Pindik-pindik, Tagap-tagap and Butak-butak in Sabah and Australia

We have been living here in Australia for the last 6 months and we are getting used to the lifestyle here. Of course after going thru a very hard start-up and learning the hard and expensive way, we finally figured out how to live here, nothing to compared to what we know about starting out in the US.

As Trixie is moving on to her research phase of her studies, she is going back to Sabah for it. As for me, I am still undecided if I will go back with her. I do not want to lose my job here as it actually paying quite well at the moment and when Trixie gets back, I would have saved enough money for the move back here....plus the exchange rate is so good against the RM. But again, I miss home..so this is my dilemma now.

I had the day off from work and Trixie asked me what I would be doing, so naturally I said, "Sleep." But after much thought, I decided to take a trip to the Australian War Memorial which is around 10 minutes from our place. I knew that I would find something interesting there because Sabah and Australia have ties since WW2 because of the infamous Sandakan-Ranau Death March. As an ex-tour guide in Sabah, I have some knowledge of the march. What I found, apart from other historical exhibits, is a whole room and wall dedicated to Australian troops who died during the Death March. I had a short emotional moment thinking how they sacrificed their lives for the Sabahans.


View of the Australian Parliament House from the War Memorial


Entrance to the War Memorial


Inside the memorial - quite similar layout to the one in Kundasang


How Sabah is highlighted


Photos of those who died during the death march

Trixie, my wife of 10 years and our son, Kimo Xan

Last Saturday, Kamal (fellow photographer, my wife's ANU schoolmate and Malaysian) and I went to the Canberra Camera Collectors sale at the Irish Club here in Canberra. I have never been to one so naturally I was excited to see what was on sale. I had no intention to buy anything (because I am so poor) but limited myself to $20 if I did so. There were many vintage stuff and also some earlier DSLRs.





Price was very reasonable and I was tempted, plus an auction at the end of the sale was really good.


The auction

At the back of my head, I was thinking, "Where in Sabah will I get these kinds of cameras?" So, with my 20 bucks, here is what I got.


Got this from the auction for 5 bucks


And what I thought was a good buy was this 1961 Yashica J series in working condition.


$10 for this

The remaining $5 was spent on a vintage leather strap for my Minolta Hi-Matic G, which I bought at the Salvation Army Thrift store or Salvo's.

Floriade is the biggest flower festival in Australia, a spectacular celebration of spring, set in Canberra's Commonwealth Park.

We planned to go to the one-month event earlier but it had been raining and cold, so finally the weather was better yesterday. As for me, I have never really seen so many tulips in my life. I wanted to see some 'black tulips' which I read about when I was a kid. Creating a black tulip was the holy grail for the flower enthusiasts back in the days in Holland. As much as I could see, however, were no black tulips at the Floriade, just really dark maroon ones.

Here are a mix of family and Floriade pictures I took.