Road trip 2 – Cherry and berry picking

We started off very very early. Everyone played the part in getting ready by 7.30.

The Chappies cherry farm was nearby the Tesselaar tulip farm we visited in September. The route was similar, via Nunawading, Lilydale, Silvan, and so on. I wasn’t particularly excited about the trees or the farm but I was wondering how eating abundance of cherries would feel like. Heheh.

The weather was bright and sunny. Subhanallah.

Welcome to the Chappies. Did Mimi and Kngah purposely wear fuchsia (pinkish-purple) to suit the theme color?

We took a bus to the cherry farm next door.

The owner showed us a few steps on cherry picking.

Imagine eating cherries right from the branch.

Plenty of trees… plenty of cherries!

So plenty and thus heavy the cherries were, this end of the branch touched the ground.

Trying not to look like a beginner. :p

Boys and girls, this is how it’s done. Hehe.

Ripe, dark ones. Eat instantly. Not for bringing back because they wouldn’t last.

Slurps! Dark ones.

My attempt on perspective photo.

Hidden one.

Plucking 3. I initially thought that the shine was chemically induced or hawker’s act of spray – but it’s natural.

Plenty in a bunch, geram! I didn’t know they can be this many in a bundle. Like grapes.

One photo before returning back to the main farm.

OK, we’re done. Board the bus!

Hey… photo opportunity. I couldn’t help myself.

Let’s bring some home. The red ones.

Then we headed for the berries. The farm was nearby where we parked earlier. I couldn’t really tell which berries look like what so this trip would make a difference.

So we first got busy on the blackberry rows.

Blackberry looks like this. It’s a bit sour.

Blackberries on trees. Again, the darker, the riper.

I prefer a Bold. Not curve… not storm. Bold.

Raspberry farm.

Raspberry picking began.

Hey, I picked one.

Wife could do it many times faster.

Short term berry pickers. Hehe.

Plucking technic technique.

There. That’s how you do it.

Yummy. Raspberries taste better than blackberries.

Berries.

Berries. Sorted.

Ayah bought some yellow cherries.

Delicious. Delicious.

Sweet. That was an incredible experience. Everyone had a great time too. I’ll try any sort of fruit picking again in the future.

Free flow of activities

No activities planned for today. Free and easy! Ayah, KNgah, Mimi and PakTeh decided to visit the Vic market once again. Wife & I stayed at home for a while to organize things.

So how do we get to the locations tomorrow… let’s see…

After a big Soto lunch, Intan and I went to a GP for her flu vaccination. It was somewhere I’ve been before but I couldn’t recall where exactly. On the way there, I saw an onshore, non-industrial use of coriolis meter in action:

Coriolis meter is the gold standard for liquid measurement in the industry.

Once that’s done, we were at Safeway (now Woolworths) to grab some daily needs. I wasn’t looking for anything for particular,

Throughout my stay in Melbourne, I noticed that even cyclists would stop to make way for boarding tram passengers. Pedestrians are kings! That’s proper.

Much later, wife & I were at Aliya’s to bake some quiches. Muth is a master of conversation – he knows that the best topic and the one that everyone is most interested in is yourself! I wasn’t able to ask as many questions myself. Because I am one for scrutinizing people for asking the right questions – I am anxious about asking the right questions myself.

Studio Stay II.

Ibu’s birthday

Later at night, we celebrated Ibu’s birthday.

Happy birthday, Ibu!

Happy Eid and Happy Birthday Afiefah

Happy Eid! عيد الاضحى

After the prayer, we had a big feast.

KakNgah as always was handy with cakes. Arifah couldn’t wait for it and sat in front of the cake before touching any other food. It was actually AfifahAfiefah’s birthday. She was born on 8 December 2007.

Happy birthday, Afifah Afiefah!

At night… packing.

One Day prior to Eidul Adha

Thursday was a one-day stint to complete plenty of things before I disappear for about a week and a half. Lines at the banks were incredibly long. I resolved to quick withdrawal and verified the availability of one particular TT service online instead.

Good thing I was fasting. It was timed correctly with the whole department’s strategy to order barrels and barrels of KFC chicken as a big feast prior to Eidul Adha. I had to politely decline 3 people barging into my office for that invitation.

Asrizalni’s birthday

Hey, it was Adik’s birthday celebration. Born in 2000, he’s about 9 now. One year older and one year wiser – he deals with others in much better fashion now.

But he still thinks he can’t play with me because I’m fierce and I’m married. He used the words, “Abang garang, abang dah kahwin.”

Melbourne Sungai Merab teleconference

Dad departed early in the morning to take his CheGu around Terengganu to see the schools that his CheGu had initiated as State Education Director back in the days. It’s like he’s bringing the only dad he has now for a tour. Other than that, the Nasi Ayam lunch was pretty special.  ”Kenny Rogers” dinner was awesome too…

Later in the evening, I set up a teleconference between my wife and our little nieces and nephew. She had missed them so much.

Global Best Practice interview

I was interviewed by the global best practice team. Apparently the project department had appointed me to represent the technical support team in showcasing the extent of project implementation management. I think I gave them an OK impression. Received some minor comments though. Nobody is perfect, right.

I can’t believe I’m sitting in again for a colleague. Shucks.

In the evening, just when I was about to finish my second helping, dad went, “So who’s gonna join for dinner outside?” Oops.

Chop & steak dinner.

Zul & Lily’s reception in Senawang

I was in Senawang for Zul & Lily’s reception. CB, Ashbi and Adik followed suit.

We were a bit late but there was still plenty of food left.

In the middle of it all, one of the catering head offered more drinks and food and so on. That’s fine, by itself. But the way he said it, “Ustaz, tambah lagi (care for seconds?)” made me thought how much of an Ustaz do I really look like. I didn’t wear ketayap, songkok or anything… was it due to Ashbi & Asri wearing songkoks? I guess I looked old enough to qualify as their dad…? Hm…

I purposely post the most candid of all pics. With Zul & Lily.

Congratulations you two!