I have been to hell and back

Even if it was just a small corner of hell. And I am talking literally here.

Not many would be able to claim that, that's for sure, especially when it's not metaphorically. Not that anyone of us would be thinking of going to one. Na'udzubillah. Moga kita semua dijauhi darinya.

However this is one hell I would not mind going to again.

I guess, as an unpaid spokesman for Air Asia promoting their new destination ;-) and a city I used to call home more than 25 years ago, I present you Hell Corner, circa 1982.

Caption: But he was still smiling even if he was at Hell Corner.

You would find this Hell at Mt Buller, the skiing destination of the state of Victoria. It is about say 3-4 hours drive from downtown Melbourne, so you could do a day trip and bask in snow. Mt Buller is to Melbourne as Genting is to Kuala Lumpur.

I am not sure what I was doing wearing a skirt, ;-) I mean, anorak.

Unfortunately it was not snowing when we were there during my first year in Melbourne, so I could only enjoyed ground snow i.e. whatever was there already. At that time, I shared an apartment with Sle (as in my story on exam) and Salleh, whom I later found out, was a former classmate from SRJK(I) Lenggong, and I didn't even remember. It is a small world indeed.

As I have mentioned in earlier entry, Melbourne is one city that you could get four season weather in a single day, but never - almost - the snow, so you need to go out to the Alpines. I don't remember if Mt Buller is part of the Snowy Mountains, which I had passed by on the way back from Sydney to Melbourne in 1983.

The Alpines of Australia are perhaps not as spectacular as the Rockies in Colorado or Alberta, but they are still majestic and a beautiful sight as any mountain ranges would be. And it would satisfy your skiing crave and get to do everything snowy.

Beyond that of course the city of Melbourne itself is considered as the art capital of Australia, home of the Australian Grand Prix and of course the Australian Open. It is also home of the Melbourne Cricket Ground where more than 100,000 people would pack it to watch grass grow over a five day period.

To many of course that would be the case since there is typically no action whatsoever at the centre of the field during a five day test match say between Australia and England aka The Ashes. Let me repeat, especially if England is playing and hence all Ozzies would turn up at the MCG to watch the grass grow. Definitely more action there.

Yes, test cricket is akin to just that - watching grass grow.

That's the MCG on the lower left part of the picture above. I once saw a Man United game there circa 84.

Unfortunately, Shema, it is not RM9.99 that I was hoping it would be, but still affordable methinks. Your wish may come true after all. Rashi, you are still thinking about it? - thinking of transporting your MTB across the ocean for a bicycle ride on the Great Ocean Road?

Or if you think the terrain at GOR is child's play, you can try cycling up Mt Buller then. ;-)

As for me, will I get a chance to return to this green tram city ever again and walk down memory lane here?

EPILOGUE

PS Dato' Seri Tony Fernandez, err, you don't need to pay me or give me free ticket for this promotion. It is my pleasure doing it anyway. May be I just need some tiny favour from you. Hehe.. Can you help my son Arif get into Air Asia as your cadet pilot say at the end of this year when he completes his CPL with instrument rating?

Ehem..ehem, can la...small favour only what. ;-)

Eh, and the Australian Tourism Promotion Board, no free ticket ah? I can be quite a good promoter and a tourist guide for Melbourne.

And I am just joking about the watching grass grow ok. I love cricket and I really miss the game.