Sunday, 13 November 2011

Exercise Wallaby - The First Week

Pardon me for the delay of this post.

There were tonnes of pictures to edit and I spent quite a bit of time organizing them (from both mobile phone and Camera) and putting them in the correct order.

Then, I had to filter out the "classified" pictures that could not be posted on any social platforms.

I was confused by what I was doing at one point (twice, in fact) and I had to redo everything from scratch all over again which is why it took me so long to dish out this post.

Without much further ado, I will now let the pictures do the talking...







The flight took almost seven hours before we finally arrived at Rockhampton Airport around six in the evening. After clearing the customs, we were rushed up the coach immediately.

I have no chance to buy a prepaid card which is why there were no updates from me for the whole of two weeks while I was gone.

Let this be a warning to those going for Exercise Wallaby in the future: Purchase your prepaid card or IDD Card before you leave Singapore.

You will NOT be able to get any prepaid card or IDD Card from Rockhampton Airport. All the shops (there is only one gift shop and one cafeteria) are over at the Departure Hall side which is separated from the Arrival Hall by a wall.

Unless you can break through the wall, there is no chance for you to walk over to the Departure Hall at all.

Auto-roaming should not be an option unless you are prepared to pay a hefty phone bill at the end of the month!

*You can buy the calling card from the Samuel Hill's canteen for AUD 10 though.
Here is where we stayed for the first week

The first week was nothing more than preparation work for the exercise which falls on the second week. There were lots of crates to be moved around and lots of arrowings by overzealous personnel.

N 22


The weather at Rockhampton can be quite extreme. It could get insanely hot during the day yet freezingly cold at night.

The first two days were perfect.

It rained a little during the day and the coolness was a delight from the scorching heat.

From the third day on, however, it remained sunny throughout my duration there.

Please remember to bring your sunblock! (at least SPF 30)

I did not and I got badly burnt (see pix below).

I am not kidding! You will get sunburned without even realising because you do not sweat much under the sun but that does not mean the UV Rays are not there.

Australia has one of the highest rate of skin cancer in the world if that is of any help...

Don long four if you do not want to have a free singlet like me!

Took some artsy fartsy shots of the trees outside my tentage



Chief Armour Officer dropped by for a visit

Made a dragonfly with raffia string


Looked like something my dog would excrete after eating corn

South Camp's landscape is much nicer than North Camps'



Sunset

This is my second trip to Exercise Wallaby. 

When I was here eleven years ago, I remembered there were lots of Flying Foxes around. 

One of my favourite activity in the evening was to lie on the crates outside the containers and watch the Flying Foxes circling in the skies above me.

There must be at least hundreds of them then.

But, where are they now? Where have they gone to?

The night before we moved out, we had a Deepavali Celebrations for our Hindu friends

We had a sumptuous Deepavali dinner with lots of Papadums and then there were free beer to go around too.

Some of them went to bed tipsy that night but no one forgets that we have a important mission the next day.

Coming up next: The second week of Exercise Wallaby. We are moving outfield!