Nikon Super GP 2009

It was a disaster! Not only for the Gold Coast City Council and the events team, but for most people including local businesses, hotels, and transport (that is us as cabbies). What actually was the problem?

Well, it all started long back about a year ago when the Indy Racing League (IRL) and Champ Car World Series merged in February 2008 resulting the drop of the Indy 2009 Series from the calender. So, the Nikon Indy 2008 was the last to be held in the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit. As the news broke in the media, the Gold Coast Mayor quickly came out with a plan for next years event. He actually took an immediate flight to London and discuss with the Director of the A1GP to organize the A1 race in 2009, replacing the Nikon Indy 300.

And so the plan went on, same track, same events layout, new sponsors and everyone around Gold Coast prepared for the same crowd for 2009's event. But we are dead wrong! 5 days before the race starts, the A1 organizers announced that they would not be able to come on financial reason, as the they have to pay a sum of money to the insurance company in order to ship the A1 cars from London to Gold Coast. So, the cars are locked in London while they only have 5 days before the event.

But the event still goes on. With what race? V8's!!! Full 4 day, full with V8's! It's more like a V8 carnival rather than a race to me. The crowd and businesses are so much different from we expect. So dull, and the main streets are not so busy as last year. Disappointment can be seen from each and every one who prepared their best for the best event of the year. Even we as cabbies are really disappointed with what happen. To be exact, the Gold Coast City Council and the event team spent $12million for the event preparation. But what else can we say. Sh*t happens...

p.s.: Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh still suggested some other race to be held in the Surfers Paradise Street Circuit next year. That is absolutely ridiculous...

Salam Aidilfitri 2009

.

from left (standing): Mior Azman, Zaiful Ikhwan, Chloe Kor Fang Min, Ramanathan, Ranjith, Purshut, Asif Ubaidullah, Hafez Jaafar, Mugenthiran, Ronald Alister, SinYong

from left (seating): Syafiq Aizat, Durratun Nashihin, Ismail Ibrahim

Eid Mubarak to everyone;

from us, Malaysian Students of University of Southern Queensland (USQ)

Toowoomba Campus, Australia

What happens in full moon

The quick answer is: people gets crazier!

Now, please don't get me wrong. After 2 years of experience driving cabs around, I actually met and dealt with a lot and all sort of people. And believe me, usually when the moon is full, for some reason, people acts more wild and more crazier than usual. This may sound like a myth. Of course, after all, this is just a theory made up by me and a couple of other dedicated cabbies, without any scientific reason.

But, last week, while I was working (I work night shifts), I realized that people somehow are more grumpier that usual, slightly no manners, and even there are a lot fights going around town. And straight to the point, even I got caught in a middle of a brawl! I actually picked up a bunch of teenagers, and sent them to a party near Gaven. Then there's a girl stop my car as we are close to the house. The girl asked me to turn around the cab and take those kids back to where I picked them up. She said that if they go to the party, they will eventually get killed!

Illustrated picture only. Non-related to the actual event.

Shocker! I thought actually that was just a prank. Then, a bunch of 'drunken angry guys' ran towards my cab and start throwing glass bottles at my cab. Those kids in my car were scared and shouted "Run cabbie!! Run!!" I stepped on the gas and go as fast as I could. As my passengers window is down, one 'steel baseball bat' actually flew right inside my car and landed right on my steering! I was stunned! I drove off like a flash!

That was lucky. If I duck my head down a bit, definitely the bat will hit face and you are not read this article today. After getting those boys to a safer place, I let them down, and the gave me a big tip for saving their a*ses.

Source: Wikipedia.org

After having a chat with some other passengers that night, one of them (she was a nurse in some hospital) admitted that whenever the moon is full, there will be a lot of emergency cases in the hospital. And another passenger actually agree with our theory about the full moon. He said, there are actually some researches regarding the moon stated that when the moon is full, the ocean level lowers, and for some reason affects the oxygen level in the air that we are breathing. And for some medical or psychological means, it affects human behavior, especially for us that live just by the sea.

So whenever the moon is full, just be careful!

The Awesome Road Trip

Winter 2009, around July, we all went to what we called as The Awesome Road Trip. Why? Because it is awesome!

It all started as just a "sembang kedai mamak" plan, and eventually turned out as an awesome trip of our life so far. Travelled in total of more than 5,000KM, we went across 3 Australian States; Queensland (QLD), New South Wales (NSW), and Australian Capital Territory (ACT). We used Syafiq's Nissan Skyline R34 GTT, and Zaiful's Honda Civic EK for our exciting journey.

Started from Toowoomba, QLD, we travelled south towards the NSW border straight to Sydney (via New England Highway). That actually took around 16hours of driving + several stops to change drivers, checking up vehicle condition, as well as refreshments and mini sightseeings.

The following 2 days, we tour'ed around Sydney; Darling Harbour, Opera House, China Town, Australian Museum etc. We also had great Malaysian and Indian food as well, as we don't have it much in QLD. Then, we drove another 2 hours outside Sydney to see the Blue Mountains and the beautiful Jenolan Caves.

Enough of Sydney, we start our second part of our awesome road trip to the Snowy Mountains. We headed west via Monaro Highway crossing the capital city of Australia, Canberra, ACT. Unfortunately, on the way, Syafiq caught up with a cold/flu. Just to be sure he didn't infected by the Swine Flu (H1N1), we stopped for a couple of hours in Canberra to checkup in one of the Government Hospital. As soon as everything's fine, we start again our journey straight to the Snowy Mountains.

The next 3 days, we spend our time very well in the Kosciuszko National Park. Nice scenic cruise along the snowy Kosciuszko Haighway, snow boarded at Thredbo and Perisher Ski Resort, and took beautiful pictures and dine at Jindabyne Lake. Every one had a great time over there, except for Syafiq, as he is still recovering from the cold/flu.

Our last day of this awesome road trip, we went back to Canberra to refuel, refill all medical supplies, and checking up on our cars before we start our long journey back to Toowoomba. After counted how many dead kangaroo's, possum's, and wombat's that got killed along the Monaro Highway, Syafiq came out with a very reasonable plan, to get back to Toowoomba, off highway. We used the "kampong" road, instead of the highway. And that is great as the scenery across the small villages, seeing the farms, cows and sheeps, kangaroos hopping around, and the best of all is; there is no speed camera's as well as 'candy cars'! LOL! :)

Pictures of this road trip can be viewed through my Facebook, under "The Awesome Road Trip" album. We hope one day we can do an 'awesomer' road trip, probably down to Melbourne in Victoria (VIC), cruising along The Great Ocean Road, and ship our cars to Tasmania (TAS). I will be counting the days for that!

Some facts regarding our road trip;

1. Saw an Australian bush fire near the NSW-QLD border.

2. Saw most of the native Australian animals got killed on the road (kangaroo, wombat, possum, wallaby, parrot(Syafiq hit it with his Skyline), rabbits, as well as a live eagle)

3. Syafiq's car has been called 'The Dead Parrot', as he hit 2 parrots, one stuck on his intercooler, and Zaiful's car has been called 'Belalang Tempur', for no reason.

4. We went pass the funniest town name called "DUBBO", in Central NSW.

5. We had 3 Satellite Navigation (GPS) on but never used it. Instead, we use the old-school map.

6. Made a point that the UHF CB radio (Citizen Band) is very useful, in-term of safety in communication, not only among ourselves, but also communicating with other drivers on the roads, especially truckies.

7. We even reached Goondiwindi in South-West QLD.