Our Australian Adventure: Arrival & Home

After all the anticipation and waiting, we finally found our way to Perth, Western Australia.

We started from the Penang Airport at 9 pm on the 6th of August 2009, transit at the KL Airport at around midnight and reached our destination at around 5 am the next day. As soon as we stepped out of the airport, we were greeted by the near-freezing winter morning of Western Australia. We made our way to Trafalgar Retreat, a holiday home that we will call home for the next 5 days - as soon as Kee and Choy figured out how to release the hand brake of the Kia Grand Carnival that we will rented as our mode of transport throughout the stay.

And eventually they did. With the help of a map, the GPS and a little luck, we managed to find our way "home". Trafalgar Retreat is located near Joondalup which is about 30 km north of Perth City. It is a lovely bungalow house that comes complete with a swimming pool and a cozy backyard with BBQ facilities.

It was a beautiful neighbourhood. The neighbours were quite friendly, it was rather peaceful and quiet here and it is located near the coast.

Everyone settled in quite well. The house came complete with all the necessary facilities and utensils. The rooms were comfortable and clean. There was a huge heater in the living room (thank God for that) and a complete kitchen.

After breakfast, everyone decided to take a rest after the tiring journey. Everyone except Choy. Lake Joondalup is about 10 minutes drive from our house and it is a good birding site. The temptation of doing some birding and bird photography in a foreign land is just too great for him to resist. He had a quite a hard time trying to juggle his time between the birds and us (especially since his wife is also here with us) but eventually he managed to.

And we couldn't really blame him because Australia is filled with striking and beautiful birds like this Galah...

And these Rainbow Lorikeets (no rewards for guessing how it got its name)...

The cost of living in Australia is reasonably high and with the current exchange rate, we were really feeling the pinch. There is one thing we simply cannot save money on was food. Everyone needs to eat. Throughout our stay, we tried quite a variety of food. Occasionally, we will buy food back to the house...

But most of time, we had our meal outside...

Australia here we go!

Two more days to go. We are tying up all the loose ends so that we can enjoy our vacation in peace. Anyway, this is what we send out to all our clients and suppliers informing them of our company trip...

Guess where we are going...

G'day mates! We are going "walkabout" for our next company trip. Everyone is pretty excited and who can blame us. It will be a five-day trip to beautiful Australia. This overseas trip will be the first for our company. We will just have to slog through the remaining 2 weeks as everyone is already in a holiday mood. By the way, thanks Boss...

Friday @ TGI Friday (17/07/2009)

We had a deserving company dinner at TGI Friday in Queensbay Mall after 2 crazy months of hectic working schedules and datelines.

It has been quite a while since the last time the whole gang sat together for a relaxing time. Well guys, enjoy it while it lasts. From the look of things, work will start to pile up again pretty soon.

And the family keeps getting bigger...

Let me introduce to you the latest additions to our family. They are specialized models brought in to do one particular photo-shoot for one of our major clients. That's how specialized they are. We even have to provide food and lodging.

So, we now have 5 lively goldfish in the office and they certainly add more colors to our working environment. However, animals are not the easiest subjects to photograph and these adorable fellows are no different. Choy had to conduct a few photo sessions before we managed to obtain the desired shots.

Now, let me introduce another new addition to our family that actually does real work - a whole lot of work from the look of things. Meet Sam, our new Art Director.

Company Trip 10 - 12 April 2009 (...it's about time)

After a few taxing months of work and datelines, we finally found the time to go for a company trip. It is time for the whole team to relax and smell the flowers. We headed to our destination which was PJD's Swiss Garden Golf Resort & Spa in Damai Laut, Perak.

Damai Laut was certainly an awesome place. Just the kind of place to leave work and the hectic world behind and enjoy the wonders of nature. Nice sunset shot, David.

We had a buffet dinner at the resort itself on the first night. All the traveling and having fun have given us quite an appetite. Most of us are more obliging to have our photos taken...

And some of us are not...What's with the hand, dude?

After dinner, it was time for some fun and games. And getting intoxicated was not an option...

The next day our very own in-house birder, Choy, was up early to photograph some of his "friends" in the area, like this majestic White-bellied Sea-eagle...

We took a few swings at the driving range as well. Golf was a new thing to most of us.

We had seafood dinner at the nearby town of Kampung Cina. You can really build up an appetite after having fun for the whole day. Where's the food, Dad? It's on the way, dear.

On the final day of our stay, we took an island-hopping boat trip. It was quite a memorable experience for all of us.
And the views were simply stunning! This is the "Snake's Head" rock. If you look closely, you can actually see an outline of a viper's head. If you can't see it, use your imagination...

2009 - A new year, a new name.

I must say that it has been quite a while since our last post. Ok, ok....it's has been more than a year. We went through quite a lot. Things have changed. The biggest one is that we have changed our company name to Megan Nathaneal Sdn Bhd.

In case you're wondering why our header still bears the old name Megan Ads. Well, we are waiting for David to update the new logo into the header. I guess he kind of busy right now. He will get right to it once he finds the time.

Our beloved Hooi San and CY continued their quest to find their place in the world. We will miss you guys and best of luck. We now have two new additions to our "family".

Meet Alex....


And Fish...