hopped off the train to a typical small suburb train station, one of those you cant see where the public toilet is. which, at that moment, is quite crucial for the both of us after a two hour train journey. there are constructions all over the station, and a huge billboard welcoming us to the 'university station'; north wollongong.

snapped a few photos and tried to figure out the way, by foot, to the university. my research showed a '1176 metres walk' to the university, which i dont worry much about as i thought, hey, there's be a road sign somewhere; if its that close to the station.

i was.. wrong. as usual. after walking south for a bit i reckon we wont be able to find the place; as the streets we passed are missing in action from the LP guidebook i brought along and the city map. we saw a nearby Carltex, and went the to heed nature's call; and perhaps ask anyone there. we are kinda lost; got to admit.

so we did, and that guy at the counter was so nice and helpful, he drawed the route on a map and even gave us that map to guide us along. apparently we're on the opposite direction, and we ventured to retrace our steps and go ahead, but not with a little worry as the man's words of 'you'd be on foot? that'll be quite hard' echoed.

went back to the station, and followed some guy who asked the construction worker how to cross to the other side...it was funny. because they have this construction all over and we thought it wont be safe to cross; but it apparently is. the route after that was just by following the map, easy.

well, not without a bit of doubt but all cleared when we asked another local who is only too happy (okay, maybe not. but he's nice bout it) to show us the way. passed thru a housing area, which is quite nice..i like it. well, but that may be because i adore little aussie houses like heck and the flowers are nice and blooming this spring season.

we then walked on across a bridge, and then continued along the road, bit hiily. the views are good; i love the mountains as backdrop to our little expedition. the map says its Mount Ousley. so mount Ousley, thanks. thou art pretty :-)

so we walked..and walked..and walked. it was quite far, simply 30-35 minutes of walking. but alas we arrived; and the university looks...terpencil. there are trees around..mcm dlm hutan jugak lah. not that its a bad thing. it looks peaceful.

we were smitten silly by the signboard..siap ada waterfall tuh! the thing is, our university dont have any of those, we only an electronic one (tak lawa!!) so we happily enjoyed it. ventured in the university..... it was eeriely quiet. there's not a soul there..senyapsunyisepi.

it is out of session, but in unsw, there's still signs of life at least! so we went in..walked around..there are plenty of buildings, carparks..the usual. and yeah, hutan. its a bit like macquarie, it terms of keterpencilannya. so we walked around..until we saw some people playing soccer (yay! not cricket!) and some uni people lepak around the padang. the uni looks big enough but its so..empty. so we walked a bit more..and had some consolation after finding a nice small lake..... ada itik....wheeeeee~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! itik sangat comel ! ada burung gak...comei!

took pics loads. took video as well. nice.

ada fake waterfall. klaka.

we continued lepaking around for a while, just absorbing the nice senyapsunyisepi air with chattering birds. we then walked back to the station, even tho have started to feel bit tired..but we have no choice since there's no bus at all! (but then there's nobody as well..hehe) we walked on..daydreamt about hitching rides and for every passing car we evaluated tahap kebaikan the driver..ahaks...whether he or she looks like potential killer or the atok-yang-baik-ngan-isteri-dia-ngan-cucu-dia to pass the time ...

arrived at the station, exhausted, with 30 hours to spare and regain some energy. got myself immersed in the LP guide and sekeping roti.....

TO BE CONTINUED

north wollongong remains copyright of the author tenkostar, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Helensburgh. this paper would soon run out. on the left side: hutan. on the right, bukit-bukit. nice view at the right, but its too bright, bad pictures. plus, sini bleh konker 3 seat skali. in tunnel. can see people clearly from the reflections in th window. stop looking, kid. very nice trees. must go bushwalk someday. hopefully xda nyamuk. must wiki it. kertas dah nak full. another 35 minutes. boleh ke? tulis kecik-kecik.

kuda meragut rumput. banyak pakai baju. jauh, atas bukit. very picturesque. otford. lukisan kuda. kuda atas bukit. reminds me of...the alice book. tunnel again. reflection of an orange bag. memories: first day in sydney.

went to the other side, nampak laut. the sea was great. gorgeous. subhanallah. terdiam kejap. bukit2. umah2 kat tepi. lawaaa.

sarborough.

thirroul.

bulli.

woonona. King Gee factory? thats for dad :-)

bellambi.

corrimal.

fairy meadows.

