Christmas in Perth

My first christmas being celebrated Down Under. However, it was not a snowy white nor cold christmas. Christmas day was right smack in the middle of a dry and hot spell; a taste of what summer's gonna be. In the heatwave, the temperature shot up to 42 degree celcius. I spent the day in Mosman Beach. Very beautiful beach with fine and silky smooth sands. It was my mistake not to apply sunscreen on my entire body. My back was roasted and had to endure few days of sunburn pains.



Seems like BBQ is the preferred christmas and summer activity for the Australians. In the week alone, I had 4 BBQs to attend. My friend was joking the other day that BBQ is one of the Australians' staple food. In the SFC BBQ and christmas party, everyone was having a great time. One of the best party ever being organized in the college.

Symphony In The City

The West Australian Symphony Orchestra did an open air performance for the public at the Esplanade, in the heart of the city. Since it was performed in the open with help of loudspeakers, the sound was not really great. But still, they should be commended as it was a free event for the public with a new concept of picnicking while enjoying the music. The performance ended with the lively tune of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with the Swan Bells chiming in the background and the 7 Field Battery of The Australian Army blasting the cannons.

Taming 600 Wild Horses

Been quite busy with the Baron conversion flights recently after my transition from the Cessna. From riding on the puny 160 horses, now I have a whopping 600 horsepower; 300 on each engine at my disposal. Taming the beast is not an easy task, considering the big jump in power and speed adaptation. I was literally stunned by it's speed on my first flight. On the Cessna, I cruise at 120kts (222kmh) and land at 65kts (120kmh). Now on the Baron, I cruise up to 195kts (360kmh) and land at 95kts (175kmh)! My old cranky car can't even cruise past 140kmh and now I'm landing the plane at 175kmh. The engines are so powerful that it can still fly safely with the loss of one engine. But it loses 80% of the performance. Therefore, one needs to arrest and fix the problem quickly or else the plane will spin out of control. The plane is heavy and sometimes I find myself with 2 hands on the column. It's time for me to go to the gym more often to work out the muscles.