays in the world, and can grow up to 4m and weigh up to 300 plus kg.

huge loggerhead turtle

grey nurse shark - said to be potentially dangerous

one minute before meal

one minute after meal (actually they are not the same shark, think this one's a black tipped reef)

Mr K.K tryin to piss a shark off by blowing bubbles into its asshole

For the aquarium dive, my friends told me it wasnt really worth it for a short 30-40 minutes dive. K.K couldnt manage to take any underwater shots with his camera as the lighting wasnt sufficient n flash light wasnt allowed. They were also not allowed to touch any of the marine animals, well its sort of like in those strip joints, where you can only see, but cannot touch. For me however, i felt it was one of the best tourist attraction one can find here, with the abundance n variety of marine creatures. There's also a marine park where you can see seals entertain you and an outdoor ray pond where a few eagle rays and smooth rays rest. This trip was definitly worth it n i really meant it when i say this.

entertain me please

I'm a Basic Panties Chick !

Cant help but try this quiz dat i saw in ahfen's blog....

You Are Basic Panties

You are a laid back chick with a real natural beauty. You can make unwashed hair and minimal make-up super sexy. Men tend to notice you show the "real you" - and they appreciate it. And while basic makes boring for some, it looks classic on you.

What Kind of Panties Are You?

Wow i'm impressed with the accuracy of this quiz, it even knew my fav panties color! I always knew i was laid back, but i got to admit, i didnt know basic panties would look classic on me! HAHAaaa.... What panties are you??

the best show i watched in Perth (so far)

The past 3 months dat i've been in perth, i had watched several shows, mostly all of them on my laptop in my room, n only a couple of new movies in the cinemas, reason being the cheapest cinema tickets r still A$8.50 on a discounted day of the week.

There were a couple of good shows dat i watched such as Saw, Million Dollar Baby n Sin City, pretty decent ones such as The Longest Yard n Simone, and not so good ones such as Jarhead n Shaun of the Dead. However the one that made an impression on me, was the show dat i watched in the cinema today, V For Vendetta.

You probably wud have heard abt this show 3-4 weeks back. Nutella Natalie Portman plays Evey, while Hugo Weaving plays the charismatic villian/hero "V". Hugo Weaving if u remember is Agent Smith from the Matrix Trilogy, n he does a fantastic job playin V, who for the entire show, doesnt show his own face at all.

The story is about how a totalitarian government's (Britain in the movie) restrictions,censorship, and iron-hand methods to clamp down on those who disobey the rules n curfews, can lead its people into leaving a live of fear n oppresion, n yet without the courage to speak out for their own freedom. "V" as the anti-hero, seeks to fulfill his own vendetta as well as to inspire the oppressed people to stand out n riot/protest for their own freedom. Along the way, Evey finally understood n was willing to throw her life away for the sake of her ideals. "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people", as "V" says. In a way this show is political, but the Wachowski brothers (of Matrix fame) managed to deliver a well-paced, intelligent thriller along the way.

Of course, besides the interesting plot n dialogue, there's eye candy as well in Natalie Portman. The scene where Natalie Portman catwalks down the street, with Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" as the background music, in the last scene in "Closer", is forever etched in my memory. In simpler language, "Wah CHIO BU!"

will you marry me Miss Natalie Portman???

even if botak still very CHIO

Of course, Miss Natalie Portman is not just a pretty face. She's also a brainy Chio Bu, who graduated from Harvard, majoring in Psychology.N she's good in her work as well, being a talented actress, with her first Oscar nomination and Golden Globe victory for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in "Closer". And she's only 25 this year!

eh how come this movie review has suddenly become a babe review ah???

Busselton Jetty

On the way home from Dunsborough, me and my friends decided to pop by Busselton to visit the famous Busselton Jetty, the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 1841 metres. Wow... dats 1.841km, 184100cm, 1841000mm.... u get the idea. I had initially planned to walk to the end of the jetty and back. For the lazier ones, there's a train service provided for a fee. Cool.. a train with railway tracks on a jetty itself. But being the cheapskate that i'm, i didnt want to pay for a short ride. However i had thought that entry into the wooden jetty would b free, but there was an entry fee (about $3.50?cant remember though) instead. Again, being the cheapskate that i'm, i didnt want to pay money just to walk on some wooden planks for 1.841km. SO i did the next best thing,meaning i stood outside the jetty entrance, and took quite a handful of photos of the jetty, thus allowing me to proclaim that i've been to Busselton Jetty.... ?

Of course, any traveller to any tourist attraction will usually find out something about the place he/she is visiting, which is what i did. After chatting with the locals, digging out historical records, exploring museums and etc, i managed to gather some facts and events regarding this jetty.

The jetty was built as early as 1865, in several stages up to 1962. The jetty stopped operations in 1972. In 1978, Cyclone Alby destroyed the oldest portion of the jetty and devastated the promenade that started directly from the shore to close to the existing gazebo. Government and shire grants, donations, fundraising and a small (but still substantial) entrance fee has enabled the jetty to remain in existence.

One could fish on the jetty, or just take a peaceful n leisurely stroll on the wooden planks. But the Busselton Jetty is more than that! You could also visit the jetty interpretive centre, take the jetty train or visit the underwater observatory. All of these stuff i didnt do, but i did take a lot of photos!

deja vu....

guess who's the poser...