• i cant read my scrawly handwriting anymore after sarborough, only the places' names. :-D *

the train journal ends.

WOLLONGONG STORIES, TO BE CONTINUED

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summer: Wollongong DayTrip, part 3 remains copyright of the author tenkostar, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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PART 2

masuk train...amik seat best kat atas. well, pretty pening as how to seat as well. y'see, sydney's trains' seat boleh tukar arah. either u want to seat all facing one direction or if u have a family or group of friends, can turn the seats around so easier to chat. me and RS got the terbalik one side one and took each a row (very few people on board, so konker!) and faced each other..only being in few times UniBeat taught me that duduk terbalik is very memeningkan indeed. but gambled lah. this is a two-hour ride, therefore dont think its that bumpy.

early on i started with reading the sydney brochures obtained at the central and RS on her storybook. but suddenly minutes later got the urge to write.... only AGAIN i forgot to bring any writing materials!!! aghhh! sangat kecewa. but luck's on my side, found a pen in the backpack and proceeded on a 'journal' of sort on the back of the printed out Wollongong map. it was a hurried coupla words sentence mostly.i think its because cant take too many pics to capture the moment. limited memory. train's moving. hence i write. it feels great, capturing the moments that would otherwise be forgotten.

here's the 'journal', typed it back from the original copy, plus additions of words and pics if necessary:-

• bolded - what i saw while the train moves, observations, written down. the 'live journal'.
  
• italiced - thoughts running in the head or sentences in malay.
  
• normal - accounts, written after the journey; to inject some sense and flow in the story. hehe.
  
• bolded & italiced - name of places, as seen from the signboards.
  

random places the names of the placed we passed thru. arncliff. banksia. kogarah. hurtsville.

realised an a4 paper aint too much space..and the mind chatters about.. GOT THINGS IN ORDER! get map rail. get map without rail to be put in blog later on.

mortdale. another array of suburban houses. bright sunlight gives nice yellow/orange hue. plenty of trees. graffiti by the railside. the graffiti a common feature in sydney: looks almost the same everywhere. is it a project?

houses

nice rail line. am higher than the suburban areas. can see beyond. waa lawa. jungle-ish. ada umah. como. nice lake. (reminded self to)copy blog. write book.

lake near como

Jannali. *edited out* yellow flowers (by the railside) still here. purple trees. como and before that looks pretty. yellow flowers just beside rail line. very pretty. shouldn't leave notebook & pen behind. remember!!

sutherland station. (train) stop(s). nice graffiti with flowers. miss taking the picture, as train whizzed by too fast. 8:10:45 sydney terminal .Hurtsville-Wolli Creek-Sydney Terminal..on screen. i am actually at the other side! i moved there from original place, as there's one empty stretch of seats. didnt sit there, at the original place because direct sunlight. better pics from the other side.

(still stopping the the station. people watching.)saw a granny with a backpack. travel? home? visiting sister? now i know i got the idea from the Dutch movie, Twin Sisters. a very beautiful work. she's wearing brown Timberland-ish sneakers, not unlike other only three people there, waiting for the train to go to the city. when would the train come?

8:16:06 displayed on screen. 6 minutes already, the stop at the seats in front are two young lads. can see them thru the window's refection. suddenly recalled a book -cant remember what where the author fell in love with the person in reflection. or is it a movie?

train finally moved at 8:17:23. saw a huge cemetry area by the roadside. loftus. . saw the bulding labeled VOLUNTEER BUSHFIRE BRIGADE. the railtrack is quite high. can see far beyond. trees with houses. heard two mid-aged ladies talking, pretty loudly. not without an accent which is quite nice. "she's gorgeous". (referring to perhaps another friend. or a daughter? in law? neighbour?) "at fifteen years, she already worked at the receptions, and worked her way up". the word gorgeous. long time didnt hear it. i thought, the yellow flowers are gorgeous.

