This is when to say…

Headed to DMB early morning with my Student ID not activated for the entry yet. I had an appointment with Donna at 9.30am for the animal house induction. Funny to say that if I do not go for this induction, I won’t be able to get the swipe card access to the animal house even if my Student ID has been activated. Argh! This gives me no choice but to attend. Anyhow, I’m not like “somebody” who never completes the lab induction “tests” until the very last minute. Even when I complain how lab inductions bore me down to the earth, I would still “乖乖” attend them.

So, I was being conducted with two lab inductions at one go – Donna @ 9.30am and Jo @ 10.00am. HL joined in too without appointments! Lucky him! Oops, no lucky them! They wouldn’t need to conduct the same lab inductions for two people at two different times. Summer scholarship officially starts on the 7^th Dec (Ben’s Birthday! Happy Advanced Birthday, just in case I don’t get to come online or get to wish you on time) and today was just two simple and short lab inductions.

Next, I have two other tasks to do – collect my parcel and get my Student ID activated to access the DMB. According to Cheryl, I have to get to the facilities management in main campus, Callaghan, to have my Student ID activated. As for the parcel, I have to head all the way to Sandgate to collect it!!! =.=”

Lucky enough, the depot was pretty close to the Sandgate train station (at least it looks near from the map) and I could just take the train from Newcastle city. I walked to the train station which is just a stone throw distance from DMB and checked the price for the ticket.

Newcastle à Sandgate: AUD3.20

Return was AUD4.60

And I decided to check the ticket to Warabrook as well (since it was just a station away from Sandgate).

Newcastle à Warabrook: AUD3.00

Return was AUD4.20

Hmm… thinking to save a few cents, I took the free bus to Civic station which was just one station away from Newcastle (Well, I have plenty of time to kill for the arrival of the next train). BUT! When I checked the ticket once more from Civic to Sandgate, it was the SAME PRICE!!! *Sigh* Fine! I’ll just get the return ticket. I confidently know that if I buy a ticket from Sandgate to Warabrook (University train station) it would cost at least 2.80 even it is just one station away. It is so much cheaper this way if I buy a return ticket from Civic and not intending to get back to Civic.

The train arrived and I hopped on. Guess what? All the old Hunter Line Trains were eliminated. They now have the brand new, air-conditioned train for Hunter Line. I was sooooo happy because today was BURNING HOT!! Soon after, I reached Sandgate. Sandgate was scary. There are no people!! *Ahem* No pedestrians!! What I see was cars or should I say lorries. Yes, it’s like an industrial area. The weather was so hot and the sun was burning my skin while I was walking to the nearest T-junction from Sandgate Road. My eyes were staring at the map all the time and when I “accidentally” turned my head to the left side, I… saw… graveyard! It was just two steps away from me and it was a fairly large piece of land. No wonder there wasn’t many people staying there…

I was walking very fast because I wanted to catch the next train back to Warabrook. If not, I have to wait for another hour for the next train. The depot seemed so near to the train station on the map, in fact, it was a long journey. Probably because of the weather, it made my journey longer. Walking half way, I really couldn’t endure the burning sensation. I don’t care! My umbrella comes to the rescue. It took me 20 minutes to reach the depot and I was sweating as if I have just fallen into the pool. I was expecting myself to die of heat half way while walking back to the station, but I survived!! v^-^v!!! Took me longer to walk back partly because I knew I could not catch the next train and partly because I had extra weight on me – the parcel.

When I reached the train station, the first thing I wanted to check was the price of the ticket but WHAT!?! There wasn’t any ticketing machine!!! Why!?! Does it mean that I can catch the train for free in Sandgate??? ARGH!!! If I knew we wouldn’t need to buy tickets in Sandgate, I could just save AUD1.40!! (I know it is 1.40 only but let me do the math for you 1.40 x 3 = RM4.20) The thing is I was uncertain if buying a ticket from Sandgate is necessary as there was no ticketing counter or machine anywhere! If I took the train without any tickets, and so happen to get caught, I’ll be paying 200 bucks instead! Hmm… makes me feel better if I thought of it this way. And so… I have another 40 minutes to kill. I opened up my parcel and started reading the books inside. Luckily I have something to do while waiting or else I’ll die of boredom instead of heat!

The train reached 20 minutes earlier… I was so surprised and thought I was lucky. In fact, this was not the train I was supposed to take. This train was not supposed to stop at Sandgate. The train I was intending to take should arrive 20 minutes later. However, since it was stopping, I might as well just hop on! *haha*

When I hopped on and took my seat, an announcement was being made. It was signal problem!!! So that’s why it stopped. Alright, but at least I get to wait in the air-conditioned train! The repairing took around 40 minutes and I could see the train I was intending to take just behind us. Reached 20 minutes later than I expected… and I’m once again under the burning hot sun with my umbrella. Facilities management is just sooooo far from the train station. Took me at least another 15 minutes to reach there… the receptionist was being really friendly. After knowing my intention of the visit, she tried to download the code for accessing DMB into my Student ID. BUT!!! It turned out that my Student ID was faulty! WTH!?! To solve it, I have to get a new Student ID from the student service!! Student service is not near from facilities management okay? And it’s soooo bloody hot today! So yeah, I went all the way to student service to get my new Student ID…

…DENG!!!

After those hassles, I got my Student ID activated… gotten my parcel… really finally…

PS. I was so lucky to reach home before the hail shower!! Lady Luck must have not yet forgotten me! =D