gorgeous flowers

huge KFC with drive thru. 20 seconds later, a McD. huge as well. very intriguing. where am i? engadine. padang. kids in (crisp) white cricket uniform. boys playing. woman teacher coaching the boys. am pretty amused. beside railway track -roads. cars. remember, alor star? suddenly i remembered how much i love trains. perhaps because it exudes an aura of mystery, as i've never actually been in one before i got to kmb. we all love the unknown. my mind drifted away into another memory, but this one i'd rather not published in public. so does this part of the journal.

saw a billboard by the roadside. "tastes like real milk because it is" haha thats a funny one. great view. dullish in colour , but its okay. hutan upon hutan. lama tak nampak. been in the city far too long. gorgeous. singly tall flowers now. must go down the train, if only i could; and take the picture, close up.

TO BE CONTINUED

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summer: Wollongong DayTrip, part 2 remains copyright of the author tenkostar, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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normal - account after the journey
italiced - in malay or dialogues

PART 1

it was 6.15 am. time to wake up. needs to be at the central before 7.40, and that translates into 7am outta-the-house-and-board the 20 minutes bus. still very groggy, had less than 6 hours of night sleep for three days in a row. nak buat camana, the usual dah habis periksa complex. but anyway. woke up and pack the backpack (err) for the day trip. am very nervous indeed, for few reasons.

1) never been out of sydney in the 4 months i got here. will be very unfamiliar of the routes and transport system, i'm very sure of that.

2) i'm the 'planner' for the trip. did all the research. that means, anything goes wrong (read: sesat atau bosan), its all on me.

3) i lack sense, especially those common ones. my mum would be happy to attest on that! and also, my track record of execution of plan aint so pretty. even RS dont trust me.. hehehe.

anyway. some flashbacks. was searching online for some cool places in new south wales to be visited; those we will be able to go to and come back on the same day. being the obsessed planner that i am; my list got very long indeed. but finally stumbled upon Wollongong's Tourism site, and the foot powered City Tour got me sold.it sounds good. a map with places to go, specifically saying its all accessible on foot and plus, it ain't so far.

my initial plan was, of course, ambitious. Wollongong's in the south coast of nsw, and is divided into three parts; north, city (center) and south. since the city walk was just around the city and was said to take bout 2-3 hours, i planned on further for the Nan Tien Temple (largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere) in the south, and perhaps, another hour down to Kiama to see the famous Kiama Blowhole. RS suggested visiting the University of Wollongong, so that was included in the plan as well.

armed with the print-out map of the city walk dotted with 26 places of interest, we set out. plus i had the train times written at the back, together with trains & directions to the north and south parts.

reached the bus stop around 7.05...and i think i did my first blunder. haha. baru kluar rumah. i forgot to check the bus times from kingsford to city, and plus, its weekend!! somehow i thought there'd be bus every five minutes or something. thats true on weekdays, but weekends..i'm not so sure. err. checked the timetable and the next would be the 7.15 bus...and that gives us 5 minutes to get on board the hourly train scheduled at 7.40. alamak.

but somehow, miracleously, few minutes later a bus got there. yippie! i think the bus that should've been there few minutes ago was late. and thats not so common in sydney, see. so we board, and got to the central with ample time before the train boards. got my ticket at the machine, but RS' change is too big so we'd have to obtain the other ticket manually. cuak. camane nak pronounce Wollongong dah ?!!!!!!!! another keforgot-an untuk mengcheck, how to pronounce the name.

decided upon wol-lon-gong. i'm confused whether its wol-lo-ngong of the former. who knows...i mean..quay is 'key' , Bulli is 'Bull-eye' .. u get the drift. went to the counter praying hard the man would not ask me to repeat my non-australian english, or worse, like they did at the pharmacy few months ago, ask me to write it down like i cant speak any coherent english. but alas! he understood dengan muka selambanya tanpa ragu-ragu and i'm beaming with pride ~! la la la la...!

next. going to the platform. err. agak lost. which one? the central's sprawled with them. RS:"ni baru kat sydney..." .haha. i got bit nervous there. but thanks to the-guy-who-invented-signboards, we managed to find Platform 14 and board the InterCity train. Yay!

TO BE CONTINUED..

pictures are here

summer: Wollongong DayTrip, part 1 remains copyright of the author tenkostar, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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